Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
I looked over the side and saw sand at the bottom. “How deep is it?”
He checked the electronic depth finder on the dash. “Twenty feet.”
“Wow. It looks like I can stand.”
“It will probably get shallower as we get closer to the cave entrance. But there’s a lot of coral, so don’t try to reach for the bottom or touch the reef. It can be razor sharp.”
“Oh. Okay.” I glanced over the side of the boat again, feeling wary.
“You ready?”
I took a deep breath and nodded, even though my heart pounded. When I stood, I could see fish swimming around the boat. I liked marine life, but generally on my plate or in an aquarium. Though, at least part of me was excited to try something new with Wes. We put on our fins and snorkels and then stood on the ledge at the side of the boat together.
“On three?” he asked.
I bit my bottom lip but nodded.
“One. Two. Three!”
We jumped in at the same time. The cool water was a shock, and I squealed as I surfaced. Wes popped up beside me, grinning. “You good?”
“I’m sort of terrified.” I laughed.
“I won’t let anything hurt you, in or out of the water.” He held out his hand. “Come on. We’ll swim into the cave together.”
Goggles and snorkel ready, I took a deep breath and stuck my face into the ocean, kicking my legs behind me. The water was so crystal clear, I could see all the way to the rocks of the cave up ahead. Tiny yellow and black fish swam around us as we moved toward it. Wes squeezed my hand and pointed to a bright blue fish with yellow and black fins that looked exactly like Dory from Finding Nemo, and soon I forgot to be nervous anymore. Together, we snorkeled for more than two hours before climbing back onto the boat.
“That was incredible!” I tugged off my mask. “It felt like we were on our own little planet, just us and schools of fish.”
Wes rubbed a towel over his wet hair and smiled. “You were a natural out there.”
He handed me a towel, and while I dried off, he stowed the snorkel gear back in a cabinet. When he bent forward, I noticed how red his back was.
I pointed. “I think you’re getting burned.”
He twisted and looked over his shoulder. “Shit. Yeah.”
“I have sunscreen. Want me to put it on you so it doesn’t get any worse?”
“If you don’t mind.”
I definitely didn’t mind putting my hands on his muscular back. And I was glad I’d brought the type of lotion you had to rub in, rather than the spray kind. I dug into my bag for the bottle. “Turn around.”
My palms glided over his smooth, sun-heated skin, and I felt ripples of muscles tighten beneath my fingers. I told myself to focus on what I was doing, but it was impossible to rub his broad shoulders and not imagine the way they might look hovering over me. The quiet moment grew intimate and stretched into something that felt charged.
When I finished, Wes cleared his throat. “Thanks. I’ll pull the anchor so we can head back.”
Neither of us said much on the ride to the marina, and I started to wonder if maybe it was just me who had felt the spark. Once we were docked, Wes looked at his watch. “We have the boat for another two hours. I noticed a liquor store a couple of blocks back when we drove in. How about I run over and grab us a bottle of wine, and we can watch the sunset from here?”
“That sounds great. I thought you said you weren’t going to drink anymore, though?”
“I’ll stop at one this time.” He winked.
While Wes was gone, I fussed with my hair, using the faint reflection off the silver trim of the electronics console as a mirror. He came back a few minutes later, holding a bottle of wine and two plastic glasses.
“They even uncorked it for me.”
“I probably wouldn’t have thought of that until I was back on the boat.”
Wes poured us each a glass and held his up for a toast. “To surviving your first snorkel.”
I smiled as we clinked plastic. “I had a great time.”
He sipped. “I’m surprised you’ve never snorkeled before.”
“I only started going in the pool again a few years ago.”
“Why is that? Did you have a scare of some sort?”
I looked away before answering. “Yes, but probably not the kind you’re thinking of. I didn’t nearly drown or anything.”
“What happened then?”
I sighed. “Growing up, we had an in-ground pool at our house. I used to spend the entire summer swimming in it when I was little. The day after my tenth birthday, I got up early and let the dog out in the yard. Buddy started barking the way he always did when he saw squirrels or geese, only he wouldn’t stop. I went outside to see what was riling him up so much, and I found a dead body floating in the pool.”