Page 3

The Heart

T

he tour guide led them away in groups of three to five, which was perfect. Liam and the others were of the same mind, intentionally choosing to be the final group to accompany her. They’d probably do the same thing on the return trip. If not last, then first. Either would buy them some time alone.

Once the tour guide returned and grabbed the second group, the five of them chatted more openly and loudly. Liam also found his chance to kiss Victoria, simply pulling her away from the group and then positioning them against a section of wall that they could both hold onto. It was just out of sight from where the others treaded water, but there was hardly any doubt about why he’d pulled the busty professor away.

Though Victoria raised an amused eyebrow as he pulled her away and ordered her to remove her snorkeling gear, she obeyed. He copied the motion, swiping the goggles and breathing tube off his head and holding them in one hand. Next, he pinned her against limestone—the only place to find limestone in Fiji, according to what their tour guide had said—and kissed her.

Victoria’s amusement became contentment. With both arms over her head, holding onto the outcropping of rock behind her, she had nowhere to go. At the same time, he knew she had nowhere else she wanted to be.

Gripping the same outcropping with one hand, Liam felt Victoria up with the other. Kissing her passionately, pushing into her, wishing he had something to stand on for stability and strength, he palmed one of her enormous breasts.

“You started your morning with them,” Victoria whispered, holding her mouth mere centimeters away. “Are they already so soon again on your mind?”

“They’re always on my mind,” he growled huskily. “I want to fuck them again. I want to kiss them again. I want to suck on them again.”

“I know,” Victoria said, breath warm against his lips. “Everyone knows. Just like you want.”

Liam couldn’t deny it. He did want that. He liked that there was no longer any secrecy between the five of them. Not only did it allow him to do things like this, but it also upped the chances of more threesomes, more group games.

“Well, you get to decide when we play our next game of strip poker,” he reminded her. “Maybe it’ll be on your birthday?”

“Maybe,” Victoria said, kissing him. “Maybe not.”

He grunted, still wishing she’d just tell him when her birthday was. “Well, if you decide to tell me, I’ll think up something good for the day.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Liam lowered his gaze to Victoria’s breasts. Beads of water dotted her olive skin. Saltwater, unfortunately. Otherwise, he might have tried to free one and repeat some of his morning activities with it.

“Hey, sluts,” a voice called from around the corner leading back to the others.

He and Victoria looked over and saw Avril peeking around it.

“Yes?” Victoria asked, entirely composed and unbothered about being spotted in such a provocative position.

“Get back over here. Our tour guide is bound to pop her head back out any second.”

Victoria turned her gaze back to him. “Will you let me go?”

“Reluctantly,” Liam said, moving back.

“God, you two are so fucking horny this morning,” Avril said.

“Yeah, so come here,” Liam said, nodding at the spot Victoria began to vacate. “You can have a turn.”

Avril snorted and flipped him off. Yet, before Liam could figure out if she would or wouldn’t do as he’d suggested, their tour guide returned. So, that nixed that. For now.

Having removed their snorkeling gear before beginning to make out, he and Victoria retrieved them from the nearby ledge they’d placed them at, then rejoined the others, who were gathering around their reappeared guide. Each one of them had a light attached to a band that they could place on their forehead, obtained when they’d collected their gear at their resort. As his personal gear lacked such a light, he’d received a handheld one. Unlatching it from his swim trunks, he powered it on. The others did the same.

And then, each of them seizing a deep gulp of breath, they went under.

The water grew chillier as they descended, legs kicking powerfully as they pushed themselves down a good six or seven feet. Liam and the others followed in their guide’s wake, propelling them deeper and deeper. The daylight shining through the water quickly faded, so their lights became the only source guiding them forward.

Swimming through a stone straw, that was what it felt like. Their lights shimmered and wobbled across the stone all around them as they did so, illuminating the floor that was about ten feet lower than they currently swam. They passed over a coarse, porous archway of limestone, which their tour guide ran her hand over as she passed. On the return trip, knowing it was there, Liam made sure to swim under it.

Fortunately, the path was pretty straightforward, and they only stayed beneath the surface for about twenty seconds. Once she was certain they were good to resurface, their guide waved upward, hand moving lethargically underwater. She went up, and they followed, breaking the water’s surface.

The darkness didn’t recede. The sounds of distant voices—the other people on the tour—echoed from farther down. The sounds he focused on were closer. Each shift, he or someone else was incredibly audible, made louder by many magnitudes as it echoed off the walls. Even the drippage of water from the rock overhead was booming.

“There’ll be another small area where you can see daylight,” their tour guide said, speaking far quieter in this narrow tunnelway than it’d been back in the original area. “And you’re welcome to look around as we swim to the cave and join the others. We won’t have to go underwater again, but you’re welcome to do so.”

They got going again, eyes pointing downward as they stuck their faces back into the water. Breathing through the tube attached to his goggles, Liam stayed like that for most of the slow swim toward the second cave. He did as was suggested, looking all around, taking in the deep and the dark. Thanks to their six flashlights, there was always enough light for them to see where they were going, but never enough for everything to be illuminated.

Swimming beside Tess, they pointed things out to one another, maneuvering their lights in tandem. They saw a ridge of stone resembling a carnivorous giant's lower teeth, buried beneath the water for centuries. They came upon another stone archway, and Liam went down and squeezed himself beneath it. He wasn’t the only one to fall victim to the urge, as both Tess and Avril mimicked him.

They soon saw the light their guide had said they’d come upon. It shone down via an oblong hole in the cavern roof. Big enough for a person to squeeze through, they could also see the leaves of the trees standing around it. It was their final point of natural light; it’d be all flashlights from here on out.

This one wasn’t nearly as large as the one they’d started in, nor was its ceiling as tall. Yet, if only because there was no sight of the day at its peak, it felt more cavernous and isolated. Here was a place you didn’t just stumble upon. It was its own sanctum, devoid of natural light and private.

Having waited patiently for them to arrive, the other tourists sat in some naturally forming cubbies near the far side of the cave, still half-submerged in water. As far as Liam could see, there didn’t seem to be any way to actually get fully out of the pool. Their tour guide brought Liam and the others toward these cubbies, allowing them chances to sit as well.

More details about the cave followed. This cave was known as the Heart of the Yasawas, so each could now proclaim that they’d visited it. And by doing so, they joined rare company. Like many of the secretive places in the Yasawas, only a very privileged few had visited this place.

“First or last?” Avril soon whispered into his ear. After completing her explanations, their tour guide had given them free rein to swim about, take in the sights, or just relax. Whenever any of them were ready to go back, she was happy to lead them back to the larger cavern.

“Last. I haven’t kissed you or Tess yet.”

“I’m right here, aren’t I?” Avril said.

Yes, she was. So too, however, were some of the other tourists. He and Avril had stayed near one of the cubbies, treading water as they looked around. Most of the others, including Anna, Avril, and Tess, had gone out to swim a little, examining the darker corners of the cave. But not all.

A couple of women who looked around Avril’s age, maybe best friends like she and Anna were, had decided to stay inside the cubby, resting for a while. While they weren’t actively watching him and Avril, they were in their peripheral vision.

“Now who’s being slutty?” Liam whispered.

“Me,” Avril said, which he should have expected. She pulled her goggles up to her forehead. “I’m a huge, huge slut. Now, hurry up and kiss me.”

Snorting lightly, Liam pulled off his snorkeling gear and kissed his third woman since entering the Sawa-i-Lau Caves.

Thankfully, she wasn’t looking to put on too much of a show; she just wanted the experience she’d requested while on the boat ride over. It was a saltier kiss than he’d shared with Anna or Victoria, as they’d both since stuck their heads underwater numerous times. But it wasn’t unpleasant. It couldn’t be unpleasant. Not with Avril, not knowing how she felt about him—the same way he felt about her.

Their lips separated, and Avril grinned from ear to ear.

“Not bad. I can check that one off the bucket list.”

“Happy to help,” he replied, aware that the two women in the nearby cubby had stopped chatting. He didn’t look over to see if they were gawking at them.

We’re the worst kind of tourists, Liam thought. Airing our romance out in public.

Nevertheless, he kissed Avril again.