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“Any helpful hints on where we should look?” Liam asked the buxom professor, treading water much easier than usual thanks to the flippers.

“If we can find any seagrass patches, some could be resting there. With these on, we can go farther and faster. Away from where the bulk of the swimmers are.”

She nodded toward the other snorkelers about. There were plenty of them, a dozen or more who were currently visible. There were also plenty of people farther along the beach, only interested right now in swimming and letting the waves lap against them.

Further they went, and faster they got there. Propelling themselves a good two hundred feet away from the shore, the three of them submerged and searched. For a good thirty minutes, they merged with the coral reef in ninety-second bursts. All three of them had pretty strong lungs, so they managed to spend most of that time searching, rather than racing back to the top of the ocean for a gulp of air. He was a strong enough swimmer, though Victoria seemed especially graceful in the water. He ended up staring at her a little more often than he probably should have, had he wanted to really help find these sea turtles.

The reef stretched out beneath them like an endless canvas, showing off its full variety of shapes and formations. Even now, the ocean floor continued sloping deeper, so they glided down above what felt like a hillside of unusual shelves and polyps. Liam’s ears didn’t particularly enjoy the additional pressure he added to them, but they soon adjusted.

Looking around momentarily, Victoria intentionally angled them toward a side edge of the reef. Rather than just going deeper, she moved them toward a potential area where some sea grass might grow. After some additional searching upon their arrival at the reef’s edge, they finally found what they were looking for.

Anna looked giddy as she saw her first sea turtle. She’d been the one to spot them, pointing frantically—slow as it was to do so underwater—at the smoothly swimming reptile. This one possessed dappled black marks all over its head and fins, and a brown shell with some yellowish-white markings mixed in. Maybe that was a sign of its advanced age? Liam didn’t know, and he couldn’t exactly ask while kicking his legs in place some twenty feet underwater.

But he could tell how excited Anna was to have finally found one. Even in the depths, her eyes gleamed brightly as she admired the sea turtle, which bent the sea grass as its flippers and body skimmed inches above it. It barely gave them a glance, completely at ease in their presence.

Liam stayed down, watching the sea turtle swim, until his burning lungs forced him back up. Victoria and Anna weren’t far behind, and they all gave their lungs a few seconds to heave oxygen back in.

“That was a hawskbill sea turtle, known for its parrot-like beak,” Victoria said, kicking her long legs to stay above the water. “They’re rather rare, unfortunately, on the critically endangered list. I had actually figured we would most likely come upon a green sea turtle. Fiji has a total of five types, including those two. Five of all seven that exist in the world.”

“Thank you, professor,” Liam said, grinning at her.

Victoria’s face flattened, almost as if she realized that she had launched into a lecture. But Liam quickly waved away her concerns. He’d just been joking, and Anna certainly seemed interested in hearing more. She also wanted to go back down and look at the turtle again, so they delayed hearing their professor’s other details until a little later.

Eventually, the sea turtle headed away, and they chose not to follow. There was still plenty to see, though they came back up and let Victoria tell them more about the various kinds of sea turtles that called Fiji home. Anna’s attention was rapt, and he realized what the next plushie he bought for her ought to be. A sloth and a sea turtle would make for a curious pairing, assuming she ended up sleeping with both.

“Anna’s clearly all about sea turtles,” Liam said to Victoria, hanging out with both beautiful women. They were at least a hundred feet away from the next nearest snorkeler. “What about you?”

“Of the marine life we could find in Fiji?” The older woman grew thoughtful. “Probably the manta rays, but I believe we’re out of season to see one. The mantis shrimp is very interesting, but I would never want to get close to one.”

“Is that the one that hits really, really hard?”

“An understatement,” Victoria said, nodding. At Anna’s inquisitive look, she went into more detail. “Certain varieties have blunt appendages for weapons, and they hit with such velocity and force that they form a shockwave after the fact. If their prey isn’t killed by the actual blow, which is the strongest punch of any known animal, the shockwave might finish them. They could very easily shatter the fingers of a uniformed diver who thought to try and pet one.”

“I’ll keep my hands to myself, then,” Liam said, wincing at the idea of his fingers getting broken by any kind of shrimp.

“A good general rule of thumb when dealing with any animal,” Victoria said.

“People, too,” he noted, grinning. “They can throw punches and bite as well.”

Victoria rolled her eyes. “I suppose they can. Fortunately for us, we can better vocalize our consent, to avoid needing to form any fists or gnash our teeth together.”

“Very important, that,” he said.

Victoria flattened her gaze and shook her head, snorting softly. “Indeed.”

Nearby, Anna looked between the two of them. Behind her goggles, her expression grew clouded, and she unknowingly let her luscious mouth pull to one side.

“What is it?” Victoria asked the younger woman, straight to the point as always.

Shockingly, Anna did the same. “How far have you two gone?”

Neither Liam nor Victoria survived the question unscathed. The question was a little rude, even given the circumstances surrounding the three of them. But it wasn’t that rude, given said circumstances. Really, it wasn’t about the question, nor its suddenness, but about who had asked it.

A second passed, and Anna seemed to realize her gaffe. She wasn’t Avril, who could so flippantly toss out incendiary remarks or prying questions. Her fair skin erupted into crimson, and she threw her hands over her mouth, which hung open. That was much more like her, a proper response from an unfalteringly polite woman who’d let an errant thought finally slip out.

Had she been with them, likely after picking her jaw up off the ocean floor, Avril would have had a field day with her best friend’s slip-up. Fortunately for Anna, neither Liam nor Victoria punished her for her gaffe. They were simply stunned speechless.

“Forget I said that!” Anna cried, face still burning with embarrassment. “I’m so, so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” Victoria said, hiding away the shock that had run amok across her beautiful face. Back to being her usual poised and unperturbed self. “It was just a shock, hearing you ask a question that I would usually expect to come from another source in our… unique group.”

Anna remained the opposite of poised and unperturbed. She looked ready to let her legs grow still, then see if she could sink to the bottom of the ocean.

“I’ll answer the question, so long as Liam is all right with it,” Victoria said, which delivered another shock to the system of the young man swimming beside two gorgeous women. “In the long run, it’s probably for the best if we’re comfortable talking about such things.”

She threw a look his way, waiting for him to back her up. He did so. Even still, Anna didn’t recover her composure quickly. She was clearly still a little ashamed of how she’d blurted out such a question.

Liam wasn’t upset with her. Far from it, in fact. Especially because of where it had led. So long as the reason behind Anna asking the question wasn’t solely because she was jealous, this might work out. The prize he had in mind for them if they won their tennis match against Tess and Avril involved them both. And although he’d been pumping full speed ahead when it came to salivating over what might be, he realized that he’d been thinking about it only from his perspective. It was more than possible that the prize he had in mind was kind of selfish, something he’d enjoy more than they might.

But now, depending on how this conversation went, maybe…

“We haven’t slept together yet,” Victoria said. She hadn’t waited for Anna to confirm that she still wanted to hear about them. That was probably for the best, as Anna still hadn’t fully composed herself. “Though it may happen on this trip.”

Liam liked hearing that, too. However, the stipulation hanging over that occurrence continued to be a thorn in his side. He had a plan to make at least some headway tonight. Hopefully, he might get the date he needed from Tess.

“Okay,” Anna said in a quiet voice, looking down at the shimmering surface of the ocean.

“What about the two of you?” Victoria asked.

Anna’s attention snapped up. “Um, us?”

“Yes. What happened when you two snuck off alone at the beach yesterday?”

That firestorm of a blush returned to Anna’s face. She looked toward Liam for help, eyes pleading and desperate.

“Can I?” he asked, receiving a quick but embarrassed nod from the second most buxom woman of the group. He rotated his focus to the most buxom woman. He also, for Anna’s benefit, didn’t get that specific.

“A couple of things. Some of what I did to you this morning.”

“Oh?”

Liam nodded and, again for Anna’s benefit, grew a little more specific. “You two are almost as sensitive.” He tilted his head toward the one of them with darker hair. “She’s a little more so.”

“Then I have you to thank for Liam’s skillfulness, Anna?” Victoria said, continuing to speak without so much as a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “He seemed surprisingly practiced and aware for someone his age.”

Anna squeaked out a noncommittal “Maybe,” but afterward finally grew a little more composed. “He was good before… we started doing things, I think.”

“Probably just okay,” Liam said, wanting to keep the conversation from drifting toward Avril and Tess. He liked where it was now, focused on the two women he’d done the least with, with hopes of adding plenty before their trip ended. “We were both pretty inexperienced at the start of the year.” He dared to be a bit bolder. “I’m just lucky to have two beautiful women who’ll let me practice plenty.”

Victoria eyed him, aware of what he was doing. To his utter joy, she joined him on the same path.

“It’s good you’re so eager. If you continue to be as diligent and hard-working as you are, I’m happy to keep letting you ‘practice.’ I haven’t found anything to complain about.”

“Me too,” Anna quietly said a few moments later. “It feels really good.”

Liam beamed at both women. Outwardly, when it came to keeping his cool, he fell somewhere between Victoria and Anna. Inwardly, however, his blood sizzled excitedly. There were similarities to this conversation and the one that had happened in the ocean yesterday. And that one had led to such a wonderful experience. The only change was that a voluptuous brunette stood—or swam, in this instance—in the place of a voluptuous redhead.

This one probably won’t go quite as far, Liam imagined.

“Keeping to the same topic, how do you feel about Liam and me, Anna?” Victoria said. “Just him and me. Comparatively, you and I aren’t as close to one another as we are to Avril and Tess. Does that make it more difficult, less? Are you okay with the two of us being romantically involved?”

Anna swallowed dryly, spending a few moments searching for her response. “Right before we landed, he let me know about the possibility of you two becoming… involved. At the time, I said I was all right with it for the trip. I suppose I still want to have some conversations about more than just you and him afterward, but I haven’t had a bad time these past three days. Far from it. If things seem like they’ll continue being good, I don’t really think I’ll try and put forth any ultimatums.”

“A very mature sentiment,” Victoria said. “One I share.” She nodded toward Liam. “We’ve had a few conversations like the ones you’ve shared. I’m happy that seems to be the case with everyone. Secrets and deception would be the first thing to turn me off from this unique relationship.”

“This is all new to me, but I don’t want to be that kind of guy,” Liam said. “I’ve always tried to be as honest as possible, especially when it comes to making sure you all know of my interest in each of you. When it comes to you, Victoria, Avril was the lone exception. Since we all knew she’d just be shocked and impressed when she realized everything.”

Victoria nodded approvingly. “Overall, I don’t find any fault with how you’ve handled things. Especially since this is, as you say, all new.”

“There are a lot of first times I’m going through,” Liam said. “It’s kind of a new experience every day sort of deal. And I’m getting a lot of help, obviously. From you two, Tess, even Avril.”

Anna nodded, sharing the sentiment.

“You’ve done a good job of it,” Victoria said. “I’m willing to commit to more, as you already know.”

Liam nodded, also knowing that she was repeating these things for Anna’s sake, not his. He checked the younger woman’s response from the corner of her eye. She also seemed to agree with this statement. That was incredible. Utterly incredible.

Victoria brought her piercing stare toward Anna. “As for you, Anna, have you put any thought into what kind of a relationship you’ll want with us?”

“Um, what exactly do you mean?”

“I mean, other than being aware of myself, Tess, and Avril, do you have any thoughts on becoming involved at those times when we’re with him? Would you prefer things never go any further than this, just with us occasionally touching base to ensure we all remain okay with how things are? Where you and Liam keep your romantic acts over there, and we all keep our romantic acts over here? No intermingling, basically. Like what happened when we played poker on the first night here, in fact. Would events like those be something you wish to avoid replicating in the future?”

“Oh,” Anna said. “Well, Avril and I have talked about that over the past few weeks.” She blushed and glanced at Liam, and he knew she was thinking about yesterday. “I think, during the trip, I’m willing to try things out and see how I feel about them. I was a little stressed by the strip poker, but I’d be okay if we played again. I think this conversation will help me feel a little more comfortable.”

Victoria nodded. “That is the hope. If there’s ever any discomfort, along with Liam and Avril—and I’m sure Tess would also be completely willing to lend you her ear—I hope you’ll count me among those you can speak to. From start to finish, this trip should be a wonderful experience for us all.”

“I will,” Anna said, seeming to relax a little, perhaps because she sensed that the hard part of the conversation was ending. “Thank you, Victoria. Liam.”

They went back under the water shortly thereafter, returning to focusing on the unique ecosystem on the ocean floor, not the one they were all a part of. However, Liam caught Victoria’s eye on one of their surfacing trips, waiting until Anna returned below before he thanked her for everything she’d said.

“I am a good fifteen years your senior, so it’s only right I be responsible,” the gorgeous professor said. “I meant everything I said, and there was even some I didn’t say. Anna’s certainly the most inexperienced among us, and perhaps you aren’t too far ahead of her. At the risk of sounding unimaginative, you’re both probably in unknown waters. You can both talk to me about the sort of thing we discussed today. Always.”

“We both know it,” Liam assured her. “Thank you, Victoria. I know we can depend on you. I know I can depend on you.”

The beautiful woman tilted her head, softly smiling. She soon returned to swimming among the coral, and Liam pursued her a moment after.