3
I didn’t pull my hair back into a ponytail under the baseball cap, so it hung in a blond curtain around my face as I bent over and tapped my tank. A habit I’d started years ago when I first started diving. I can’t even remember why I did it. But now it was a superstition. Something bad might happen if I didn’t tap it. So I did it every time.
All was in order and I sat on the bench of the dive boat with the rest of the tourists. I chose this trip because it was within the vicinity of another area I wanted to add to the search grid I was establishing. Being with a group shouldn’t attract attention, I was just a girl going for a dive.
I found it difficult to trust people, even though I now needed to, with the museum opening. I gazed at the people from under the brim of my baseball cap. The peak shaded my eyes and I studied each face. I breathed a sigh of relief. No one was familiar to me, so I let my attention wander.
It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies, warm, turquoise waters, and with a bit of chop on the ride out to the dive site which was on the other side of the point, so it would be sheltered and not too tricky of a dive. I was a certified master diver, and very confident in my abilities, but I still grew a little nervous when diving without a buddy.
The dive boat roared past the beautiful white sand beaches of the many little uninhabited islands that were part of the St. William’s island group. The boat rounded the point and immediately the water was calmer. Where I was planning to dive was in the bay a bit further, which meant I was diving away from the group.
Anchor down, I readied myself and tucked my gear bag under the bench as the crew helped the tourists. When it was my turn, I stepped off the dive platform at the transom. Turquoise water closed over my head and the silence of the sea wrapped around me. I let the air out of my buoyancy compensator vest and sank, loving the sensation of peace that wrapped around me. I swear I had to be part mermaid, or something. I had such an affinity to the sea, it felt like home. And why I had a mermaid tattoo.
I dove down and rolled so I could look up. I loved the way the surface about twenty feet above me shimmered like molten silver. Some people had a hard time with the silence. I knew someone that would hum all the time, otherwise he’d verge on a panic attack.
The sound of my breath through the regulator was a comfort as well. Some got claustrophobic, but not me. It was wonderful to be back under the water. To dive. To lose myself in the gentle ebb and flow and energy of the sea. I checked my gauges and looked around to see where the other divers were headed and got my bearings. I had about fifty minutes to do some scavenging.
I made a careful notation of my compass heading. The tranquil blue of the water buoyed me. Visibility was good. It wouldn’t be for long once the hurricane showed up and I felt a burning sense of urgency to find another item. Just one more, to help establish the size of the grid.
Why was I nervous? It had to be the excitement of finding something under the white sand, or tucked into some coral. I gave a couple of powerful kicks and the coral head I’d been seeking came into view. It was fairly large and rose to about ten feet from the surface. The last time I was here, I’d marked with a ribbon around a lump of dead coral. Turning over a few rocks, I found it and carefully hid it again.
I gently sifted through sand and picked up loose coral. Just as I was about to investigate a little hidey-hole between some brain coral, I heard the drone of a boat motor. I looked up and was disappointed to see a boat stop and an anchor plunge into the water about 30 feet away. It was definitely a risk I took diving without a surface flag to indicate I was below. A second later, a diver jumped in, oriented themselves, and seemed to stare right at me.
I sculled my hands to push myself away from the coral and watched. The diver tipped and with powerful kicks, trailing a line of air bubbles, swam straight for the bottom towards me. Alarm flared in my chest, and I gazed around looking for the group I’d arrived with. Perfect, no one in sight—even if that was my intention all along, now I wasn’t so sure. I was alone. In the vast ocean with this very purposeful looking person bee-lining it straight to me.
I placed my hand on my thigh where I had my dive knife sheathed. This person was an excellent diver. Comfortable in the water. Strong. Confident. I kept a close eye on him. He was diving without a wetsuit. I had on a shorty, custom made for me in green and purple with flashes of yellow. A true beacon for carnivorous sea life, but I liked the colours.
The 80-plus degree water wasn’t cold to this approaching diver, indicating he likely wasn’t local and from up north. His tanned muscles told a different story. I pushed the clear waterproof pouch hanging on my belt behind me. It held, among other things, the grid I had outlined and I’ll be damned if I’d let him see it.
I darted a glance at the coral head. Now I’d have to come back another time to investigate. Shit.
When he’d discovered Daisy was diving and where, he’d secured the speed boat and dive gear in order to meet her. He knew she was searching for something and it excited him. A sweet emotion indeed.
Careful she wasn’t below, he tossed the anchor and jumped in after quickly strapping on the tank. He pulled his fins on in the water. Once in the water he was pleased that his guess had been quite accurate. She wouldn’t be too far from the tour dive boat, and it was pure sweet luck to find her so quickly.
The sea floor was perfection. Sandy white, clear water, colorful fish. She was easy to spot in her vibrant wetsuit. She saw him and sculled near a coral head. Cork skimmed along the sandy bottom in Daisy’s direction. Her eyes indicated she was wary.
He smiled behind the regulator. He was almost certain why she was here, and being alone, away from the rest of the dive group was a clear indicator. He was eager to find out. He saw the waterproof bag attached to her belt, even though she tried to keep it hidden behind her.
Had she found something already?
The coral head was large and had a lot of nooks and crannies where treasure could hide. The sea wasn’t too deep here, and coral rimmed the sea floor in the edge of a deep gulch. Cork kicked over to the edge and peered over. It fell away into dark indigo blue depths. He turned and swam over to her. She recognized him and it was clear she wasn’t happy he’d shown up. But, he saw a flash of delight when she recognized it was him. But it vanished when he pointed to the reef.
Her eyes narrowed and he crooked a finger for her to follow. She looked at her dive watch and held up her hand with her fingers spread wide. She had ten minutes left. He nodded to her and when he swam over to the reef, she was beside him.
Cork’s heart thumped in his ears. He was exhilarated. Partly because of the dive, looking for treasure, but mainly because of Daisy. She did something to him and he’d realized it the other night at the fundraiser. He was hellbent on finding out why. Perhaps he just had to bang her and get it out of his system. Likely that’s all it was, but either way, he was intrigued.
He glanced down, seeing a break in the coral. Almost a round chimney type depression that was about three feet deep, with a sandy bottom. Before he could make a move, she was headfirst in the space, her ass sticking up. He stopped and floated, watching her, seeing the perfect shape of her calves, the delicate knees and lean muscular thighs, and he couldn’t tear his attention away from her ass. Her perfect, heart-shaped bottom that made his cock hard.
Daisy’s hair floated out behind her, long and wild in the water. He reached out, was about to grab her hips when a great burst of bubbles snapped him out of his lust haze. Daisy pushed herself back out of the hole almost in a panic. He grabbed her arm, concerned she’d hurt herself or gotten bitten by something. But when she spun around and stared at him, his heart stilled and he couldn’t draw air in through his regulator.
Her clear green eyes, through her dive mask, gazed back at him. Full of life, passion, wonder and excitement. Dimples showed in her cheeks and he knew she was smiling. Her hair floated around her like spun silk glinting in the sun’s rays that reached down through the turquoise waters.Heat flooded him along with a wave of dizziness. He was absolutely captivated by her.
Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Or was it just the dance of light through the sea, over her green and blue wet suit, her long tanned legs and feet tucked into matching fins. Her arms were out, one reaching toward him, but he swore to God he was looking at a mermaid.
He blinked and focused on her hand as she waved it. Reaching for her he took hold of her wrist and looked at her curled fingers. His eyes widened and nodded his head to her hand, willing her to open her fingers. She lifted it between them and they both stared as she unfurled her fingers. There, in her palm lay a coin. It was tarnished, but even under the scourge of time the emblem was evident. He reached to touch the coin, but she closed her fist around it and pulled her hand from his grip, putting it in a mesh bag attached to her belt.
It snapped him out of his wonderment. They stared at each other and no words were needed. They dove to the hole. It was too small for Cork, and he floated next to her as she shimmied her way into the opening. She reached back and waved her hand; he held it and she dropped more coins. Holy shit.
Daisy backed out a few minutes later and pushed off the coral. She dropped another handful of coins the mesh bag and pulled the drawstring tight. They had discovered a small fortune.
This time when she looked at him her eyes were wide with concern. Cork raised his shoulders with inquiry just as she cut her hand across her throat. The universal sign for no air. He grabbed her air gauge. She was empty. She crooked her thumb to the surface and started up, but he held her, reaching for the spare regulator floating behind him and she took it, spitting out hers.
They needed to stay close to buddy breathe back to the surface and he wrapped his arm around her. She turned and hooked her legs around his waist, belly to belly, her breasts squashed in her wet suit pressed against him. She gazed at him and he saw the relief in her eyes, which slowly turned to passion. She had to feel his hard on. Having her legs wrapped around him like that didn’t help matters.
They stared at each other for a moment. Cork was enjoying the surprise intimacy and could tell she was as well. She blinked and it powered him into response. There was no time to get her back to the dive boat and he decided to take her to the boat he rented and back to the marina himself.
He held her tight, liking how she was wrapped around him, however awkward it was with dive gear on, and he carried her up.
They broke through the surface. She dropped the regulator and pulled down her mask.
“Oh my god!” She threw back her head and yelled a great whoop which had him smiling like a fool. She treaded water, totally forgetting to fill her flotation vest, so he reached over and did it for her, then filled his. “Can you believe it? Oh, wow.” She was breathless and the look of pure joy on her face thrilled him.
“Well, it appears you’ve made a significant find.” He took her hand and pulled her towards the speed boat. He was thrilled she allowed him, and a powerful urge to protect her overcame him.
“Yes, it seems so. I have to come back here.” She gulped when a wave washed over her head.
“Let’s get aboard.” He pushed her to the ladder.
She grabbed it, reached down and removed her fins then tossed them on the boat. He hadn’t realized just how in shape she was until she climbed the ladder, her tanned flesh shining as the sea ran in rivers off her, the muscles taut, strong, and very shapely. The wetsuit covered her from shoulders to hips and he was determined to get it off her as soon as he set foot on deck. She was talking a blue streak and Cork listened. Letting her have her moment of glory.
“I have to secure the site and get more funding. Oh wait, I may not need to now.” She nodded to herself and chattered like a parrot as she stripped off her tank. “I haven’t counted the donations yet, but hopefully they’ll help with this new search and filing the salvage claim.”
Clearly she hadn’t seen the check he’d put in there last night.
He took her tank and strapped it in place, along with his, storing away their gear for the ride back.
“Oh god! After all this time, finally I have proof.” She put the bag down on the cockpit table and rested her palms on either side. “Look. Just look at that,” she said, her voice full of wonder. “It’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.” She glanced up at him. “Don’t you think so?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, no. It’s not.” He wasn’t about to tell her she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.”
Her face was incredulous. “How can it not be? Man, it’s glorious.” She plopped on the seat by the table and dropped her chin in her hand with an enormous sigh.
“I brought some lunch and wine. Why don’t we go off to that lagoon and relax with the food while we admire your treasure?”
She smiled and nodded. “Aren’t you the prepared little boy scout,” she teased. “First we have to let the dive group I came with know I didn’t drown.”
She jumped up and grabbed the radio mic, calling over to advise she wouldn’t be going back with them and would pick up her gear bag later.
The engine roared to life and he had the boat en route to the private lagoon. She gazed across the waves, a smile on her face. If he had his way, they’d skip lunch and feed off each other. She turned to look at him, her expression unreadable. It was probably the first time he’d not been able to tell what a woman was thinking. This alone intrigued him more than anything else. She was mysterious. Deep as the ocean and he wanted to discover all her secrets. He cut the engines and they floated in the empty lagoon ringed by palms trees. It was paradise, but his paradise was going to be with her. In her.
They didn’t talk. There seemed to be no need and when she stood and came to him, her fingers playing with the tab of the zipper before she finally pulled it down. He was ready for her.
Daisy tipped her head and smiled, reaching up to push the wetsuit off her shoulders. She began a little striptease for him, and he smiled, standing like a lovestruck teenager with a raging hard on while she tempted him.
She stepped out of the suit. She was absolute perfection. The pink and white striped bikini enhanced her tan and he suspected she tanned in the nude. But he’d like to find out for himself. They walked toward each other and she stepped into his arms.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.” She murmured, her voice husky, deep and holding promises he was going to make her keep.
“Me either.”
He ran his hand up her back, over her smooth skin and into her still wet hair, holding her prisoner as he crashed his mouth onto hers. She met him with ferocity. Her breathing was labored and needy. Cork pressed his tongue into her mouth, finding hers, and it was electric. Sealed to each other, they melded into one, until her legs gave away and she sank. He held her, gently lowering her to the teak floor, glad of the sunshade over the cockpit.
She moaned into him. Her sound ignited a fire that he’d never felt before and he was astounded, confused, driven, and all he wanted was to claim her. He pulled his mouth away and found her neck, moving lower. Taking her tits in his hand, through the fabric, he rubbed her engorged nipples; she arched her back. Her fingers thrust into his hair, and she clutched him with pain that bordered on pleasure.
Daisy quivered beneath him as he explored her. Her warm, tanned skin was tart with dried sea salt. Cork pressed his face to her belly, inhaling her scent. She smelled of the sea, coconut lotion, and a tinge of neoprene from the wetsuit which lay in a heap under her. Best of all, she smelled like sex, and it drove him crazy.
He kissed and licked his way down her firm torso, lingering at her belly button, and sucked on the jeweled piercing until he heard her sharp intake of breath. He smiled and slid slower kissing her soft flesh.
Cork pushed her bikini bottom aside and pressed his lips to the crease of her thigh. She moaned and lifted her hips. He felt like he was drowning in her so deeply he never wanted to surface.