4
H is mouth was slick on me just as wet as the ocean had made us. His tongue was magic, and I lost myself in ecstasy. But this wasn’t right. This couldn’t happen now; the timing was all wrong. I gripped his hair, wet and slick in my fingers.
My hips had a mind of their own—they took over the motions of my body. Pulsing and thrusting against him. His hands gripped my ass cheeks, the combination of his grip and his mouth, not to mention the fact we were out in the open, the boat rocking on the waves under the blistering sun for all the world to see made it even more exciting.
I tried to push him away. But it felt so damn good. Instead, I pulled him closer. I couldn’t catch my breath and before I knew it, my orgasm rushed over me and everything splintered apart. It was furious and body wrenching, and oh so glorious.
I lay there in silence, trying to catch my breath and wondering how this all just transpired. How could I have let this happen? I was mortified, and short of jumping in the water, there was no other way to escape this situation.
The dive boat was long gone. That meant I was stranded. Here. With Cork. I had to find a way to face him and maintain my already tattered dignity. So I reminded myself the reason I was here and sat up. I reached for the mesh bag, filled with the coins I had just found.
“Where is it?” My voice croaked, and I cleared my throat.
“What?” He sat on the teak floor and leaned against a seat. He reached for me and I had to admit, he was enticingly sexy, sprawled on the deck, hair wet and wild, tanned body glistening in the sun. It took every ounce of self control I had to avoid his gaze. Because if I looked at him, I might just fall back on top of him to reciprocate the pleasure he’d just given me.
I stood and fixed my bathing suit, highly self-conscious about our intimate moment.
“The coins, what did we do with them?” I lifted the wetsuits and shook them out. I didn’t want to overreact, but there was no way I was going to let those treasures out of my sight. Under the pile was the net bag holding the cache, and I sighed.
“Right there. Where did you think they would be?” Cork answered, and I heard a tightness in his voice. He rose with ease and picked up the bag.
“Good. I don’t know, maybe in the heat of the moment they fell overboard or who knows.” I sat down on a cushion under the sunshade wanting to kick myself for mentioning the heated moment.
Then I wondered. “How did you know I was diving out here?” I narrowed my eyes and watched him. “Were you following me?”
He opened the cooler and pulled out a couple of beers, handing me one. I was thirsty and took it, nodding my thanks.
“No, I wasn’t following you. I did want to do some diving?—”
“On your own? That’s not smart.” I took a very welcome long drink from the can.
“Says the girl who was doing just that,” he mused and smiled.
I raised a shoulder and answered, “Yeah. Point taken and not something I do often. But you wanted to dive? And right here? Come on, I’m not that stupid.”
“I never said you were. I was looking into getting a boat and through that discovered you were going on a dive. Since our meeting the other day was rather…abrupt…I thought it might be a good opportunity to go for a dive and with your group. You’d already left, so I got my own boat.”
I watched his features to see if he was spinning me a line. I had no reason not to believe him. Right?
“This is an awful fancy boat for a dive trip.” I commented.
“Yeah, it was the only one available on short notice.” He smiled, and my heart did a little tumble.
Damn, he was gorgeous. My eyes traveled to his lips, and my blood pounded through my veins remembering what they’d just done to me. I squirmed a bit on the seat, feeling so out of my element it hurt.
“I see. Well, what do you say we get back? I’m eager to clean up the coins. Plus, I need to wash the salt off me.” I finished the beer and stood, walking past him to put the empty can in the cooler.
“Is that what you really want to do?” He reached out and curled his arm around my waist.
I felt a shock when he touched me. I stumbled, and cursed the rogue wave that tossed the boat at the same time. My foot slid out from under me and the next thing I knew, I was on his lap with a very unladylike, “oof.”
“Whoa there,” he said, as I scrambled back to my feet.
I tried to shake it off, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do since falling into his lap had felt absolutely perfect and I would’ve rather stayed there.
“What do you say we head back?” I suggested again.
He sighed and rose, going over to the helm. “If that’s what you want.” He started the boat and the powerful engines roared to life.
“Yes, it’s what I want.” I convinced myself it was what I wanted, even though deep inside my stomach churned with indecision.
“Hang on,” Cork called back to me.
The boat lurched forward, bow up, with the sudden surge. I hung on, waiting for the boat to level out. Built for speed and comfort, soon it flattened on the water and we were speeding back toward the marina.
I loved the wildness of the ride, the bounce over the waves, my hair streaming out behind me, the hot sun on my face. This was where I should be. On the water, under a glorious blue sky…and with a hot and gorgeous man at the helm.
I had a feeling he would be difficult to resist and that I’d need to keep myself under control, and my head about me in order to remain focused. However, watching him with his legs braced wide, slender hips, powerful tanned shoulders, hands gripping the wheel with his long sun-streaked hair blowing in the wind, I questioned just how well I’d be able to stick to my resolve.
But for now, I’d embrace this.
Wild.
Exhilarating.
Free.
There was no point even to talk as he drove the boat across the turquoise waters back to the marina. Cork had been completely undone by her. If she’d been willing, he would have made love to her right there and then, but her rejection was like a hot knife.
Tasting her and bringing her pleasure had been glorious and surprising, and he did his best to try to understand her reaction. They were strangers after all; she didn’t know him from Adam and passion of their find and the heat of the moment had taken them both by surprise. Cork would have enjoyed continuing the discovery of her, but he respected the fact that she pulled away.
He wanted to get to know her more, to gain her trust, and not push her past her comfort zones. She was exactly the person he needed to help with his next quest. And it was important for her to come with him.He just had to convince her.
What he hadn’t expected, though, was their passionate connection. The way it had happened so spontaneously, easily, and as if it was destined. However, it was a new experience for a woman to not want to be with him. Which intrigued him even more.
Cork glanced behind him. Daisy reclined on the seat, resting on her arms along the seat back, with one foot on the cushion and the other dangling to the deck. Her face tipped up, eyes closed, hair streaming out behind her. The lean contour of her neck made his mouth water.
She was absolute perfection.
Only a few minutes left until they arrived at the marina and once in the channel, he slowed the boat so they didn’t cause a wake.
“Almost there,” he told her and guided the boat back to the slip.
“I’ll tie off the bow.” Daisy leapt off the boat with a line in her hand and expertly secured it to the cleat. “Can you toss me the stern line, please?”
Cork shut off the engine and did as she asked. She knew what she was doing and was full of surprises. He knew a bit of her history, about her father and his search for antiquities. Clearly, he’d passed his desire onto Daisy. He wondered if she’d catalogued the donations from the other night yet.
She jumped back on board and grabbed her dive gear. As did he and slung the small cooler strap over his neck.
“Do you need a lift back to your hotel?” Cork took one last look around the boat to make sure nothing was left behind, then jumped onto the dock.
“Thanks, but I do have my car.”
He held out his hand, which she took, and she stepped off the boat. He followed her, and they paused at the office where he’d rented the boat.
“I’m going to turn in the keys. Do you need help to get your gear off the dive boat?”
He followed her gaze to where it was moored a few docks over.
“I’m gonna have to see if they left my stuff on the boat or took it to their office. But first I want to put this gear in my car. There’s no point lugging it all around,” she told him.
“Hang on a sec, let me get rid of the key and I’ll come with you.” Cork was reluctant to part ways with her just yet. Which was a very unusual occurrence for him.
She nodded. He quickly returned the key and signed off on the papers. In the doorway, her elegant beauty struck him again, and he paused. Still in her bikini, she was barefoot and held the wetsuit in front of her with the dive tank standing by her feet. He actually felt his heart clench at the vision. Another reaction he’d not experienced before, and it unsettled him.
On one hand, he had the urge to distance himself from her so he could ignore these new feelings. But, really, all he wanted to just carry her off and have her all to himself. Cork cleared his throat and walked outside.
“Right, let’s get your stuff in your car and then go see what’s going on with the dive boat.” He grabbed her tank before she could and smiled. “Lead the way.”
“My car is just over here under that tree. I always look for a shady spot so I’m not cooked when I return to the car.” She glanced back at him with a grin. “Damn, my keys are in the bag that were on the dive boat. Do you mind waiting here while I run back to get it?” She put her wetsuit on the trunk.
“Sure, I’ll wait here for you.”
He put down the tanks, and rested his hip against her car. She jogged away, carefully avoiding sharp stones. He’d discovered long ago that life took you in directions that could surprise you. Some of them may not be where you wanted to go, but in the end he’d accepted that going with the flow was usually the right way. It wasn’t worth fighting and most times, you ended up exactly where you were meant to be. A bit woo woo perhaps, but he was a believer in intention and manifestation.
Watching Daisy disappear behind the dive shack, he decided he definitely wouldn’t resist this new tack he seemed to be on.