Page 42 of Flyboy

Tiago approached. “I’m going to wash down the deck.” He indicated where Ivy had gone. “You going swimming?”

“I think so. Snorkeling.”

“Here?Nao, nao, Amigo. Wait for ten minutes. I’ll take you to the wreckage near a reef. She will like that much better. Colorful fish. The mystery of buried treasure . . .”

“What? That’s awesome.” Ivy poked her head back out, and Colton had to force himself to swallow. His mouth had just become the desert. He couldn’t even answer her question. He cleared his throat. But nothing was going to work.

Ivy looked from Colton to Tiago, who finally answered for him, chuckling to himself. He explained more about his idea and where they should snorkel. While Colton watched, trying to get a grip with his realization that not only was Ivy attractive, impressive, fun, secretly daring, and full of courage, but she was smoking hot, and right now, he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

She wore a black swimsuit, probably covering more of her than most girls covered in their small bikinis, but the effect was twice as sexy on her than he would have ever thought. She was stunning in every way. He struggled to keep his thoughts respectful enough so she could hear them. But he suspected she might not love his immediately masculine response to seeing her. The fact that he was already half in love and had such huge respect only added to the attraction.

“Does that sound like fun?” Ivy turned the full force of her smile on him, and all train of thought left.

“What?”

She looked at him twice before turning back to Tiago.

“I’m just gonna go change.”

She waved her fingers at him, and he stepped through the door she’d just left.

“Get a grip on yourself, man.” He hurried to his bag, grabbed a different pair of swim shorts, went to the back bedroom, and slipped them on.

Tiago tied the sails and used the motor to take them to the reef. “If you look straight down here, you will see the wreckage at the end of this reef. I’ll drop anchor right here where it’s shallow.”

Ivy was the first to jump in the water. Colton had to hurry to keep up with her. He got the impression he would always be doing some hurrying to catch up with Ivy.

She swam flat on the water, her fins flipping, and her arms stretched out along her body at her sides.

Colton searched the water around her. Was he looking for sharks? Did the huge fish get him all freaked out too? He shook his head, reminding himself who was the reckless one and who the careful one. Since when did he get all worked up about possible danger?

He knew the answer. He knew what no one else did. But now wasn’t the time to think about it.

Then Ivy dove. And Colton’s breathing picked up. He jerked on the last flipper, yanked the mask down over his nose and eyes, and slid into the water. Immediately, he looked ahead, searching the murky water for Ivy.

An old ship down below loomed up from the depths like something out of a horror film. And at first, he couldn’t see Ivy anywhere. His eyes flit about the whole area of the ocean below. She couldn’t be that deep. No one had that much air. He saw a shadow below in the wreckage. A long, sinister-looking fish-like creature. His breathing picked up, and he squinted, hoping to see more clearly.

Then Ivy swam up to his side and tapped his shoulder.

He shouted in surprise inside his snorkel. Could she hear that? His heart pounded wildly. Trying to recover, he knew he was being ridiculous. What was the matter with him? He tried to make his eyes smile but wondered if instead of happy, he looked deranged. She gave him a thumbs-up and waved that he should follow her.

Her breath to prepare to go down seemed extra big, so he did the same. Then he submerged after and followed her flippers down toward the wreckage. He felt a bit calmer seeing Ivy right in front of him, and his curiosity took over. She hurried to the tallest mast, held on to the old and decaying wood, and pointed.

The boat was mostly intact. And on the opposite side, a huge turtle hovered in the water. It turned its head, stared at them for a moment, and then slowly kicked away. Ivy’s hand on his arm squeezed. Then she pointed back up to the surface.

Once they were at the surface together, she treaded water and took the snorkel out of her mouth. “That was incredible. How old do you think that turtle was?”

“I don’t know. At least one hundred years. They live a long time.”

He pointed to the boat. “So, should we call it a day?”

She studied him for a moment. “You don’t like this.”

“No, it’s great. What’s not to like?”

“You really don’t.” She studied him, and he didn’t like how closely she was looking or how much she could see inside him. “You’re afraid?”

He looked away. “No. Come on. What’s there to be afraid of?”

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