Page 12 of Daddy Billionaire

“Do you ever scuba dive?” he asked, lifting the lid of a chest to reveal a bunch of gear.

I plucked out a snorkel. “I’ll stick to this,” I said.

“Good idea,” he said, taking his own mask and snorkel.

I self-consciously peeled off my tank top and shorts, making sure my swimming suit covered everything. When I looked up to see his bare chest again, so close I could reach out and touch it, I was nearly knocked back into the water. I sat at the edge and dangled my feet in, while he ran past me to execute a pretty impressive dive.

“Show off,” I called, kicking my feet.

He sliced a wave of water my way with the flat of his hand. “Chicken. Come on, it’s nice.”

It looked better than nice and, after I told myself that swimming with Will wasn’t anything to get worked up about, I slid into the water. We bobbed around for a few minutes, then put on our masks and moved a little further from the boat to see what we could see under the waves.

It was a stunning world under there. We weren’t actually very deep, and I could see the white sand below us, with clusters of algae covered rocks and swift moving schools of fish. I followed Will, and we made a big circle around the boat before coming up again.

“You okay?” he asked, swimming back toward the platform. “Want to do another round a little further out?”

“Yes, just a quick breather,” I said.

I held onto the platform for a few minutes and he frowned at me, then jumped up onto it like a seal, grabbing a bottle of sunscreen. “Did you get your back? You look red.”

“Holy cow, I didn’t. And as a redhead from the south, I should remember things like that.”

He hoisted me up and I slathered some on my shoulders before he took the bottle back from me and squirted some onto his hands. The next thing I knew he was rubbing it onto my back and down the sides of my arms. The movements were brisk, almost businesslike, but I still got a flutter. With a smile that nearly stopped my heart, he handed the bottle to me and turned so his muscular back was on full display.

Okay, no problem. I’d pretend he was one of the kids. As I smoothed the lotion over his broad shoulders and down his back, there was absolutely no pretending. He was all man, as hard as a rock and just rippling away under my fingertips. I found my fingers curling into his biceps and then pulled away. He could do his own damn arms. I needed to cool off after that and dunked myself into the water, swimming away like he was a shark. I put on my snorkel, desperate for a distraction from how flustered I was by his body, and stuck my head under the waves.

“Oh my gosh, Will, come here,” I shouted after I bobbed back up again. He looked alarmed and jumped in, swimming to me with long strokes. I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to look. “Hurry,” I said, dunking myself again.

We watched the sea turtle swimming majestically about ten yards away. I wished it would surface so the kids could have a chance to see it too. It moved a little closer to us and though it was huge, I didn’t feel scared. It moved peacefully and calmly through the water, as if it didn’t notice we were there. We paddled around to stay out of its way, but it was completely unconcerned with us. Will reached for my hand as it swam past us, sending us floating away in its wake. He kept his hand on mine until it was a speck in the distance and then we surfaced.

“That was so beautiful,” I said, feeling myself getting emotional. “I’ll never forget that.” Without thinking I swished forward through the water and flung my arms around his shoulders. “Thank you,” I said.

He hugged me back, and I instantly went soft at the feel of his arms around my waist. His hands slid away just as quickly as they wrapped around me and the feel of his fingertips lingered as we floated and stared at each other, still rapt from seeing the turtle. The horror set in a moment later, and I kicked back to put some distance between us. There was no longer denying how much I wanted him, but I had to keep it to myself.

Thankfully the kids crowded at the rail above us and shouted down. “We want to come in, too!”

Now that Ava had conquered her fear of putting her head underwater, she started climbing over the rail. I looked around for the fishing instructor, but he was nowhere in sight. They were at least ten feet above us and I’d read that a fall into the water could be as dangerous as landing on concrete if the person didn’t hit right. A glance at Will showed he must have read the same thing, because the look in his eyes was pure terror. He waved at them to go to the back of the ship, but she had her leg over the side already.

“No,” I hollered. “Go to the platform where it’s safe.” I pointed and then shouted at Harrison. “Get your sister off the rail, it’s dangerous.”

Harrison’s eyes widened, and he grabbed Ava and pulled her back onto the deck. It was nice to see that, even though they were fighting like wild beasts that morning, it was clear he didn’t want her to get hurt. We swam alongside them until they were at the platform. Once they were safely in without breaking their necks and bobbing happily with their life vests keeping their heads above water, Will squeezed my arm.

“Jesus, I nearly had a heart attack,” he said.

“I could tell. You went whiter than those clouds.” I pointed to the puffy cotton balls above us.

He smiled weakly. “You’re so good with them.”

I tried to shrug while treading the water. “I have Mary Poppins energy,” I joked. When he remained serious, I found I couldn’t stop sharing about my life with him. “I was in foster care since I was five. There were always younger kids than me around. And I’ve been babysitting as a job since I was fourteen.”

“Five?” he asked incredulously. “God, that’s Ava’s age.”

“It wasn’t all bad,” I said. “I put the bad stuff behind me. And try to keep it there.”

He paddled closer, only inches away, that serious gaze of his burning into me. “That’s inspiring.” He grimaced. “Sorry, but I mean it.”

I could tell he did and the way his sincerity made me feel was dangerous. Ava splashed past me, and I hurried to swim after her, calling out a game of Marco Polo. Harrison started and as I swam around with the kids, even though I was using all my concentration to keep my eyes off Will, I could still feel his on me. And I liked it.

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