Page 35 of One Forbidden Night In Paradise (Hot Winter Escapes)

‘But how do you know it’s suitable if you haven’t taken a look?’

He turned towards her and she found herself trying to take in his expression, his features, just as she had been doing ever since she had agreed to this fling. Because it didn’t matter that some things had the feel of a relationship—the shared breakfasts, the long afternoons spent in bed, that intense pull of attraction that shimmered around them like a heat haze. None of it was heading anywhere. None of it was permanent.

The snatch of a song about summer flings echoed inside her head, and she glanced up through the glass bubble, her gaze following a school of silvery Bermuda chub.

It wasn’t summer but fling was the best word to describe her ‘relationship status’ with Chase. She liked the idea that she was jumping into something new, or diving, even. And as with diving there was that shock of entering another state of being. But it was a good shock. Better than good, it was perfect for her life right now. She had promised Holly and Ed that she would have fun and she was having fun.

Although being the nerd she was, she had done a little covert research on the Internet just to reassure herself and it turned out that there were rules about holiday flings; thankfully she was following most of them.

She knew why she wanted to have a fling. She and Chase were on the same page. Plus there was zero chance of them dating long-term under different circumstances so there were already natural boundaries in place. And, finally, they were practising safe sex. Her face grew warm as she remembered how close she had come to letting him stay inside her that first day on theMiranda.

Safe in some ways.

The obvious ways.

But there were other hazards and unforeseen consequences that no condom could protect against.

Like having to accept the unlikelihood of her ever finding a man who liked pleasing his partner sexually as much as Chase did. A man who was happy to take the lead, to be guided, to wait, to celebrate her hunger while satisfying his own.

A beat of heat danced over her skin. She’d had sex with her previous boyfriends but mostly she had been too worried about their pleasure to think about her own. She was too shy to say what she wanted, what she liked. Truthfully, she hadn’t known what she liked.

Until now.

With Chase.

And now she knew the difference between having sex and having good sex. No, make that sublime sex. A lick of heat flickered up inside her at the memory of his hands moving urgently across her body and his hardness clamped between her thighs. No one had ever touched her like that or made her feel so helpless, so hungry.

Locking her knees, she was suddenly aware that Chase was saying something to her. Hoping that the shifting light would hide the colour in her cheeks, she said quickly, ‘Sorry, I missed that.’

‘I was just saying that we have other equipment we can use before we send down the sub.’

‘What kind of equipment?’

‘That depends on the depth of the water. The deeper you go, the more pressure there is and in those cases we use a remotely operated vehicle. They can be operated from the surface and you can add in manipulator arms, high-res cameras, viewing monitors. Then there’s metal detectors, light systems. It just means that we can check out the sites with as little interference as possible,’ he added. ‘That way we can minimise the impact on the marine life.’

Their eyes met and she remembered that argument they’d had in the kitchen what felt like a lifetime ago—although it was just a matter of days, she realised with shock. But then time seemed to work differently here in Bermuda. Or maybe it was him, she thought as his gaze moved over her.

He had tipped her life upside down so why not time?

‘How did you get into this? Looking for treasure, I mean.’

There was a beat of silence and then he shrugged. ‘I grew up near a lake that’s basically the size of a sea. We had a boat—not like theMiranda, more of a dinghy, really. But we spent a lot of time on the water and you end up diving wrecks and I guess it fired my imagination. I’ve always had a very vigorous imagination,’ he added softly.

His eyes rested on her face and she felt her mouth dry. She knew all about his imagination.

She nodded. ‘Down here is like another world. I can see why being able to think creatively would be helpful.’

He smiled. ‘Nice divert,’ he said softly. ‘But you’re right. We come up against challenges all the time that you just don’t get on land. We’ve even had to design equipment for specific problems, and that’s exciting in another way. Here, take a look at this,’ he said, shifting the joystick minutely, then holding it steady. Glancing down, she saw that they were floating directly above a vivid orange coral colony.

Her pulse quivered with excitement. There had to be at least thirty, maybe forty different species of coral down there.

She leaned forward, her gaze travelling along the wreck where it crouched on the seafloor like a huge, sleeping animal. It was theSan Amunia, a Spanish galleon that had been caught in a hurricane off the coast of Bermuda in 1654 and sank with no survivors. The ship had been picked over by salvage teams and amateur hunters, but it was now serving a second purpose as a home for hundreds of different species.

Reaching up, she touched the glass. Privately she had been a little dismissive about the sub. Surely nothing could beat the immediacy of diving. But now that she was here, she could see that, although it was less hands-on, the bubble allowed for a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree experience so that you could see how the marine life interacted with each other rather than having a viewpoint that was limited by the size of your mask.

‘It’s really incredible. Thank you for taking me out.’

‘I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I only got it about a month ago so I haven’t had much of a chance to use it, you know, with the weather and—’

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