towel tightly wrapped around herself. Underneath, he knew, she was wearing a black bikini that covered her curves well enough, but did nothing to hide her great figure. He swallowed, trying not to look too closely...but in the end it didn’t really matter, as his body was hell-bent on reacting anyway. His mouth watered at the thought of her perfect mouth, and his fingers craved to smooth down her wind-wild hair. Never mind the tight clutch low down in his belly that had him turning away from her. Thank God there was cold water close by.
Working would have been a much better idea but here he was, instead, with a reluctant accomplice and a serious case of hot lust. Why he’d even bothered to invite her he didn’t know. Playing hooky for once in his thirty-three years had seemed like a good idea when talking to Tina. Harmless.
In truth, he should have stayed back at the house and tried to catch Cameron for that conversation he still hadn’t had with her. It had been such a temptation to talk to Lola about the pregnancy—obviously confidentiality meant he never could—but he got the feeling Cameron needed more than him looking out for her.
‘Have you got a wetsuit? Rash guard? The sun’s fierce, you don’t want to get burnt,’ he growled at Lola, taking a step away from her. He didn’t want to have to rub sunscreen on to that gorgeous body, or they’d never actually get into the ocean.
And what he needed more than anything was a dose of cold seawater to sluice away the physical ache he had for her—especially seeing her right now; lush red curls against creamy pale skin, breasts that threatened to break free from flimsy string masquerading as a bikini, and a waist that looked the perfect size for his hands to grip.
‘Yes, boss. Here.’ She turned and held up a pink neoprene jacket and put it on, zipping up the front. Thank God.
He couldn’t get his head around the fact that the kiss had seemed real and wanted on both sides, and yet now she wanted to be anywhere other than with him. But he’d got the message, and she was right. There were too many reasons to prevent him getting involved with anyone, let alone a woman who had such a serious effect on his equilibrium.
‘Tina said that over by the rocks was the best place to start. There’s some coral there, so take care not to stand on it, we don’t want to damage it.’ And with that he turned and made his way down towards the water, fins and mask in hand.
But she was with him in two strides.
‘So, isn’t this the best look ever?’ Laughing, Lola dragged her mask over her face and made piggy eyes at him as she pulled the mouth tube into her mouth.
Actually, it was a pretty damned sexy look, and he was shocked by how much he wanted to haul her to him, even with a plastic mask on. So he dived deep into the clear, cool water and got on with fish-spotting.
Jake was always surprised at the serenity of the ocean; all that busy activity down there, yet little sound save for the ebb and flow of waves and the echo of his heartbeat in his ears. The sun warmed his back as a whole new world opened up below him. The little underwater gardens were teeming with life and there was enough interest to grab his attention away from the hunger Lola had started in his gut.
They followed the curve of the bay out west, floating and bobbing with the tide, popping up for air as and when they needed it, agreeing on a course to follow, then swimming and watching and pointing at the sea life. Lola was an excellent snorkeller, easily excited by the large black manta ray gliding along the seabed and the schools of pretty purple and electric-blue fish that darted back and forth in front of them.
Then she kicked away to follow a shoal of bright yellow spotted ones, and for a few moments he was alone—just skimming along the top of the water looking down into the rhythmic swaying of the seaweed on the coral.
His heart rate slowed, and for the first time since he’d set foot in the Caribbean he began to relax. The cool water washed over him and with it his sense of equilibrium and purpose was renewed. It was only a few days in the Bahamas, they could rub along together for that, fill their days with activities and surround themselves with other people. Soon enough they’d be back to LA and their normal lives. After that, the filming would swiftly wrap up and he’d have no reason to see her again. With time, he hoped, this ache would die and she’d just be a quaint memory. Like the other women who’d flitted in and out of his life.
It would all work out fine.
He didn’t know how long they’d been there, but suddenly the water turned choppy. Expecting the wave wash of a boat or a jet ski, he lifted his head out of the water and came face-to-face with a grinning Lola. She ripped the mouth tube from her lips and pointed out to sea. ‘Look! Look! Dolphins.’
Sure enough, a pod of bottlenose dolphins was diving and playing in the deeper reef. ‘Oh, yeah. Pretty cool.’
As she trod water she gripped his shoulder. ‘Cool? It’s flipping amazing. Look at them, showing off, playing together. Do you think we could swim with them? D’you think?’
‘You’ll have to be quick.’ And before he could argue she’d grabbed his hand and was half swimming and half dragging him through the waves, trying to catch them up. For little more than a few minutes the dolphins gave them a magical show of their skills, corkscrewing over and over, darting underneath their legs and popping up behind them. One of them took a liking to Lola and pushed his nose at her. She reached out and touched him before he darted away. He returned twice and played the same teasing game—pushing his nose at her, waiting for her to reach and then disappearing into the foam. Then, just as quickly as they’d appeared, they were all off in a display of enthusiasm, swimming faster than humanly possible and disappearing into the distance.
‘Wow...I can’t... This is so...’ Lola stopped and grasped his hand again, coughing as she took off her mask. The outlines of the rubber seal had marked her pretty face, but she was grinning widely, tears shimmering in her eyes. She looked so damned beautiful it made his chest constrict. ‘I don’t know what to say. That was... Oh, my God! Dolphins. That was so amazing.’
‘Yeah. Very cool.’ He took off his mask too and affected an English accent. ‘Pretty flipping amazing, actually.’ Like she was, with bright golden flashes in her dark brown eyes, her hair slicked back, droplets of water falling from her eyelashes. A mouth that he ached to taste all over again.
‘Yes, it is. All of it. Everything...’ Her voice cracked. She looked at him as she held onto his shoulder, her legs working beneath the surface to keep her upright, while something passed between them. Something electric, something real and hot. Everything felt as it had when they’d kissed, the charge in the air was the same—an almost tangible shimmer between them.
But that couldn’t be right, because she’d said... What had she said? That she was messing things up for him. But here she wasn’t messing up anything, here she was making the trip a whole lot more bearable. But he was useless at reading signals, especially in ten feet of water when words and actions didn’t gel. ‘Lola, we should probably go now.’
‘But—’
‘We need to get back. An hour for each, we agreed.’ He made a start for the shore, leaving the cooler depths behind and entering the warmer water where it was almost shallow enough to stand up, had it not been for the coral gardens beneath their feet.
‘Wait. Stop a minute.’ Panting, she caught up with him, grasped his arm. ‘Thank you for bringing me here. I’m sorry I was so hard to convince. I don’t want to get in the way of your work. I know how important that is to you.’
‘Yeah, but you can’t work all the time. People
