where he expected. He swam faster. Had she run into trouble? Then he felt a tug on his ankle. Flipping over, he bumped into Sara. From the laughter in her eyes, he knew she was all right and playing. She kicked away, on her back, watching him as she moved through the water. He surged after her.
Suddenly she was gasping. He caught her under her arms and swam swiftly to the surface. Pulling the mouthpiece from her mouth, he held her above the water while she coughed.
She pushed back the face mask and gasped for air. A moment later she looked at him ruefully.
“First rule of scuba diving—don’t laugh,” she said. She coughed again and drew in a deep breath.
“Is that what caused this?”
She nodded, her hand resting on his shoulder. “You looked so surprised when you saw me, I couldn’t help it. I forgot about being underwater. When I laughed, water came in my mouth. Thanks for the rescue.”
“Enough for today.”
She looked around. The small boat they’d used to get away from the dock and Cassandra bobbed several hundred feet away.
“I can swim back. I’m fine now that I have my breath back.” Without volition, her fingers began rubbing small patterns on his smooth skin. She could feel the muscles contract beneath her as he kept them both above water. Did she have her breath back? Being so close to Nikos was robbing her of air again. Her legs tangled with his as they lazily kicked to keep upright. Her left side was pressed against him.
He swept back his own face mask and gazed into her eyes, his gaze then dropping to her lips. Sara licked them. Salty. She wrinkled her nose.
Nikos’s eyes took on a distinctive gleam. “You look delectable,” he said in that low, sexy voice.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said. “My hair is hanging in strings. I have no makeup on and I’m covered in salt water.”
He leaned forward the scant inches separating them and kissed her.
CHAPTER FOUR
SARA kissed him back. Her tongue met his. His slow kicking kept them upright while the kiss went on and on. She hugged him, her hand brushing against the top of his tanks, the breathing hose and straps separating her from his skin. She wanted to be closer, impatient to drop the tanks and have nothing between them.
Then reason returned. Slowly she pulled back, her eyes wide as she gazed at him. He looked at her lips again, then into her eyes.
“This is so not a good idea,” she said. For a gazillion reasons. Yet she couldn’t move.
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Relationships between boss and employee always end badly—usually for the employee.” It was not her first reason, but one that would suffice.
He released her and swam back a foot or so. “This was merely a kiss. You are correct, relationships between working people don’t end well.”
Sara sank to her chin, turning to swim toward the runabout. He’d shown pity on a lonesome crew member and with his free afternoon offered to show her how to dive. He’d probably wanted to go alone. She was not reading anything into their afternoon. Not even the kiss. People kissed others for various reasons.
She refused to explore why she’d kissed him back. Enough to have enjoyed the afternoon. She didn’t need anything further from Nikos Konstantinos.
The kiss had surprised her. But she’d not been able to help herself and had returned the kiss. Magical—like the entire cruise. The sooner she had her wits about her, the better.
Sara reached the boat first. She tried to pull herself in, but the weight of the tanks offset her balance too much. Rats, now she’d have to rely on his help, and that was the last thing she wanted. If she could levitate herself in, she’d do so.
Nikos pulled himself easily into the small craft, shrugged out of his tanks and went to the side to assist Sara, lifting her without difficulty. Once standing on the rocking boat, she unfastened her own straps. Before the tanks could slide off, he lifted them from her shoulders, carefully placing them in the rack built into the back of the boat.
“Thank you again, I enjoyed the diving,” she said politely, refusing to meet his eyes. If the yacht hadn’t been so far away, she would have struck out swimming to avoid this awkwardness.
“My pleasure.” His deep voice sent shivers down her spine. Could they recapture the ease they’d enjoyed before? Did she want to?
He pulled up the anchor and started the motor. Sara sat in the seat next to his and gazed straight ahead. The day had been magical. She would ignore the change after the kiss and remember the good part. Her friends would want to hear every detail when she returned. And she’d tell all—except about the kiss. Some things were too private to share.
It took less than ten minutes to return to the Cassandra. One of the crew heard the motor and was there to take the lines and secure the small boat when Nikos stopped. He turned and offered his hand.
She smiled politely and took it to step to the swim platform and then up the ladder to the aft deck.
“Oh, Nikos, where have you been?” Gina leaned over the side, eyeing Sara as she climbed swiftly up.
“Took advantage of the time for some diving,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“The captain said you’d be returning on the aft of the boat, so I came to wait. You should have told me you wanted to go swimming.”
Gina continued to watch Sara ascend. When she reached the deck, Gina walked over. “Aren’t you the cook?”
“Chef,” Sara corrected, walking back down the deck toward the door to the lower decks.
“We didn’t go swimming, Gina,” Nikos said as he reached the deck. “We went diving. You said you didn’t know how or I would have invited you.”
“I could have gone swimming,” Gina was saying to Nikos as Sara walked through the door and headed for her cabin. Let him explain to his guests why he’d taken the hired help diving and ignored his invited guests.
As Sara stood beneath the minuscule shower a few moments later, she wondered why herself. He certainly had the choice of a wide variety of women. She knew a half dozen who would love to trade places with her. So why had he spent the day with her? Was it because he recognized a kindred spirit who also loved antiquities? She hardly thought so.
By the time Sara had the evening meal prepared, she had regained her equanimity. The duck à l’orange was perfection. The lightly steamed vegetables al dente and nutritious. Once the dishes were served, she’d send the crew’s meals out and begin to work on the dessert. Not that all the delicacies were consumed each evening. She had her suspicions about which guests did not eat the sweets. Their loss. The triple-chocolate mousse cake tonight would melt in their mouths, the bitter chocolate flakes on the frosting a contrast to the sweetness of the mousse. It was one of her favorite desserts. She’d made a double batch to make sure the crew had enough. And she could indulge, as well. Nothing like chocolate to set things right.
Stefano
