Best Man and the Runaway Bride

by Kandy Shepherd

  ‘That depends,’ she said.

  ‘On what?’

  ‘How competent you are in the water. You may be a champion top-ranking tennis player but I have only your word as to how safe a swimmer you are.’

  ‘I think you can take my word on that.’ Max couldn’t help but feel affronted. He wasn’t used to having his athletic prowess questioned.

  ‘As your guide, I have to make my own judgement on that.’ This time when she turned to look at him there was a spark of mischief lighting those extraordinary eyes.

  ‘So you like having me in your power?’ he said. Over the sound of the outboard motor and the swishing of the water, he doubted Wayan could hear what they were saying so felt free to skip the pretence they were strangers.

  ‘Whatever made you think that?’ she said with what looked suspiciously like a smirk hovering around her mouth.

  ‘Just a thought,’ he said, unable to stop an answering smile. Or to prevent thoughts of what it might be like to be in her power in a more intimate way.

  ‘Seriously, I’d be remiss in my duty if I let you just dive in without knowing if you can stay afloat. You’d be surprised how many people tell me they can swim when they really can’t. But I haven’t lost a snorkeller yet.’

  ‘That’s reassuring,’ he said with as good grace as he could muster. She was only doing her job—though how she’d ended up in a job like this was beyond his comprehension. From all reports she had been a supercharged CEO of her own company, with a business degree to boot.

  ‘We’re heading for the mangroves at the other end of the island,’ she said. ‘You know the island is only four kilometres long, right?’

  ‘I cycled down to the mangrove forest yesterday,’ he said.

  He’d taken a boat ride through the quiet, dark waterways under the overhanging mangrove trees and passed the exposed roots that reached into the clear water. It had had an eerie peacefulness. Sitting by himself as the boatman had punted them along, again he had been struck by his aloneness.

  The driven life of a professional tennis player had been followed by the rigid regime of rehabilitation. He’d been so determined to prove the doctors wrong and restore his career it had left room for nothing else—not even a flirtation with a cute physical therapist who had made her interest obvious. Looking back, he saw all the activity had masked the essential emptiness of his life.

  Yet his solution was more control—timetables, schedules, goals set out and achieved. Control over himself, control over his time, control of the people he’d gathered around him to ensure he was the best he could be. One goal attained, another to reach for, no room in his life for someone to share it with him.

  ‘Don’t leave it too long to get hitched, son,’ his father had said on his last visit. ‘We don’t want to be doddery old grandparents.’ But marriage and a family of his own were still on hold as he determined a new future. He had loved Ellen, his tennis player girlfriend, but it hadn’t been enough to keep them together when it had come to conflicts in their tournament and training schedules. When they’d broken up he’d played the worst tennis of his career—a fact noted by the sports media.

  ‘We’re heading for Mangrove Point,’ said Nikki. ‘The spot on the reef where we’re taking you has a gentle current and is a great introduction to snorkelling off Nusa Lembongan.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘If I think you can handle it, we’ll take you to Crystal Bay around on the larger island of Nusa Penida.’

  ‘So, baby steps first,’ he said.

  ‘If you put it that way.’

  Max went to protest that he didn’t need babying but he swallowed the words. Actually he didn’t really care where they went. He was back in Nikki’s very enjoyable company and out here on a small boat on a big sea they were about as private as they could be.

  ‘How did you end up acting as a guide?’ he asked.

  ‘I lived in Manly on the northern beaches until I was a teenager and never far from a beach after that. I loved the sea—swimming, surfing, snorkelling. When I was old enough I learned to scuba dive. The first thing I did when I got here was dive the reef and I totally fell in love with the place.’

  ‘Swimming on the reef is one thing. Taking people out as a guide is another.’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s temporary, isn’t it? Like a vacation job really.’

  ‘That makes sense,’ he said.

  ‘I was too distraught the first few days I got here to do much but go out snorkelling or curl up in my room. Either activity meant I didn’t have to talk to people. That eventually passed and I began to take note of what was happening here.’

  ‘You mean with your friends’ venture?’

  She nodded. ‘I could see Maya and Kadek had done an amazing job renovating and rejuvenating the hotel. They built the wonderful villas we’re staying in to extend the range of accommodation. But there were a few areas where they could generate more revenue. Guests wanted to snorkel or dive or take a trip around the island. They’d just refer them to the existing businesses. My friends were too flat out with getting the buildings up to scratch to cut deals with operators and book them through the hotel, or even keep good boatmen and guides on retainer. I thought maybe they could build up to having their own dive shop attached to the hotel one day, buy their own boats.’

  ‘Ever the business person,’ he said. ‘Sydney’s energetic entrepreneur, Nikki Lucas’ was a common label applied to her in the media.

  ‘My father says it’s in the blood.’ She smiled. ‘I’m not so sure about that but if I see a way to make money—honestly, that is—I want to chase it. Luckily, Kadek didn’t think I was interfering and welcomed my advice—not that he didn’t have plenty of good advice from his own hotelier family, of course.’

  ‘Has it all worked out?’

  ‘So far, really well. They organised things in their own way, keeping staff and family on board. I’m happy to fill in as a guide when required.’ She gestured around her to the glorious water sparkling and dancing in the morning sun, the large volcano over on Bali, Mount Agung mysteriously shrouded in cloud in the distance on the mainland. ‘How could you possibly call this work?’

  She looked up at him, her face shining with enthusiasm and a kind of joy that warmed Max. He wished he could have more quiet time with her. He’d like to bounce some of the ideas he’d had for his future off her. He’d like to—No.

  Sitting so close to her, her curves accentuated by the tight stretch fabric of her swim shirt, her slender, bare legs so tantalisingly close to his, he couldn’t let his thoughts stray to kissing her—properly this time—holding her, making love to her. Not when they were so scandalously linked they couldn’t afford to be caught together. Not when he had nothing to offer her in the way of a relationship. Nikki was so obviously not a no-strings-fling kind of woman. And that was all he had to offer at this time of his life, retired from tennis and determined to focus on the transition from the man he used to be to the man he wanted to be now.

  Not that she’d shown any such interest in return.

  ‘Not work at all,’ he said. ‘Unless you find I can’t swim and you have to save me from drowning and give me the kiss of life and—’

  She raised her eyebrows, but a smile danced around her lips. ‘Really? I can see where this is going and I—’

  At that moment, Wayan shouted something from behind them. The wind caught the boatman’s words and Max couldn’t make out what he’d said.

  But then Nikki pointed past the starboard side of the boat. ‘Dolphins!’

  All attention was then on the small pod of frolicking dolphins just a few metres away from the boat. And he never did get to hear where Nikki’s thoughts on giving him the kiss of life—any kiss—were going.

  CHAPTER SIX

  NIKKI KNEW IT was probably a waste of breath to suggest that Max keep on his life jack
et for his first foray into the water at Mangrove Point. But she felt obligated to do so.

  ‘No. Flat out no,’ he said. Then scowled in masculine outrage. ‘I’m an Aussie, Nikki. We swim. You know that. I was swimming in the creek at the farm when I was three.’ About the same time he’d first picked up a tennis racket, she remembered reading.

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘But some people freak out when it comes to swimming in deep water in the open sea.’ And more people than she would have imagined—even Australians—either couldn’t swim well enough to handle themselves in the sea or couldn’t swim at all.

  ‘That isn’t going to be me,’ he said emphatically as he took off the life jacket and tucked it under the bench. He pulled his white T-shirt up over his head, leaving that magnificent chest bare, just touching distance away from her. She caught her breath, mesmerised by the play of his muscles beneath his smooth, tanned skin even as he made the simplest movement. Like reaching into his kit bag to pull out his snorkelling equipment. The guy was built.

  ‘Look, I can even put on my mask without any help, snorkel too.’ He proceeded to put on his mask with great exaggeration and a running commentary that made her laugh.

  ‘I concede you’re a master at putting on your mask,’ she said. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she pulled her own mask over her head and secured it in place over her eyes and nose.

  ‘While you, however, need help with yours,’ he said, with a distinct note of triumph. ‘You have some of your hair caught up in it. That will stop your mask from getting a good seal and salt water will leak into your eyes.’

  ‘I was going to fix that,’ she said in protest.

  Too late.

  He reached out to tuck the errant lock away from her forehead where it had tangled near the straps. ‘Ouch,’ she said.

  But it didn’t hurt. In fact she had to close her eyes at the pleasure of his touch, his fingers firm and gentle as he proceeded to straighten and adjust the strap.

  How could something as mundane as helping a fellow swimmer with her mask turn into a caress? Did she imagine that his fingers lingered a touch longer than necessary, brushed across her cheek tantalisingly near her mouth? Did it thrill her because she’d been so long without a man’s touch? Or was it because it was his touch?

  Sadly, she thought it had everything to do with Max and how attractive she found him. What red-blooded woman wouldn’t swoon at this gorgeous man’s slightest touch? She was no more immune than the fans who’d voted him to first place in those ‘sexiest man alive’ polls. Only she was fortunate enough to be in close proximity to him.

  For a moment—for a long, fervent moment—she wished they’d met some other way so they’d be free to pursue at the least a friendship. But even that, if detected by the media, could draw the kind of attention neither of them could bear to endure again.

  ‘Th...thank you,’ she stuttered.

  ‘My pleasure,’ he said.

  How crazy, here they were both wearing masks that covered half their faces and smiling at each other. It would be comical if she weren’t finding being so close to him so disconcerting. She needed to plunge into that water to cool off. Pronto.

  But first she took Max through some common hand signals used in diving, to communicate both with each other in the water and with Wayan watching from the boat. When she suggested they keep each other near as they swam, Max didn’t argue with her. She went to put on her snorkel. And hesitated.

  There was something inherently unattractive about the effect of a snorkel on a person’s mouth, she thought, as she held it in her hand. Inserting the mouthpiece so you could breathe easily pushed your lips into an extreme pout that she found a tad grotesque. She was reluctant to put hers on in front of Max. A silly vanity, she knew. Ridiculous, really, as it had never bothered her before.

  Max had no such inhibitions. His snorkel was on in seconds. He grinned as well as he could around the mouthpiece and didn’t look odd at all. Fact was, he was so good-looking it didn’t matter. And he was so confident he wouldn’t care anyway. She couldn’t help a grin in return as she slipped in her own mouthpiece. He gave her the ‘okay’ signal.

  From the side of the boat, she slid into the water and watched Max do the same. She needn’t have wasted any worry about his swimming ability. It was immediately apparent he was as competent and confident in the water as she was. As he struck out away from the boat, facedown in the water, she followed him.

  As soon as her head was under the water she was lost to any other thought save the wonder of exploring the underwater world that revealed itself to her. Vibrantly coloured fish darted through the coral, the sun filtered through the clear blue water in shafts right down to the floor of the sea, illuminating a waving sea plant, exposing tiny cobalt-blue fish camouflaged against brilliant blue coral. The feel of the water sliding over her skin.

  She turned to see Max gliding through the water beside her, arms by his sides to reduce drag, just the kick of his long fins to propel himself forward. Yes, he’d snorkelled before, there could be no doubt about that. She swam alongside him and could see his pleasure in the water, his head turning to follow the path of a shoal of blue-and-yellow-striped angel fish, as he swam in an easy, well-paced rhythm.

  Nikki suspected Max was a natural athlete. No doubt good at any sport he tried. Among the best in the world at the one he had chosen to excel at. Who knew what he might still achieve?

  As she watched him, he dived down and swam deeper propelled by strokes of his muscular arms, the strength of his powerful torso. He stayed under, holding his breath longer than she could have imagined anyone could—but then as an athlete in peak condition he must have an amazing lung capacity.

  On land, he seemed strong and athletic with an insouciant physical presence. His confidence underwater added a further element of gracefulness to his athleticism. His perfectly proportioned body was as streamlined as if he were himself a magnificent sea creature, riding the current rather than fighting it. To her, watching from above, it seemed he belonged there as much as the coloured coral and the sea plants waving gently in the water, the schools of brilliantly coloured reef fish darting in and out of the underwater landscape. He turned and twisted with, she thought, the sheer joy of his physicality.

  As she watched him, Nikki felt torn by a yearning to be part of whatever it was he was experiencing. To be with him. She couldn’t put a name on what she felt. It ached but it wasn’t anything sexual. Or was it? As she watched him glide through the turquoise depths of the sea, the realisation hit her with full force. She flushed, even with the coolness of the water on her face. Yes, she admired him. But not in a dispassionate way. She wanted him.

  During the time she’d avoided him, her growing desire had pushed insistently against her defences. Defences she’d rapidly put up when he’d held her in his arms as he’d helped her flee from her wedding—and she’d liked it. Liked it too much. That was what all that tingling had been about. Sheer sensual awareness of the best man. She’d taken it for nerves, relief, even embarrassment at the situation she’d got herself into.

  The more she’d fought it, the more that desire had pushed to be acknowledged as she’d tried to ignore his presence at the resort. Tried to forget the feelings that had surged through her at his brief, unforgettable kiss. Even pretended she hadn’t seen him when he’d crossed her path. When in fact she’d thought of little else but him. Had even found herself on her side of the common wall between their villas alert for sounds of his presence. She’d spent rather too long wondering if he swam in his lap pool in the black swim shorts he currently wore or nothing at all.

  Now that dammed-up desire burst through, shattering her defences and leaving her vulnerable to him, to her awakened needs. She would have to make every effort to mask it. Nothing had changed. They still couldn’t be seen to be in any way linked to that old scandal if they didn’t want to be splashed all
over the media again in such an unpleasant way. How foolish she’d been to even contemplate a friendship between them. Being platonic friends with Max wouldn’t cut it for her. Not when she hungered for the physical.

  He’d been under the water for so long she realised she was holding her own breath as she watched him. How long had it been, he swimming, she lost in admiration and newly acknowledged desire? She dived down to join him.

  As she reached him, he pointed down to a brilliant blue starfish for her to admire then turned. They powered up to the surface together, emerged from the water at the same moment. Blew the water from their snorkels in plumes. He looked around to find her. Even through his mask she could see his exhilaration, the eagerness to share his underwater experience with her. She’d felt the same when she’d first snorkelled here. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him; she knew how difficult it would be to pretend indifference to this man. How much fun it had been for her to swim with him, like-minded, matched in their skills. How much more she wanted.

  Now, she swam up beside him, removed her mouthpiece so she could talk to him, treading water. He did the same. His hair was slicked flat to his head, dark with water, his eyes bluer than the bluest patch of the sea. She was treated to his most dazzling smile yet.

  ‘Wow,’ he said. ‘Just wow!’

  Wow! Yep. That was exactly her reaction when she saw Max’s half-naked body emerging from the water like some gorgeous mythical merman from his enchanted underwater kingdom. Just wow.

  She had to swallow hard to make her voice sound normal. ‘I’m so glad you enjoyed it,’ she said, genuinely pleased at his reaction. One of the things she liked about helping out as a guide was introducing people to these beautiful waters and the marine spectacle that lay beneath the serene aquamarine surface.

  ‘Thank you for bringing me here,’ he said. ‘It was brilliant. Better than any expectation.’

  She forced her voice to sound how a swimming guide should sound, impartial yet encouraging. She the guide, he the client. ‘Crystal Bay is even better,’ she said. ‘Deeper water, more coral, more fish, more colour.’