The dinghy quickly pulled up alongside the sailboat, and Sebastian tossed a rope to Topher to tie up the small boat. Within minutes, Pippa, Clementine, and their duffels were ushered to the back of the boat to the awaiting Topher.
Chapter Eleven
“WELL, hello there,” Topher said, leaning in to kiss Pippa’s cheek, which she promptly deflected with a quick reach of the hand instead. “We meet again.” He shook her hand vigorously, as if he was a politician seeking her vote.
“We ‘meet’? Or better yet, ‘I’ve been hoodwinked into being here’?” Pippa said, squinting her eyes.
“Hoodwinked?” Topher said, giving a quick wink to Clementine. “Why, you make it sound like your friend had malicious intent, bringing you here under false pretenses. Shame on her.” He wagged his finger in jest at Clementine.
“I didn’t say anything about Clem being malicious,” Pippa said. “I simply said I was brought here under completely false pretense.”
Clementine spread her arms out. “And what a miserable-piece-of-shit place to be dragged to,” she said, high-fiving Sebastian at that smarmy crack. “I know if my friend pulled something like that on me, I’d probably hug her.”
Pippa shook her head. “You know what I mean, Clem. You didn’t tell me the truth because you knew I wouldn’t have come.”
Clem nodded. “No duh. Which is why you’re here! I didn’t tell you the truth—so shoot me! Now, let’s stop quibbling over semantics, because I want to get my bathing suit on and try out this perfect water.”
She grabbed Sebastian’s hand and asked him to show her to her room, leaving Topher to escort Pippa down the hatch as well, although Pippa maintained her distance with no intention of any overt body contact of the palm-on-palm (or anything-on-anything) variety.
They descended one by one down the short wooden staircase to the salon.
“Home sweet home,” Topher said, spreading his arms wide to show them the “living room.” And what a room it was.
The bright living area consisted of a long table of polished burled oak surrounded by plush white leather seat cushions that doubled as living room chairs and overstuffed linen pillows in varying shades of blue. Off to one side was a nice-sized galley kitchen outfitted in white Corian countertops with coordinating oak cabinets. There was a large flat-screen television on one wall.
“This is perfect,” Clem said, throwing herself onto the leather seat cushions and resting her feet on the table. “I could get used to this mighty quickly.”
“Don’t,” Pippa said. “We’re not going to be on here long enough for that to happen.”
Clementine waved her hand past Pippa to motion to Topher for him to ignore her. “She’s just got a little agita.”
They all smiled but for Pips, who grimaced at her.
“Time’s a-wasting,” Clem said as she got up again. She pointed to Sebastian. “And how about you take me to my quarters while these two lovebirds swab the deck.” She gave a pronounced wink.
Pippa rolled her eyes, knowing that meant she was defaulted to Topher as her boat tour guide.
Topher showed her to her relatively plush cabin, with a queen-sized berth and plenty of drawer space, then even gave her a primer on how to use the downright swanky, electric-powered bathroom facilities.
They all met back up in the living room.
“I’ll leave snorkeling gear near the ladder because we have some lovely reefs nearby to explore,” Topher said. “And if you need anything else, by all means let us know.”
“Okay, well, we can tour more later, but I’m getting my suit on,” Clementine said, scurrying toward her room. “Last one in has to kiss Topher!”
The three of them laughed, but Pippa just grumbled as she closed the door to her cabin and opened her duffel. In which she found a fat pile of condoms, front and center.
“I am so going to kill you, Clem,” she yelled to her.
Pippa was the last one to get into the water, which probably unfairly got Topher’s hopes up that she really did want to be the one to have to kiss him. The sight of her in her tiny black bikini was no doubt frustrating the hell out of him. Good, thought Pippa. Serves him right. Although the sight of his broad sun-kissed chest and lean muscular legs as he floated on his back were taunting her probably just as much. So much for divine retribution.
~*~
“I’m going off to snorkel,” Pippa said, pulling a mask over her face.
“You have to use the buddy system!” Clementine said while treading water next to her. “And my buddy is Sebastian. Sorry, Pips. Looks like you’re paired off with Topher.” She tapped her on the head with her snorkel.
Pippa took off her mask and glared at Clem. “Remind me to drown you as soon as I get a chance.”
“Before you know it, you’ll be drowning in your own sea of love,” Clem whispered to her with a subversive wink and gentle elbow to the ribcage.
Pippa growled and pulled her mask back on. “Are you coming?” she asked Topher in a less-than-cordial tone.
She kicked hard with her flippers and set off toward a nearby rocky outcropping with Topher on her heels.
At first Pippa worked hard to pretend she was on her own, not even looking over her shoulder to see if Toph was nearby. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why she was being so disagreeable, really. Poor Topher seemed happy to welcome her with open arms, but she had it in her head that this thing needed to be over and done with, and she wasn’t going to be part of some juvenile hijinks orchestrated by others that would only serve to perpetuate what she saw as her enormous mistake.
Besides, all that was going to happen was word would get back to the rest of the Family, as the royals were known, and next thing you know their fling would be made a mockery. She didn’t need that in her life. Nor did she want to be part of anything that would make it even worse for Topher. Sure he might want her now, but certainly not at the expense of his longer-term dignity.
Once Pippa reached the reef, she lowered her head beneath the surface of the water so she could check out what was swimming around her, and finally her tension started to wash away with the gentle movement of the warm water and the sense of calm that came with the underwater world enveloping her. Topher swam up next to her and occasionally pointed out interesting fish to her. Soon he motioned for her to rise to the surface.
“You see that ugly fish I just pointed out to you?” he said. “It’s called a thick-lipped grunt.”
Pippa wondered if he was suggesting perhaps it was a distant relative of hers, what with that surly-sounding name. If he wanted to think she was a grunt, then so be it. But maybe at least not a thick-lipped one.
“How’d he get that charming name?” she said, feigning detachment.
“Oh, there are plenty of grunts: para para grunt, banana grunts, striped grunts, solid ones.”
“And are they all particularly grouchy?”
Topher laughed. “Ha! The only grumps around here are of the human variety. Actually, they’re named for a piglike grunt they make with their throat teeth.”
“Very funny,” she said. “Whoever’s paid the big bucks to put their ear up close to a tiny fish to hear a noise coming from it, I’d like to know.”
Topher continued with his fun fish facts. “Some grunts are known for kissing, or at least that’s what it looks like, as if they’re touching lips. There are grunts called sweetlips, by the way.”
Now the normal Pippa, the bawdy, spirited, never-worry-much-about-what-she’s-going-to-say-around-the-guys Pippa, would make some crack about a fish with thick lips or one called sweetlips. Probably along the lines of “I bet you’d like to get that fish’s lips around your—”
But this quasi-ticked-off, somewhat weirdly bashful version of Pippa that had just materialized in the past hour or so wouldn’t dare make suggestive comments to which Topher could retort in a sexually suggestive way because then what would she do? She sure didn’t want to set herself up for having to shut him down. Even if she maybe
didn’t actually want to shut him down.
Luckily he was none the wiser to the self-editing going on in her confused brain. “Grunts, like young angelfish, are sort of like the coral reef’s version of a car wash,” he said. “Fish pull up alongside them, and they’ll work their magic to clean up the exterior on other fish, picking off parasites, which they feed on.” He made a polishing motion with his hand.
“They’re the mother baboons of the ocean.”
It was actually work for Pippa to pretend to be so disinterested. She was almost getting mad at herself for it but not quite. Amazing what a sense of self-preservation will do to a person. She lowered her mask and began to swim around again. But the minute she saw a very long, shiny silver fish, she squealed and tapped Topher to rise to the surface.
“Oh my God. Is that thing going to eat me?” she asked, holding on to his shoulder.
He shook his head. “It’s a tarpon, and he’s totally harmless. Though we’re harmful to him—fishermen love to go after those things.”
“I seriously thought it was a shark.”
“You might want to brush up on your shark-recognition skills, ’cause it looks nothing like a shark.”
“Well, it is silver.”
“So is that necklace you’re wearing,” he said, pointing to her throat. “Is that a shark? Besides, sharks are gray, not silver.”
She smacked his biceps with her hand. “Fine. Whatever. I’m going back under to look some more.”
For a while they meandered amidst the coral reef, Pippa at the helm. It was damned near impossible for her to remain in a particularly pissy state of mind, immersed in the tranquil undersea world as she was. Occasionally, she’d point to a brightly colored fish or a school of them swirling about and hope that Topher could tell that she wasn’t completely rejecting him.
It wasn’t until she drifted closer to shore that she realized she was nearly penned in on three sides by reef and rocky outcroppings, and surrounding her everywhere were those ominous-looking, long-spined black sea urchins. Panic set in as her breathing became labored; she had no idea how to get out without being pierced by the venomous spines of the creatures. And with Topher trailing behind her, she had no way to back out. She wanted to cry, but a hell of a lot of good it would do to cry in salt water. Suddenly she felt herself being pulled backward until she finally reached a place where the sea urchins no longer enveloped the area. The water was still shallow enough for her to stand on the tips of her flippers, so she stood and raised her head from the surface, grabbing hold of Topher in a death vise.
“Oh, Toph, I can’t believe you saved me from those terrifying things,” she said, her breath still coming at a fast clip as if she’d just run for her life. More like swam for her life, only she wasn’t actually able to do that. “Thank you for that.”
Topher nodded his head. “Not a problem, love,” he said. “I saw you’d boxed yourself into a prickly corner and was happy to spare you that misery.”
“Do they hurt?”
“Do they? Uh, yeah,” he said. “Not only does a sting from one of those hurt like hell, but often the spine breaks off in your flesh and you get infected. Not what you’d want during an idyllic Caribbean vacation.”
Pippa pondered the idyllic part of that concept. Okay. Gorgeous venue. Check. Gorgeous man. Check. Gorgeous boat. Check. Cranky, stubborn Pippa trapped with evil poisonous seagoing creatures. Waaaaaa!
Only then did she realize she was still clinging to Topher for dear life.
“Um, yeah, idyllic,” she said, extricating one arm at a time and trying to feign as if she wasn’t trying to do just that.
“Kind of like how it felt right then when you had your arms around me,” Topher said, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her closer toward him again. But it wasn’t going to be an easy task to get those legs around his hips without her raising a fuss, what with those big old flippers on. Especially with an uncooperative witness. And Pippa was wise to his machinations.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Toph,” she said, although she didn’t put up much of a struggle, so he kept his hands right where they were.
“And exactly why not?” he asked, raising one hand to the back of her head, pulling her face toward his.
“You know this is just going to cause trouble.”
“I love trouble.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Tell me what you really mean, Pippa, and not what you think you should mean.”
“I mean you and I are an impossible match,” she said. “It’ll only end up getting back to Zander, and then it’ll create all sorts of problems. I want no part of that piling on.”
“I can think of some piling on you might want to be a part of,” Topher said as he grazed his lips against hers.
Pippa shook her head. “Been there, done that, suffered the aftermath of your brother’s mockery.”
“Look, Pips, I’m sorry if Zander was being a prick,” he said. “You know he’ll happily double down on giving you grief since you’re practically like family. But in the end, he’ll stop. He can’t go on like that forever.”
“Honestly, we can’t go on like this forever,” she said, pushing away. “Why don’t we simply agree to be friends.”
She lowered her mask over her face and, with a swift flipper kick, headed into deeper water, leaving what was likely a rather confused and frustrated Topher behind.
Chapter Twelve
BY the time Pippa and Topher got back to the boat, dusk was settling in around them, and their friends were already putting the finishing touches on dinner. Sebastian had soft jazz playing on the speakers, and the whole scene could’ve been a commercial for the tourism bureau. Or an advertisement for mating. If there was such a thing.
“Well, look at you two lovebirds,” Clem said, which earned her a dirty look from Pippa. Topher simply shook his head at her as he toweled off.
“Looks like we’ve got a stubborn one on our hands,” Clem whispered to Toph.
“I’m not deaf, you know,” Pippa said as she dropped her snorkeling gear into the storage compartment. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”
“You’re deaf to the poor man’s valiant efforts to woo you,” Clem said. “I swear I’ve never seen you so dug in before.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Pippa said. “I’m going to get showered.”
“Oh, no you’re not,” said Clem. “No time for that. Dinner is ready now, and we’ve slaved over a hot galley stove to make this right.”
Pippa blew out a breath of indignation. “Fine,” she said, wrapping her towel around her as if it were a bath towel. She wasn’t particularly keen on dining across the table from Topher in her skimpy bikini top, figuring that would only give him ideas.
A small table was set on the stern end of the boat, with romantic candles burning. The two of them had grilled lobster and vegetables and cooked up a rice dish as well.
“Good thing they didn’t serve us sea urchins,” Topher said, leaning his head down to lock eyes with Pippa. His face broke into a wide grin.
“Those things are dreadful,” Clem said. “Tried them in Italy one time. Looked like something you’d cough up if you had chronic lung disease.”
“All the more reason it’s good they’re not on the menu tonight then,” Sebastian said, rubbing his hands, ready to dig into his lobster. He pointed at Topher and Pippa. “You two have a close encounter of the sea urchin kind?”
Pippa shuddered. “Terrifying,” she said. “Those creatures were everywhere!”
“You got trapped by them?” Clem asked.
“I couldn’t move! They were on either side of me, in front of me, everywhere!”
“How’d you get out?”
Pippa glanced toward Topher with a sheepish grin.
“A little ocean rescue was in order,” Topher said, buffing his nails on his chest as if boasting about his savior prowess.
“He pulled me out by the flippers,” Pip
pa said.
“Awwww, that’s so sweet,” Clementine said. “Your knight in shining swim trunks.”
Pippa rolled her eyes. “Yes, exactly what I was going to say.”
“Well, I think it’s charming,” Clementine said. “He swoops in and saves you just in time. Maybe it’s a sign.”
“What? That he passed his lifeguard test?”
Clem shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, duchess,” she said, bowing with a flourish. “In the meantime, sit down and eat.”
Sebastian poured wine for them all as they found their seats; then he raised his glass. “To friends, both old,” he said, nodding toward Pippa and Topher, then turning his gaze toward Clementine, “and new. May they be everlasting.”
Pippa took a few sips of her wine and soon found herself loosening up a bit. And as she tackled her lobster, she finally started allowing herself to have fun.
“This is actually quite amazing,” she said, looking around as the last of the sun set on the horizon, bathing the few clouds in the sky in purple light. “How is it that you get to live in such a perfect place?”
“It didn’t take much persuading after my first trip here,” Topher said. “And once I talked Sebastian into bringing his boat down here, I mean who couldn’t survive in this tropical paradise?”
Sebastian nodded. “Toph knew I was bumming around in tropical ports, and he promised me I’d fall in love with the place,” he said. “I ended up here three years ago and never looked back.”
“How do you two know each other?” Clem asked.
“We’re cousins,” Topher said. “Our mums are sisters, only his is much younger than mine.”
“And far less powerful,” Sebastian said with a grin. “Thank God.”
“Sounds like there’s more to that story,” Clem said.
“Aha!” Pippa said. “Now I remember you. I think we met one Christmas when you were like five years old. Wasn’t there some battle over who got to keep the children when your parents split up? And you spent the holidays with the Firm?”
Love is in the Heir Page 6