by Robin Wells
Nick froze in his tracks the moment he caught sight of her. “Rachel. What are you doing here?”
She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes, doing her best to look nonchalant. “Going on the dive.”
He stared as if she’d lost her mind. “But you don’t swim. You told me you’re afraid of water.”
“Not anymore. I’m now a certified scuba diver.” She proudly reached into the mesh bag on her arm that held her flippers and dive mask, pulled out a laminated card and handed it to him.
Nick gazed at it for a long moment, then looked up, his expression puzzled. “But how? When?”
“I took lessons in Phoenix. Then I did my checkout dive a few weekends ago in Cancún.”
She could practically see his guard go up. “Well, you’re just a beginner. I don’t know that it’s a good idea for you to go on this dive.”
“Oh, she’ll be fine,” Harry chimed in. “Garden Cay is an easy site.”
“I dove it last year,” chimed in the controller of Barrington’s Miami resort. “We had a beginner along then and there was no problem.”
“Since you’re worried about her, though, Mr. Delaney, let’s pair you with her,” Harry suggested. “That way you can keep a close eye on her.”
Damn, Nick thought darkly. The cardinal rule of diving was always to use the buddy system. There was no way he could object to Harry’s suggestion without looking like a complete and total cad.
Dadblast it—and dadblast the way Rachel looked in those tight pink shorts and that low-cut tank top. It was impossible to think straight when she was standing there looking like that.
Harry waved his hand, motioning the group to gather around. “Okay, everybody—let me see your C-cards, then let’s board the boat.”
One by one, the divers showed Harry their certification cards, then filed aboard a small open craft sporting the name Sea Witch. Nick found himself seated beside Rachel on the long bench that lined the side of the boat.
“So when did you turn into Aqua Girl?” he asked.
Harry started the boat engine. Rachel moved closer to be heard over the loud roar.
“When I learned about this trip. I thought it sounded like fun.”
“But what about your fear of water?”
Rachel shrugged. “Well, when I realized how much my fear was holding me back from doing things I’d really like to do, I decided it was time to conquer it.”
“How did you do that?”
“It was so simple, I’m ashamed I didn’t do it sooner.” She brushed a strand of windblown hair away from her face. “I simply got in the shallow water of the swimming pool at my apartment and gradually worked my way deeper. Patricia and Sophia came with me for support. I started swimming in the shallow end, and before I knew what had happened, I was over my head.”
Just like I was with you. The thought made Nick frown. “When did you take dive classes?”
“In the evenings.”
The evenings. All the time he’d thought she was seeing someone else, she actually had been taking scuba lessons? A heavy weight deep inside lightened and lifted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to surprise you.” Her eyes looked as blue as the water around them. “So did I?”
Had she been taking classes all of those nights? he wondered. And what about the trip to Cancún? She said she’d done her checkout dive there, but she could have easily arranged that through a local dive shop. Who had gone with her?
“Did I?” she asked again.
“Did you what?”
“Surprise you.”
Nick nodded. “Sure did.”
“I hope you don’t mind my coming along today.” Her brow creased as she regarded him. “I promise you won’t have to worry about baby-sitting me. I had more air left in my tank after my checkout dive than anyone else in my class. My instructor said it was a sign I was relaxed in the water.”
Something in her words struck a chord in Nick. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at her sharply. “Did you say you did your checkout dive with your class?”
Rachel nodded. “The trip to Cancún was part of the course.”
Relief poured through him like water down a rain spout. “So you went with a group of people, not one specific person?”
A hint of amusement gleamed in Rachel’s eyes. “There were five of us. I promise I was well chaperoned at all times.”
Nick was glad that Harry chose that moment to switch off the boat engine so he didn’t have to come up with a response. “It, uh, looks like we’ve arrived. Time to suit up.”
Harry lowered an anchor, then turned toward the tanks, which were fitted in a rack and fastened to vestlike apparatuses called buoyancy compensators. commonly known as BCs. “I’ve got everyone’s gear all set except for yours, Mr. Delaney. You said you’d be bringing your own equipment.”
“That’s right. All I need is a tank.”
“Help yourself,” Harry said.
Nick ambled over, hoisted one on his shoulder, then carried it back to his seat beside Rachel. Digging into the large bag he’d stowed under the seat, he fastened his regulator to the valve, then turned the knob on the top of the tank, listening for the telltale swoosh of air. He picked up the mouthpiece and took a breath to check it. Satisfied, he fastened the tank onto his BC, then peeled off his shirt.
He turned to see Rachel staring at him. “Do you need some help?”
“N-no,” she said, averting her eyes.
She waited until he was occupied adjusting his weight belt before she peeled off her shorts and tank top. When he looked up, the breath caught in his throat. Good grief; she was wearing a black swimsuit edged in neon colors. It was cut low on the top and high on the leg, and it made him feel as if his eyes were bugging a mile out of his head.
The fear of water wasn’t the only thing Rachel was overcoming, Nick thought ruefully. The way she looked in that swimsuit, she was rapidly overcoming every shred of his resistance to her.
She pulled on her flippers, then Harry helped her into her BC as Nick slipped on his own. Once everyone had donned all their gear and was seated on the side of the boat, Harry stood up.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s go over the hand signals.” Harry held out his hand, fist closed, and pointed his thumb up. “What does this mean?”
Rachel smiled. “That’s easy. ‘Let’s go up.’ And if you turn it the other way, it means ‘Let’s go down.’”
Harry beamed approvingly. “What’s this one?” Harry placed his hand at his neck, his fingers straight and horizontal.
“That means ‘out of air,’” the Miami controller contributed.
“Very good.” Harry curved his fingers and held them to his mouth.
“That means to share your air supply by passing the regulator back and forth,” said the controller from Houston.
“It’s called ‘buddy breathing,’” Rachel piped up.
“That’s right,” Harry said. He held his hand out and made a fist
“That means danger,” one of the other controllers called.
“One more. What does this mean?” He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger.
“That’s easy,” Rachel said. “‘Everything’s okay.’”
Harry smiled broadly. “You guys know your stuff. One more thing before we go in—I expect all of you to follow Harry’s three rules of diving.”
He held up a finger. “Rule number one—never panic. Any situation is manageable if you keep your head. Rule number two—never hold your breath as you ascend. Your lungs could burst as the air expands. And rule number three—always stay close to your buddy.” Harry looked around. “Any questions? No? Well, then I guess we’re all set.”
Nick looked at Rachel, expecting to see fear or at least a little nervousness, but her eyes registered only excitement as she fitted her mask on her face. He had to admit she looked like she knew what she was doing. She inflated her BC, took an experimental breath of air from the mouthpiece and checked her pressure g
auge one last time. Placing one hand protectively over her mask, she gave a jaunty thumbs-up, then fell backward out of the boat in perfect form.
As soon as he saw her safely bobbing on the surface, Nick followed her into the water. He was immediately submerged in sensation—the coolness of the water, the loud roar of his own breathing through the regulator, the salty taste of the ocean. He spotted Rachel and reached her side in two strokes of his flippers, then questioningly flashed her the “okay” signal. Her eyes smiling, she returned it, then hit the air release button on her BC so she could descend. Taking her free hand, Nick did the same.
He looked down. The water was so clear that it gave him a brief dizzying sensation. It was like looking through air, like hovering off the roof of a six-story building.
Rachel tightened her grip on his hand and excitedly pointed down to the mountains of coral below them. A moment later, she pointed to a school of blue and yellow Queen Angelfish drifting by, their wide bodies shaped like the spades on a deck of cards. He was still watching the angelfish when Rachel tugged on his hand to point out a shimmering wall of silverfish, swimming in such an enormous school that they looked like a giant metallic shield.
When Rachel yanked at his hand yet again to point out a floating jellyfish, Nick grinned despite the regulator clenched in his teeth. He’d been on a lot of previous dives, and most of them were technically a lot more challenging than this one. He’d been on deeper dives, dives into caves, and dives in water so murky, he could hardly see his own hand, but none of them had given him the thrill he was feeling right now with Rachel.
She looked at Nick, her eyes filled with childlike wonder, and pointed up. Nick followed her gaze, and felt his chest expand with an unexpected sense of wonder, too. Waves made cloudlike patterns on the liquid sky. Fish drifted through the current like birds through the air.
Rachel squeezed his hand as they neared the bottom, saying as much with that touch as anyone had ever said to him aloud. They were in another world together, a private world that excluded everything but the here and now.
Come to think of it, it was a world a lot like the world they shared when they kissed.
Deliberately trying to force his thoughts to safer territory, he looked down. They were near the coral now, hovering just above it. A brilliant-hued parrotfish, as brightly colored as its feathered namesake, munched at a spindly stern of finger coral. Lacy sea fans in green and purple waved atop staghorn and brain coral. Banded butterfly fish, looking for all the world like fat little zebras, darted among it. An enormous lone grouper, bumpy and brown, approached them, apparently curious about the interlopers on its turf.
They floated around, exploring the reef, pointing out discoveries to each other with delight. Nick felt his heart flood with a sense of peace and an unfamiliar feeling he could only call joy.
And then, suddenly, something was wrong. Terribly wrong. He inhaled, but he couldn’t draw air.
He adjusted the regulator in his mouth and tried again, only to inhale into an airless vacuum.
Good Lord He was sixty-five feet below the surface, buddied with an amateur diver, and he was out of air. He started to gesture to Rachel that he needed to buddy breathe, then hesitated. He didn’t want her to panic and create a situation where she, too, was in trouble.
She gazed at him, her brow furrowed. He desperately looked around for the other divers. The closest pair of divers was thirty yards or more away, and they were heading the opposite direction.
Damn. He might pass out before he reached them. His chest was already burning with the need for oxygen.
He glanced back at Rachel Something in his expression must have signaled his distress, because the next thing he knew, she’d pulled the regulator from her mouth and was holding it out to him.
He looked into her eyes. Her gaze was trusting and calm, and she nodded encouragingly. Placing the mouthpiece between his lips, he blew into it to clear it, then inhaled a sweet lungful of air. He rapidly drew another breath, then passed it back to Rachel. She took a breath and handed it back.
Arms entwined around each other, they began a slow ascent to the surface, sharing a single source of air. It was intimacy of the highest order, more intimate than making love.
Maybe it was love—love as a verb.
The thought jarred him, but not as much as it would have under other circumstances. Life had taken on a surreal aspect, as if time had slowed and nearly stopped. He was filled with an eerie sense of well-being, a feeling that made no sense under the circumstances.
It made no sense, yet it was.
Rachel was. And he’d never been closer, never been more profoundly connected to another human being in his life. He was so focused on her and on this moment that he was surprised when his face emerged from the water.
Air. Everywhere. Nick gulped hungrily at it So much fresh air. Such a wonderful abundance of the sweet, breathable stuff.
Drinking it in, he guided Rachel to the boat and steered her to the back, grabbing hold of the ladder that extended into the water from a wooden platform. “I’ll go first so I can pull you up. Hold on tight for one minute.”
Nick scaled the ladder, dropped his BC and tank in one smooth motion, then turned back to Rachel. “Can you find the bottom rung with your foot?”
Rachel groped at the ladder, then gave a weak nod. Now that she and Nick were safely at the surface, her muscles seemed as rubbery as her air hose. Her strength had vanished, leaving her drained and exhausted.
“I’m going to reach down and lift the top of your tank so you won’t have to bear the weight of your gear as you climb up. Ready?”
Rachel gave another trembling nod and fit a flippered foot onto the rung.
Three more steps, and she was in the boat.
Two more steps, and Nick had unfastened her dive gear.
One more step, and she was in his arms.
Chapter Ten
Sensation after sensation washed over Rachel as Nick pulled her against him—the solid hardness of his chest, the ocean scent of his skin, the welcome warmth of his arms around her. For a long minute he simply held her, a minute in which the sound of the waves and the beat of their hearts more than filled the silence.
“Are you all right?” he finally asked, pulling back far enough to look down at her,
Numbly Rachel nodded.
“You’re shivering. Are you cold?”
“No. I think this is the aftermath of being scared.”
Nick ran his hands down her arms. “I never would have known you were frightened. You looked so calm.” He held her at arm’s length and gazed at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he grinned. “You were amazing. Especially for a beginner diver. You saved my life—do you realize that?”
She mustered a wobbly grin. “What happened down there?”
“My regulator must have broken. The gauge read that there was still plenty of air in the tank, but all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe.”
“Why didn’t you signal me that you were out of air?”
Nick hesitated. “You’re a brand-new diver, and you’d just gotten over your fear of deep water. I didn’t want to scare you. I was hoping to get the attention of one of the other divers.”
“But I didn’t know what was going on. I thought maybe you’d been stung by a ray or a man-of-war or something.” Rachel’s gaze scanned his face. “I was scared, all right, but only because I didn’t know what was happening to you.”
He rubbed his hands up and down her upper arms, his eyes warm and earnest. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to put you in any danger.”
Despair and frustration crashed over her. How had she managed to achieve the opposite of what she’d set out to do?
“But, Nick—that’s what the buddy system is all about. Two people helping each other, being there for each other in case either one gets in trouble.” Hot tears formed in her eyes. “The last thing I wanted to be was a burden. I took up diving because I wanted to show you I could be an equ
al partner.”
Nick’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand. I’ve always seen you that way.”
Frustrated tears coursed down her cheeks. “I wanted you to see that I won’t hold you back. That I’m not always b-b-boring.”
“Boring?” Nick stared at her, his eyes wide and incredulous. “You thought I believed you were boring?”
Rachel nodded miserably.
“Good Lord, Rachel, how could you think a thing like that?” He stepped closer, his hand moving to her back. “Don’t you know you’re the most exciting woman I’ve ever known?”
His gaze poured down on her like warm syrup. “Don’t you know how you make me feel? When I’m around you, I find it hard to think straight. I had an awful time during the conference. Every time I’d look across the room and see you, my heart would start pounding and my thoughts would stray and I’d nearly forget what I was saying. When I looked at you, the last thing on my mind was audit procedures.”
Rachel’s heart fluttered furiously. “What was the first thing?” she whispered.
“Doing this.”
His fingers tightened on her back, drawing her to him. But this time the embrace wasn’t warm and comforting. This time it was hot and needy, and when he claimed her lips, the kiss was wild and hungry. His mouth ravished hers, and then, at length, it gentled and slowed. He took her bottom lip tenderly between his own, drawing on the sensitive flesh until Rachel moaned aloud. His hands slid to the sides of her breasts as his lips moved to her ear. Shivers chased through her at the delicious warmth of his breath, the slow, exquisite slide of his fingers.
The boat rocked on the waves, and Rachel’s world rocked with it. Everything in the universe seemed to coalesce into the warmth of his body, the touch of his hands, the demanding heat of his lips. The thin, wet fabric of her swimsuit left her feeling naked against him. She molded herself against him, feeling the hard heat of his desire and the answering liquid flame deep within her.
She felt as though she’d been born for this moment, as though everything in her life had been a prelude to this very second. The words welled up and simply wouldn’t stay inside. “I love you,” she whispered.