Page 63 of The Wedding Proposal
‘Glad you’re enjoying it.’ Polly turned to Lucas. ‘Put Jim and Bryan’s tanks back on the pick-up: they’re spending the afternoon waterside unless they toss the beer right now.’
The grins fell from Jim and Bryan’s faces. They tossed the beer.
Lucas wasn’t sure whether they realised what idiots they’d made of themselves by indulging in a thinly disguised sulk for most of the afternoon but the other four guys in the party, pleasant Irish lads, all experienced Open Water Advanced Divers, didn’t let Bryan and Jim spoil their date with the sea. They loved everything underwater from orange fireworms to the encrusted remains of a gun from a World War II ship and happily signed up for the next day’s dives.
Bryan and Jim had not signed up for more and were probably already in some bar, downing their long-awaited beer and bitching about Polly.
As Lucas worked, moving the wetsuits up the rail once rinsed, he paused to put on his T-shirt. He’d learned to respect the sun in California.
Vern popped his head around the corner of the team building. ‘Can you clean up the stuff from my dive, too, so Harriet can go? Hot date.’
‘No problem.’ Lucas grinned as small, dark Harriet instantly appeared with three more clients to hang up their wetsuits and BCDs. Harriet would repay the favour some time and, today, nothing was a problem.
Elle had spent last night in his bed.
Thinking about it made his heart flip like a coin. Preparing equipment, supervising and assessing the divers, participating in the briefs and debriefs, checking logs, Lucas had had to keep his mind on the job because safety was everything. But now that he needed only two per cent of his mind for this end-of-day chore he could let Elle occupy the rest.
Last night had been hot. This morning . . . His hands slowed. This morning, the old pattern had shown signs of emerging. He’d told Elle that her sharing her past with him had made him happy, and her own happiness had drained from her face.
He moved the last wetsuit over on the rail and began on the BCDs, letting the chill fresh water splash over his bare feet as he washed the sea from each of the padded waistcoat-like devices in turn.
Vern’s head reappeared around the corner. ‘We thought we’d go over to Fat Harry’s. Polly and Lars are coming.’
‘I’ll give it a miss this time.’ Lucas hung up the last dripping BCD and ran the water over the row of fins standing up against the wall before turning off the tap. He was hoping that Elle would be waiting for him at the boat.
* * *
To his disappointment, when Lucas jumped off the bus and sauntered through the gardens, he found the Shady Lady locked up. Hoping Elle would soon show, he put on the air con and showered.
As he finished towelling himself his phone began to ring from the pocket of the cut-offs on the cabin floor. He snatched it up, frowning slightly to see not Elle’s name on the screen, as he’d hoped, but Simon’s.
‘What’s up?’ he asked shortly.
‘Nothing.’ Simon sounded wary. ‘What’s up with you?’
Lucas laughed. ‘Sorry. Nothing.’ He extended his arm back into the shower room to lodge the towel on the rail. ‘Everything’s good.’
They chatted for a few minutes. Lucas reported all OK on the Shady Lady and Simon asked him to see the harbour master and check that his last lot of mooring fees had arrived, as he hadn’t received an acknowledgement.
Lucas yawned as he listened to Simon talking about the grapes swelling in California. The day’s diving after a happy and energetic night with Elle began to have their effect. Yawning even more widely, he scratched those parts of man that sometimes demanded scratching.
A giggle made him swing around. Elle stood in the galley, eyes dancing, a bag of shopping in each hand.
Simon’s voice continued in Lucas’s ear. ‘I talked to Elle on e-mail and she indicated the two of you were getting along.’
Lucas felt himself begin to harden as Elle put down the bags and came to lean on the door frame while she looked at him, her blonde hair pouring over one shoulder. ‘Glad that she feels that way,’ he said, truthfully.
Elle smiled and Lucas felt her gaze like a caress, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else. ‘Got to go,’ he said into the phone. ‘Something’s just come up. Bye, Simon.’ Lucas ended the call.
Elle prowled closer. ‘Naked man,’ she breathed.
He drank her in, those cool blue eyes almost predatory beneath her fine blonde brows. The tops of her breasts rose where the fabric of her dress crossed over and narrowed into straps, blue and green and all the colours of the sea. He had to swallow before he could speak. ‘Care to join me?’
‘Love to.’ The corners of her mouth lifted slightly but there was no laughter in her eyes. Instead there was wonder, tenderness. Hunger.
Slowly, she reached under her dress and pulled down her underwear, stepping from the white thong and dropping it to the floor. Then she stretched behind herself and tugged until he heard the soft hiss of a descending zipper. Dropping her arms, she shrugged, and her dress began to slide south. The colours seemed to shimmer as the fabric caught briefly on her breasts, or maybe it was Lucas’s vision that shimmered. He did seem to have stopped breathing.
The dress slithered to the floor.
