She opened her eyes and narrowed them at me, whether from what I said or the tone of my voice, who the fuck knew. She was good at hiding her thoughts sometimes.
“Yeah,” she said, a bite behind the words. “Iknow. We have a deal.”
Then we had no fucking problem. She’d have the world, or I’d forfeit my life for it.
She slapped a hand against the water, in frustration, and then let the water pull her under. She popped up a second later, not gasping but her eyes wide. They locked on mine for a brief second, and before she could even get to me, I got to her. I’dnever seen her swim so fast. She threw her arms around my neck and locked her legs around my waist.
“Something,” she rushed out, pointing behind her, “touched me.”
The water was dark blue in the deeper areas and not as easy to see through as the shallows.
Her eyes stilled on my lips before they narrowed against mine. “Are you laughing at me, Capo?”
“You’re fucking cute,” I said.
Before she could respond, I moved her around to my back, and then went in search of the thing that had touched her.
“Capo!”
“Don’t let go,” I said.
“You—!”
Her words were drowned out by the rushing of water in my ears. She was holding on tight, though, almost choking me, and squeezing the life out of my stomach with her legs. She couldn’t hold her breath for long, so after ten seconds or so, I brought us both back up.
“What the hell?—”
I lifted the strand of seaweed, and she stopped her complaint mid-sentence.
“Here’s your attacker.”
A few waves sent us rocking, and she busted out laughing.
“Are you sure?”
“Can never be one-hundred percent in water, but there’s nothing else around.”
“Except for those.” She pointed.
Three or four boats were far off in the distance but growing closer.
Her breath fanned against my neck when she let out a sigh. “Our naked date is over.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
She laughed a little. “That’s what thisis.” She hesitated, but then her spine seemed to stiffen. “I enjoyed this. I want to do it again.”
“It’s not over,” I said.
“The naked part is,” she said.
I grinned but she didn’t see it. “It’s a toss-up whether or not people will find these private beaches, but we have plenty more islands to go.” I started moving us closer to the shore. She went to let go, but I held onto her delicate wrists. “Seaweed or something more nefarious, who fucking knows. Stick with me.”
“You’ll scare all the monsters away,” she said.
She didn’t let go until I picked up her clothes and handed them to her.
5
