She tasted of salt and sweetness, and she smiled when he rumbled a desperate surrender of a groan into that tempting mouth. When he wrenched himself away to explore further, she grasped him with trembling fingers, trying to draw him back to her lips as he trailed a path from her lips to her jaw and licked that fragrant, shadowy spot just below her ear.
Musk and roses. Delicious.
She moaned, and he surged upward to capture it against his tongue.
The kiss stretched into the entirety of the ocean, and when they paused for a moment, both breathing in rapid rasps, she whispered his name with such longing he nearly floated away.
Then he blinked his eyes open and realized: They were floating away.
The gentle current had inexorably nudged them farther from the other tourists. The captain appeared to be saying something into a megaphone and waving them back toward the ship with a certain amount of controlled impatience, as if she’d been doing it for a while. A crew member was swimming in their direction. And Thomas’s hands were empty of everything but Callie.
Callie smoothed back the hair plastered against his forehead and gifted him with one last, lingering brush of her mouth against his. A tender, private caress, despite the watchful eye of HATV’s camera lens.
Then she smiled at him. “Let’s go find your goggles and mouthpiece, shall we?”
He was hers. She’d claimed him.
What else could he do but follow?
SEVEN
“Oh, my God, Tess.” Callie leaned toward the mirror and smoothed on a thin layer of makeup primer. “Thank you for telling me about Renaissance Island. This place is so relaxing. Yesterday afternoon, a dude named Sven pummeled me into massage-drunk jelly, and the snorkeling trip this morning was incredible. The water’s so clear and warm and calm it’s like a baby’s bath.”
Her cell was resting on the bathroom vanity, the speaker activated so she could continue getting ready for the upcoming sit-down interview, where she and Thomas would discuss the three island options and end all faux-suspense by choosing one of them for the rest of the trip.
“I know, right?” Tess gave a rueful laugh. “Although I have to admit, I probably spent more time on the tennis courts than on the beach.”
“The beaches are gorgeous, but Thomas and I met Lucas just before dinner last night.” Callie said, carefully mixing a squirt of her foundation with a dollop of moisturizer on the back of her hand. “I can safely say you made the right decision. Damn, woman.”
Lucas was a tall drink of twenty-something hotness, and no one could blame Tess for gulping him down. Even better: When Callie had mentioned her friend’s name, his face had softened and lit in a way that was almost painful to witness.
He clearly adored Tess. Enough that he was finishing out his contract with the resort and planning a move to Virginia. So yeah, Callie had approved of him. Wholeheartedly.
“Is Thomas there with you right now?” Tess sounded cautious. “Or can you talk freely?”
After showering, dressing in the bathroom, and giving her a tender, sweet buss on her temple, he’d gone out to get them a belated breakfast from the little café on the first floor. Given his usual speed of decision-making and movement, she figured she had plenty of time to chat.
“He’s grabbing food.” She sponged the foundation mixture over her face and neck, blending the edges thoroughly into her skin until no line of demarcation remained. “And that brings me to the other reason I owe you a big thank-you. He and I are together now. Like, boyfriend-and-girlfriend, drawing-hearts-in-the-sand-with-our-initials-inside together.”
A long pause. “What?”
Callie loaded up her little highlighter brush. “I said, Thomas and I are dating now, and I’m so grateful you convinced me to come here. Thank you.”
Another, longer pause. “Are you joking?”
“No.” Tess hit the inner corners of her eyes and her cheekbones.
Total silence.
“Honey, I have time, but not all day.” No need for blush, not after how the sun and water had conquered her sunscreen that morning. “Whatever you want to say, spit it out.”
“Callie…” Her friend spoke slowly. “You hate Thomas.”
She frowned down at the phone. Eye makeup would have to wait.
“No, I don’t,” she said.
“Uh, yeah.” Tess didn’t sound combative. More befuddled. “Yeah, you do.”
