Yes.Manly. That’s the word.
I’m not going to pretend I don’t like it, because I most certainly do.
Being me, my mouth runs away before I can stop it. “Your arms, Fred!”
He immediately looks self-conscious, his hands flying to his biceps that yes, are bulging. Quite magnificently, in fact. “What is it? What’s wrong? Has a fly landed on me?” He flicks his shoulder at a non-existent fly.
I once met an Australian who used the expressionthere’s no flies on me, mate, and that springs instantly to mind. There are definitely no flies on Frederic, just muscle upon muscle.
It’s enough to make a girl swoon, I tell you.
“There’s nothing wrong at all. I just hadn’t realized how much you work out.”
“Oh. Thank you,” he replies, clearly uncertain of how to respond to such an odd compliment.
“What Imeantto say is, you have nice arms.” Extremely nice arms.
“Thank you,” he repeats, though this time there’s a tiny quirk at the corner of his lips. Blink and you’d miss it. But I don’t miss it. A lip quirk is good. It shows there’s a beating heart buried somewhere in there.
“I would say the same to you, but I can’t see your arms under all the black rubber.”
I stretch my wetsuit-clad arms out in front of me. “They’re not a patch on yours, I assure you,” I reply,resisting the urge to trail my fingers over his firm musculature. “I didn’t think you were going to go in.”
“I changed my mind.”
I grin at him, my belly buzzing with the fact that he’s joining me on this adventure. “Well, I’m glad to see it, Fred.”
“It would look odd in the papers if only you swam.”
My heart sinks. Right. He’s only doing this for the optics. And here I was thinking he was doing it for fun. Fun with me.
“After you.” He holds the door open for me.
I paste on a smile and step out of the ladies’ room.
Once we’re in the pool area, the smell of fish fills the air and we’re surrounded by an audience of aquarium attendees and the media. Frederic reaches for my hand, but I don’t let myself read anything into it. I know it’s all for show.
“Are you ready, sir, ma’am?” Mr. Proctor asks.
“Yes. Let’s swim with dolphins,” Frederic replies.
Ordinarily, I would cannonball into a pool because, let’s face it, that’s the most fun way to get into one. Today, I’m a princess in front of an entire gallery of eager eyes. So instead, I slip gently into the pool alongside Fred.
With the trainer already in, he gives us some directions on how we can swim with the dolphins. Before long, we’re surrounded by them, with five sleek and playful bodies weaving through the water. It’s a little unnerving at first, but then I slide my mask over my eyes, slip my snorkel in place, and dive under to get a closer look. They’re gorgeous and so full of life as they swim around us, leaping out of the water and diving back in, circling, turning, darting.
A laugh bursts out of me, except, through my snorkel it sounds like an odd, bubbly gurgle.
I pop up for air to find Frederic surfacing a moment later.
“Isn’t this amazing?” I ask as I remove my snorkel.
“It really is,” he replies, his whole face lit up with a smile so genuine it almost blinds me.
Is Fred actually enjoying himself?
“Should we go back down?” he asks.
“Just try and stop me.”
