I took a seat behind the wheel to get out of Jin’s way, and Cal sat down on the bench next to me to do the same. “I was scared you didn’t know,” he said more quietly.
I put my hand on his leg and squeezed lightly. “I promise I know what I’m doing. I may not be an instructor like you, but I have my advanced certification and have been on many, many dives.”
He let out a breath. “Okay. Sorry. I just…”
I turned and faced him, automatically tunneling my fingers in his messy wet hair to get it off his face. “I get it. You’ve probably had to babysit enough newbies underwater to think most tourists are one stupid mistake away from being the Dave.”
Jin took a seat on the bench behind us while Nat rifled through the cooler for a bottle of water. “What’s the Dave?” Jin asked.
“Dive accident victim,” Cal and I said at the same time before grinning at each other like fools.
When Lucas popped up at the ladder, Cal moved to help take his gear for him. I could tell from his smooth movements swapping out tanks and resetting the equipment that he’d done this hundreds of times. My eyes devoured the muscles moving under the tanned, smooth skin of his back where his shorty had been peeled down to his waist. His shoulders and biceps tightened as he lifted and moved air tanks, and by the time all of the equipment was set up for our second dive, I wasn’t the only person mesmerized.
Prescott was practically drooling over Cal even as his own arm was resting on my brother’s shoulders. Lucas was talking to Nat about the fish they’d seen, so he didn’t seem to notice his fiancé’s lecherous eyes.
When Cal made his way back to the bench after untying us from the mooring buoy, I stood and gestured for him to take the wheel. “You probably know where we’re going better than I do, so why don’t you drive?”
Cal sat and started the engine while I kept my eye out for other divers in the water nearby. Once we were safely away from the dive site, he picked up speed.
I watched him as the wind whipped his dirty-blond hair dry and the edges of his eyes crinkled under his sunglasses. His muscled forearms flexed as he turned the steering wheel and adjusted the throttle, and the tempting trail of hair that led from his belly button down into his wet suit looked like something I wouldn’t mind exploring with my tongue.
It was easy out here under the late summer sun, skipping along the surface of a water blue enough to make my eyes leak, to imagine maybe I could take this beautiful man to bed and let myself enjoy him at least once. What would be the harm in that? If he was amenable to a temporary arrangement and could agree it was simply physical, it wouldn’t have to mean anything. And more than that, I wouldn’t need to worry about trust issues or him using me for my money.
“Why are you staring at me?” Cal asked with a smirk. “Do I have something on my face?”
I told him the truth. “You’re gorgeous.”
He did a classic double take at me, his smirk sliding off when he realized I’d meant what I’d said. “Um, thank you.”
I faced into the wind and laughed loud and free. Throwing Cal off his stride was more fun than I’d expected until his elbow got me in the gut.
Oof.
“Stop being so smug,” Cal warned. “And go back to being the stodgy old workaholic please. That guy was at least predictable.”
Nat looked back from her spot near the bow and winked at me. She must have heard our flirting. I watched the way Jin kept a casual grip on her inner thigh as the tender bumped across the water. They were good together. I remembered the first time she’d brought him to meet our father at a family dinner. Jin had been polite and attentive to all of us, including Nat, but when she’d tripped down the final stair of our father’s brick patio and scraped her hands and knees, Jin had lost his calm demeanor and fussed over her like she was the queen mother.
He was forthright enough to argue with her about issues he disagreed with, but if she was ever feeling fragile, he dropped everything to coddle her. She treated him with the exact same love and reverence. I loved seeing how happy they made each other.
Then there was Lucas and Prescott.
“We’re here,” Cal said, pulling back on the throttle. “Can you take over at the wheel while I grab the hook and get us tied up?”
We switched positions and maneuvered the boat to the mooring ball. Once Cal had tied us off, Nat passed out fruit and waters to anyone who hadn’t already gotten some. The taste of fresh pineapple after a mouthful of salty regulator was heavenly.