Summer Kisses (286 page)

I found myself singing in the shower an uncertain alto warble. Okay, so I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting any record labels to come calling. But I was excited.

Then I remember the last time I started out with a good weight-loss day.

And ended it with an Oreo binge.

I reached out with my foot to shut off the water. “I vow that no matter what happens today, I will not try to solve my problems by eating food that is bad for me.” My voice echoed off the tile walls as I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my head. The bath sheet went around my body, and I stepped out of the tub, only to do a little dance move that would undoubtedly get mixed reviews on the nightclub scene.

I put on my swimsuit and the same black jeans I’d worn to dinner with Rodney. They needed a new memory.

This time, I didn’t have to lie down to zip them up. In fact, they were a bit baggy.

I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I braided my hair and threw on a short-sleeved, heather-gray, waffle-knit Henley over my suit. Checking to make sure the coffeepot was off, I grabbed a meal bar from the stash in the cupboard and a bottle of water from the fridge and dumped them into my duffel bag. I was ready to go by the time Quinn rang the doorbell.

Greeting him, I didn’t bother to suppress the smile on my face.

“Well, hello there,” he said. “You’re in a good mood.”

I hefted my duffel onto my shoulder and stepped out. “I
am
in a good mood.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Do I need one?”

He shook his head. “You’ve lost weight!”

I’m not afraid to admit it. In my head, I heard “
Squeeeee!
”

“Are you guessing or can you tell?”

“I can tell. Congratulations.”

“I don’t care whether you’re lying or telling the truth. You are my new best friend.”

“Will probably won’t be happy to hear that.” Quinn opened the door to his truck.

“Well, except for Will.” I grinned and climbed into the passenger seat. “So where are we going?”

“Sudden Falls Lake. It’s not too deep, and there’s plenty to see.”

The sun shone from an expanse of turquoise-blue sky, unbroken by even a single cloud. The temperature was in the low eighties, and the breeze blowing through the open windows held the scent of cut grass and late spring.

We reached the lake, and Quinn pulled into a marina. He lifted an extra-large, dark navy blue dive bag from the bed of his truck. “Are you wearing your suit on under your clothes?”

I nodded.

“Good. I’ve borrowed a diving boat from a buddy of mine.” He pointed up the dock. “Let’s drop this stuff off, then we can come back for the tanks.” He tapped one of the metal cylinders sitting in the back of the truck.

We dragged our bags down to the dock where a boat bumped gently against white rubber bumpers. A fishing/diving vessel, maybe twenty-five-feet long, with a sun shield over the helm, a low diving platform in the back, and blue-and-white-striped cushions in the sunken area in front of the wheelhouse.

On the next trip, Quinn carried the air tanks, and I lugged the cooler to the boat. Minutes later, we were on the open water. Tiny islands, big enough only to sport a few trees, popped up every once in a while. Soon he brought the vessel to a halt, left the driver’s seat, and tossed the anchor overboard. Returning to his position behind the wheel, he eased the boat forward until we were well-anchored. Then he tossed out a floating mini-buoy with an image of divers as a warning to other boaters.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m good.”

“Great. Let’s go over a few diving rules, okay?”

I nodded.

“First, always know where your diving partner is.” He made an “okay,” sign with his hand. “This means everything’s going good.” Then he used his thumb to point down. “This means you’re having problems.” He pointed his thumb upward. “This means you need to get to the surface.”

I nodded. So far, everything was the same from the dive I went on in college. “We’re not going deep enough to worry about decompression sickness, but jetting for the surface isn’t a good habit to get into, so ascend and descend slowly. Any questions?”

I shook my head. “Nope. I think I’ve got it.”

He opened up his dive bag. “Here’s a wetsuit for you.” The black, spongy-rubber fabric squished in my fingers as I took it from Quinn.

“Are you sure this will fit?”

He nodded.

I couldn’t help but watch as he slicked off his shirt. His smooth skin stretched over bone and well-toned muscle. A light brown trail led from his navel into his swim trunks. I swallowed hard. There was a happy trail I could get into following.

I averted my gaze as I toed off my shoes and tugged off my jeans, praying Quinn would do the same. A wetsuit is not the world’s easiest thing to slide into. It took some grunting and groaning, tugging and twisting to get my feet into the legs and the thing pulled up to my waist.

Taking a deep breath for courage, I pulled my top off. Quinn sucked in a breath of his own, and his eyes rose and met mine. He nodded. “Yes. You’ve definitely lost weight.”

He knew I’d
so
caught him staring. He smiled with appreciation, and I decided he could ogle me anytime he wanted.

I slid my arms into the sleeves.

“Turn around,” he said.

I complied, and he lifted my braid out of the way to tug the zipper up. His fingers stroked over the back of my neck before dropping the long zipper pull, and I shivered in response.

After a cursory review of the rest of the equipment, Quinn helped me sit on the flat wood grate on the back of the boat, which hovered at water level between the two engines. I slid my feet into flippers and tightened the straps on the back so they wouldn’t fall off.

He handed me a mask, and I rinsed it out in the lake, then spit into it to keep it from steaming up. I remembered that part from my trip to the Bahamas, and Quinn smiled as he prepared his own mask.

“Ready for your tank?”

I nodded.

He held it while I slid my arms through the air vest. He sat back down beside me, his movements sure and graceful. Turning toward me, he locked the straps into place over my chest.

After checking the regulator, he reminded me, “If you get water in your mask, hold it against your face with a hand and breathe out hard through your nose, okay?”

I nodded.

“You’ll need this, too.” He grabbed a nylon belt with black metal weights from the back of the boat. “You may have trouble sinking without ballast.” He helped me fasten the belt around my waist.

Quinn’s matter-of-fact dealing with the weight belt contrasted sharply to the dive instructor who’d taken us out in college. He’d explained exactly why I needed more weight than anyone else on the trip. “Fat floats,” he’d said. God that had hurt.

Quinn strapped on his own tank, and we were ready. “Slide on in,” he told me.

I scooted off the end of the boat and into the water.

“Put your face in and try breathing through the regulator.”

I did as he suggested, noticing a small fish scoot on by. He tapped my arm, and I raised my head. “As we go down the first time, I’m going to be checking every couple of feet to make sure your ears are regulating. Remember how to release the pressure?”

I nodded. If the pressure in my ears didn’t regulate itself, and it probably wouldn’t, I could pinch my nose and blow to “pop” my ears.

“Remember the signals?”

I demonstrated. Okay, thumbs down, thumbs up.

“Good.”

“Let’s dive.” He put his regulator in his mouth and headed down.

True to his word, he checked every few feet, but I was fine. We reached the bottom of the lake, only about fifteen feet below the surface. The light was good, and I tried not to stir up the silty bottom to keep the water as clear as possible.

Quinn had explained on the drive over that a local dive club had sunk a number of odd items in this part of the lake. We happened upon one of them, an old tractor. Small fish darted in and around the tires.

Certainly, there wasn’t as much wildly colored, exotic wildlife as in the Bahamas. However, the company more than made up for it. He pointed out crayfish, a giant carp, and a turtle over the course of the next twenty minutes.

Our tanks were rated for forty minutes, and we began our swim back to the boat well before I was ready to be finished. Quinn slid from the water first then gave me a hand, taking off my tank and weight belt before helping me out of the water.

“That was great,” I said.

His smile lit up the already sunny day. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it.” He opened up the cooler and handed me a bottle of water. “Go ahead and get out of your wetsuit. We can catch some sun and eat lunch before we head back in.

The morning chill had given way to a surprisingly warm afternoon. Too warm for the jeans and Henley I’d worn, and I waffled about what to do. Roast in jeans or expose myself to the sun and Quinn’s gaze? He’d shucked his wetsuit and now moved about the boat in his brightly pattered swim trunks, completely unconcerned about his lack of dress. Of course, if I was in as good of shape as him, I’d probably spend all my days naked.

But that wasn’t really a consideration.

He looked up from the cooler. “Need help with the zipper?”

I shook my head slowly and grabbed the long dangling tab, pulling it down. I vowed not to feel self-conscious about my body. I peeled the wetsuit off, wrapped a beach towel around my hips, and sat down on a cushion at the front of the boat as if my heart wasn’t pounding nervously. I prayed not to see repulsion in Quinn’s eyes.

Thankfully, when he looked up again, his expression didn’t disappoint.

I looked up at Katherine while digging lunch out of the cooler and nearly dropped everything I was holding.

Wow
. Earlier, she’d hopped from her clothes into the wetsuit so fast that I barely got a chance to recognize what I was missing before it disappeared under a layer of neoprene.

Now I had all the time in the world to appreciate the cleavage exposed by the vee of her black one-piece swimsuit. Not that it was scandalously low-cut or anything. Unfortunately.

She was nervous, repeatedly straightening the towel covering her lap and biting her lip.

Since ogling had gotten me into trouble with her on a couple of occasions, I managed to tear my eyes away long enough to finish digging lunch out of the cooler.

“Roast beef or turkey?”

“Turkey, please.” She smoothed her hair, which had come out of her braid and started to dry in a riot of soft curls around her face. Not a bad look for her. It softened her features and made her even more inviting.

More inviting
was something I didn’t really need her to be.

She leaned forward for the sandwich, and I passed it, along with a bottle of water and a Ziploc of baby carrots, all the while wondering if that particular pose would cause her to fall out of the top of her swimsuit. Actually, less wondered and more
hoped
.

My hopes dashed as she leaned back against the cushion, still well covered.

Dammit.

I picked up my lunch and plopped down beside her, closer than necessary. Mostly, I had to admit, because I wanted the opportunity to look down her top.

I shoved John’s voice, reiterating his objections to my getting involved with Katherine, out my head and wished things were different. Wished I didn’t work in such an image-centric world. Wished Katherine could be accepted for the spectacular woman she was. Wished I didn’t have the recent memory of running into Amanda, knowing how miserable she could make Katherine’s life.

Wished I had a hope in hell of resisting her.

Her towel-covered thigh touched mine, and I longed for skin-to-skin contact. I took a chance. “You can put your towel over the back of the seat so it’ll dry.”
Yeah. ‘Cause I was only thinking about her comfort.

So transparent, I was glass.

She raised an eyebrow at me over her sandwich. Swallowing the bite in her mouth, she took a swig of water then said, “Are you trying to get me out of my clothes?”

I gave her my most innocent
Who-me?
look. “I figured you wouldn’t want to sit in a wet towel.” I grinned. “You’re not
afraid
to lose the towel, are you?” I hoped she’d respond to the challenge.

She bit her lip. After a long moment’s hesitation, she whipped off the towel, tossed it over the back of the driver’s seat, and sat back down, her body nestled right up next to mine.

Victory.

Of course, the warmth of her smooth, bare thigh against the skin exposed by my swim trunks was really more temptation than I should be trusted with.

After we finished eating, Katherine leaned her head back on the seat cushion and closed her eyes. “We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.”

She stretched her legs out across the deck, and I noticed her feet. Cute. High arches with straight toes painted some delicate shade of pink that made me want to suck on them.

I decided at that moment that I must have boarded the express train for Crazyville.

I matched her pose, letting my eyes fall shut as the heat from the sun baked into my skin, relieving all my stress.

Except for that caused by the woman next to me.

I opened my eyes to peek at her and found her watching me. “Hi,” I said, noting, and not for the first time, that her face was only a few inches from my own. God, it would be easy to lean over and kiss her.

“Hi,” she said a little shyly, clearly a bit embarrassed at having been caught staring, and then closed her eyes again. Flattered by her attention, I knew she wanted me nearly much as I wanted her. However, I suspected she was less likely to do something about it than I was.

What a disastrous idea it would be for me to make a move.

I closed my eyes again and soaked in more rays. I heard her move and could sense she was watching me again.

“Enjoying the show?” I opened my eyes again.

She stuck out her tongue then rolled her eyes and turned over onto her stomach, facing away from me.

I eyed her backside then closed my eyes.