He peered over at her, grinning widely. “Don’t we?”
“Bloody hell, you lot really have thought of everything.” She shook her head, incredulous. They’d truly pulled out all the stops, and it was obvious they weren’t done yet. What else could they possibly have in store?
“We can’t take the credit for that—it came with the yacht. You okay to assist with the anchoring again?”
She nodded—it had been nerve wracking the first time, but with Arjun’s calm manner and patience, she’d soon got the hang of it. Turned out he was a great teacher. “Of course. Practice makes perfect.”
A little while later, the boat was secured to the seabed, bobbing happily away on the gentle waves. By the time Mia and Arjun joined the others, they’d already amassed a pile of masks, snorkels and flippers. The men had stripped down to swim shorts, so Mia did the same—tugging off her vest top and sarong to reveal her yellow bikini.
“This is going to be fun,” Mia said, smiling as she watched Alex struggling into a pair of flippers. “I’m going to use the bathroom. Won’t be a mo.”
Alex gave up his fight, irritably tossed the rubber footwear away from him and looked up from his position perched on the edge of a sun lounger. “You could go in the sea, Mia. Nobody would even know.”
Horrified, she replied, “Eww, no way! I’d know. That’s gross. I don’t do it in the bath, and I’m certainly not going to do it in the sea. Besides, doesn’t it attract sea creatures? You know,” she shuffled her feet uncomfortably, “ones that might swim up your…” She caught sight of an equally horrified expression on Thomas’s face before Alex burst out laughing.
“Not in this neck of the woods, Mia. I promise you that. They live in the Amazon. None of the fish or other beasties in these waters are going to give a monkey’s if you pee in their house.”
“Still not doing it. If I’m going to put my face in the water, I don’t want my pee—or any of yours for that matter,” she glared at each of the men in turn, “floating around nearby. I’m going to the bathroom, and you all should, too.” She flounced off to the sound of male laughter.
When she returned, it soon became apparent that, despite their mirth, they intended to honour her wishes. Or maybe they hadn’t considered they’d be putting their faces in the vicinity of their own urine before. She shuddered. With a heavy sense of relief—she hadn’t wanted to pull the ‘it’s my birthday’ card to get her own way—she said, “Okay, I’m ready for some snorkelling action.”
Once the last of them—Alex, as it turned out—returned from his trip to the bathroom, they headed for the dive deck. Then, one by one, they entered the warm ocean.
“At the risk of sounding like a mother hen,” Elias piped up as they trod water next to the yacht, “be aware of your surroundings, guys. Don’t go too far away from the boat, or each other. It’s easy to get mesmerised by the fish and other sea life, but please do remember to pop your head up frequently and make sure you haven’t drifted. Look out for yourselves, and each other.”
Mia smiled, touched by Elias’s obvious care and concern, and impressed that he’d managed to say his piece without coming across as bossy. That no doubt would have got the others’ backs up—an easy thing to happen when multiple alpha males were together. He clearly had excellent people skills, which made her think of how he could apply that to a new career if he followed through with his threat to leave the investment banking sector.
But that was a consideration for another time. Right now, her immediate concerns included these four men, the Indian Ocean, and the creatures it contained. Which, she realised with a jolt, included sharks. She gulped and tried to put the idea out of her mind, knowing perfectly well that they usually only attacked if provoked. And that, no doubt, was another reason—albeit an unspoken one—that Elias wanted them to stick close to each other, and to the boat. Safety in numbers, and all that. Besides, she wouldn’t provoke a goldfish, never mind a shark.
She looked over at Arjun, who was closest to her. He’d already fitted his mask and was about to slip the mouthpiece of his snorkel between his lips. Since he’d proven so adept in all things marine so far, she figured it’d be a good idea to hang out with him. “Can I tag along with you?”
“Of course,” he replied with a smile. Then he turned to the others. “Hey, guys, just to let you know before you disappear… We’re near to a coral reef—though not too close, obviously, because of the yacht—so I’m going to head that way. I think we’ll have the most chance of seeing some cool stuff over there.”
There were murmurs of assent, and they all began slipping masks and snorkels into place before exchanging nods and thumbs-ups, then flattening their bodies out on the surface of the ocean, ready to observe the wonders of the underwater world.
Chapter Eight
“Wow,” Mia said, having surfaced and removed her snorkel, “that is just amazing!”
Arjun appeared beside her and pulled out his own snorkel. “Sorry, did you say something?”
She repeated her words.
“Yes, it is,” he said. “We got really lucky today with the variety of fish and other animals. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Sorry to have kept you out here so long. I should have checked if you wanted to go back.”
“Are you nuts? I’ve loved every minute!” She pointed towards the yacht, where the others were probably laid out on sunbeds or chilling out in the hot tub. “That lot are lightweights.” She chuckled. “So, are we going again, or have you had enough?”
He smiled. “One more go? Just for ten minutes?” There was a note of pleading in his voice. Mia was powerless to resist.
“I’m game if you are.”
“You’re on.”
As one, they popped their mouthpieces back in, nodded at each other, then linked hands before resuming their position. Immediately, the above-land world melted away, and the magical, almost mythical underwater kingdom loomed large.
Despite having been snorkelling here for a couple of hours at least—with a break to use the loo, reapply sun cream and put on a T-shirt to prevent sunburn—Mia could still scarcely believe what she was seeing. She’d seen these sorts of creatures in aquariums in the past, but it simply couldn’t compare to viewing them in their own natural habitat. Beautifully coloured fish of all shapes and sizes, jellyfish, crabs, lobsters, a ray or two, starfish, shrimp, sea urchins and even seahorses—they’d seen them all, and it had been breath-taking.
She and Arjun did a wide, lazy loop of the reef, trying not to disturb any of the creatures they were so intently watching. When they were at the furthest point from the boat, Mia thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Something large. She tried hard not to panic or make any sudden movements, knowing she could get into serious trouble if she inadvertently dragged sea water in through the top of her snorkel. Her heart pounded as she forced herself to slowly turn her head and look in the direction she thought she’d seen the large animal. For a moment, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
And then the shape reappeared, closer this time. Mia’s stomach lurched and she squeezed Arjun’s hand so hard she heard his exclamation through the water. But then, as the creature grew closer still, Mia realised it wasn’t quite what she’d first thought. Her heart raced nonetheless—but with excitement rather than fear.
She looked over at Arjun to see if he’d seen it yet. Judging by the wide eyes behind his mask, the size of which were exaggerated to an almost comical degree by the magnifying effect of the lens, he had indeed spotted what had got her so worked up.
They made eye contact, and he squeezed her hand. She smiled—or what equated to a smile in snorkelling equipment—and returned her attention to the dolphin. She didn’t know an awful lot about them, but she knew they were generally friendly, even playful, with humans, so if she and Arjun were lucky, the beautiful mammal might even come right up to them. Perhaps even bring some friends, since it was unlikely he or she was alone. They might even get to touch one.
“Me either,” Arjun replied, then glanced at the yacht. “It’s a shame the others are missing this, but I have no idea how we can get their attention without running the risk of frightening it away.”
“Oh look—there are some more! I wish I could take photos of this.”
Sure enough, the dolphin had brought some buddies along, and the group of mammals swam around the two of them, but still keeping a fair distance. A couple of them did the jump-and-dive thing that their species are so famous for, rendering Mia and Arjun temporarily silent, but exchanging excitable glances and enormous smiles.
Mia, too, felt bad that Elias, Alex and Thomas were missing out on this unforgettable sight, but didn’t know what to do about it. Unless… “Hey,” she said to Arjun, “what if we slowly make our way back towards the yacht? This bunch seem friendly enough, so they might follow us out of curiosity, and then we might be able to get the others’ attention so they can see them, too.”
“Yes, that’s a great idea. Let’s creep back at a snail’s pace—they might not even notice.”
“Hey, give them some credit. Aren’t they supposed to be super smart?”
“Yes, they are—but I don’t think they speak English, so hopefully they won’t know what we’re doing.” His dark eyes twinkled with mischief.
She nudged him playfully, and, hands still linked, they began making their way towards the Pearl. Mia pulled her mask down off her face and let it hang around her neck, then, feeling more confident, held out her free hand in the direction of the nearest dolphin. “Hey, sweetie,” she said soothingly, “have you come to see me because it’s my birthday? That’s very nice of you—and your friends.” She carried on babbling nonsense in the same tone of voice, hoping it would reassure the creatures and encourage them to come closer. She had no illusions about having the sort of experience one might have with dolphins in captivity—riding along holding onto their fins and whatnot—but she desperately hoped one might allow her and Arjun to stroke it. That would truly be the cherry on top of what had already been a spectacular birthday. Hell, it’d be a whole fruit bowl.
They’d covered about half the distance back to the boat when suddenly, it seemed as though they’d either shown the dolphins they weren’t a threat, or the dolphins’ curiosity had won out. Three of the magnificent creatures from the pod drew closer. There were barely two metres between Mia and Arjun—who’d both now stopped moving—and the dolphins. Mia’s heart raced. She scarcely dared breathe now, she was so worried about scaring them away. Her arm remained stuck out in front of her, and she was just deciding whether to keep it where it was, or put it down, when one of the beasts—which were now lazily circling the two of them—swam past close enough that the very tips of Mia’s fingers contacted its skin.
She had enough presence of mind not to squeak out her surprise, but she snapped her head to face Arjun, her eyes and grin both so wide she was sure she looked manic. But she didn’t care—she’d stroked a dolphin, for heaven’s sake! Keeping her arm in place, she whispered to Arjun, “My God, did you see that?”
His smile mirroring hers, he nodded. “I did. That’s so amazing. You’re so lucky. They’re so cute, but so majestic.”
As though they could hear what Arjun had just said about them, the dolphins drew in closer still, circling and jumping and diving. One of them even made the chattering noise the mammals are so famous for. Mia and Arjun stared, then turned back to each other, delight written all over their faces.
“Are you sure they don’t understand English?” Mia asked, so overcome with excitement now that tears welled in her eyes. Happy tears. “That was like they were deliberately showing off then, because you complimented them.”
Arjun shrugged. “Maybe they were. They’re supposed to be very intuitive.” He slowly reached out a hand. “Wonder if I’ll be as lucky as you.”
The two of them trod water, holding each other with one arm, the other outstretched and desperately hoping for more contact with the dolphins. And, after a couple more minutes, they got their wish. Another one of the pod, seemingly unable to ignore its curiosity, joined its friends momentarily, then passed them by and swam right up to Mia and Arjun. It did a single lap around them, then surfaced in front of them and bobbed its head, then chattered. Its open mouth—despite the rows of teeth—made it look as though it was smiling at them, and Mia couldn’t resist smiling back. “Hello, beautiful,” she said, moving her hand slightly, “will you let us touch you? Or are you shy? We won’t hurt you.”
The dolphin chattered, then bobbed its head again. Obviously neither Mia nor Arjun had any idea what that meant, so after sharing a questioning glance, they turned back to the creature, then as one, touched it gingerly. When it didn’t flinch or swim away, they began petting it like one would a dog—stroking it in different places on its head and nose to find out what it liked.
“My God, Arjun,” Mia breathed as the creature soaked up the attention, seemingly loving it, “I think I’m going to die of the cuteness.”
He chuckled. “You’re not the only one. I wish the others could see this—I honestly don’t think they’re going to believe us when we tell them. I’m still not sure I believe it. They’ll think we got too much sun and were hallucinating.”
“That could be true, since this experience is just so unreal.”
“Unlikely we’d both have the same hallucination though, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I guess so.”
They shared another smile, then continued playing with the dolphin, who seemed quite content to listen to them talk to it as they stroked it and chattered right back. After a while it had either grown bored or simply had enough as, with a final burst of sound, it ducked under the water, did a neat turnabout, and swam back to its friends. Once there, the creatures all seemed to experience a moment of excitement—they zoomed around in the water, jumped and dived, played, chased each other… a sight that Mia and Arjun drunk in in silence. They watched the pod as it gradually moved away from them, and only once they could no longer see it did they turn to each other, their wide grins mirror images.
Arjun huffed out a breath, as though he’d been holding it. Maybe he had. His eyes gleamed. “Wow.” He shook his head incredulously. “I just… wow. I can’t think of anything else to say.”
She grabbed and squeezed his hands. “Me either. That was incredible. What beautiful creatures. I mean, I always knew they were lovely, and wonderful, but to get up close with wild ones like that—how lucky are we?”
“Very. I’d hoped we’d see some by coming out to this area, I admit. I did my research. But I never thought for a minute they’d come that close, and even let us touch them. That was unbelievable. I feel like David Attenborough!”
“Me too. Or the female equivalent, anyway.”
Arjun smiled, his straight, white teeth flashing in the bright sunlight. “I guess we should head back, then. My legs are starting to get tired from all the treading water—are yours?”
She nodded. “They are, but it was totally worth it. Thank you.” She used her grip on his hands to pull them closer together and reached up to kiss him—not the easiest thing to do when floating in the ocean.
When she pulled away, he said, “Thank you for what? I didn’t pay the dolphins to come and visit us, you know—though I totally would have done if that was an option. They’re free spirits, they came of their own accord.” Despite his words, he looked pleased with himself, a smile tweaking at the corners of his lips. Though that could have just been because of the kiss.
“I know, but you made it possible. By doing your research, bringing us out here. Increasing our chances of seeing them.
”
He shrugged, and a slight blush stained his cheeks. He changed the subject by saying, “Come on, birthday girl. Let’s get back to the boat. We need something to drink and to rest our tired legs, I reckon.”
“Can’t argue with you there.”
They released hands and covered the distance between them and the yacht at a leisurely pace, despite the fact both of them could swim much more quickly than that. Mia wasn’t sure of Arjun’s motivation for taking his time, but she was in no rush to leave the ocean because she secretly hoped the dolphins might make a reappearance. Tired legs or no tired legs, if they came back, she would totally stay in the water and spend time with them. Even for someone who, by her own admission had a privileged life, swimming with and stroking wild dolphins in the Indian Ocean was something special, something that most certainly did not happen every day.
She wasn’t sure she’d say it out loud to any of the men, for fear of offending or upsetting them—given the efforts they’d put into everything else—but it was by far the best birthday present she’d ever had.
Chapter Nine
When they finally dragged their weary bodies back on board the yacht, Mia and Arjun found the others enjoying a siesta on the sun loungers. She smiled—they had no idea what they’d missed out on. And they didn’t have any photographic evidence, either. They’d enlighten them later on. After some careful checking of bodies and shifting of parasols to ensure none of them would get sunburnt, Mia and Arjun headed into the depths of the boat to use the bathroom, then get showered and changed.
“Meet you back by the controls when we’re ready?” she said before they went their separate ways into the two en suites.
Arjun gave a gentle smile. “Mia, please don’t feel you have to keep me company all day. I know you feel guilty because I’m piloting the yacht, but you shouldn’t. I made the choice to do it, and I’m happy to. More than happy. I honestly do enjoy it. It’s your birthday—go and have some fun.”
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