by Opal Carew
He adjusted the material covering their shelter to make sure she was shaded properly, got her a bottle of ice water to sip, and brought her a few chocolate-covered strawberries to snack on.
Only then did he settle in beside her, giving her the last thing she required.
Him.
It amazed Archer that he could be part of that equation.
Neither of them interrupted the rush of the waves in the background or the call of the birds in the trees behind them with unnecessary words. They’d said everything before they’d come together.
Archer couldn’t believe how satisfied he was. All this time, he’d been doing it wrong.
As he’d suspected, sex with someone who meant more than a good time or simple relief was next level shit. Nothing else would do ever again.
Eventually, he dozed, still wrapped around Waverly, protecting her as best he could even while unconscious.
When he woke, the sun rode low on the horizon. Waverly had already gotten up and was putting the finishing touches on their picnic dinner. Okay, so that was the understatement of the century. It was a fancy-ass meal that he was sure to enjoy because it had been prepared for them by people who cared, and would be shared with the love of his life.
Shhh, he thought, afraid to even think it in case she could read his mind. She wasn’t ready to hear it yet, but that didn’t make it any less true. He stretched, then realized the sand looked like it was moving.
He scrubbed his eyes and looked again.
She’d been busy, lighting the candles. The flames danced all over the beach.
When the sun fell below the horizon, it was going to be gorgeous.
A little while later, they were humming and sighing over the delicacies they devoured when Waverly said, “So that whole indigenous people aid story…”
“Actually, that was true.” He smiled. “But we didn’t want to freak them out by sending the chopper the first time we made contact. Tosin and Miguel brought the stuff over by boat. When we saw them earlier, they were coming back from the run. They also gave the locals a head’s up that we would be dropping by the neighborhood so that they didn’t think we were stranded over here. Wouldn’t want anyone to barge in looking for survivors in need of help.”
“Good thinking.” She winked at him. “Because I wasn’t about to stop, no matter who came wandering by.”
“Seriously?” His cock perked up at the thought, surprising even him. Damn, he thought he’d be good until they climbed into their bed tonight at least. But riding a woman while his friends watched, witnessing what he was capable of doing for his partner, was actually one of his favorite lecherous activities.
“Hell yeah.” She laughed. “For a show like that, we could probably have charged admission.”
He knew she was teasing. Still, he found himself adoring her just a tiny bit more. He held his hand out to her and she took it.
Archer kissed the back of her fingers.
“You’ve still got it, you know,” she said breathily. “That Prince Charming thing. It’s in there somewhere, way down deep.”
“Do you like that?” he wondered. “I enjoyed life as a simple man, but maybe there’s a middle ground.”
“I do. I like all the parts of you, Archer.”
“Good, because I’m thinking I’d like to eat my dessert off of you before showing you just how much my parts like you back.” So much for waiting until later.
He grabbed their chocolate cake and barked, “Strip.”
“Yes, sir.”
He shuddered.
They didn’t have a lot of time left here, and when she artlessly said things like that, she mashed his buttons. While she obliged his command, he did the same.
“Well, hello. There’s my sexy swordfish,” she sing-songed as she blatantly stared at his erection.
Archer choked. “Never let Miguel and Tosin hear you say that. Please.”
She flopped to her back in their nest of cushions and laughed as loud as she pleased, knowing he was the only one around to witness her amusement and total abandon. It didn’t take long, though, before neither of them was giggling.
Grunts and moans filled the evening when he placed her on her hands and knees in front of him. She lowered her face to the blanket and put her ass up, with her arms folded above her head. She was the picture of perfection.
Archer fucked her then, more savagely than he intended.
Her breasts swayed as he clamped his hands on her hips and used his grip to impale her on his stiff shaft. She didn’t seem to mind, coming all over his cock just before he pulled out and decorated her ass with shot after shot of his seed.
After a quick dip to clean off, they finished feeding each other their dessert with fingers coated in chocolate.
As daylight faded into night, and the candles illuminated their sanctuary, he leaned over to his pile of clothes to check his watch again. Only a few more minutes to go…
“Got a hot date or something?” Waverly asked when she caught him, though she flashed him a wicked grin when she said it.
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He tugged her into his lap, spellbound by how perfect she felt in his arms, curled against his body. Like it was where she belonged. Because it was.
And then, there in the brilliant sunset, a familiar ship was silhouetted.
“It’s the Divemaster!” Waverly actually clapped.
“Yeah, Miguel and Tosin have one more surprise for you.”
She buried her face in his neck for a second, though he wished she would have stayed that way longer. “Oh, man. I feel really bad about my stunts this morning.”
“I wouldn’t. It’s not going to be long before they’re pulling some prank on you. They’re just giving you a head start.”
“I’m glad we’ll have a really short flight back.” Waverly kissed him then.
“Yeah, I didn’t want you to have to fly in the dark after a whole day of exhausting ourselves on this excursion.”
“I meant because I might not make it through another flight where you’re sporting wood within reach. Two of my favorite things at once. It’s overload.” She sighed. “You’re not the only one who gets riled up on those trips.”
“I would normally say it’s not going to be a problem, after a day like this, but with you…I can’t help myself.” He grinned.
“Only fair since it seems like the more I have of you, the more I want,” she whispered.
“I’m not going to complain about that.”
She sighed. “Thank you for today, Archer. For everything.”
They kissed then, with heat and promise. His hand cupped the side of her neck.
In the background, the sky turned gold and red as fireworks exploded then trickled down toward the ocean. Waverly paused and glanced out to sea without breaking their connection.
They made out as the show continued, the explosions of light and sound complementing the impact they had on each other.
Chapter 18
A week and a half or so later, Waverly reclined on an obscenely comfortable lounge chair. It was strategically positioned near the railing on a lower deck so she could see Archer doing his thing down below.
The damn chaise kept tempting her to drift off into a nap to make up for some of the rest she’d happily sacrificed while “sleeping” with Archer instead. That probably wouldn’t be recommended for a few reasons.
First, because the skimpy bikini she had worn to drive Archer nuts left a whole lot of her exposed, and sunscreen only cut it for so long. Risking a massive burn on her ass or thighs or boobs or any of Archer’s other favorite places to manhandle might keep her sidelined from rasping against the sheets as he made love to her. No thanks.
That was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.
More importantly, though, she’d chosen this spot to work on her tan so she could keep her eye on her man, who was doing who-knew-what as he puttered around on the dive deck. Whatever it was, it seemed to be satisfying him. He smiled often, w
histling while he worked.
It was gratifying to see him embracing his new life.
One that miraculously included her.
Together, they were living the Divemaster dream.
Rather than risk falling asleep, she decided to wander down there for a close-up view of the action. As she did, she looked around at their surroundings. They hadn’t seen another boat in forever. Wherever they were, it felt really remote.
Waverly wouldn’t have minded if they never went back to the real world.
“Hey there, can I help you, miss?” Archer came up behind her, kissing her neck as he looped his arms around her waist.
She leaned into his touch. “Just came to say hi. I missed you.”
“I agree. It’s been far too long since we’ve been together.” He groaned, rubbing his semi on her ass.
Waverly laughed. “It’s been less than an hour. You’re insatiable.”
“When it comes to you? Yes, I am.” He squeezed her and they stood together, admiring the view.
“Where are we anyway?” she asked.
“It’s kind of dumb. Don’t laugh. We got hired to work this charter once and ended up diving somewhere in this vicinity. We were on our way back in and Miguel swore he saw something down in the sand.”
“What did you see?” Waverly turned to the other guy, who was sitting nearby, and asked him directly.
“I don’t give a fuck if they want to harass me for it.” He crossed his arms, making her think he wasn’t being exactly honest about that. “I saw jewels. Treasure. I’m sure of it.”
She leaned forward, imagining how it would sparkle under the water while fish swam lazily above it. “So why didn’t you investigate?”
“We’d been diving a lot on that trip. It was my fifth one of the day and I was going to require decompression if I went back down.” He cursed in Spanish.
Archer grimaced then. “What he’s being too nice to say is that I talked him out of making it an issue with the captain.”
“We did,” Tosin sighed. “We figured there’d be plenty of time to poke around on our dives the next day.”
“Except that night a huge storm took a freak twist and headed straight for us. We had to pull up anchor and dodge the weather.” Miguel groaned as if it still pained him. “The charter had no choice but to go back into port. On our next day off, we took a prop plane flight as close as we could get, rented a boat, and checked it out. Though we have a pretty good idea of where we were, it was impossible to tell precisely where we’d been anchored. The sand in the area had been totally redistributed by the storm, erasing some landmarks we’d used. Hell, maybe it’s something about the topography there that causes those freak cells to strike. That could explain what doomed the ship in the first place.”
The way he talked about it wasn’t like the sunken treasure was a possibility. It was a certainty.
Miguel believed it.
And they believed him.
Waverly felt a tiny pang of jealousy over their bond, except she realized that their friendship extended to her through Archer.
“We haven’t told anyone. Nobody except the three of us knows about this,” Archer said, giving her some warm tingly goodness. They trusted her, too.
“Now’s the perfect chance to poke around a little. Maybe the sand has shifted again. We could get lucky.” Miguel seemed even more eager than usual to get in the water.
“Not that we need the money anymore, but…who doesn’t want to find a long-lost pirate’s booty?” Tosin’s eyes probably gleamed as much as the jewels they hoped to find.
“So you’re going down to look for it. Cool. Can I come?” she asked. She didn’t dive as often as they did. Still, she loved joining Archer in the place he loved so much on occasion. Even without the possibility of riches, she would enjoy her time with them.
“I was hoping you’d want to.” He held her tighter, hugging her to his chest. In her ear he whispered, “Maybe someday you’ll help me live out my underwater fantasies.”
Unlike Miguel’s, she figured his involved sex. How would that work exactly?
Determined to find out, she waited until Archer had gone to retrieve her gear from their private locker on the other side of the dive deck.
“Psst. Hey, Miguel, can I ask you something?” She blushed.
“I don’t fool around with my friends’ girls, but thanks.” He grinned, obviously picking up on her naughty vibe.
She smacked him on the ass, hard.
“Damn, babe.” He rubbed his butt. “You ever hear the phrase ‘swing like a girl’?”
“Hard, you mean?” She dared him to say something stupid then.
“Right. So, anyway…”
She leaned in and whispered so none of the guests lounging around could overhear. “Is it possible to do it underwater?”
“Your man is seriously the luckiest son of a bitch in the universe.” Miguel pretended to pout.
She was afraid Archer would finish whatever he was doing and she’d lose her chance to mine information. “Come on, tell me. Maybe nothing too crazy the first time we try it. But, like, what are the odds that Archer’s going to drown if I give him a hand job during our safety stop?”
Manslaughtering your boyfriend during sex would probably be traumatizing, she figured.
“I should tell you it’s too dangerous, just to fuck with him. But…yeah, go for it. He can handle it.” Miguel chuckled. “You’ve only got one obstacle to a stealth jerk that I can see.”
“What?” She hoped she didn’t sound too disappointed.
“Wetsuit.” He pointed to where his was pulled up his legs and bunched around his waist. unzipped on the top. “Sure, he can doff his BCD and tank and all that shit underwater but it’s not really fun. Let me see if I can talk him out of wearing it. Sometimes on our days off we like to dive bare. Skin on ocean. Feels different to have the water pressing all along your body with nothing in between.”
Whoa. Miguel really loved the ocean. He talked about it like he would a lover. Sort of like Archer had when they’d decided not to use condoms. She must have looked at him oddly then as she suppressed the urge to blurt that’s what she said.
He wagged his finger at her. “I didn’t even mean it like that. Anyway, it’s warm enough here, and we’re not going that deep. He doesn’t need it.”
Then he rummaged in the weight bins, selecting a pair of two pounders. “I’ll add these to your back pockets for this dive so you don’t have to worry about your buoyancy if you’re thrashing around down there. Just remember you’ll probably add additional air at depth with these along for the ride, so make sure you let it out on the way up. More than you usually would, okay?”
She nodded. No problem.
“And once you’ve got him…distracted, it’s probably best if you keep an eye on his regulator. If it slips out of his mouth while he’s, um, in the middle of something, you might want to grab it and hand it back. He can do a reg retrieve in his sleep, but I’m not sure he’s ever tried while he’s busting a nut before.”
What had she gotten herself into? Waverly put her hand on her flaming face. “Okay, thanks for the advice.”
They both laughed kind of awkwardly.
“You’re good for him, Waverly,” Miguel said as he finished prepping his own stuff. “Good thing, since he’ll probably ask you to marry him as soon as you hit the surface.”
Her tummy did flip-flops, even though she knew he was joking.
It was way too soon for her to be having thoughts like that about Archer. That didn’t mean she wasn’t, though.
“Almost ready?” Archer called to them as he finished hooking up her tank and setting out her mask, fins, and snorkel.
Waverly hoped she didn’t give away too much with her wicked smile. “Oh, yeah. I’m ready.”
Miguel shimmied out of his wetsuit, looking mighty fine as he did. Damn, the man had a lot of muscles. “It’s nice out. I’m going without this today.”
“Sounds like a p
lan.” Tosin followed his lead, ditching his wetsuit as well.
“Want to try it?” Archer asked her. “It’s kind of fun. You don’t get cold easily, do you?”
“Never when I’m with you,” she sealed the deal.
Waverly did a covert happy dance when Archer bent to tug his wetsuit down his legs while Miguel hid a laugh behind a faux cough.
Chapter 19
Waverly held Archer’s hand as they stepped off the back of the Divemaster and took a plunge into the unknown. She wasn’t nervous going down. Not with him by her side.
No matter what they found, or didn’t, they’d handle it together.
The first thing she realized about bikini-only SCUBA was that the giant stride was positively wedgie-inducing. Miguel looked over at her with laughter in his eyes as she plucked the fabric out of her crack. She figured that was payback for the helicopter stunt the other day, so she gave him a quasi-friendly finger.
He wrote something on his slate then turned it so she could see. A giant smiley face with HA HA HA coming out of its mouth. Tosin snagged it out of his hand, added “x 2”, then showed it to her again. She peeked over at Archer only to find him struggling not to laugh. So she shoved his shoulder. He took her hand, brought it toward him, and slipped his regulator out of his mouth long enough to kiss her knuckles before putting it back in.
If she had been out in the atmosphere, she would have sighed.
He presented a thumbs-down and she nodded.
When they’d descended forty-seven feet to the bottom of the shallow shelf not far from the Divemaster, Miguel, Tosin, and Archer began flashing each other hand gestures that made absolutely no sense to her. It was fascinating to watch how they communicated, working together seamlessly.
After about thirty seconds, Miguel and Tosin peeled off and headed over a ridge. They swam as fluidly as the fish around them. She started to follow. Archer squeezed her hand and shook his head. He pressed his fingers and the thumb of his right hand together until it formed a flat blade. Then—arm extended—he gestured with it, in the opposite direction.
