quickly pulled them over her bathing suit and hurried to the door.
“Ready?” Dimitri asked, looking down into her worried expression. “What’s wrong?” he instantly asked, pushing his way into the room and looking around. “Is someone bothering you?” His hands were on her hips and Helen was flattered that he was instantly protecting her from some unknown villain. Wouldn’t it amuse him to know that the villain was a few scraps of material?
She quickly shook her head and placed a calming hand on his chest to reassure him. “No, it isn’t anything like that,” Helen replied, stepping back to give him more room, feeling cornered and short of breath with his presence.
He obviously wasn’t convinced and looked like he was about to start searching the room. “Then why are you upset?” he asked.
“I’m not upset,” she replied, looking down at the cream carpeting. At his disbelieving look, she relented. She had no idea how the man could gauge her reactions so accurately. “Well, I guess I’m a little concerned,” she clarified. “It’s just that, well, this bathing suit is a little more revealing than I’m used to,” she admitted.
“Ah,” he replied. Dimitri smothered a smile and reached out to pull her closer, keeping his mind off of what she was going to look like when she took off those shorts. “Don’t worry about it. I guarantee that others will be much more revealing. You’ll feel completely conservative,” he said.
His hands rubbed her back absently and he sighed deeply. “We need to get moving and we definitely have to get out of this room. Especially now that I know what you’re wearing underneath those clothes. I’ve been dreaming about the moment I get to see you in nothing but that bathing suit.” He looked a little smug before he said, “Actually, I’ve been thinking about what you look like in nothing at all but I’ll take anything I can.” Taking her hand, he pulled her behind him, guiding her out to the launch that was waiting to take them to shore.
She suddenly remembered the bag she had been packing with all of her beach paraphernalia. When he’d walked into her room, she’d forgotten everything but his presence. “I don’t have a towel or anything else,” she said, pulling back slightly.
“No need, everything has been taken care of,” he said, patting a large bag that was filled with sunscreen, towels and a large hat. “I even thought of a pair of sunglasses for you,” he said, pulling out a pair and placing them firmly on her nose. “There, anything else you might need?” he asked.
There were several things that popped into her mind at that moment, but of course, she didn’t have the courage to ask for them. Dimitri looked so confident, she wished she could absorb some of his courage.
Everyone else was already in the launch, couples sitting close to each other and Helen felt like the odd one out for some reason. She hurried onto the launch, allowing Dimitri to enter before her and was thrilled when he reached up to the decking and effortlessly picked her up, holding her firmly around the waist and placing her onto the floor of the launch. He then led her over to the other two available seats, pulling her just as closely to him as the others were sitting.
The six of them started off in the launch, Dimitri at the controls as he maneuvered the boat along the water toward an unknown destination.
Dimitri directed the boat to a secluded spot that Helen hadn’t even realized was there until he turned the corner. It was protected by a reef that Dimitri maneuvered around carefully, then anchored in the middle of the small cove.
Everyone immediately pulled on their snorkeling gear, then dove into the crystal blue waters, all four of them laughing and teasing one another. All except Dimitri and Helen, leaving them alone while Dimitri explained how to work the flippers and snorkel. “Okay, lesson’s over,” he said, pulling his shirt over his head. “Let’s get into the water.”
Helen’s mouth was painfully dry as she watched him strip down to just his bathing suit. The man was built, she remembered from two nights ago when she’d seen him in just a towel. She’d also felt those muscles last night as her fingers ran over them, caressing them. Goodness, even after all that she’d forgotten how amazing he was. Maybe she just wasn’t sure her mind was remembering things correctly. In her mind’s eye, she