Shipwrecked with Mr. Wrong - By Nikki Logan Page 0,38

when she thought he was distracted. The blatant desire in them nearly did him in.

He pushed back from her. ‘If you struggle at all while we’re under, I want you to look right into my eyes, do you understand?’ She nodded and made a grunting noise through her snorkel. ‘Okay, let’s go.’

He surged off from the reef edge, towing Honor alongside. He dipped his face into the water and the world changed immediately. The sharp sounds of waves breaking on the outer and inner coral became a dull, thrumming sort of drone as his ears submerged. The sound of two sets of lungs breathing through the snorkels became like a heartbeat. And the colour...

Below them, along the coral edge, the water was ultramarine—the kind of colour that came from shallower water, no seagrass and a massive dose of sunlight. Fish darted in complete disorder. Big ones, small ones, dull ones, vibrant ones—a veritable freeway of ocean traffic, all operating on unfamiliar road rules. Rob glanced back over his shoulder and saw Honor wide-eyed with excitement, peering around. He shrugged the shoulder where her hand clung to it to get her attention and she met his eyes, gave him a thumbs-up and then looked back down again. On they swam, the length of the lagoon, concentrating mostly on the first layer of the lagoon life.

Rob surfaced, pulling her to a halt and spat out his snorkel. ‘Want to go deeper?’

She nodded, raising her eyebrows to communicate her enthusiasm. An unrecognisable word tooted from the top of her snorkel and he figured it for ‘yes’. She wasn’t letting go of that snorkel for anything.

‘Okay, your snorkel is going to go under. Hold your breath until we surface, then blow.’

She nodded again and slid her hand onto his shoulder for guidance. He shook his head and then laced his fingers through hers instead. Her small hand disappeared in the circle of his.

‘You’ll lose me when I dive, otherwise,’ he explained, before taking his mouthpiece between his lips.

Hand in hand, they swam away from the reef and then, with a squeeze and a glance in her direction, he took a deep breath and sank, his fins pushing them both lower.

* * *

Honor’s heart hadn’t stopped pounding since she’d stepped into the water. So far, so good. Skimming the surface had been fantastic. She’d never looked under these waters with a mask before, a circumstance that seemed ridiculous now. How much she could have experienced if she’d only braved the waters sooner.

She was vividly conscious of her hand held in Rob’s—he was her anchor and her lifeline and she knew she would be safe. Part of her was sorry to have had to let go of his smooth, muscled shoulder; she’d been enjoying the distraction. But he was right; she would have slipped away from him in a second.

She’d blocked the snorkel as they’d sunk below the water and not taken a particularly deep breath, assuming a lungful of air would only make her more buoyant. The first moments were fine as they descended lower by feet but, as the dark edge of the reef loomed closer and the water cooled a bit with depth, her confidence slipped. She suddenly felt so very vulnerable here in the world of undersea creatures. Terrestrial. Artificial. Her breath faltered and her hand stiffened in Rob’s.

Immediately, he slowed and turned back towards her as she pulled away from him towards the surface. He held her firm, holding her under with him.

Thoughts of drowning crowded in on her and she started to panic. Little visions burst across her vision. Nate. Justin. The ocean. She writhed and twisted in Rob’s grip, straining upwards and losing all her air in a frenzied pillar of bubbles. He tugged her back to his level and forced her to look at him with forked fingers tapping on his mask. His steady blue eyes burned into hers even as her aching lungs readied to burst from lack of oxygen.

She stared into the strength of his eyes and stopped struggling. Her lungs eased. Her posture relaxed. The moment it did, his hands slipped from her shoulders and he returned them both gently to the surface.

She exploded back into the human world with a cry, gasping for breath, but exultant. It had been terrifying but, as the calm overtook her, she felt so liberated. She spat out her snorkel as he started speaking.

‘Are you okay?’

Her breathing was shallow as her body fought to get oxygen back but she