at that point to stop asking questions—partially because we were moving more quickly and I needed all of my breath for breathing, and partially because it was obvious that he had no intention of telling me what we were actually doing.
By the time we got to the beach, my head was full of possibilities. But it turned out that none of them—the jet ski I’d seen in the boathouse, the quad bikes that I knew were stored there, the speedboat that I knew was still docked on the pier to our right—were the correct answer.
Instead, Nikos threw the towels he’d brought with us on the beach and motioned for me to follow him into the water, his face covered with an enormous grin.
“So… we’re just going into the water?” I asked, eyes narrowed. “You didn’t want to swim but we’re…”
He walked back toward me, grabbed my hand, and dragged me down the beach. “Woman,” he grumbled. “Do you always argue this much when someone asks you to do something special?”
“If I don’t know what it is?” I answered, laughing. “Absolutely.”
He waded into the water, gave me a quick glance, and then submerged himself up to his shoulders, taking in a breath at the sudden exposure to the water.
I dropped down next to him, my eyes on the horizon as Nikos raised his arm, his pointer finger extended toward the cliffs that fell into the ocean there, just past the jumble of rocks where we’d gone snorkeling.
“That’s our goal,” he said. “Think you can make it?”
I glanced at the cliffs, judging them to be maybe five hundred feet from where we were floating in the water.
“Make it?” I scoffed. “I’ll race you there.”
Chapter 27
Nikos
Trish’s version of racing me there lasted until she realized that she actually had to let me show her where we were going.
She popped up out of the water when we were still about a dozen meters from the cliffs, her eyes narrowed, and then turned to me. “It’s cheating to agree to a race when you know I’ll have to let you win,” she noted, slightly out of breath from the swim.
I smiled, taking in her flushed cheeks and now-curling hair, and wanted nothing more than to pull her to me, wrap her in my arms, and kiss her soundly. I wanted to float in the water with her and never let her go. Never go back to the real world or any place where anyone else might find us.
I wanted to keep her to myself for the rest of my life.
Still, seeing as how that wasn’t realistic or fair, I put the thought to the side. I also wasn’t completely sure that I was ready to kiss her again. Yet.
I knew she was expecting it. I knew I wanted to. But I also knew that I needed to make sure that this was real—that it was permanent—before I did anything that might endanger my heart.
Or hers.
I did, however, reach out and poke her gently in the arm. “You were the one who said it was a race,” I pointed out. “I didn’t agree to anything.”
She let out a small puff of air, evidently not agreeing with that particular statement, and rolled her eyes toward the cliff. “So are you going to show me why we’re all the way out here or what?”
“I most definitely am,” I told her formally. “Follow me, my lady. Stick close. Close enough that you can touch me. It’s better if we keep going forward, but if you need help, grab me. I’ll take care of you.”
She gave me a look that said that she was really starting to doubt this little adventure, and I pulled her to my body, unable to stop myself.
“It’ll be worth it when we get there,” I whispered.
Then I turned and knifed forward through the water, making sure that I was moving slowly enough for her to keep up easily, and heading right for the seven-foot-wide opening in the cliffs in front of us.
The path wasn’t rough, as it was mostly sheltered by the cliffs around it, so though the rocks were right on either side, the current mostly pushed us forward. It made the journey less challenging than it might have been, though it was still dangerous enough that I wouldn’t have brought anyone but the strongest swimmer.
Still, I went as slowly as possible, worried that Trish might find it challenging to keep herself in the middle of the waterway. I’d learned early on that I