Lily’s wide eyes met mine. “It’s that easy to do?”
Josephine slapped her palm against her forehead. “This is dumb. We shouldn’t do this.”
Zoe was ahead of everyone. She already had one leg swung over the metal rail, balanced on the short ledge that extended out a few inches on the other side. I stayed close until she swung her other leg over and had a solid grip on the railing.
Julian helped lift Josephine over the railing even as she continued to protest. “How confident are you about the sharks?”
He laughed off her question and then swung himself over the railing beside her. Zoe, Julian, and Josephine spread out along the side of the boat, a few feet apart. Lily stayed where she was, her feet firmly planted on the safe side of the rail.
“You going to chicken out?” I asked, stepping up behind her.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she replied, sliding her gaze back to me.
I smiled and reached up to take the hat off her head.
“Hey—I didn’t say I was going to do it,” she protested, trying in vain to flatten down her blonde hair. It was curly and wild from the salty air.
“There are no sharks,” I assured her.
She narrowed her eyes on me. “Maybe it’s not the sharks I’m scared of…”
“What then?” I asked.
She inhaled a breath and whipped around to face the railing. “Just hold on to me as I climb over.”
I reached out and slid my hands around her slender waist. Her skin was so warm from the sun and I gripped her tight enough that even if she tripped, she wouldn’t fall. The bottom of her bikini shifted, revealing a sliver of pale skin. I yearned to see more—to see the parts of her that the sun couldn’t reach.
“Okay, I’m just going to swing my leg over…”
I nodded in response, knowing if I spoke my voice would likely reveal the attraction I was trying to keep hidden.
She stretched her left leg out over the rail and then twisted her body as if she were hopping over the top of a fence. I lifted her and kept her steady, and when she was on the opposite side, both feet on the platform, she glanced up at me. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Our pulses were blending and for two seconds, I thought we’d kiss. Right there with everyone watching.
“You can let go now,” she said, shifting her gaze from my lips up to my eyes.
I snapped back to reality like a rubber band, let go of her waist, and took two steps back. One step wouldn’t have been enough. One step meant I could still lean forward and kiss her. Two steps gave me back my control.
“C’mon Dean! I’m jumping with or without you!” Zoe yelled.
I laughed and hopped the railing in one clean jump.
“Okay, jump on one,” Julian yelled.
“Three.”
I leveraged my body over the blueish green water and took a breath.
“Two!”
“Oh Jesus, this is stupid,” Lily whispered next to me.
My heart raced as if it were trying to fight its way from my chest.
“One!” Julian yelled.
I bent my knees, reached out for Lily’s hand, and pulled her off the ledge with me.
She let out a wild scream as we flew through the air. The water rushed to meet us and I held my breath just before we crashed through the surface. The cold water overtook us and I let go of Lily’s hand so I could kick back to the surface. Endorphins spiked my blood, mixing with the adrenaline from the few seconds of flight. I’d taken that jump hundreds of times, but never while connected to someone else.
I broke the surface and inhaled a deep breath. Julian and Josephine were already kicking back to the dive ladders, and Zoe was climbing onto the swim platform. Lily was nowhere to be found.
I spun in a circle, cursing the fact that we were swimming off the shore of New York and not in the Caribbean. The water was too dark to see below the surface, and for two seconds I feared I wouldn’t be able to find her if she’d hurt herself during the jump. I sucked in a deep breath, preparing to go back down to search for her, just as her blonde hair broke the surface. She coughed up water and pushed her hair back out of her face, out of sorts, but seemingly uninjured.
“Are you okay?” I asked, paddling closer.
Her wide eyes turned to me and she held out one hand, using the other to tread water.
“Do. Not. Come. Any. Closer.” She enunciated each word as if she’d chop my head off if I didn’t heed her warning.
“What’s wrong?”
I paddled closer and her eyes flared with warning.
“DEAN. Do not come any closer.”
That’s when I noticed what she was trying desperately to hide.
Oh shit.
“My top came off when I hit the water.”
She scanned the water around her, frantic. And me?
I tried my damnedest to keep the smirk off my face.
Chapter Twenty
Lily
“EVERYONE TURN AROUND!” I yelled. “SO HELP ME GOD!”
Julian helped pull Jo up out of the water and she collapsed into a fit of laughter on the swim platform. Julian covered his eyes with one hand and bent down to pull her up with the other.
“I can’t see anything! I swear. I’m just going to go back into the galley.”
Josephine kept howling with laughter, unable to even catch her breath. I’d kill her as soon as I found my bathing suit top. Hell, maybe I’d just strangle her with it.
Zoe was currently the only person on my good side. As far as I was concerned, Jo was dead to me. Her and Dean, both. When I turned back around, he was still treading water a few feet away from me, completely unfazed by my death threats.
“I hate you.”
He tilted his head and a little smirk stretched across his lips. “I can’t see anything.”
“You’re lying,” I said, glancing down to confirm my boobs were below the surface. Every time the ocean current bobbed me up and down, I feared one would pop out, much to Dean’s delight.
He shook his head. “There’s no use looking for your top. You’re going to drown trying to find it.”
I groaned and glanced back to the boat. “Josephine! Jo! Will you stop laughing for two seconds and help me?”
She was absolutely no use. “Lily.” She breathed through laughter. “I’ll help, just let me—” She couldn’t even get the sentence out without erupting into another fit of cackling.
The burning sensation in my arms was becoming harder to ignore; I couldn’t tread water for much longer.
“Josephine! This isn’t funny! Some shark is probably smelling my bikini top and deciding he wants to eat me for lunch!”
Dean groaned. “For the last time, there are no sharks.”
I turned back around and…GOD DAMN HIM. He was closer than ever. I didn’t have a choice. I had to swim to the boat and get out without my bikini top. Josephine wasn’t going to get off her bony butt and help me. Either I succumbed to my fate and drowned, or I got out and let Dean see my life-changing rack, thus ruining him for all future women from there on out. (Okay, maybe I was hyping myself up a little bit.)
I started paddling back to the boat, already breathing heavily from having to tread water for so long. Dean swam right past me, reached the ladder, and pulled himself up and out, all before I even got close to the boat. Show off. His tan, smooth chest glistened in the sun as he bent back down for my hand.
“I can get out myself,” I said, covering my chest with one arm and using the other arm to doggy paddle closer to the ladder. It was slow going, but I figured I’d get there eventually.
“The ladder isn’t stable. Stop being difficult and just let me help you,” he argued.
Me? DIFFICULT? So help me god, he was going to eat his words when I got onto that platform.
“I have strong arms. Turn around and let me get up.”
“Lily. Enough.”
The fire in my veins had nothing to do with treading water and everything to do with my anger toward Dean. I was right against the ladder, just below where he was hovering on the platform. I had one arm wrapped precariously around my chest and one arm desperately trying to keep me afloat…which left me with zero arms to reach for the ladder. Fuck me.