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As I’m about to jump overboard, I hear Tori yell, “Wait!”
I can’t wait anymore.
I jump in.
The cold water yanks my breath away and it takes a couple of seconds to pull it back. Remember why I’m surrounded by water. What am I supposed to do now? I try to dive deeper, the sting of the salt water on my eyes last only a second but all I see is water. The life jacket fights me reminding me why I'm wearing it-so I don't sink down into the dark waters. When I surface, I jerk around at the sound of his voice. I glance up and our eyes lock from where he's standing on the boat.
“Ellie, I wouldn’t have gotten out had I known you were getting in.”
I gasp. The joking in his voice makes my blood boil.
“You! I thought you had drowned!” His laugh sends little electric shocks across my skin, zapping me. “Don’t. Laugh. Next time, I won’t care.”
I kick my legs to swim toward the boat, not stopping when his body flies over me, diving into the water.
I hope the whale eats you, jackass.
I squeal as something touches my legs. Even though it’s probably Kase… it might not be. I swim faster to the boat but he grabs my ankle, pulling me under water. I know it’s him now, but I still fight to free my leg. Adrenaline from panic and irritation churns inside me, my body is in fight mode. When we both surface, I smack him across the face.
“This isn’t funny,” I snap, wiping the water from my eyes. Hot tears flush out the sea water.
“Hey,” he whispers, pulling me by my lifejacket to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” He pauses, gazing into my watery eyes, his full of apology. “I didn’t think you’d jump in after me.”
My tears flow freely now from my erratic emotions, I couldn’t stop them even if I tried. “What d'you think I’d do? I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t. I’m right here.”
Thank god.
I blow out an uneasy breath and nod. “Can we get out of the shark tank now?” My body shivers, and I scan the water. “Thanks to you and your grabby hands, I keep thinking something is touching my feet.”
“I can guarantee it’s not a shark,” he says. “But c’mon, I have something for you.”
We swim together to the edge of the boat where he pulls down a ladder. Holy shit, my body must have absorbed a ton of water as I pull myself up the ladder. Kase gives me a boost with a push on my ass, taking the opportunity to cop a feel, too. I turn my head to the side and give him a smart ass glare.
He shrugs. “When that fine ass is in my face, you can be damned sure I'll squeeze it. You should be happy that is all I did.”
He pops up into the boat after me, with ease. Tori and Ben snuggle on the couch. “Oh, my god. You survived the wild ocean,” Tori says, sarcastically.
I flip her off in between unfastening the three buckles on the life jacket. The sun heats my goose bumped body as I search for a towel. After finding a couple, I throw one at Kase and he towels off, barely wiping off the dripping water. He digs in his shorts pocket and pulls something out.
“Look, I found an oyster for you.” He holds out an oval shaped oyster. I take the rough shell and turn it over in my hand. I’ve never seen a whole oyster, only half, ready to eat. Not a fan. The texture of slime and taste of seawater, no, thank you.
“You found this today?” I hold it up. “Is this why you almost drowned?”
He walks over to his bag, searching for something. “I didn’t almost drown, woman. Let’s open it, maybe there’s a pearl in it.”
I’ve looked up the statistics on this and it’s like one in twelve thousand. The odds are not on our side.
“I don’t want to spoil your fun, but there probably isn’t one in here.”
He narrows his eyes at me, takes a large step so he’s standing right in front of me. “Entertain me,” he rasps. The demand in his voice is sexy. If only we didn’t have an audience. I’d entertain him and it wouldn’t involve opening this oyster. His tongue runs along his bottom lip and he slightly shakes his head. “Such a dirty mind. Later, woman. Now… we’re looking inside the oyster.”
“Fine,” I smile. He exposes a small knife in the palm of his hand and gives it to me, handle first. “You’re so prepared.” He waggles his eyebrows. Sliding the knife into the already small slit, I’m surprised at how easy it opens. I gasp and do a double take when the shiny object sparkles inside. What? How?
Kase drops to his knee, taking first the knife out of my frozen fingers and then the oyster. He lifts the ring out and wipes it off on his wet shorts. I would laugh if my heart wasn't squeezing, stealing the air needed to breathe. “Ellie, from the first day I saw you, I knew our worlds were meant to be one. You’re the light that leads me, I'd be lost in the dark without you. You're my resolution. My world starts and ends with you.” He stares up at me, the depths of his blue eyes shine with love and determination. “There isn’t anyone I want to live with except you. Will you marry me?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
