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A grin tugged the corner of his mouth up and she reveled in his crooked smile.
“Well, aren’t you kind?” he asked. “Ready to go treasure hunting?”
“Always,” she answered.
“Let’s go get the gear.”
As they made their way back to the car,dark clouds began to roll in and the scent of rain hung heavy in the air.
Back at the car, they grabbed their wetsuits out of the backseat and paused for a second…knowing they had to undress. Even though they already wore bathing suits beneath their clothes, the knowledge of stripping those clothes off to reveal skimpy suits that amounted to no more than underwear added a certain tension and anticipation to the already storm-charged air.
Dylan pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the front seat while Hollis began to unbutton her loose, flowy shirt. She noticed the gold coin hanging around his neck, but then her curious eyes zeroed in on the tattoos. An anchor, some thick rope and a compass covered the upper left side of his muscled chest.
Damn.Her insides turned to jelly. She squinted in the dim light and leaned forward, sliding her shorts down, trying to get a closer look at his ink job. She’d never been turned on by a man with tattoos until Dylan. They just looked so incredibly hot on him.
And, then he turned and his dark, hooded gaze dropped.Good God, he thought, as his hungry eyes slid down her bikini-clad body. Like he could help it. He was just a man and she was drop-dead gorgeous. He drank her in fast. Like doing a shot of alcohol. Then, he turned back around quickly before she noticed the hard-on rising in his shorts.
Hollis Quinn was so goddamn beautiful.
Fucking A, Ford. What are you? Fifteen? Jesus Christ, he thought, irritated with himself and sudden lack of control. But, after dinner, dancing and holding her in his arms, it’s like he had gotten the smallest, teasing taste.
And, he wanted more. So much more.
Dylan took a deep breath and stepped into the skin tight wetsuit, hoping to God his lower body would relax.Calm down, buddy. Now is not the time.
Hollis bit her lip, thoughtful as she zipped her wetsuit up. He had turned his back on her fast, but there was no mistaking the look that had flashed in his brown eyes. It was desire. Like he wanted to ravish her. Heat curled low in her belly.
And, for the first time since they arrived in Cuba, she wasn’t thinking it may have been a bad idea. Instead, she was wondering what it would be like to trail her tongue over all those delicious tattoos. To run her hands over his large, muscled upper arms and feel the deep grooves of his abs.
Hollis let out a low breath and bit her lip.
As storm clouds continued to darken the sky above them, Dylan and Hollis slid the heavy cover off the well. They peered down into the pitch-black hole. “How deep, you think?” she asked.
“No idea.” He cracked a glow stick and dropped it. A long moment later there was a splash and soft shimmer from far below. Far, far below. Dylan let out a long breath. “I’d say that’s a good 200 feet.”
Hollis started to pull the rappelling gear over her wetsuit, a determined look in her eyes. “I’ll go first,” she said.
Chapter Ten
Dylan raised a brow, impressed. Damn, he loved how fearless she was. It made her even more attractive, if that was even possible.
Hollis sat on the edge of the well, scuba gear on and all strapped in. “Be careful,” Dylan said and touched her arm. She gave a quick nod, pushed off and Dylan began to lower her down into the abandoned well.
Crack! The light of Hollis’s glow stick brightened the darkness as she began to descend. She avoided contact with the crumbling walls and squinted into the black hole below. It was a long way down.
Finally, she was low enough to see that she was entering a big chamber of the grotto. The flooded caverns possessed the eerie quality of a dreamscape and, once she was low enough, she released the clip and dropped into the water with a splash.
“I’m clear! C’mon down!” she called up.
Dylan looked down into the well. “Copy that!”
Hollis swam over to a shallower section of water where she could touch bottom. She turned a flashlight on and swept it over the grotto.
A few moments later, Dylan appeared and released himself to drop into the water. He swam over to her, slightly breathless. “This place is amazing. It’s huge.”
“It’s like being inside a dream.”
He touched her arm again. “Stay close, okay? It’s easy to get lost in a place like this.” She nodded and they put their masks on and descended below the surface.
