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He raised the corner of his mouth—not so upset with Steve for leaving anymore. Alex still thought raffling off the resort had been a hell of a gamble, but perhaps it had paid off. Maybe a new owner wasn’t such a bad thing.
Especially this owner.
His life had been shaken up for sure, but maybe it was high time he stopped coasting. Maybe Hope was what they had all needed.
He smiled, thinking about her scuba class. He didn’t get the chance to teach full open water classes very often. Most guests didn’t have the time it took—and Alex did it right. It had been an enjoyable change for him, something different from his day-to-day routine.
And it had been interesting to see a different side of Hope too. Instead of the self-assured, cool resort owner, he’d seen a feisty, determined woman with a great sense of humor. And she’d been a terrific student. She’d been prepared for each session and faced every challenge head-on.
Alex sat up with a sigh. “You’re in trouble here, you know that, don’t you?”
The reply was obvious, so he didn’t answer himself. The thought of being intimate with a woman pushed him embarrassingly close to panicking, but Hope was moving him ever closer in that direction.
You can’t avoid dealing with it forever.
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath, fighting back the emotions surging inside him.
Hope didn’t seem in any rush to jump into anything, either. Alex was good at reading people and had a strong suspicion her reluctance stemmed from a bad relationship at some point. And he certainly didn’t want to finally take that leap and have her pull away because she wasn’t interested.
Alex turned back to the bilge pump, now able to concentrate on his task, and soon had it operational again.
He pointed at the offending part. “Now hold together, ok?”
Alex replaced the fiberglass panels and hosed off the boat before returning to his apartment, ready to start his weight routine.
He and Hope were in a good place. Alex was definitely interested in spending more time with her and might suggest a couple of private dives to get her skills and confidence up. But he didn’t mind holding off on the romantic overtures—well, mostly.
* * *
A soft tropical morning dawned as Hope sat on her porch, responding to the latest guest review, full of praise for Alex and Tommy. Since taking over the reviews, the only consistent criticism she’d seen was the lack of a spa facility. Of course, a spa was an impossibility at the moment, having neither the money nor the facilities for one. Hope sighed and filed the idea away for later.
Soon there was an impatient huff from her left. She looked over to Cruz sitting on the sand. He lifted a paw and brought it down on the side of the bowl in front of him, tipping it completely over. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I ignoring you, Cruz? How rude of me.”
Hope padded down the stairs toward the dog. When he’d made a second appearance, she gave him a bowl of water but held the line at feeding him. He was thin, but no ribs were showing. Either he was very good at fending for himself, or someone else was feeding him. And by his third visit, he had earned a name, and so he’d been Cruz ever since.
As Hope approached, he scurried away and stood at the edge of the foliage. “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you. Only getting you some water.”
She retrieved the bowl and used the spigot on the side of the house to fill it. She set it down and retreated to the porch steps. The dog slowly crept forward to drink. Cruz still wouldn’t approach if she was anywhere near, but they were making progress. As he lapped up the water, she slowly ascended the stairs.
The ocean was flat calm this morning, with no breeze yet. Perfect morning for a swim before work. She had gone into town and bought a couple of more appropriate one-piece swimsuits, as well as some high-quality swim goggles.
Hope had developed a habit of swimming most mornings, and Alex swam nearly always, but she didn’t see him in the water yet. After diving off the pier, she started slowly, letting her heart rate rise without spiking, and it took a few hundred yards to get warmed up. Breathing to her left, she was surprised when Alex pulled up next to her. Though they both swam often, they didn’t necessarily swim together.
Smiling, Hope picked up her pace and pulled ahead. She swam with regular, rapid strokes, confident and assured now. Then Alex was once again beside her.
She accelerated again.
He matched her.
After weeks of regular swimming, Hope was in excellent form. Her technique had come back as her stamina had improved.
Ok, you asked for it.
She kicked into her top gear and took off. This was a pace she could now hold for several hundred yards. Hope looked for him every time she took a breath to the left. Nope, nope, nope . . . He appeared and caught her, matching her as they churned the water around them. But she was determined to beat him.
They were swimming north, with bare land to her right and the resort far behind now. Hope increased her pace again, refusing to slow. Her heart hammered, and she couldn’t keep the pace up much longer.
She was close to giving up when Alex stopped and shouted, “Ok, uncle!”
