Catching Preeya (Paradise South Book 3) (18 page)

He shook his head, took a deep breath of sea air, and then just went for it. Loudly. “I said that I love being here with you, and I am as happy as I can remember!” Which paused Pedro and Surfer Dude Ted and the old folks, too, distracting them from their dolphin experience for an interim chorus of “aww” from the women and nostalgic nods from the men.

Ben grimaced, sighed with his eyes, then leaned closer to her. “It isn’t too far of a stretch though, is it, Preeya Patel? Being happy together. For at least the moment?”

He pulled back to look in her face. As if wanting confirmation. Searching her eyes.

In awe of him, of
them
, she felt like her answer to his question radiated from her. No words needed. And none were even possible. Her heart had leaped higher into her throat, choking her with kinetic joy.

He must have known, understood, seen, because he took her hands. “And this moment.” He met her forehead with his. “And this one.” He brought his lips to hers. Another light feather of a kiss. A dusting of snow on the first day of winter. “And this one here.” The tip of his nose brushed hers as he angled his face and moved his mouth toward hers again, pulling her top lip with his full, moist lips, gently and sweetly sucking, holding. And he lingered there for a heartbeat. And another.

Until she felt him disengage. Her chest sank as the space between them filled with bay breeze and sea spray. But she kept her eyes closed, softly, as if she could keep their prior moment alive, lasting, frozen in time.

And he must have known her need. Because he leaned in again. Warming her again. At her ear now. And completely in his zone, in tune, she could hear his breath and nothing else. Then he whispered, “I am so fucking happy being here with you, Preeya Patel.” Every syllable was clear as the seawater they raced over. And as clear as the blue sky floating overhead. Just crystal clear and real.

She turned to face him. Her mouth at his. Her lips on his. Her breath and thoughts and words, his.
Me, too, Ben Trainer. Me, too.

*

Thirty minutes later, she caught sight of their destination—dots growing into spots growing into fuzzy mounds—while she reveled in the afterglow of Ben’s sweet care.

She hadn’t been a recipient to such open and honest affection. Not ever before.

And it felt amazing. Absolutely breathtaking. But scary and unreal as hell. Because now that it had moved beyond “too good to be true” into “really damn good,” the worry now was that it would become “as good as it gets” or “anything worth having goes away.” Well, the last one she’d made up on the fly.

Stop dreaming up worries, Preeya, and just go with
it
.

Like Ben was doing. Brilliantly, she’d say. God, so perfectly. Going with the flow. And to her credit, to her surprise, they were flowing damn well together, in the
now
. Yeah, she was here with him. Creating and catching
real-live
glimmers of joy.

And then, like a wave had come up and over the boat, a sense of relief or forgiveness or easing washed over her, and with it came a stark realization. Being here with Ben was only possible because she’d been honest with herself, and with Evan, ending their stint of complacency. Because if she hadn’t done that, she’d never, ever have known such sweet, attentive warmth here, now, with this man holding her tight in his grasp. So her family thought she was crazy for closing a door to a steady, solid life—probably scared shitless that she really was like her mother, with a taste for the unknown, for life’s dynamic and endless possibilities. But right now she had every confirmation that she’d made the right call. Freeing Evan from her
forever-wondering
mind, but more, freeing herself to seek out—and maybe just catch—the possibilities that awaited her. Like the possibility sitting next to her on this speedboat to some paradisiacal hidden beach off the Pacific Coast of Mexico. She sighed and glanced at Ben. This kind, bright, sensitive, humble, funny, and sensual man was
not
a rock star. He was better. So much better. And real. Here. Happening. Now.

And it definitely would not have been. This, their pretend honeymoon, would not have been.

Ben Trainer, where the hell did you come
from?

*

The dolphins followed behind the boat the entire way to the magical Marietas, and even a humpback whale showed her flare, heaving herself out of the water and crashing down again with a mammoth splash. They got drenched, absolutely soaked. Ben wiped her face with the bottom of his shirt, and she almost couldn’t stop herself from sliding her hands over his exposed skin, feeling his firm abs, around to his hips, then pressing her body into his.

But she didn’t do that. God, of course she didn’t. But holy hell, she wanted to.

Instead, she had wrung out her ponytail on his head, and began to laugh hysterically. Ocean water dripped down his nose and over his lips, which curled up into a coy smile. “You’ll get yours, Preeya Patel. Oh, you’ll get yours.”

She hoped to God that was a promise.

At that point, the sweet older lady in the sun hat was being less than subtle about photographing them and their water play. Preeya just laughed and pressed her cheek against his rough and
so-sexy
stubble, filling the newlywed role. Ben played along happily—he pulled her close, kissed her cheek, her neck. Once the onlookers got their fill of photos, the pretend Dr. and Mrs. Ben Trainer soaked in the essence of the beautiful bay.

CHAPTER 21

T
he scorching sun
had dried and warmed them both by the time the motor clipped to a halt. They were there. At this place Ben Trainer loved so much.

Pedro announced that it was time to jump in the water and swim to where he pointed, a short, cavernous arch in a lush,
green-covered
landmass some two hundred feet away. “That way is the hidden beach,
mi
amigos
.”

So much for getting dry. She stood up, tightened her new sarong—and sunscreen—tighter around her waist, adjusted her bikini underneath, clicked the life vest closed, then dove in. Ben followed right behind her, meeting her in the water, the palm of his hand on her bare back, as if to tell her he was right there with her.

Their fellow boat mates took a good while longer, their bickering from the boat about who and what was going when and where could be heard from a hundred feet away as Preeya and Ben swam together in the shallow, turquoise waters. They looked at each other and laughed when they finally heard the
far-off
splashes of their older friends entering the water.

“When we’re old and gray,
sweetie
, I hope we’re still doing this sort of thing, even if we’re slower and grumpier then.” She winked at him then splashed him in the face with her hand.

He laughed then disappeared under the water.

She looked around her, pulse ramping up a notch—were there sharks and jellyfish in here? Because she thought she’d heard…

A hand slid along the back of her neck, down her back, and snapped the strap of her bikini top.

He popped up, laughing.

“Hey there, buddy.”

“Sorry, but slower and grumpier isn’t my style, Mrs. Trainer,” he teased, then he took a few faster strokes and waited for her to catch up, or rather, to catch
him
. The playful chase was making her hot in that cool, crisp water. Hot, thirsty, and wanting.

She swam after him and caught him around the waist with her legs. She squeezed for a moment, then pushed herself off before his long, thick arms could bring her in. Yes, she liked this play. She liked this picture of
them
in general. And thinking back to the
ultra-serious
, righteous, and slightly cocky doctor she’d met on her flight only nights before—
God
, how wrong she’d been. And
wow
, she really, really liked this man.

They continued their swim together, now more or less side by side. Ben had been there before and obviously knew the way, so they didn’t need to stop and wait for Pedro at the opening to the arching entrance of the island. They swam on. The water was so crystal clear to the bottom that she could see small schools of fluorescent fish darting this way and that. They made their way through the watery tunnel to the hidden beach, like two magnets unable to keep from touching each other somehow, some way. And she liked it. A lot.

As they got to the shallower water of the inside portion of the site, her hand was in his—strange but as natural as could be. She laughed to herself, unsure of when he took her hand. Or was it she who took his? What did it matter? It felt right. Righter than right.

She smiled at him as he helped her out of the water onto the white sandy beach.

“Stand here and look up.” She did as he told her while he unclipped her life vest and tossed it on the ground.

The scene had captivated her speechless. Her toes wiggled in the silky white powder with escalating excitement.
No words at
all.

She tore her eyes from the view hovering over her and looked at him. Still no words available. She reached up on her tiptoes, slid her hands around his neck, and kissed him on the mouth, a deep, delirious kiss. Then she backed away from him almost giggling—
glee
, that’s what ballooned in her chest—and began to spin around and around and around, eyes up to the earthen crater above them, which opened to a perfectly blue circle of
wide-open
forever-sky
.

*

“Pedro thinks you’re beautiful,” Ben said while she continued her spinning dance of awe. “He was going to ask you out but I told him to wait until after our honeymoon’s over.”

“Well, Pedro
is
kinda cute…maybe he can take me on a honeymoon tomorrow.”

“Yeah…or if you prefer, we can call our honeymoon day over here and now and I’ll go hook up with Sun Hat and Charles over there. They look like they’d be into a threesome.”

She paused, stunned to laughter by his
out-of
-character comment, and, too dizzy to function, she fell to her knees. The two older couples were just making their way through the archway toward them, their
back-and
-forth grumblings echoed throughout the cavern. Imagining Ben and the couple not
operating
on them but
operating
on them
made her nearly pee her pants, or bikini bottoms, as it were.

Since she’d already made it to the
so-soft
sand, she crawled on her hands and knees to a perfect sunny spot while her laugh attack simmered. She squinted up at Ben with a raised brow and patted the spot next to her. “Get over here, hubby, and let’s get some sun. Because, man, do you need it.” She smirked at him standing there so sweetly proud and tall, his lean, long, and athletic build making his statement for him. “Sweetie,” she said for the benefit of their older friends and, well, the game of pretend had become fun, “you’re gonna blind someone with that gleaming white torso of yours.” She reached for his ankle to pull him down to join her already. “That is, if you don’t scare someone to death with those farmer’
s-tanned
arms first.”

He gave her a narrowed stare then flicked his eyes away in mock anger.

“I meant those
lean, muscular
farmer’
s-tanned
arms,
hun
.” Again, for their audience. “They’re totally sexy. Hot red sexy.” Another laughing outburst covered up her preoccupation with the
head-to
-toe and
inside-out
tingling sensation shooting through her. It was the total recall of those arms—his strong, sinewy arms—holding her down, flipping her over, squeezing, wrapping, and maneuvering her, any way he wanted—only two nights ago.
Too long ago
now.

She lay back on the warm, wet sand and patted the spot next to her again, then untied the sunscreen from her sarong. “Here, I’ll lather you up.”

But Ben didn’t speak or budge. He just stood over her, still and tall and pensive. Was he soaking her in with that golden gaze of his—she adjusted her bikini in case—or was he planning how to cook her up and eat her?

No
clue
.

Then, without a word, he nodded to her—or someone farther off?—turned on his heels and disappeared.
Even stranger.
And the sudden and
ultra-strong
glare from the sun streaming through the overhead crater practically blinded her so she also had no clue where he’d gone.

So
mysterious.

A half minute later he was back with waters for them both. Or not mysterious, but really sweet. And
hydration-conscious
. She smiled a
thank-you
as he sat down next to her, hip to hip. She was glad to be in closer proximity to him again.

“So, while we wait, do you wanna hear the background of this place?” He pointed up at the hovering crater, which cast an ethereal shadow around the outskirts of the
über-romantic
and mystical beach.

“Yes, please…but while we wait for what?”

He smirked, waggled his brows, and took a large gulp of his water.

She gave his arm a light shake, impatient with the game, though she liked the game very much, and she liked the playful Ben very much. “Wait for what, Ben?”

“You’ll have to
wait
for what we’re waiting for. Now, for your history lesson…get ready to get your bubble burst…”

She cocked her head, eyes narrowed, unsure if there was innuendo in there or what. “Okaaay?”

“This massive hole above us was created by bomb tests performed by the Mexican government decades ago.”

She frowned like a child whose bubble had just literally been burst.

He touched her chin and began to laugh without pause.

“Stop laughing at me,” she
mock-whined
and slapped his arm.

“Sorry, sorry…” But he couldn’t stop his laughing fit. “It’s just…you…look like I ruined Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy all at once.” He leaned into her. “You’re even gorgeous when you pout, Preeya Patel.” He placed a kiss on her earlobe, then on her neck just under her jawline. He dragged his lips down and over her shoulder, then down her arm while she followed his trail of grazes with her eyes. “Mmm, you taste
salty-sweet
.” He leaned back again, dug his elbows into the sand, and gazed at her.

She rolled her eyes playfully and lay back to join him. Breathing in the sea air and his scent, a mix of sea salt and musk, she felt high. His hand at her side brushed her leg; she laced her fingers through his and squeezed. Then they both looked up above them.

The backstory of the locale—aka, their mystifying pretend honeymoon spot—didn’t do any damage to how splendid and breathtaking the place was. Or the day. And the moment. With Ben by her side.

*

He squeezed her hand back, then brought both of his arms above his head and settled all the way back onto the white silken sand. “Nap with me a while,” he said. “We still have a bit of a wait for—uhp, I almost slipped.”

“Oh just tell me, already. Please, Ben?”

But he’d already closed his eyes,
pretend-snoring
away.

She huffed and tightened her grip on his hand, then settled down into the sand to wait patiently. The ocean’s tide outside the cavern lulled her, but she didn’t want to close her eyes. She was still too
in-awe
of the thin shell of earth hovering over them. “This is like another world…”

With his eyes still shut, he broke his
fake-sleep
silence. “You wanna see another world that
was
made by Mother Nature herself?”

“Definitely…”

“Good,” he said as a tall shadow appeared on the sand in front of them. “My man Pedro is here to take us.” Ben grinned at her with a twinkle in his eye, like a little boy about to show her his secret tree house.

He helped her up and then kept one of her hands in his, then nodded at Pedro to lead the way.