Piper waded until she was chest deep, then sank down lower and lower into the water. Cal stopped with her, letting her set the pace.
“Thank you.”
“That’s what friends are for.” She said the words lightly.
“Are we?” He rested his forehead against hers.
Were they? She thought about it for a moment, and the answer was yes. In a strange, frenemy kind of way, Cal was her friend. He was arrogant and pigheaded, and she’d probably butt heads with him when she was ninety but...yeah. They were friends. Returning to Discovery Island had proved Cal had redeeming qualities, if nothing else.
“I think so.”
The next small wave picked her up, bumping her against Cal. He was taller than she was, and his legs easily reached the bottom here. Plus, his larger body mass made it harder for the waves to knock him around. Taking advantage of his relative stability, she wrapped her legs around his waist, anchoring herself. And, okay, enjoying the heck out of the close contact, too. She grabbed for his shoulders with her hands.
“Because this seems more like kiss and make up,” he said.
“You don’t kiss your friends?”
“I could make an exception.”
Cal needed a friend. It was something about his eyes, she decided. He had gorgeous eyes, the rich brown making her think of decadent treats like brownies and chocolate. Usually, there was more than a hint of reserve in his eyes. Or disapproval. Cal didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. He liked being in control. Right now, though, her SEAL looked more than a little lost.
Admitting to a weakness wasn’t something he did. She understood. She really did, because she was the same way. She leaned in closer and his hands cupped her butt, helping her out. They both were all about showing a strong front to the world. When she’d still been diving competitively, she’d known that even a bad dive meant she climbed out of the pool with her game face on. Don’t show the cameras, the people in the stands or the other divers how much the entry had hurt or that she knew she’d over-rotated. Keep it to yourself. Do the postmortem later, over and over, making sure the mistake never happened again.
Cal blamed himself for his teammate’s death. She’d bet he hadn’t discussed it with Tag and Daeg—and that they all carried around their own burdens of guilt. She wondered why guys couldn’t mention the word feelings without clamming up, but then another wave pushed her higher in Cal’s arms. His thumb stroked the curve of her butt.
“Make me the exception?” she suggested, her mouth inches from his. She couldn’t fix him, as much as she wanted to, any more than he could undo the damage the Jet Ski accident had done to her knee. So here they were, two people who were used to being in charge and making things better, and neither of them knew what to do with the other.
Okay. She had one idea.
“You bet,” he said roughly.
Good enough.
The ocean pushed her against him. That was the excuse she gave herself as she pressed her mouth against his.
He didn’t pull back. Instead, eyes open, he stared at her with single-minded intensity. His grip on her butt tightened as his eyes drifted closed. It was strange. This was Cal, for crying out loud, and she’d never imagined she’d be kissing him. And yet she was.
And he was kissing her back.
“Piper,” he said roughly, her name half laugh, half groan, as he tore his mouth away from hers.
“You’ve got my name right,” she agreed. “Kiss me some more.”
And he did.
His mouth covered hers as he settled in, his tongue tangling with hers as she made a greedy sound. Her hands cupped his head, her thumbs tracing the pulse banging in his neck as they sank lower and lower in the water.
He knew what she was doing. He’d tried the same thing in the bathtub, and his head had no problem with a few inches of clean, soapy water. It was the open ocean and what hid beneath the surface that did him in. Still, he appreciated the effort.
He had his feet firmly planted on the sand. They had no masks, no tanks. The odd rock on the bottom made itself felt through the bottom of his dive booties, but her fingers gripped his shoulders, gripped him. See? This was okay.
When she tore her mouth from his, they were both breathing hard.
“So far, so good?”
“Yeah,” he agreed jaggedly.
“Focus on me.” Her mouth closed over his again, and this time she took them under with a kiss, gently pushing down beneath the surface. One foot. Two. His brain refused to shut off, counting off the distance between him and the surface.
Something brushed his thigh, and he startled. Piper. His eyes flew open, stinging in the salt water, but she was right there. He wanted to give her what they both wanted—a miraculous insta-cure for his phobia—but instead he settled for slowly floating them both back to the surface.