Shell Game

Chapter Thirteen

"That was unbelievable." Out of the water and riding back to shore, Sharla shimmied out of the wet suit and stood under the sprayer hose. "Absolutely incredible."

"If you thought that was something, you should see the fish in the Great Barrier Reef. The colors and variety make this place look like a black-and-white photograph."

"I can't imagine." Most of Sharla's scuba lessons had been in a dive shop training pool. Eventually she'd graduated to the lake, but she'd moved to Florida before she'd done any ocean diving. The irony wasn't lost on her. She'd moved to an oceanfront city and never went back in the water. Life had been crazy back then, getting settled in. Then, one by one, her family started migrating south. Soon afterward she'd met land-lover Danny and had never given diving another thought.

Luke took the sprayer from her. "Some buddies and I got a chance to go on leave there, and we grabbed it."

"That's right. You mentioned you'd been in the navy."

The boat sputtered and jerked, then slowed and pulled alongside the short wooden dock.

"All aboard is in thirty minutes," the dive leader said. "You can leave all the rented gear here. We'll take care of it."

Sharla set her face mask on the bench atop the wet suit she'd used, then reached for her cover-up. Sliding it over her head she felt the pockets for her keycard and ID.

"Something wrong?" Luke asked.

"I thought I put my cabin key in the pocket."

Looking first from side to side, he bent down on all fours, feeling around under the benches.

Her gaze immediately went to the way his swim trunks hugged his backside, and she had to stop her mind from coming up with all sorts of interesting pictures.

"Here you go."

"This seems to be my day to keep saying thank-you." Especially for the view. "I wouldn't want to learn the hard way how to get back on the ship without ID."

"I doubt they'd just leave you here."

"Maybe, but I'd rather not find out." If there was one thing she'd gotten good at through the years, it was following the rules. Nothing to attract the attention of the police or a governmental bureaucracy, and that included the ship's captain.

Halfway to the ship, Kyle emerged from under a thatch of palm trees to join them as they walked. "D'ya have a good dai?"

"I did." She grinned. He did so sound like an Australian tourism commercial. Any minute she expected him to mention throwing shrimp on the barbie. "Enjoy your afternoon off?"

"Indeed."

He gave a short wave to Luke who, moments ago, had been walking at arm's length beside her and now stood so close she could feel the hair on his arms tickling her skin.

When Kyle fell in step at her other side, Luke's hand slid over and settled at the small of her back. The unexpected contact seared her skin, sending heated sparks in every direction.

As quickly as his hand had advanced, it withdrew. Luke seemed to take an intentional step aside, leaving a good foot of space and no risk of contact between them. It was almost as if he had been as startled as she'd been to find his hand on her back. The rest of the walk he and Kyle chatted about the dive, compared the waters around Australia to the Caribbean and Hawaii, and agreed hands-down that Australia was a winner.

Back on board, keycards recorded and carried-on goods scanned, Kyle waved good-bye to her and Luke, and turned down what she presumed was the crew corridor.