A week and a half or so later, Waverly reclined on an obscenely comfortable lounge chair. It was strategically positioned near the railing on a lower deck so she could see Archer doing his thing down below.

The damn chaise kept tempting her to drift off into a nap to make up for some of the rest she’d happily sacrificed while “sleeping” with Archer instead. That probably wouldn’t be recommended for a few reasons.

First, because the skimpy bikini she had worn to drive Archer nuts left a whole lot of her exposed, and sunscreen only cut it for so long. Risking a massive burn on her ass or thighs or boobs or any of Archer’s other favorite places to manhandle might keep her sidelined from rasping against the sheets as he made love to her. No thanks.

That was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.

More importantly, though, she’d chosen this spot to work on her tan so she could keep her eye on her man, who was doing who-knew-what as he puttered around on the dive deck. Whatever it was, it seemed to be satisfying him. He smiled often, whistling while he worked.

It was gratifying to see him embracing his new life.

One that miraculously included her.

Together, they were living the Divemaster dream.

Rather than risk falling asleep, she decided to wander down there for a close-up view of the action. As she did, she looked around at their surroundings. They hadn’t seen another boat in forever. Wherever they were, it felt really remote.

Waverly wouldn’t have minded if they never went back to the real world.

“Hey there, can I help you, miss?” Archer came up behind her, kissing her neck as he looped his arms around her waist.

She leaned into his touch. “Just came to say hi. I missed you.”

“I agree. It’s been far too long since we’ve been together.” He groaned, rubbing his semi on her ass.

Waverly laughed. “It’s been less than an hour. You’re insatiable.”

“When it comes to you? Yes, I am.” He squeezed her and they stood together, admiring the view.

“Where are we anyway?” she asked.

“It’s kind of dumb. Don’t laugh. We got hired to work this charter once and ended up diving somewhere in this vicinity. We were on our way back in and Miguel swore he saw something down in the sand.”

“What did you see?” Waverly turned to the other guy, who was sitting nearby, and asked him directly.

“I don’t give a fuck if they want to harass me for it.” He crossed his arms, making her think he wasn’t being exactly honest about that. “I saw jewels. Treasure. I’m sure of it.”

She leaned forward, imagining how it would sparkle under the water while fish swam lazily above it. “So why didn’t you investigate?”

“We’d been diving a lot on that trip. It was my fifth one of the day and I was going to require decompression if I went back down.” He cursed in Spanish.

Archer grimaced then. “What he’s being too nice to say is that I talked him out of making it an issue with the captain.”

“We did,” Tosin sighed. “We figured there’d be plenty of time to poke around on our dives the next day.”

“Except that night a huge storm took a freak twist and headed straight for us. We had to pull up anchor and dodge the weather.” Miguel groaned as if it still pained him. “The charter had no choice but to go back into port. On our next day off, we took a prop plane flight as close as we could get, rented a boat, and checked it out. Though we have a pretty good idea of where we were, it was impossible to tell precisely where we’d been anchored. The sand in the area had been totally redistributed by the storm, erasing some landmarks we’d used. Hell, maybe it’s something about the topography there that causes those freak cells to strike. That could explain what doomed the ship in the first place.”

The way he talked about it wasn’t like the sunken treasure was a possibility. It was a certainty.

Miguel believed it.

And they believed him.

Waverly felt a tiny pang of jealousy over their bond, except she realized that their friendship extended to her through Archer.

“We haven’t told anyone. Nobody except the three of us knows about this,” Archer said, giving her some warm tingly goodness. They trusted her, too.

“Now’s the perfect chance to poke around a little. Maybe the sand has shifted again. We could get lucky.” Miguel seemed even more eager than usual to get in the water.

“Not that we need the money anymore, but…who doesn’t want to find a long-lost pirate’s booty?” Tosin’s eyes probably gleamed as much as the jewels they hoped to find.

“So you’re going down to look for it. Cool. Can I come?” she asked. She didn’t dive as often as they did. Still, she loved joining Archer in the place he loved so much on occasion. Even without the possibility of riches, she would enjoy her time with them.

“I was hoping you’d want to.” He held her tighter, hugging her to his chest. In her ear he whispered, “Maybe someday you’ll help me live out my underwater fantasies.”

Unlike Miguel’s, she figured his involved sex. How would that work exactly?

Determined to find out, she waited until Archer had gone to retrieve her gear from their private locker on the other side of the dive deck.

“Psst. Hey, Miguel, can I ask you something?” She blushed.

“I don’t fool around with my friends’ girls, but thanks.” He grinned, obviously picking up on her naughty vibe.

She smacked him on the ass, hard.

“Damn, babe.” He rubbed his butt. “You ever hear the phrase ‘swing like a girl’?”

“Hard, you mean?” She dared him to say something stupid then.

“Right. So, anyway…”

She leaned in and whispered so none of the guests lounging around could overhear. “Is it possible to do it underwater?”

“Your man is seriously the luckiest son of a bitch in the universe.” Miguel pretended to pout.

She was afraid Archer would finish whatever he was doing and she’d lose her chance to mine information. “Come on, tell me. Maybe nothing too crazy the first time we try it. But, like, what are the odds that Archer’s going to drown if I give him a hand job during our safety stop?”

Manslaughtering your boyfriend during sex would probably be traumatizing, she figured.

“I should tell you it’s too dangerous, just to fuck with him. But…yeah, go for it. He can handle it.” Miguel chuckled. “You’ve only got one obstacle to a stealth jerk that I can see.”

“What?” She hoped she didn’t sound too disappointed.

“Wetsuit.” He pointed to where his was pulled up his legs and bunched around his waist. unzipped on the top. “Sure, he can doff his BCD and tank and all that shit underwater but it’s not really fun. Let me see if I can talk him out of wearing it. Sometimes on our days off we like to dive bare. Skin on ocean. Feels different to have the water pressing all along your body with nothing in between.”

Whoa. Miguel really loved the ocean. He talked about it like he would a lover. Sort of like Archer had when they’d decided not to use condoms. She must have looked at him oddly then as she suppressed the urge to blurt that’s what she said.

He wagged his finger at her. “I didn’t even mean it like that. Anyway, it’s warm enough here, and we’re not going that deep. He doesn’t need it.”

Then he rummaged in the weight bins, selecting a pair of two pounders. “I’ll add these to your back pockets for this dive so you don’t have to worry about your buoyancy if you’re thrashing around down there. Just remember you’ll probably add additional air at depth with these along for the ride, so make sure you let it out on the way up. More than you usually would, okay?”

She nodded. No problem.

“And once you’ve got him…distracted, it’s probably best if you keep an eye on his regulator. If it slips out of his mouth while he’s, um, in the middle of something, you might want to grab it and hand it back. He can do a reg retrieve in his sleep, but I’m not sure he’s ever tried while he’s busting a nut before.”

What had she gotten herself into? Waverly put her hand on her flaming face. “Okay, thanks for the advice.”

They both laughed kind of awkwardly.

“You’re good for him, Waverly,” Miguel said as he finished prepping his own stuff. “Good thing, since he’ll probably ask you to marry him as soon as you hit the surface.”

Her tummy did flip-flops, even though she knew he was joking.

It was way too soon for her to be having thoughts like that about Archer. That didn’t mean she wasn’t, though.

“Almost ready?” Archer called to them as he finished hooking up her tank and setting out her mask, fins, and snorkel.

Waverly hoped she didn’t give away too much with her wicked smile. “Oh, yeah. I’m ready.”

Miguel shimmied out of his wetsuit, looking mighty fine as he did. Damn, the man had a lot of muscles. “It’s nice out. I’m going without this today.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Tosin followed his lead, ditching his wetsuit as well.

“Want to try it?” Archer asked her. “It’s kind of fun. You don’t get cold easily, do you?”

“Never when I’m with you,” she sealed the deal.

Waverly did a covert happy dance when Archer bent to tug his wetsuit down his legs while Miguel hid a laugh behind a faux cough.