Nate stared at the surface of the water, willing a fish onto his line. He had to win the bet. Losing wasn’t an option.

Though he’d never admit it to Suzie, she’d been in his mind all these years. When he’d learned to fly a glider, gone rock climbing, and jumped from a plane, there’d always been a moment when he’d pictured her watching him. A moment when he’d silently said, “See? I’m not just a skinny geek with glasses. I’m nothing like Milhouse.” She’d inspired him to push himself harder.

Nate frowned, wishing he could see deep enough to spot the fish that surely must be surrounding his bait. When he won, he’d get to see if her expression was anything like he’d imagined it would be.

“What if neither of us catch anything?” asked Suzie.

He tore his gaze away from the water. She was wearing the green bikini with a sarong tied around her waist. Her long hair fell in an unruly cascade down her back, the sun highlighting its glorious red strands. Her eyebrows were lifted in an expression of challenge that was so perfectly Suzie, it made him wish he could freeze this moment in time, to be able to see her like this anytime he wanted.

But she was waiting for his answer.

He cleared his throat. “These waters are teeming with sea life. If we can’t catch a fish here, we’ll need to hang our heads in shame. Even using hot dogs as bait, we should have no trouble reeling them in.”

Suzie nodded. She turned her gaze back to the sea, her feet slightly apart, her posture braced as though she expected to hook a monster fish at any moment. Nate suppressed a smile. If guts and determination were what it took to catch a fish, he might not win their bet after all.

He moved his rod slightly, getting a feel for its weight and imagining his hook jerking a little in the depths. Hopefully the small movement would attract a fish, not dislodge his bait. But he felt nothing, not even the tiniest nibble.

After a while Suzie relaxed her posture. Nate sat on the deck, glancing over at the electrics. He should really get back to work. And if he were competing against anyone else, he’d put his rod in a holder, set it to make a noise when he got a strike, and go back to re-wiring the circuit board. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Maybe he was crazy thinking he still had anything to prove after all these years, but he couldn’t let Suzie win.

The minutes stretched by. First Suzie checked her bait, then Nate did. After a while, she asked him to hold her rod while she got a hat. Finally, she gave him a look which told him she was having second thoughts about their bet.

“Most of the fish will be hanging out on the edge of the reef,” he said before she could call the whole thing off. He nodded to the dinghy strapped upside down on the deck over the aft cabin. “Let’s launch the tender.”

“What about fixing the engine?”

Good question. Was winning so important he was ready to give up running his tests?

Nate shook his head, cursing his own stubbornness. Stupid as it was, he couldn’t just let this go. “It’ll only take a few minutes, and where the reef drops off into blue water, it’ll be teeming with fish. We’ve still got plenty of time.”

“How would we get the boat in the water?” She eyed it doubtfully.

“I’ll fasten the halyard to it and we can winch it over the side.”

“In English?”

Nate put his rod in a holder so he could loosen the winch used to raise the mainsail from its boom furling. He went to the mast, unclipped the halyard, and clipped it to the front of the tender. “Now all we need to do is winch the tender up until it’s off the deck. Then we can swing it over the water and drop it in.”

The winch was electric, but he didn’t want to waste any power. Besides, after spending so long bending over the electronics in the dashboard, he could do with a little exercise. Nate cranked the winch handle, throwing his weight into it and enjoying the feeling of working his muscles.

Suzie steadied the tender as it lifted off the deck. When it was high enough, they swung it over the edge.

“Have you got it?” he asked. When she nodded, he released the winch so the tender landed gracefully in the water.

“Easy as that,” said Suzie with satisfaction.

“Great teamwork. Put it there.” Nate held up his hand in a high five gesture.

Grinning, she smacked it with hers.

Even that small contact made him have to fight to keep from kissing her. Everything she did made him want her. The worst was when he’d peeked into her cabin this morning and saw her with her eyes scrunched shut and her curls falling over her face. He’d ached to wake her with his hands and mouth. To spend all day exploring her gorgeous body. To make her cry out with pleasure over and over again.

Only, she’d turned him down.

The sooner he dropped her off at Denarau, the better. He’d suffered enough.

He pulled the tender to the stern and muscled the outboard motor onto the small boat, then clambered into it with their rods and bait. The outboard motor started on the second pull, and once he saw the sea underneath them change from light blue to dark, he switched it off again. No need to tie up or drop an anchor. With no wind, they could drift and the tender wouldn’t go far.

They baited their hooks and dropped them over the side. Almost at once, Suzie’s line jerked.

“I’ve got something!” her voice rose with excitement.

“Gently,” he warned. “Try not to yank the line as you reel it in.”

He pulled in his own line to get it out of the way, then went to help Suzie. She stared intently at the surface as something pale shimmered into view.

“What is it?” she asked. “It doesn’t look like a fish. Look, it has tentacles! An octopus?”

“A squid.”

“What do I do?”

“You’ll need to pull it right in so I can unhook it.”

Shame he hadn’t thought to throw a net into the tender. Nate scrambled in the tackle box for a knife. He hated to cut the line and lose Dalton’s hook, but he might have to.

Suzie pulled the squid out of the water and swung it towards him, its tentacles waving. He reached for it, trying to get a secure grip on its fat body with one hand, the knife ready in the other. Slippery. He tightened his hold and yelped when a jet of black ink squirted over his chest and splashed into his face. He dropped both the knife and the squid. The knife clattered into the bottom of the tender. The squid hit his leg, then landed on his foot and its tentacles latched onto him.

“Watch out.” Suzie laughed a little hysterically. Her arm and bikini top were splashed with ink and it streaked her hair like a bad dye job. “It’s crawling up your ankle.”

“Shit.” Nate’s voice rose. “It bit me.” He pried its tentacles free. Empty of ink, it wasn’t as fat and he found it easier to wrap his hand around its body. The hook was snagged in its flesh, as though it had been swimming past rather than going after the bait. With an effort, Nate twisted the hook out.

“What are you going to do with it?” asked Suzie.

“If I knew how to cook it, I’d slice it up for lunch.” He held it out so she could take a look. “But unless you want to try making calamari, I’ll throw it back and it should be fine.”

She stared at its slippery body, her lips parted and her expression uncertain. Then her mouth firmed and she nodded. “I’ve cooked squid a couple of times, but it didn’t look like that. It was a tube of white flesh I got in a plastic container.” She grimaced at its tentacles. “I’m willing to try cooking it, if you’ll kill it.”

He blinked. Of all the sea creatures they could have pulled up, a squid rated high on the ugly scale. “You’re sure?”

“Why not? I love calamari.” When he hesitated, she added, “I don’t want to be the kind of person who thinks nothing of ordering it in a restaurant, but can’t deal with cutting one up. I like to know where my food comes from. In fact, that’s the reason I don’t eat much meat. I hate the idea of factory farms where animals have short, miserable lives.” She motioned to the squid. “This seems a more honest way of eating, even if it’ll be hard to watch it die.”

He nodded, smiling a little at the splotch of ink on her cheek. “In that case, pass me the knife. I’ll make it quick.”

He’d assumed she’d turn away while he killed it, but she didn’t. When it was dead in the bottom of the boat, she smiled at him a little shakily.

“Now there’s just one more thing we need to do.” She jerked the knot of her sarong loose. The cloth fell off her body, leaving her in nothing but her bikini. His chest tightened. Did she have any idea how beautiful she was, even with black in her hair, and ink spattered over her arm and shoulder? No, especially with black splashes over her. She was more stunning with the ink, because somehow the marks did nothing but make her more herself.

Suzie wasn’t some fragile beauty, too afraid of messing her hair or breaking a nail to have any real fun. She was the exciting, crazy woman who, even as a girl, had dared to do whatever she wanted and had never seemed afraid. Back then, Suzie had been a force of nature. He hadn’t been the only boy at school secretly in love with her, not by a long shot. Her wildness had been sexy as hell. It still was.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Suzie stood up, making the tender rock crazily. With one smooth motion she dived over the side. He had to grab hold of the seat as the little tender bucked furiously from the force of her exit, but her lithe body cut through the water with barely a splash.

Her head popped up a short distance away, her red hair slicked back from her face. She grinned and let her feet float up in front of her so her red toenails popped out of the water. “Coming in? Or are you fond of your new look?”

Nate frowned. Now their fishing competition was over, he should get back to fixing the yacht’s electrics.

“Suzie—”

She splashed him, laughing. “Bet you can’t catch me.” Ducking under, she swam through the clear water as easily as if she’d been born with gills.

He was hot and ink-smeared, and she was obviously having fun. Besides, he’d almost replaced every burnt-out circuit, so it wouldn’t take him long to finish.

Screw it.

He dived in and swam a little, loving the coolness of the water after the heat of the day. Floating his back, he luxuriated in the feeling of freedom and peace. The sky was intensely, beautifully blue. A perfect day.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and shoved him under the surface. He came up coughing and laughing, swearing vengeance. Suzie was laughing too, swimming away as fast as she could. She shrieked with mock fear as he caught her and slipped one arm around her waist. Treading water, he pulled her close.

He meant to dunk her, but her slippery, almost-naked body felt too good. He was instantly hard. And he didn’t want to let her go.

The laughter died on her lips as her face came close to his. Her green eyes were wide. Could she feel how hard he was?

Her legs locked around his waist. Her weight sunk him, so they both went under.

He didn’t care.

Her lips were under his. When they surfaced, her mouth opened for him. It was hard to kiss her when he had to paddle to stay afloat and the sea water kept splashing in their faces.

He didn’t care.

Her mouth was warm and salty. She was the best thing he’d ever tasted. Her legs were hooked around his hips and with every moment he made, she rubbed against his hardness.

He couldn’t get any friction in the water. Couldn’t hold her as close as he needed to. But her mouth was there for him, and her slippery body was around him, and that made everything perfect.

Almost perfect.

He needed all of her.

Blinking water out of his eyes, he tugged her bikini top aside to release her breasts. She threw her head back so her hair trailed in the water and her face was up to the sun.

Since his teenaged years, he’d imagined what her breasts might look like countless times. In his dreams, they’d been perfect.

In real life, they were so much better.

But he couldn’t kiss them in the water. He couldn’t tongue her nipples or stroke her curves. He couldn’t even take hold of her properly. Like a mermaid, she kept slipping from his grip. No, not a mermaid, a siren, one of those legendary sea creatures so beautiful they lured sailors to their deaths.

There was no way to have her in the ocean, and the knowledge made his arousal so strong it was painful. He’d try anyway. If he drowned in the process, at least he’d die happy.

He kissed her neck, biting and sucking the salt water from her skin. With one hand he cupped her ass, slipping his hand under her bikini bottom. He wanted to feel her. Ached to slip his finger inside her. But with her legs and arms around him, he was the only one keeping them afloat. When he didn’t use both hands to paddle, his face slipped under. Getting a mouthful of sea water was well worth it. But unless his wish came true and he suddenly grew gills, he couldn’t properly stroke her where he wanted to.

She could touch him though.

With her legs around him she was riding higher than him in the water, and in no danger of drowning. He could see a gleeful glint in her eye as she recognized he couldn’t use his hands without going under.

She pushed his swimming shorts down to take hold of him and run her hand along his length. Her touch made him groan with pleasure even as he swallowed more water. He felt like a volcano about to erupt.

The only places he could reach her to kiss her were underwater, and he wanted to taste her skin, not just salt. He wanted to lick her until she screamed for mercy.

She’d shoved his shorts down so far they were in danger of coming right off, but who cared? He’d rip her bikini right off too, to get rid of everything that was between them.

When she wrapped her legs around him again, he kicked his legs up and pushed his hips forward to rub his erection against her crotch. If only he could get the friction he needed. The way they bumped together then were pushed apart was an exquisite kind of torture.

“You’re going to kill me,” he told her, panting with excursion.

Her grin grew wider. “You figured out my evil plan.”

Then she must have yanked her bikini bottom to one side, because he felt soft skin against his cock instead of fabric. She slid her bare pussy up and down his shaft, pressing hard enough that he groaned with pleasure.

With her head dropped back, and her eyes closed, she moaned too. “Oh that feels good. I need more.”

He did too, but they had to get back on board. Though he’d drown with a smile on his face, he’d far rather do this properly.

“Let’s go—.”

Then his words turned into a grunt of surprise as she grabbed his shaft and guided it to her opening. He took her waist and thrust inside her. She felt incredible. But the force of the movement pushed them both under so deeply that he had to kick hard to get their heads above water again.

She was still clinging to him, refusing to be put off, even as she coughed. She pushed down on him again, trying to get his length completely into her. But he had nothing to push up on but the endless depths underneath his kicking feet, so they went under the surface again. And worse, he wasn’t completely inside her. He couldn’t bury himself in her like he burned to do.

He had to get her back on board. Now.

“Come on. Let’s do this properly.” He yanked his swimming shorts back over his throbbing erection, then took her hand and tugged her with him as he swam to the tender. When he gave her a boost to heave her on board, her bikini was still pushed to one side. The view as she scrambled into the boat was enough to make him groan with agony.

By the time he’d got himself up too, she’d put her bikini back in place. A shame. She was so lovely, it should be a crime for her to cover up.

Her eyes were very blue and she was breathing quickly. He wanted to reach for her, but he wasn’t about to make do with wooden seats on a small tender when there was a comfortable yacht just a minute or two away. With one hard yank on the starter cable, the engine roared into life and he raced to the yacht as fast as it could go.

He didn’t wait to unload the gear, just took the squid into the galley and dropped it in a bowl filled with water to keep cool. She followed him, her eyes still that brilliant blue, her hair a gorgeous, tangled mess. When he’d finished with the squid and turned, her bikini was on the floor and she was disappearing, naked, into the master cabin.