Ash knew he was playing with fire when it came to Heather, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Something about her drew him in. He wanted to know her. He wanted to…dammit, he wanted to kiss her again. It was the craziest thing and if he’d stopped to think about it, he might have realized there was more to it than just desire. But he didn’t want to think about it.

Not if he could help it.

What he did want was to get her alone again so they could finish their conversation. And soon.

He didn’t have to wait long. With the new arrivals into the mojitos early on, they were eager to get some sleep shortly after dinner. The romantic couple staying in the far cabin also begged off early, as they did every night, so they could be alone together. Ash and Heather watched the light of their flashlight disappear down the garden path. It wasn’t until the light disappeared into their cabin, and Ash and Heather were finally alone for the first time in a week, that Ash finally spoke.

“Will you let me show you something?”

She burst into a giggle, barely bothering to stifle it with her hand.

“That’s not what I meant.” He shook his head, but it was no use; Heather was in a full blown fit of laugher. The sound was contagious and soon he laughed along with her until she finally exhausted herself.

“You good now?”

She nodded as solemnly as she could. “I am. That just struck me.”

“I can see that.” He shook his head, but he didn’t mind. Not at all. He loved seeing her laugh. “I do want to show you something.” He held up a hand before she could break into hysterics again. “And it’s nothing like that. I promise. This is totally innocent. But it’s pretty amazing. Do you want to see?”

She eyed him, unable to conceal the curiosity from her face. Finally she nodded. “I do.”

It was the response he was hoping for. They took the dishes into the kitchen, leaving them for later. Ash grabbed a flashlight from the shelf by the garden door and led the way to the pathway behind grande casa.

“Where are we going?”

“Not far.”

“Is it safe?”

Thor stood a few steps behind, ready for the adventure that awaited. From the moment she’d arrived, the dog wasn’t far away from Heather, as if he’d appointed himself her guardian. He’d been up at the treehouse for a bit with Sherri, but as if he’d sensed that she wanted to be totally alone, the dog had come back down the stairs with Ash when he’d left the final time.

“We have Thor. I’m sure he’ll save us from any scary jungle creatures.”

Heather shot him a look but he laughed. “I told you, I didn’t know Casa del Sol was on an island before I came here.”

“I know.” He slipped his hand in hers, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “I’m only teasing.” She’d stopped walking at his touch, so he squeezed gently. “Ready?”

Ash could only barely make out her nod in the moonlight, but she walked with him, letting him lead her down the garden path. He hadn’t been lying; they didn’t have far to go. Ash led them, his hand firmly holding hers, to the little walkway that led over the water to a vacant bungalow. Heather stopped hard when she realized where he was taking her and he had to swallow a laugh because by all appearances, it did look a little suspect.

“I promise it’s not what it looks like.”

“Really, Ash? I mean, this is a little…”

He couldn’t help it; he laughed. “I promise.” He released her hand to hold it up in a Boy Scout’s promise. “We’re not even going inside. I just wanted to use the deck.”

She looked at him sideways, but finally agreed. “Okay. But no funny business.”

“You have my word.”

They walked down the dock and skirted around the bungalow to the deck on the far side. Despite the joke, he hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t going to try anything with her. Not that he wouldn’t if she wanted him to. But that wasn’t his intention by bringing her to the empty bungalow.

“So, why here?” Heather sat on a bench near the edge of the deck and dangled her feet over the water. She moved over so he could sit, but he had other ideas.

“Don’t get comfortable. We’re going swimming.”

“Swimming?” The moonlight reflected off the smooth surface of the water and provided just enough illumination to see the surprise on Heather’s face. “But I don’t have a bathing—oh. No.” She shook her head. “No way. I am not going skinny-dipping.”

Ash was afraid that would be her objection. “Don’t think of it like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you are.” He moved to unbutton his shorts and she looked away. “You’re thinking of it like it’s a sexual thing and I promise you it’s not.” That got her attention. Heather’s head turned and she eyed him, so he couldn’t help but add, “Unless, of course, you want it to be.”

He loved the way her skin looked in the light of the moon, but in that moment, he wished he could see the blush that he was absolutely positive was all over her face.

“Ash, I—”

“Honestly. I do want to show you something amazing. And the best way to see it is for yourself, in the water. You can wear your underwear if you want, but I think you’re going to be disappointed if you aren’t bare in the water.”

He had her interest piqued. He had to forcibly stop himself from thinking of all the other things he may have peaked with his words. It was no secret that he wanted her. But he’d behave himself for her sake because he knew just how much she was going to love what he was about to show her.

“And if it makes you feel better,” he added. “I won’t even look while you get in. But I want you to get in first.”

“Why?”

She didn’t say no again. That was progress.

“You have to trust me,” Ash said. “Can you do that?”

To his surprise, Heather stood and walked toward him. She stared at him for a moment before she finally said, “Turn around.”

He did and with a huge smile on his face, he waited until he heard the splash of her dive.

* * *

She could not believe she was doing it, but something about the way he asked her to take her clothes off and get in the ocean actually made it seem like a totally reasonable request. But the craziest part was that she was going along with it.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Heather stripped the T-shirt off her head and shimmied out of her pants. She stood for a moment in her underwear before she shed them as well. With one last glance at Ash, who’d kept his back turned as promised, she pointed her arms over her head and dove gracefully into the ocean.

The water was warm and instantly she was happy she’d made the decision to remove her underwear. There was nothing quite like feeling the water on your bare skin. She let herself glide under the surface as long as she could before she surfaced. With her eyes still closed, she kicked gently to keep herself afloat and slicked her hair back off her face before she turned around and opened her eyes.

Ash was watching her, but that’s not what captured her attention.

In the water she’d just swam through, there was a bright-blue streak that led right to her. It looked like the sea was lit up with neon lights under the surface. She dropped her hands into the water and instantly saw the splash of bright blue.

“What…how…”

“Isn’t it magical?”

Heather looked up to Ash. In the moonlight, she could see the smile on his face. She had no words for what she was experiencing. Instead, she nodded and kicked onto her back, watching the water around her light up.

A moment later, there was a splash, a streak of blue, and Ash appeared in front of her. He ran his hands through his hair, smoothing it back from his face. Heather swallowed hard, her attention momentarily diverted from the beauty of the water, focused instead on the beauty in front of her.

“It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

“You—I mean, yes. It is.”

Ash laughed. She splashed him; the water lit up with neon refocused her attention. “What is it?” She watched her hands as they traced back and forth under the surface. “It’s so incredible.”

“It’s bioluminescent phytoplankton.”

“What? Really?”

“It’s totally safe,” Ash said. “I promise. It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?”

She relaxed and nodded. “It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He swam close to her, so he was only inches from her face. “I’m glad you like it.” His voice was soft and when he reached out a finger to trail down her cheek, she didn’t push it away. “Your face is glowing now.” Ash’s smile was tender, and for the life of her, Heather could no longer remember why she’d been avoiding him.

Maybe she did owe it to herself to give herself space and time to come to grips with her new life. But maybe, more than that, she owed it to herself to stop thinking altogether and actually start to experience life. Things exactly like what she was experiencing at that moment. Thanks to Ash.

“I love it. Thank you.” Her lips were so close to his, she was sure he could feel the puffs of air from her words.

His hand cupped her cheek and he closed the gap, touching his lips to hers in a soft, slow kiss.

It was over before it started, and in a flash of blue, he kicked away from her. “Do you see now why I wanted to bring you out here, instead of off the main dock?”

It took Heather a minute to decide whether he was talking about the bioluminescence or the kiss. She’d half expected that he had a hidden agenda by bringing her out by the empty bungalow, but with the taste of him still on her lips, she was positive she didn’t care anymore.

“It makes sense,” she said. “It’s darker out here.”

“And we can swim out to the platform from here if you want.”

She rolled to her back, floating for a moment before she remembered she was naked. In a splash of blue neon, Heather ducked under the water.

“Don’t cover yourself on my account, Heather.” With an easy stroke, Ash swam up next to her. “You’re beautiful and I honestly don’t think I can remember ever seeing a sight as magnificent as your breasts all lit up like that.”

She should have been embarrassed, but there was nothing but honesty in his voice. So with an easy flip, she returned to her back and looked up at the stars. A moment later, with a slight splash, Ash was stretched out on his back as well.

They floated in the quiet for a few minutes, the stars lighting up the sky above, the phosphoresce lighting them from below.

“This truly is the most incredible place. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be…” Heather couldn’t finish her thought. Emotions she’d done her best to shove down threatened to spill over and the last thing she wanted to do was cry. Especially when she wasn’t even truly upset. In fact, she’d never been happier.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, even though Ash couldn’t see her.

“I am.” For the first time in a long time, she meant it. “I think from the moment I got here, I’ve been okay. I know it’s only been a week, but it feels like a lifetime. Like I was meant to find Casa del Sol and Sherri, and…even you.” Heather knew how that sounded, but she didn’t care because she knew Ash wouldn’t be offended. “Do you think maybe that sometimes the universe sends you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it?” It sounded ridiculous when she heard herself say it, just like it had when she’d heard the same words of advice from Josie, the older, and clearly much wiser, woman in the San Blas Islands. But for the first time, Heather actually believed it.

Ash didn’t say anything but she knew without looking that he was listening because a moment later, his hand found hers in the water. He twined his fingers through hers and squeezed, so she kept talking.

“It wasn’t that long ago that I was totally at a loss with my life. I had nowhere to go, no one to…well, no one who cared about me.” Saying it out loud for the first time hurt less than she thought it would. Probably because it wasn’t true. Joe may have stopped loving her, but there were others who did.

“Heather, that can’t be—”

“It isn’t true.” She cut him off. “But it felt like it. At least for a little while. The point is, now it feels different. Like, I have a place where I belong.” She let the words float on the air in the darkness as a shooting star zipped across the sky.

“Did you see that?”

“I did,” she answered. “Did you make a wish?”

Ash laughed and tugged her closer. “I can’t tell you that. It won’t come true.”

“You kind of just admitted it.” Heather laughed. But the laughter died on her lips when he pulled her close, righting her in the water, so they were face-to-face. Ash’s skin was speckled with neon blue and she was sure hers was the same. “You might as well tell me your wish.” It was bold, especially given the tension between them, but something about the water and the darkness and the man she was with emboldened her.

“I think you already know what I wished for.” His lips curled into a small smile so sexy a simple kiss wouldn’t do it justice.

In an even bolder move, Heather reached out, trailing her fingers, and a streak of blue, down the side of his face. She left her fingers resting on his jaw, ready to take the kiss she was craving, but he beat her to it.

With a slight splash, Ash wrapped his arm around her and pressed her hard against him before his lips crashed to hers. There was nothing tentative about the kiss, and there was definitely nothing tentative about the way her body responded to it.

* * *

He’d half expected her to swim away and when she didn’t, it took Ash a second to realize it. But only a second before he pulled her closer, her wet skin hot against his, her lips moving against his.

“I don’t believe in wishes,” she said when she came up for air.

“Is that right?” Ash slid a hand down her back until it rested on the curve of her buttocks. “Because it would seem to me—”

She silenced him with another kiss. Her boldness sent desire ripping through him, focused between his legs.

Damn, he’d never expected her to be so forward with him. But then again, from the moment he’d met her, he hadn’t known what to expect from her. But if the surprises kept coming and they were even half as good as the kiss, he was perfectly okay with it.

“That’s right,” she said, answering him. “Wishes are nothing but empty promises to yourself.”

Something about her choice of words stopped him, but he didn’t have time to respond before she bit his bottom lip and sucked it into her mouth, kissing him hard. She wrapped her legs around his waist.

The water wasn’t deep, but he wouldn’t be able to hold them up in the water indefinitely. He pulled away from her kiss, gently sucking on her bottom lip as he did so. “Hold on.”

“Are we going for a ride?”

“Something like that.” He kicked his legs hard beneath him, and used his arms to pull them a few feet into the shallower waters. As soon as he put his feet down and they touched the sandy bottom below, his hands wrapped around Heather once more, this time pressing her closer to him and his growing hardness between them.

A low moan escaped her lips when he moved his kisses to her neck. A shudder ran through her, encouraging his attentions on her neck. He sucked, nibbled, and left a bite or two as he worked his way down her body. Her groans intensified the lower he went, so he lifted her easily, exposing more of her gorgeous body from the water.

Her breasts glistened with the blue luminescence in the moonlight. He hadn’t been blowing smoke when he’d told her earlier she was the most beautiful thing he’d seen. She truly was. Her body with curves in all the right places was just right for holding and squeezing and kissing. And that’s exactly what he wanted to do.

Needing to taste her again, Ash slid her wet body down his chest until they were once again face-to-face. Her breath was coming in short pants, but he didn’t give her a chance to recover before once more taking her mouth in his. He slipped his tongue between her lips while at the same time his fingers found their target between her legs.

He swallowed her gasp with his kiss, his own excitement building with her reaction. She was so incredibly responsive to his touch; it was only moments before he felt her body clench around his fingers, followed by a shudder and a low moan that built low in her chest before it escaped her throat.

He waited while she recovered from her orgasm. He’d thought she was beautiful before, but watching her come completely undone in his arms was very likely the sexiest thing he’d ever experienced. There was just something about her. He couldn’t get enough. More than that, he didn’t want to.

“Ash. We…I…”

“Don’t.” He kissed her words away.

She lifted herself in his arms so she looked directly at him. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t tell me we shouldn’t have done that.”

Her laugh was rich and loud and took him completely off guard. “I was not going to say that.”

“You weren’t?” He eyed her suspiciously. Every indication she’d given him from the moment they’d begun their cat-and-mouse game told him she’d be running now. Every time he thought he made a step in the right direction with Heather, that’s what she did. And if this wasn’t a huge step, he didn’t know what was.

“No.” She shook her head with another laugh and grabbed his face between her hands. She kissed him deep and any lingering thoughts of her running disappeared. Especially when she said, “I was going to say that we needed to get out of the water so we could take care of you properly.”

A rush of heat flooded his groin at her words. He pulled her tight to his now throbbing erection. “God, you’re amazing.” He pushed one hand through her wet hair and kissed her again. “But I don’t want to go anywhere.” His voice was rough with need. “I need you now.”

She wiggled against him and for a moment he thought he might come completely undone right then and there. Ash moved a hand to her hips to still her.

“What? You just said—”

“I know what I said, but I also know we need to be safe.” The thought of stopping made him want to scream, but he wasn’t completely unreasonable. There were precautions, and he was a grown man. He could wait.

“I’m safe,” she said. “I’m protected and…well, I know I’m clean.”

Ash’s mind spun. He never had unprotected sex. Ever.

Which was how he knew he was clean.

With her legs still wrapped tightly around him, he stilled her, staring into her eyes. “You’re sure?”

She nodded and despite all the reasons he had to stop, he kissed her. Hard.

His hands found her hips again and then he couldn’t have stopped for anything. He lifted her slightly before bringing her down again, slowly so his hard length buried inside her.

For a moment, he held her still, unmoving and allowing her a chance to adjust to him. When her eyes once again focused on his, he started moving, slowly at first. And then faster.

“Ash. You….” Her words were lost as he increased his movements.

Every thrust inside her sent electrical pulses racing through him, spurring him on. He wanted to make it last, but he also knew there’d be time for that later.

Heather nuzzled her face into his neck and bit down as another orgasm crested inside her. She was his undoing, and his own climax built rapidly.

With one hand holding her to him, his other hand found her chin, tilting it up so he could look directly into her eyes as they went over the edge together.

She clung to him and a shudder traveled through them both.

Ash didn’t know how much time passed as they recovered from their coupling, but as soon as his heartbeat returned to normal, he kissed her again. Softer this time; the need for her was still there, but without the edge of urgency there’d been earlier.

“I thought you promised me no funny business.” She winked at him playfully and unwound her legs from him before she kicked away from him in a splash. She turned and said, “I think you owe me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Come on,” she called. “I’ll race you to the platform.”

She took off before he could object. Not that he would. His body was still vibrating from the memory of her and he could barely form a thought. Without a doubt, he knew one thing with certainty: now that he’d had a taste of her, Ash wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to get enough of her.