Wet Part 3 (38 page)

Her eyes glazed over with impatience.

“What did you see, Paul?”

“That we’re meant for each other.”

“I’ve tried to tell you that.”

“Yeah, so my gravestone will never read, ‘Here lies Paul, the most malleable man to have ever lived’.”

Rhees stifled a giggle. Paul’s talent for using arrogant, yet self-deprecating declarations to make her laugh had disarmed her once again. She usually welcomed his ability to brighten situations that felt, to her, a lot like the end of the world, but this time, she feared he might persuade her to change her mind. She believed in what she’d said about their relationship.

She studied his attractive face, considering the sincere desperation in his pleading blue eyes. In the meantime, her arms involuntarily moved around his neck again, because, she told herself, she didn’t want to drown. Her height in the water made it too dangerous not to hang on, very closely.

“Okay, so what finally made it through to that brilliant brain of yours?”

“Funny you should mention my
not-so-
brilliant brain, because if it were, it wouldn’t have taken me so long, but my
weird
brain happened to be running an analysis on the dates of your entries, and pinpointing where I was at the time you were going through all the experiences you had to go through. You wouldn’t know this, but when you started writing about how much you wished you were brave enough to learn to dive, when you found out your mom was dying, that’s when I left Florida.”

He raised a brow, expecting her to catch on, but she couldn’t see what that had to do with them now.

“That’s when I met up with Mitch, and then Ginger, and when I became a dive instructor.” The light danced around in his eyes, making them sparkle. “It’s all in the timing.” He smiled, getting excited. “Things were happening to you at the same time things were happening to me.”

“Yeah. Of course, and?”

“Let me try a new approach.” He swooped in for a quick kiss, ignoring her scolding expression. She liked it, but she wasn’t ready for him to know that.

“God looked down from heaven, saw Rhees—What’s that look for?” He raised a brow. “You didn’t know I believe in God, did you?”

“Yes, I knew.” She didn’t bat an eye, but he did, doubting her. “Almost every time you say, ‘Oh, God’, you sound like you’re actually talking to someone, not just spouting a mindless exclamation.”

He seemed to think about that, and nodded.

“And you wouldn’t talk about dragging me down to hell—I mean heck, with you.” She knew she was taking her no-swear oath a little too far, but she couldn’t help it. She loved the cute, baffled looks he always made as it took him a second to absorb, or translate, what she was saying. “Unless you’ve put some thought into going there. The other night, you sounded pretty sure you’d already been darned to heck, and I don’t think people think about that stuff if they don’t believe in Gosh.”

She kept a straight face, watching his, waiting for her reward, and as usual, he didn’t disappoint. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he got it out, he closed it again. His eyes lost focus for a second before his gaze finally turned back to her with an unamused expression.

“You sidetracked my
awesome
story.” He flashed a warning with his eyes, but then smiled, shaking his head. “Okay, so God said, ‘
Oh, look. There’s sweet little Rhees. What am I supposed to do with her? She is so good. She is so pure and innocent; it puts her at a disadvantage. She has no idea what the world is really like. She doesn’t recognize how some people can be evil and will hurt her. Poor girl’s doomed to fall prey to every feather-mucking creepazoid on the planet
’.”

“I doubt God says things like that.” She’d yet to warm up to his story. Paul ignored her.

“‘
She’s defenseless, poor thing.’
And then God looked on the other side of the world and shook his head when he saw me.
‘Then there’s Paul. What am I supposed to do with him? He’s bad, very bad. He’s made just about every bad choice he could possibly make in this life, and knows too fu . . .”
Paul caught himself and grinned cleverly. “‘
He knows way too much about the world. If only there was a way I could give Rhees just enough of what Paul knows, to keep her safe, without corrupting her . . . too much. Hmm . . .’
God scratched his head and said,
‘That idea isn’t half bad. Paul could take better care of her than any of those puds she’s been dealing with her whole life.’

“I’ve only recently—like twenty minutes ago, realized what an idiot I’ve been to think you should be with one of those stupid puds, because they’re
just like you
. They don’t know any more about anything than you do! How are they supposed to look out for you?”

Paul looked at her as if he expected her to answer, but she was dumbfounded, wondering where he was going with his bizarre rant.

“So that’s why God put his plan into action. He planted a seed in your pretty little head that you needed to learn to dive, even though you’re a lousy swimmer, you lived in the desert, and you were scared to death of the ocean.” He smiled, but continued before she could say anything. “Next, he planted a seed in your dad’s head that he should buy life insurance, even though your dad was against the whole idea. He did it, not knowing he was going to get sick so soon after.”

Paul kissed Rhees on the forehead because he’d mentioned the sad memory of her father.

“But at the same time, he planted a seed in my head . . .” Paul noticed Rhees’ eyebrow shoot up. “I know. He has a lot of seeds, bear with me. So anyway, he planted a seed in my head that I needed to get my shit together . . .” Paul couldn’t help but sober as he reached the next stage of his analogy. He thought about how hard it had hit him when he read the pages of her journal, and noticed how everything related.

“I needed to pull myself together . . .” He paused again to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t. “—Because you were
almost
ready to need me.”

Her eyes grew shiny and he knew his had too.

“Rhees . . .” Paul cleared his throat. He didn’t take his eyes off her. “Your dad took out his insurance policy the same day—the exact same day that I decided I would never use drugs again.”

Rhees’ expression remained confused, so he continued to connect the dots.

“Mitch never got into the drug scene. He hated Thailand, so Ginger, Mitch, and I started drifting around Asia, picking up work as we went. We made it to India, Mitch met Shanni, and suddenly, they were both talking about the Caribbean. Shanni mentioned this island, that it draws a lot of diving students.”

“It hit me like a hammer over the head, the feeling that I just
had
to get here. Of all the places in the world, this island drew me to it. The second I got off the plane, I knew I was supposed to be right here—you see? I
had
to be here, I
had
to buy this shop, because this was where you were going to show up. God was ready to send you, too—here—
to me
. I had to be here, and you had to come here, because he needed us to find each other. He wanted us to get together so we could—” He squeezed her to him.

“Rhees! Opposites attract for a reason. The strengths of one, balance out the weaknesses of the other. God wanted us to be together so that
one’s,”
he set a finger on Rhees’ chest, “goodness would no longer have to be a weakness but rather, would become strength for the other.” Paul set his hand on his own chest. “You make me a better man, and my weaknesses become strengths because I’ll use them, no holds barred, for your safe keeping. You said yourself I make you feel safe, you know how far I’d go to protect you, do anything for you.

“We balance each other. Together, we’re one—” A sudden thought brought a cocky grin to his lips. “Come on. We owe it to my parents.”

She looked confused.

“Please be the other nine-tenths of my perfection, so their wish can finally come true.”

They both laughed.

“I’ll never be perfect, but together, we’re a
more
perfect unit—let’s strike the word perfect. I want to abolish that word from my vocabulary. We
are
opposites, but I am
so
attracted to you, you’re so beautiful, body and soul. God gave us to each other for the good of us both, that is, if you’ll still have me. He watched her, but then thought of one more coincidence he’d discovered. He placed his hand against her cheek.

“I was eleven years old when I had my first sexual experience. I didn’t want to believe you, that there was anything wrong with that, but after hearing about yours—Rhees—you were five. We’re six years apart in age. It was July eighteenth when Pete dragged me to that beach. I know you don’t remember the date, but maybe—I really think it was the same day.”

Rhees’ eyes filled again, but she stared at him, waiting for, ready to accept what he said next.

“That summer—that day—as terrible as it was, it shaped both our lives, set things in motion. It sealed our fates, our destinies, forever.”

oOo

After taking several seconds to study each other, they fell into a loving, worshipful kiss, but it didn’t take long for that kiss to turn into something less reverent.

“Let’s stop,” he said, breaking away.

“No,” she whined, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He let out a soft, tortured groan.

“Not here. Not on Frock.”

Something happened, he didn’t know what, but her whole body went rigid.

“What’s wrong?”

“What is it this time?” she asked, gritting her teeth. Her angry eyes narrowed at him, and he had no clue where the vehemence had come from.

“You’re always telling me no. You reject every single attempt I make to be close to you.” Her voice rose with each sentence. “Nothing’s changed! For all your grandiose speeches, all the beautiful things you just said, it’s just another lie. You don’t want me.”

She pushed off from him and started swimming away. He blinked, dumbfounded, and missed the opportunity to catch her before she got too far away. He took off after her, it only took a second to catch up, but the water was too deep to stop, so he followed her, trying to reason with her. She wouldn’t have it, and refused to respond to anything he said.

She reached the ladder and started to pull herself up, but he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back into the water with him.

“I want you,” he whispered, his tone almost begged.

“Let go of me,” she yelled.

“Keep your voice down.” He pointed up, gesturing to remind her they’d left spectators on the deck. “I’ll never have you on Frock, Rhees, and not in a public restroom, or a back alley somewhere.” He grimaced, remembering the dressing room.

“Blah, blah, blah,” she mocked, and started up the ladder again, but she always struggled with the first rung.

“You know how much I hate the idea of disrespecting you, the way I’ve disrespected so many before. You’re different. You’re my
wife
.”

She didn’t stop her ascent. He grabbed the other side rail, and followed her up, along the outside, trying to get her to look at him.

“Same old, same old.” She stopped climbing, but continued to scorn him, “I’m sorry, but I can’t hear the words coming out of your mouth, because your actions are screaming so loud.”

“Rhees, please, be reasonable. We can talk this through. Please, stay and talk.”

“I can’t.” She glared coldly. “I have an appointment to keep!”

Paul deadpanned.

Chapter 27

R
hees watched Paul. He held perfectly still, not even his mouth moved, the muscle in his cheek, his eyes. He just glared off, at nothing, his eyes icier than she’d ever seen.

“Paul?”

He blinked slowly and rolled his eyes to meet hers. He still didn’t say a word, and she didn’t like his expression, so she started scrambling up the ladder to get away. It felt like climbing on a treadmill, she couldn’t get herself up as fast as it felt her limbs should have managed the task.

She reached for the top rung, but he lurched up, cinched his arm around her stomach, and he jerked her back into the water. She watched helplessly as he plunged in after her. The salt water stung, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him as she sunk below the surface.

The next thing she knew, he was dragging her under the deck, both of them immersed.

The action had taken her by such surprise she hadn’t had a chance to get a good breath. She’d never been able to hold her breath for long. She fought, not as much to get away from him, but to get up for air, but Paul was too strong. By reflex, anyone being drowned would do the same thing—she kneed him in the groin.

He released his grip on her and they both broke the surface, gasping for air. She used the timing to break away, and headed back toward the ladder, but he was on her before she’d moved more than a few inches, pushing her under again, dragging her farther under the shop.

Just as she was sure that she’d driven him to murder, his mouth covered hers with a kiss. She couldn’t believe him, that he’d have the audacity to actually give her one last kiss before he killed her with his own hands, whether he meant to or not.

She tried to see his face through the haze of the water, refusing to believe he’d hurt her. She wondered how much longer she could hold it, every millisecond felt like eternity until she could no longer ignore the reflex screaming from her burning lungs, to take that horrifying breath.

Her lungs filled with, not water, but air—Paul’s air. She greedily accepted it, and stopped fighting him, throwing her arms around his neck, keeping her mouth locked tight on his, her trust in him renewed.

He surfaced and drew in another breath.

“Paul, I’m sor—” She didn’t get her apology out.

He dived under again, not giving her the chance to finish, or catch a good breath again, but when his arms wrapped around her, and his lips locked on hers, this time in a real kiss, she gave in without a struggle. The kiss made her forget everything, being under water, drowning, he’d already drowned her with his desire.

She gasped against his mouth, drawing more of his air when he tugged at her bikini bottom, pulling the fabric between her legs to the side. Paul drew a sharp breath of his own, and then stilled when he placed
He
against the bare skin she usually kept private. With a quick stutter of breath against her mouth, he carried her to the surface for another lungful, holding the same pose.

“Is this what you want?” he said, his voice nothing but a harsh rumble.

He’d towed her far enough under the shop that he could set his feet down, in the silt, and stand. With one hand, he guided her legs to wrap around his hips. 

“Because I’m taking it.” He slid himself along her seam and his eyes clouded over a bit, but their intensity didn’t lessen. He could be so intense. “You have two seconds to say no.”

She bobbed her head in short, quick nods, watching him carefully, too stunned to speak, thinking through the blur of the last few seconds, and wondering how they’d ended up here. Without breaking eye contact, she tightened her hold around his neck, and squeezed him to her with her legs.

He kissed her again, hard, and without dunking her. They were no longer under water, but she still had trouble breathing because—because of
how
he kissed her, and how fast he’d connected them. Her mouth flew open and she drew in a breathy, staccato gasp at the sudden invasion to her body.

He seemed to take pleasure in her reaction, chomping down on his lower lip, scrunching up his nose, watching her with a mix of lust, lingering anger, and adoration, all at the same time. She wondered, briefly, how his glacial eyes had such power to burn their way right through the resolve she’d worked so hard to build the last few days, but it was gone, and she didn’t miss it one bit.

He smashed his mouth against hers and took what he wanted from her lips, and with his hands, before he began taking elsewhere. This wasn’t like any of the other times. Paul was not like he’d been the other times, his movements so much more forceful and aggressive.

“I can’t believe you groined me,” he hissed, moving his mouth to her jaw.

“I can’t believe you tried to drown me,” she answered back, breathlessly.

He responded, not with words, but with a change of angle and a growl that made her suck in a breath through her teeth.

“Tell me you’ll forget about Barton.” He panted the demand into her neck, nipping her sensitive skin with his teeth.

“Yes.” She winced from the pain with each bite, but didn’t tell him to stop. She hung even tighter against him, lifting her head, exposing more skin for him to bite.

“Yes, what?”

“I won’t see him.”

“Ever! Promise you’ll never mention, or even think about divorce again.” His eyes met hers, challenging her, as his teeth had made it to her bottom lip, and sunk into the tender flesh.

She bit his top lip in response.

“Yes.”

“What was that?” he demanded, but his voice shook, giving away how close he was. “I didn’t hear a promise.”

“I promise,” she sputtered as she started to lose herself too.

“You promise what?” He clenched his teeth together, hanging on, making it last, but only barely.

“I promise to never mention, or think about divorce again.”

“Good girl.” He kissed her. “I love you.”

“I lov—” She lost the ability to speak, and he grinned his satisfaction before letting go himself. 

They convulsed together, clinging to each other, sucking in air. Paul covered her mouth with his, trying to keep her quiet, not an easy task for either of them, coming down from such a raucous round of hot, steamy sex, but he didn’t want to share this with anyone, the feel of her, the taste, even the sounds she made. Rhees was his, and only his, and would forever be, only his.

They couldn’t have held each other any closer and neither of them appeared to have plans to try anytime soon.

“Aw Dani Girl,” Paul whispered, his lips plastered against her cheek. “You are so beautiful.”

“Beautiful?” She huffed a quiet laugh. “How do you come up with the word beautiful after that?”

“Are you kidding?” He pulled away, just far enough to see her. “I
finally
got to see you—
feel
you. Mm!”

She smiled, and it lit up his world.

“Well, one that I wasn’t too drunk to remember, or too worried about hurting you to truly enjoy. I’m never getting drunk again. I prom—” She smashed her mouth against his to shut him up.

“Don’t say it. Don’t make that promise.”

“You’ve got to be like the first wife in the history of marriage who doesn’t want her husband to promise he won’t get drunk.”

“Because you’re a runner, Paul. You need an escape route, and I’d take a plastered Paul over a no Paul, any day of the week. I thought I’d lost you. I don’t want to go through that again.”

His expression morphed between so many emotions. At first, he didn’t believe her, then he did, then he realized she was right, regret, remorse, and then . . . something else. 

“All right. I won’t promise not to,” he said as his mischievous grin stretched over his mouth. “But do you think that sometime . . . hopefully, in the near future, that maybe, just once, we could just . . .
make love
? No booze, no temper tantrums, insults, or even angry sex. As much as that was
excellent
, I still really, really,
really
want to just make long, gentle, tender, sweet love to you,
in a bed
, the way it
should
have been our first time,
pleeease?
”

“Yeah, maybe. Someday.” She giggled, but buried her face into his neck. “I’m sorry. I can only plead insanity.” She realized what she’d just said and pulled away again to look at him. “But don’t even think about committing me.”

“What do I have to do to convince you?” He rolled his eyes with a chuckle. “I should have taken you with me, but I ran out of here so fast, so worried about you, I didn’t think. It took three days to get all the results back from my tests. Anyway, I decided I didn’t want to risk coming home before I knew, so while I waited, I went to check out Keene’s place. It’s a nice spa-like facility, a retreat. Not an institution!”

“If you’d said, ‘Come to Texas with me’, I’d have told you where to go.”

They both laughed.

“You know,” he said, sobering. “There is another reason we should’ve waited. A very valid reason—not just an excuse—as opposed to, ‘I don’t desire you’.” He gave her a pointed look. “I didn’t wear a condom just now. Thank goodness I’m clean, but you do understand, we may have just made a baby, right?”

“Maybe the salt water will act as birth control.”

“Maybe that’s what the fifteen-year-old girl thought when she got pregnant at Sea Camp.” When Paul saw the look on her face, he quickly added, “With one of the
other
boys. It wasn’t me . . . that time.”

“Oh.” She looked relieved.

“I’m not worried about it,” he said, “are you?”

“You’re not worried I could be pregnant?”

He shook his head, and Rhees tried to smile, but he could tell she didn’t believe him.

“What’s with the new bikini, all of a sudden . . . without the clever tankini lookalike idea?”

“Oh, you noticed.” She feigned innocence. “I honestly didn’t think you did.”

“I noticed,” he said dryly. He hesitated, carefully thinking through his next question. “On a scale of one to ten, how important is it to you to wear a bikini around all day, without a cover-up? I mean, I don’t want you to feel like I’m being too bossy, or controlling, or like I’m holding you down, but—”

“Uhhh . . . Are you sure about that?” She smiled slyly. “Cuz I distinctly remember you holding me down—just a few minutes ago. You were pretty bossy and controlling too.”

“And I’ll have no problem doing it again, if you don’t watch that smart, beautiful mouth of yours.”

“Promises, promises.”

She winked at him and he chastised her with his eyes before he smiled like a lunatic.

“The thing is, marrying you—no, it started before that—just knowing you, for some reason, it brings out the Neanderthal in me. I really, really like that you waited, and that I’m the only—and I know that isn’t fair, given my history, but I’m surprised at how . . .” He paused again, humbled. “I wish I hadn’t cheated on you.”

Her smile fell.

“No! Not like that—I mean—I wish I’d saved myself for you the way you saved yourself for me. I am overwhelmed with the thought, knowing we were meant to be together, our whole lives—I wish I’d waited, and I’m sorry I didn’t. It touches me more than you can know, and I really, really don’t want other guys ogling what’s mine.”

“Zero.”

“What?”

“On a scale of one to ten, zero. I’ll never wear just bikinis again. I prom—” She decided to add a stipulation. “I promise with one exception. If you ever see me wearing one, it means I’m feeling ignored. You’d better remedy my need for your attention, pronto, or the cover-up gets tossed, got it?”

She kissed him when he smiled at her answer.

“With great blessings, come great responsibilities.” He wriggled his eyebrows up and down. “I promise to perform my husbandly duties with the utmost diligence.”

He pressed her palm to his lips for a kiss but noticed her skin.

“You’re a prune.”

“We’ve been in the water a while. I also snorkeled for a long time before you came barreling down the Plank.”

“Come on. Let’s get you out of the water, send everyone home, and spend some alone time, together as a boring, married couple.”

She’d forgotten about their spectators and a horrified look crossed her face. He gave her a crooked grin.

“Another very valid reason for waiting, as opposed to, ‘I don’t desire you’.” He gave her a smug, smiley kiss before they separated.

“I love you.”

“Of course you do!” He gave her a confident grin. “Duh! Gosh planted a seed—”

“I get it.” She pretended to smack him, and he laughed. He swung her around to hang on to his back while he swam to the ladder and helped her up.

oOo

Rhees climbed the ladder with Paul right behind her. It surprised them to find the deck void of the spectators they’d anticipated.

“Thank you Claire!” Paul exclaimed, even though she wasn’t around to hear.

They ordered delivery and had just finished sharing a romantic dinner in the gazebo, sitting across from each other. They usually sat together, side by side, but that night, staring at each other across the table like love-struck newlyweds, felt right.

“Do you think that maybe . . .” Rhees looked away and felt nervous about proposing her suggestion.

“You know you can ask me anything.”

She nodded, but it took a few more seconds.

“Instead of paying for vacations, every month for the next twenty years, that we don’t plan to really take, do you think we could send Ginger some of that money, to pay her medical expenses, and make sure she’s comfortable?”

Paul looked guilty, but nodded.

“I’m already on it.”

“I figured that.” She tilted her head and gazed lovingly at him with a small smile on her lips. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I was okay with it.”

“I figured you would be. I did plan to mention it.” After another minute of gazing, he said, “I . . . uh, while I was in Texas, waiting for the results, I spoke to the guy who sold us
The Tow’d
.”

“You did?”

“I rented a car and drove down to pay him a visit.”

“After the runaround he’s given you all this time, did you finally get to talk to him?”

“Um, yeah.” Paul didn’t look her in the eye. “He wasn’t happy to see me. Told me I waited too long to talk to him about it, and I was out of luck.”

“Are you kidding?” She knew how many times Paul had tried to contact him.

“But I adapted, and applied my knowledge and experience from the old days, working for dad, and
explained
how disappointed I’ve been in his product. I gave him a few . . .
pointers
on providing better customer service for future reference. I’m pretty sure he now knows how important it is to have a happy, satisfied client.” Paul wrung his hands, favoring the knuckles on the right. She only, just then, noticed the bruises.