out, spinning around. He hadn’t come up to the surface yet. I hesitated. I swam a little further out, to where I couldn’t stand, but it was as black as black further out, and scared me.
‘Nick!?’ I counted to five. Now I was getting worried.
Something tugged at my leg. I’d heard about this, that most shark attacks happen at night and close to the shore. I thought I’d dreamt it at first, but there it was again. Tug. I gave a loud squeal, convinced it was a shark that had taken Nick and was now coming from me, then swam as fast as I could back to where I could stand, in the water reaching my hips, my heart beating out of my chest. Where was Nick?
Something tugged again at my leg. I yelled out, ‘Help!’
Suddenly the shark emerged from the water laughing, stood and splashed me. ‘God, Emma, you’ll wake the entire hotel of people trying to sleep.’
‘What … the …? You …’ I was so mad, I tried to push him away, but he grabbed each of my wrists in his hand. He had nice hands, and now they were pulling my hands towards his chest.
‘Were you going to try and hit me with your tiny, ineffectual fists?’ He had a twinkle in his eye.
‘Not ineffectual. As you may likely find out.’ I could barely speak. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. My body seemed to crave his; it was all I could do not to grab him and kiss him. I’d never wanted someone to touch me, to kiss me so much. I could hear the blood pulsating in my ears.
Suddenly he reached out and pulled me into him. Our bodies pressed together. I felt his warm skin against mine, his breath hot on my neck, and a delightful buzz spread out across my chest. My mind ticked over. He was a stranger. And this was a naked hug. Was that weird? Should it be? Oh, God, was he getting excited? Um, down there? Before I could think of anything else, he’d put his hand on my right cheek.
‘Emma,’ he said in a soft, serious voice.
‘Nick,’ I whispered, staring into his chocolate melt eyes. The entire beach disappeared from sight. It was just him and me.
He leaned forward, smelling of warm whisky, and ocean water; his lips found mine. I closed my eyes. He gently kissed me, no tongue, but I felt breathless. My body shuddered.
‘Emma.’
‘Yes?’
‘You’re shivering.’
‘Well, I’m cold.’ And this situation is making my body quiver in ways it never has.
‘Let’s get you back.’
‘But I—’ I wanted to stay out there and kiss him all night.
‘We can go swimming again later.’ He stepped back.
‘OK,’ I said, and was glad he kept holding my hand, feeling the warmth tingle up and down my arm.
‘Can you wait here a second?’ he asked. ‘Just stand in the shallows.’
‘A naked girl by herself at the beach? You better be quick.’ I turned to face the ocean, so no one could catch a glimpse.
He dashed off before I had a second to watch his body. I couldn’t believe this was happening. My last travel hurrah, and I was going to return with this story. What a story. My friends would never believe me.
In a few minutes he was back with two fluffy towels, one already around him, and a jumper for me.
‘Oh, and this.’ He held up a bag of chips and a bottle of whisky. ‘I nicked it from Brett’s stash.’
He held the towel around me, and then handed me my black dress, underwear and his jumper – which smelt like the ocean, and felt so warm. He took a sip of whisky and handed it to me. The liquid warmed up in seconds.
‘C’mon,’ he said. Dragging a few logs together, he started to make a fire. It was crackling in no time, and he laid out the towels for us to sit on.
‘Well, this is quite nice,’ I murmured, sitting down in front of the fire. ‘I didn’t realise it got this cool in the evenings in Fiji – isn’t it meant to be summer here all year round?’
‘Sometimes it gets cool, which is nice, because then you can cuddle up by a beach fire.’ He sat next to me, near enough to touch me. I could see the flames and reflection dancing on his face, in his eyes.
‘So, what’s your story, Emma?’ he asked.
I felt my body leaning slightly towards his. ‘Well, I’m a retired aqua aerobics World star, who’s bringing pink petal caps to the masses. And you?’
‘I’m a retired picnic rug, who got tired of people walking all over me.’
‘That’s terrible!’ We both laughed.
He paused. ‘Now, truthfully?’
‘Well, I’ve been travelling around the world for seven years, working here and there, and now here I am in Fiji.’
He gave a low whistle. ‘Wow. Seven years. I’m impressed. I think I’m heading back to London for work. Maybe via France. And Austria. Don’t tell me you’ve been there too?’
‘Why, yes, I have,’ I said and realised he was leaning close to me too. A burst of warmth and excitement spread across my chest. I wanted him to kiss me, and I didn’t even know what I was saying. I felt tongue-tied and nervous, and when I do that – I talk.
‘In fact, it sounds like you need travel advice, and, wouldn’t you know it, besides specialising in petal caps, I am a great travel guide and know lots of random facts about all kinds of things.’
‘Like?’
‘Like it would take one million two hundred thousand mosquitoes, each sucking once, to completely drain the average human of blood.’
‘Morbid, but interesting.’ He chuckled.
When we stopped talking, there was only the sound of the breeze through the palm trees.
‘How great would it be to do this, and travel, for the rest of our lives?’ I said.
‘Depends how you travel,’ he pointed out.
‘Good point. How about hiking in the wild, the mountains, waking up to fresh air and trees every morning, then a few nice hotels thrown in so you can remember what it’s like to wear a bathrobe, rather than a scratchy towel the size of a postage stamp?’
He laughed. ‘Yep, I know all about those towels. I spent some time on a boat travelling around Antarctica.’
‘Antarctica! What were you doing there?’
‘This sounds cheesy – but I took some time to volunteer with seals and penguins.’
‘Yep, you’re right, sounds very “I’m a dolphin trainer” to me,’ I said, trying not to laugh.
‘Do dolphin trainers even exist?’ he teased.
‘In every woman’s fantasy they do.’ I winked.
‘Oh, we’re sharing fantasies now!’ He laughed. ‘You do move fast.’
I playfully swatted his leg. ‘Well, right now, my fantasy would be to live by the ocean, perhaps in a palm tree.’
‘I hope you’ll wear clothes,’ he teased. ‘Could get sore.’
I suddenly became aware that I’d been completely naked before – it was strange to think that I hadn’t felt that awkward, that embarrassed, in fact I hadn’t really given it a thought.
‘I’m not the crazy idiot that decided to take off my clothes.’
‘Aren’t you?’ he asked with a smile.
‘Well.’ I nodded. ‘Perhaps I’ll call it peer pressure from a picnic rug.’
‘I’m