Free Just Married! by Shirley Jump Cara Colter

look.” But he winked to let her know he was just a guy, after all, and he probably would.
    Her struggles were no match for his strength, a fact that pleased her way too much considering she had always taken such pride in thinking she could look after herself.
    He waded out into the surf, carrying her easily over the first few rollers. Waldo barked frantically on shore, afraid to get his feet wet.
    “My hair,” she told him, one last attempt to save herself from the embarrassment of the camisole that was going to turn transparent. She blinked at him with every ounce of feminine wiles she possessed.
    He wasn’t fooled. He laughed. “You don’t give a rat’s whiskers about your hair.”
    And then he slipped his arms out from under her. She fell into the water with an ungraceful crash, drank a bit of salt and got water in her eyes. Still, despite those discomforts, the water was cold on her hot skin, invigorating, as sensual as a touch.
    She was glad he had taken the decision to get wet out of her hands, not that she intended to let him know that!
    She stood up, sputtering, to see him already running away, crashing through the incoming rollers, sending gleeful looks back over his shoulder at her.
    She yanked off the skirt, sorry to have it meet such an untimely end, and dove into the breakers after him. In water, she could swim faster than she could run! All Halls were part dolphin, and Sam loved water. She moved into a strong crawl, watchedhim glance back once more before diving, cleanly slicing a wave with the strength of his body.
    He moved out past the breakers, then cut a course parallel to the shore. She was amazed that he swam as well as she did, or any of her brothers. She wasn’t even sure she could beat him in a race to the buoys.
    The initial cold shock of the water had faded; it felt perfect now, like an embrace, like soft silk against her skin.
    “What are you going to do with me when you catch me?” he called, flipping over, treading for a moment, letting her close some of the gap between them.
    “I’m going to drown you.”
    “That’s what I was afraid of.” He let her get to where she could almost touch him, and then with an easy grin he took off again, heading back toward the shore, letting the waves carry him.
    He paused again, near shore, finally getting breathless. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to admit you’re glad you’re in the water?”
    “Easier for you!”
    “You love it out here. Woman, you are part fish! Mermaid.”
    “Don’t try to charm me.”
    He swam close, treaded water, tried to peer beneath the surface at the camisole she was pretty sure was now transparent. She flattened her palm against the water and splashed him hard in the face.
    She should have remembered he was not aquitter, because instead of dissuading him, he took it as a challenge, swam toward her, ignoring her shouts to stay back, her laughter, her increasingly aggressive splashing.
    One final duck, and she was in the circle of his arms, his flesh warm through the veil of the sea. Instead of trying to pull away she surrendered to his easy strength and to the sensation of her wet camisole pressed into the slippery surface of his chest.
    His feet found the sandy bottom, and he held her and went still. The playfulness died on his face.
    “You’re beautiful,” he said softly.
    “I told you not to try to charm me.”
    He kissed her.
    And she was charmed. Completely.
    It wasn’t like that brushing of lips she had instigated last night. His lips claimed her, possessed her, asked more of her than she had ever thought she had to give. They stripped her to her soul, and built her back up, showed her, finally, that he had been right all along.
    He knew who she really was. Not a girl any longer, content to play a child’s games.
    She was a woman, and it was a wonderful thing to be.
    He tasted of salt. And strength. And promises.
    She kissed him back, hungry for him, starving for this thing that was happening between