Free The Cancun Trilogy, An Erotic Beach Romance by Lena Malick

Okay?”
    “Yes. Okay,” he said, relieved. She
intertwined her toes with his, pushing them into the sand,
initiating a toe fight.
    “Hey,” he said, smiling at her, “do
you want to go for a dive?”
    “Love to,” she said,
grinning.

Chapter 5
    They walked hand in hand back to the fire. Terra wondered
what time it was—it had been dark for a couple of hours. Then she
realized she really didn’t care what time it was. She noticed
earlier that nobody here wore watches. The others were still around
the fire. Nobody seemed to think it was strange when she and Nik
went to the boat and pushed off.
    Nik tacked the sailboat along the
coast. The moonlight created a soft glow on the face of the white
cliffs as they dropped dramatically into the sea.
    When they got to the next bay, Terra
could hear the sounds of the island before she saw it. She
remembered it from last time—a nighttime chorus of birds and
animals. The sound instantly brought her back to last summer. As
the boat got closer to the island, Nik turned on a light,
illuminating the shore and the line of trees set back on the beach.
The sounds got louder, as if welcoming the two of them back. “I
guess they’ve been expecting us,” Nik said.
    They anchored in the calm water just
off shore. Nik pulled out the water lights and some masks from the
hull’s storage. Without a word, they both took off their clothes
and dove in.
    While Nik dove down to set up the
lights, Terra floated on her back in the dark water, looking up at
the stars. Her naked body felt the welcome caress of the warm
saltwater supporting her. It was hard to believe that it was just
yesterday that Vicki drove her to the airport, through the
sweltering, urban streets of Detroit. Terra smiled, remembering
Vicky’s admonishments as she swerved her truck through
traffic.
    “Call me when you land. And every
other day. At least. No, every day.”
    “I’ll be fine.”
    “You better be or I’ll come there and
drag you home myself. Don’t do anything stupid. Use your common
sense.”
    “I thought you always said ‘normal
rules don’t apply’ when you’re on vacation.”
    “That’s only when I’m with you. I’m a
badass from the streets of Detroit. You’re a prissy white girl from
the suburbs of Ann Arbor, so all the rules apply to you. You hear
me? Every goddamn rule applies to you. The rules were invented for girls like you. And rule number one is, don’t
get hurt. And that includes your heart.”
    “I won’t,” Terra said softly, not
sounding too sure.
    “I’ve got a few years on you, you
know? I’ve been to the love rodeo a few times. I’m just sayin’ be
careful. I don’t want you living on saltines and soda water
again.”
    The water around Terra suddenly lit
up, pulling her from her daydream. Another light went on, then
another. She rolled over, looking into the brightly lit water.
Swirls of fish in vivid, rainbow colors fanned along the bottom.
Nik was down near the reef. He looked up at her and kicked for the
surface. When he broke the surface, he took her hand and stroked a
few yards closer to shore where they could stand in the shallow
water. He held her diving mask. “This reminds me of the first time
we met,” he said. “The girl with no spit.” He handed her the
mask.
    “You remember that?” she
asked.
    He nodded as he slid his mask on. “Oh,
I remember. I remember every second of every moment we spent
together.” He rolled over and dove down. She took a deep breath and
followed him.
    They dove off the reef. He showed her
some free-diving techniques. He could hold his breath for so long,
she was tempted to check him for gills.
    Eventually, they went back to the boat
and sat on the bow, still naked, drying off. Nik made birdcalls,
getting the island birds to answer him back. He went back and forth
with them, like they were having a complex conversation of squawks
and screeches. “They are used to it,” he said. “I tell them all my
hopes and