Free Escape by M.K. Elliott Page A

name, Patience, was painted on the side in turquoise. Rudy climbed on board and held out his hand. She reached out and placed her palm in his. His strength s upported her as she climbed on the boat, having the obligatory wobble as she did so.
    The boat was fairly simple, with a small wheel house, the dive gear stacked up just inside.
    “Where did you get a boat from?” she asked him, still amazed, expecting him to say he had borrowed it from the resort.
    “Oh, I stole it,” he said with a dead -pan expression .
    She nudged him in the ribs. “Really?”
    He laughed. “She’s mine.”
    “Really?” she said again, but this time more out of surprise than doubt. How did a dive instructor afford his own boat? Even small ones like this still cost a lot of money to buy, and they were even more expensive to keep them running. But then she remembered that he used to be a banker and figured he must have had money saved from his previous life. Still, she couldn’t help but be impressed.
    Rudy got the boat started and then jumped back onto the dock. He lifted the rope off the pi er, freeing the boat, and leapt back on again. The boat thrummed beneath them, smoke pouring out the back of the boat, but it quickly subsided once the engine warmed up. The water sparkled, clear and blue beneath them. The bow of the boat cut through the waves with ease. With Rudy at the helm, they headed out into the ocean, leaving the island behind.
    “Did you name the boat yourself?” she asked, remembering the name: Patience.
    He stood at the wheel, his tanned forearm rested on the polished wood of the wheelhouse, guiding the boat through the water. He stared out at the ocean ahead and answered without turning his head, “Yeah, it seemed apt at the time.”
    “In what way?”
    “Well, after I first came here, I went home and worked my ass off for three years to be able to afford to move. To do what I planned, I needed to have a decent sum of money behind me, so I had to keep working and save up.”
    Working behind the counter in your local branch of NatWest obviously didn’t pay much these days , she thought. But then she looked at the boat beneath her feet and realized what he must have been saving up for.
    She gave a low whistle. “Three years? That’s commitment.”
    “No different than you committing—what, five years?—to becoming a doctor. I don’t know about you, but once I have decided I want something, I don’t tend to let too much get in the way.”
    His dark gaze flicked down her body and she understood where the phrase ‘undress you with his eye s’ came from. Under his scrutiny , she pulled in her stomach a little more and held her shoulders back. A little trippy beat of excitement raced through her. He wanted her, she was certain, but she couldn’t understand why he didn’t just walk up to her and kiss her. They were out here, a good couple of miles from shore, with no one else around. He could take her here on the deck and no one would be any the wiser.
    The thought made her catch her breath and she had to turn away from him, pretending to admire the view, certain he would see her thoughts in her face and read them as easily as she had read his.
    I haven’t decided yet , she told herself. Technically she still had a man waiting for her at home. Think how hurt Max would be if he knew what you were thinking right now . But the guilt trip didn’t work on her this time, and when she allowed herself to turn back to Rudy, studying his full mouth and strong jaw, she knew something would happen between them today.
    Lucy realized they were slowing down.
    Glancing back toward the shore, the island was little more than a speck. Rudy dropped anchor. The water was a cobalt blue and when she looked over the side, she couldn’t see the bottom.
    “We’re diving here?” she asked nervously.
    He saw her anxious face and smiled. “Y ou’ll be fine, honestly. There’ s a reef wall below us, that’s why it looks so deep, but