Free Scent of a Woman by Joanne Rock Page B

man who’d rented them the boat told him to make sure they lay down as they went under the low-hanging cave wall since an unexpected wave could lift the craft high enough to risk injury.

    “Ah, but he was just one example.” She waved another boat ahead of them as he backed near the entrance. The couple near them shouted something that sounded like Italian for thank you.

    “I hope he’s the worst case.” The guy had a hell of a nerve to hurt her on both a personal and professional level.

    “He is,” Danielle acknowledged. “The others just dated me for the wealth of my mother’s estate. My brother Marcel calls them lazy pretty boys.”

    “Then Marcel ought to think I’m all aces since I haven’t taken a day off in six weeks or a week off in six years.” He propped the oars up again so they could settle themselves inside the boat before they floated under the entrance wall. “And no one’s ever accused me of being a pretty boy.”

    He scowled at the very idea.

    “No?” She smiled, sliding to one side of her seat. “Do you really think your Hollywood princess would wish to be photographed with an unattractive man?”

    “Hell, yeah. It makes her look better.” He wished they hadn’t been talking about another woman at the very moment they needed to lie down together, possibly his only chance to get horizontal with her today.

    He put his feet up on her seat while she stretched out beside him, their bodies spanning the two metal seats like bridges. He slipped his arm around her, cushioning her head and shoulders.

    “Your track record is about to improve,” he assured her, speaking into her ear through the veil of her hair.

    The boat floated slowly beneath the rock wall, the light, the air and the sounds around them changing as they entered the grotto. The place smelled earthy and damp without the benefit of a fresh breeze.

    “Oh.” Danielle’s breath caught as the flood of intense blue light washed over them.

    “Wow.” Adam didn’t sit up even, though they’d cleared the low wall to float freely inside the grotto by now. The experience of holding Danielle, her head resting on his shoulder, seemed even more amazing than the indigo spectacle drenching their bodies in rich color.

    “It’s like we fell into the sky.” Danielle’s voice remained hushed, her quiet no doubt inspired by the same awe that kept the other boaters calm, too.

    The boating parties that had been loud and raucous and multilingual outside the cave now shared a universal silence as they took in a sight that seemed almost sacred.

    The space was no bigger than a half a football field, the rocks above them echoing back the liquid sounds of waves lapping at the sides of the boats.

    “Let’s look at the water,” Adam said finally, reluctant to move but not wanting Danielle to miss out on the full experience of the grotto.

    Her cheek grazed his chest for an instant before she righted herself, her long, dark hair sliding down his body like a lover’s fingers.

    “C’est magnifique.” She dipped her hand in the water, which was colored as richly as the air, and it took on an ultraviolet hue.

    “Too bad they don’t let people swim in here.” He leaned behind her to immerse his hand in the water next to hers.

    “We have found a magical place, no?” She turned to smile at him over her shoulder and he felt the air sucked right out of his lungs. Twisting in her seat to face him, she trailed her wet hand up his arm, coating his skin with fine blue mist.

    His reaction was swift and fierce as heat flared deep inside him.

    “Anyone ever tell you that you have a very sensuous nature?” He shook his head. “Does that sound like the world’s worst pick-up line?”

    Her fingers trailed down to the water again and back up his arm, technically cooling his skin but somehow making his blood simmer at the same time. He wanted to sink down into the bottom of the boat with her and never come up.

    “It is no pick-up line