Empty. Because she'd taken far more than he'd meant to give, and instead of gathering up a bit of her light for himself, he feared he'd transferred some of the black part of his soul to her. Because it wasn't as dark all at once.
But he couldn't let go. He clung to her, holding her tight against his heaving torso as the waves crashed over their still joined bodies, and he experienced a moment of genuine, unexpected peace. Somehow it had turned out to be a spiritual experience after all, and he wanted to do it again as soon as possible.
That was just one of many problems that had no solution.
Dex solved the easiest problem first-the lack of clothing for a very naked woman-by giving Emma his shirt. It hit her midthigh and covered her enough to get her back to her hotel room without exposing her girl bits, as long as she didn't raise her arms.
They walked in tandem along the shore until they reached the edge of the resort, stopping just shy of the rocks that marked the boundaries. They didn't talk, which suited him since he didn't have any clue what he'd say. All he had were questions-what came next? For example.
He hated questions like that. Hated the churn of uncertainty in his gut. She'd asked for a vacation fling, and he'd given her one. Another question-what more did she expect? Surely not a bunch of poetry and flowers and an invitation to sleep in his bed, did she?
What did she want from him?
His agitation rose the longer they stood there at the rocks, and she gazed up at him, blinking those baby blues. He had to do something so he could get out of here.
So he kissed her on the forehead and sent her up the path toward the resort pool with a lame, "See you later."
Cursing at his clumsy extraction, he waited for the recriminations, tears, regrets, pleas.
But she didn't do any of that and waved over her shoulder without a backward glance. He watched her go and closed his unhinged mouth. Had she really just participated in the same mind-blowing experience he had and then left? Like it was a onetime deal, and he was obsessing over it for no reason?
Looked like the joke was on him.
Fine. That's what he'd wanted. One time, no regrets, no one gets hurt. He could go home and finally get some sleep now that he'd burned off his attraction to Emma. He'd nailed her; they were done.
It did not go down that way.
The moment he crawled into bed, her scent invaded his nose, and an image unfolded in his head of her poised over him at that moment just before she plunged down on him. Instantly, he went so hard he couldn't breathe.
Cursing, he vaulted out of bed and took a very cold, very long shower that did not ease his frustration. At some point, Evan banged on the wall. Yeah, it was late and the pipes in their ancient bungalow rattled. So what? Couldn't a guy shower in peace around here?
Dex threw himself back into bed and nursed his temper until dawn, at which point he gave up and stomped into the kitchen to find some coffee before he bit someone's head off. He had to report for duty at the reef in a couple of hours, and the last thing he wanted was a bunch of grief from his so-called friends. They'd clue in on his bad attitude instantly.
But when he got to the dock, Charlie gave him a wide berth without question, and Jace and Miles withheld every last smartass remark, which only pissed him off further. What, was it that obvious that Emma had messed him up? So much so that he needed to be treated with kid gloves? Those idiots could suck it.
Dex suited up without ripping apart his oxygen tank with his bare hands-a minor miracle-and splashed backward into the water. The ocean absorbed his mood like a sponge. Salt water seeped under his wetsuit, calming him, and the darting fish mesmerized him into smiling. Okay, so maybe the water did have some magic to it. Would he have ever realized that if Emma hadn't forced him to?
He supplanted coral with renewed energy and didn't even hate it as much as he normally did. Evan and Jack had taken the morning parasailing bookings, and while Dex would ten times rather be doing that, they had to share the drudge work.
By the time the team called it quits for the day, Dex felt almost human. Enough so that an hour later when Charlie texted everyone to meet at his house to talk business, Dex didn't even cuss. Emma was just a woman. What was he so worked up over?
Dex waited for Evan, and they walked over together. Dex pushed open Charlie's back door without knocking, and when he saw the metal washtub full of ice and beer gripped in Jace's hands, his day improved drastically. Though, refreshments of the adult variety meant it was a serious meeting.
"Exactly what the doctor ordered." Dex snagged two cold bottles, one for each hand and straddled a backward chair at the splintered table. Miles helped himself to one with a snicker about Dex's inability to handle his booze, which was such a lie, but whatever. The tub was full, and the night was young.
The other guys settled in with a fair amount of grumbling about the lack of food to go with their beer, except Evan, obviously, who didn't drink.
Charlie cut through the chatter with a terse, "Eat later."
Uh, oh. When an even-tempered guy like the boss got snippy, something was up.
"ReefCo has put in a bid to buy Ilhota Rosa. Jared Anderson will very likely be the new owner of the island as soon as he can make it happen," Charlie said without preamble. Everyone started talking at once, except Evan, who watched with his keen brown eyes slightly narrowed.
"Hey!" Charlie cut through the babble easily and they all shut up. "That's not going to accomplish anything. Let's hash out what this means for us and our business. Ilhota Rosa is a key part of our excursion experience."
Dex banged the table with his fist, which didn't improve his mood. "There's nothing to hash out. It's a problem, period end of story. Anderson wants the island all to himself, obviously."
This was a crimp in their plans, no doubt. They'd hoped to be in the black with their company by now, but two tropical storms in a row had hit them where it hurt last month. Ilhota Rosa was an ace in the hole, something they could offer that the hundreds of other excursion companies in the Caribbean couldn't offer. The reef itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but it was too far away from other resorts for anyone else to use besides Aqueous Adventures.
Jared Anderson was not going to swoop in with his money and power and disrupt everything.
"He can't do that." Jace scowled, wrinkling up his pretty face. "Can he?"
"I don't know," Charlie admitted, and that was when he sat down.
Jack broke in. "He must have offered a crapload of money to the Bahamian Wildlife Foundation for them to even consider selling it. What can he do to block us from using it for excursions? Anything?"
"Anderson can try to block us all he wants, but he will not succeed." Dex downed the last of his beer to keep the rest of the choice words he had to say in relation to Jared Anderson unspoken.
"I don't want to think this is personal," Charlie mused. "But Anderson has to know the reef off the coast of Ilhota Rosa is where we take snorkelers. And everyone in this area is aware that's where the dolphins hang out. It's what makes it so popular of an excursion for us. I'm as surprised as you that they would agree to sell it."
"If he buys the island, does he own the reef too?" Miles asked calmly, cutting to the heart of the matter like he typically did in his self-appointed role as referee to the other hotheads in their group. They needed someone to keep them sane, and Miles's special brand of dead calm, which had made him such a great explosives expert, served them all well.
"That's the million dollar question." Charlie nodded once. "We need to find out, otherwise, we might be out of business."
It wasn't personal. Probably. Felt personal. They were all personally affected and Dex, for one, wasn't planning to take it lying down.
"We've got to stop him," Dex growled. "Guys like that only understand a fist to their face."
Jack slammed his empty beer on the table, nearly cracking his bottle in half with his bare hands. "Give me five minutes alone with Anderson. He'll withdraw his bid for Ilhota Rosa."
Which was no idle threat. He'd earned his nickname-Jack of All Trades-because there was very little Jaxon Hyland didn't excel at. Getting people to do what he wanted ranked as his number one skill, which made him very unpopular with ISIS prisoners of war. Women seemed to like his inventiveness pretty well though.
With a dark chuckle that held no trace of humor, Charlie held up his hand. "That won't be necessary. But trust me, if we get to a point where we need you to go all MacGyver on his ass, I'll let you know."
"What can we do?" Evan asked, and a pall settled over the group. If it was bad enough for Evan to talk, things were bad indeed.
"We can put our heads together and figure it out. Each one of us has our strengths, and we've kept each other alive in a much more hostile place than this." Charlie glanced around the table, meeting each guy's gaze briefly because that was how he did things. They were a team. "The sale hasn't happened yet. Let's focus our considerable talents on keeping our business alive."