“Then stop touching me like that,” she whispered back hoarsely and let her head fall back into the hollow between his neck and shoulder as his other hand drifted north, cupping her breast so he could thumb her aching nipple.
“No. I like it.” The wicked amusement in his voice promised there was more to come. “It’s not my fault you have all this gorgeous, creamy skin that I can’t keep my hands off.”
The man was going to drive her mad.
“Sure, blame it on me,” she muttered and pushed into his hand, desperate for more.
One of the dolphins naturally grew curious about the people in his habitat and swam around them in a circle, careful to keep his distance consistent at about five feet. Far enough away that they couldn’t reach out but close enough for his investigative purposes.
“Wow, look at that.” Charlie’s hands grew still, and she finally took a deep enough breath to keep her head from spinning.
Now maybe they could concentrate on the dolphins for a few minutes.
Audra slapped the surface of the water four times and the dolphin stuck his nose out of the water. She did it again, clicking her tongue in imitation of the sounds dolphins made to each other.
The gray nose rocked back and forth like he was nodding and he clicked back in response.
“That’s amazing,” Charlie whispered in her ear, but with none of the heated intent of before. “What did he say?”
She choked back a laugh. “I don’t know, I don’t speak dolphin. He probably said stop scaring all my fish away. The clicking is a form of sonar, to help them figure out who I am. And whether he can eat me.”
Mr. Curious rolled to his back and flipped his tail in her direction, sending a ripple across the surface of the water that got the attention of the other dolphins. They cavorted and rolled over each other. One jetted out of the blue like an arrow and twisted two feet from the surface to land broadside, splashing the people.
Salt water dripped from Audra’s hair into her eyes, but she didn’t mind. It was a warning to the interlopers. The island was so close to the resort, it was likely the dolphins had encountered people many times, but that didn’t mean they liked them.
“He did that on purpose!” Charlie exclaimed with a laugh, which earned him major points. Some people didn’t have a lot of humor when it came to wild dolphins, expecting them to be trained like the ones at Sea World, all of which had been raised in captivity. A thousand-pound dolphin born in the ocean might display some of the same behavior, but they were vastly different in personality.
“He’s telling us to be careful. See the others?” She pointed to the three engaged in splashing each other. “They’re playing it cool, so we’re okay for now. But if they get agitated, we need to leave. Most of the time, they’re friendly and they’ll act like little kids, or dogs. Dolphins live to have fun and they’re incredibly smart.”
“Is that why he’s not over here chowing down on an arm? He figured out we’re not food?”
“Yeah, we’re too big. Dolphins swallow their prey whole, so they like fish, shrimp, eels. Stuff like that.”
“Fascinating.” His hand tightened against her abdomen as the biggest male rose out of the water and sideswiped them in a swim-by that knocked them both off balance. Charlie righted himself instantly, holding her steady, and holy hell—why did that dig into her so deeply?
His first instinct had been to protect her. From the creatures she’d been studying for ten years.
“You okay?” he murmured, and she nodded. “Crap, that guy was big. What was he trying to do? Drown us?”
Ha. Charlie’s wide-legged stance had barely registered the hit. He was solid, even in the water, and it was doing all sorts of delicious things to her insides. “Nah, he was asserting his dominance. In case you were confused about whose territory this is.”
“They won’t hurt us, will they?”
She shrugged. “Not on purpose. But they can get a little over exuberant. Most documented cases of dolphins ‘attacking’ humans boil down to the creature trying to have fun and not understanding its own strength compared to ours.”
“You’re like a walking National Geographic special.” She could hear the smile in Charlie’s voice. “Can we touch them or is that a big no-no?”
“If they’re in the mood, sure.” She slapped the water flat-handed a few times to get their attention and clicked. The big one swam by again, but didn’t make contact, an improvement in his opinion of the humans, which she appreciated.
One of the females rolled over a couple of times, but the other one stuck her nose out of the air to assess the situation. Eventually, she drifted closer and touched Audra’s outstretched fingers briefly, then took off in the other direction.