Silence

Chapter Eighteen

"Well, you make sure you look after her," Mum ordered Cole.

He nodded. "Always."

I liked the sound of that.

In the end, it was only David, Jenna and Mia who joined us for breakfast. Jasper was nowhere to be seen. Not that it was much of a surprise. He now treated holidays, or any days actually, as a chance to sleep with anything that moved.

Breakfast was an all you can eat buffet, which Cole took very seriously. I didn't eat much because I didn't want it to come back up again while we were diving. I was already feeling queasy with nerves.

"Have fun and be careful," Jenna said as Cole and I got up to leave for the beach.

Fun was unlikely, but my adrenaline was pumping at the mere thought of doing something so out of character.

Cole grinned. "Oh, we will, right, Oaks."

Maybe I wasn't falling for him after all...

I walked down to the beach, holding Cole's hand so tightly I was probably crushing his bones. Under my clothes was my bikini, but for diving we'd be given a wetsuit to wear over the top.

"Are you ready for this?" Cole said as we arrived back at the sports shack.

I shook my head but grinned, unable to hide the smidge of excitement I felt.

The Australian guy, who told us his name was Kyle, showed us how to use the equipment. I made sure I listened hard and repeated everything in my head over and over. We'd have an instructor with us, but I was still scared.

Stop being ridiculous. You're not even going that deep.

Cole was practically bouncing up and down as we walked with our little group of six into the sea. Kyle instructed us in what to do, and then he disappeared beneath the water.

"Ready?" Cole asked. He stuck his oxygen thing in his mouth.

What is that called again? Bloody hell! It doesn't really matter what it's called as long as it works. Nodding, I took one last deep breath and mirrored his actions.

We sank to our knees and the second I was underwater I knew this was a good idea. It was incredible. I wanted to smile, but I didn't want to do anything that could make me swallow water.

Cole grabbed my hand and looked towards Kyle, who was gesturing for us all to follow him. I didn't have a death wish, so I followed closely behind and next to Cole. We were at the back of the group, but that was great because it felt like it was just him and me.

We swam deeper into the sea, and I wondered how much further we would be going. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand up and have my head above the water by this point, but I wasn't sure exactly how deep we were. It didn't matter though, I was bloody loving it.

Cole took my hand as we watched fish swim around us. I was so wrong about the sea.

Once our time was up, Kyle gestured for us to swim back to the surface, and then he led us back to the shore. "You so enjoyed that, didn't you," Cole teased as we walked back to the shack to return the equipment, knowing full well that once I was under the water I loved every second of it.

I shrugged nonchalantly but my traitorous lips curled.

"I knew you would. Let's head back for a shower, and then I'll come to your room. Wanna have lunch before the spa crap this afternoon?"

I nodded and nudged him with my shoulder. Like he wouldn't enjoy a massage from one of the impossibly beautiful women that worked at the hotel.

We got back, grabbed a quick lunch out by the pool and then went to the spa. Cole suddenly felt 'unwell'. "Maybe I should just wait out here for you," he suggested, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.