"You're right. I have to do this, don't I?" She tried to smile. She covered her face again, but this time she inhaled a deep breath and let it out with resolution. "I'm doing this. Oh my gosh."

"There's our girl," Dobbs said, beaming with pride. Paul slinked to the other side of the boat to put on his gear, still wondering what had just happened-why it was so hard to look her in the eyes. Dobbs and Claire went to their gear as well and suited up, but when Dobbs did his back roll into the water, Rhees whimpered.

"I forgot about the back roll." She was visibly terrified again.

"I got this," Paul said to Claire, quietly. "Give me a second. You follow last, after I get her in, okay?"

Claire nodded and watched him climb up onto the platform at the stern, all geared up except his fins. He held them in his hands.

"Hey, Princess Danarya," Paul teased. "There are other entrances than the back roll-back roll is the safest one from this particular boat, but you could always try this." With that, Paul did a flip off the boat and landed in the water.

"Piece of cake," he said with a grin when he popped back to the surface, and then put his fins on. Rhees looked like she was about to hurl her breakfast. "Hey, just kidding. Don't puke on my boat. Claire, hand me her gear. We'll suit her up right in the water." He swam over to the ladder.

Claire filled Rhees' BC with a puff of air and lowered it into Paul's waiting hand. She turned to face Rhees. "Put your mask on and climb down the ladder into the water. I'll hand you your fins."

Dobbs made his way to the ladder and waited to help as he caught on to what Paul intended to do. Rhees slid into the water and Claire handed her fins to Dobbs. Paul swam up and took Rhees in his arms from behind. She gasped at the contact.

"Okay?" he asked.

She nodded but didn't seem too convincing. Paul helped her guide her arms into her BC and fastened all the buckles while Dobbs submersed himself and put her fins on her feet. Paul did a quick buddy check, and Rhees caught him paying special attention to the dump valves. She gave him a knowing but nervous grin. Lastly, Claire handed down a weight belt and Paul slipped it around Rhees' waist.

"Let's just snorkel for a while," Paul suggested and took her hand. "Ready?"

Again she nodded and they both put their faces in the water, breathing through their snorkels and finning along the surface. Claire and Dobbs didn't wait to descend, but followed along underwater where Rhees could watch them from above for the next fifteen minutes.

"I'm ready now, I think." She lifted her head out of the water to speak.

"Let's get wet, then." Paul's smile grew to mammoth proportions. He felt so proud of her. They put their regs in their mouths and gave each other the okay signal and then a thumb's down, and both slipped below the surface.

Rhees earned her Open Water Diver certification those two days Paul waited for the students to get back from the mainland to hold his meeting. She had her C-card, had started the dive master course, and felt pretty good about life, even if the other students at the shop acted like they didn't like her anymore.

Shelli's pride never recovered after the accident. She moved over to Island Divers, with Paul's blessing. He'd made it clear he didn't plan to touch her again, and her resentment toward Rhees only grew more obvious. Putting some distance between the three of them seemed like a good idea.

It stood to reason that Shelli's best friend, Ulla, and the Coitus Club groupies would side with Shelli, but Rhees didn't know why the others at the shop shunned her too. The dynamic of the group had changed without Shelli, but Rhees would overhear the groupies talking about Paul's new attitude toward her at their Coitus Club meetings.

They speculated that Paul still wanted her and only hoped to get into her panties by trying kindness for a change. They joked, laughing about how surprised they imagined he must have been to realize his previous method of angered torment hadn't worked.

Their discussions about it disturbed Rhees, and she wondered when they'd finally realize it would never happen and move on. Paul and Rhees were friends now, nothing more.

It hurt to think about being shunned, so she didn't. At least she tried not to. One theory might have had something to do with the way Paul reacted to her dive mishap. They thought it better to avoid her than risk doing anything to bring his wrath down on them again if something else should go wrong concerning her. Then she had the idea that they, just like everyone at home, had finally figured out that she just didn't belong.

Even Tracy and Regina dodged being too friendly in public. At home, they tried to make it up to her by being sociable and even apologetic. Rhees assured them she understood and didn't hold their standoffish behavior at the shop against them. She'd grown up with friends of that caliber and was used to it.

Only Claire and Dobbs held true and never faltered in their kindness toward her, and then there was Paul. He kept his word about being friendlier to her, and he no longer scheduled her for tank and bathroom duty, but she showed up at the shop bright and early every morning anyway. Rhees couldn't stand sitting around the apartment alone while Tracy and Regina slept the mornings away.

Paul would be waiting, with two cups of coffee and two donuts from Miranda's shop, for Rhees to show up. Conveniently, Dobbs or Mitch and two students were scheduled each morning to take care of tanks, so Paul would have the time to share breakfast with her and enjoy their now friendlier bantering.

It amazed her how easily they'd gone from enemies to pals, though it still made her uncomfortable to find him watching her. The murderous glare moved away, but she didn't quite know how to describe the new look that had moved in.

She began to notice-admire a few of his good traits, qualities she hadn't allowed herself to believe existed before. Paul worked hard. Her father had instilled in her the value of hard work at a young age, and she had no respect for lazy couch potatoes.

Paul played hard-knew how and when to have fun, and when he did, he didn't hold back. He scared her to death when she had the opportunity to watch him kite surf one day. One gust of wind had taken him so high for so long, she feared he'd wind up in Africa.

Intelligent-freakishly so, she suspected. He tried to hide it, but she caught glimpses. She'd heard him speak so many different languages around the island-a telltale sign. And shy-the most surprising observation of all. Paul was, overall, a quiet man. He communicated well and had no trouble getting his point across when necessary, but in a social setting, he preferred to listen more than he spoke.

His looks hadn't taken her long to notice. Even when she didn't like him, she had to admit he was a very handsome man. As she got to know him better, she found herself watching him sometimes, thinking about his six-pack abs, his Adam's apple, his glorious smile, and his eyes-Oh, his eyes!

He made her feel safe, and that scared her. It had been a while since she'd felt safe-like anyone in the world looked out for her. She'd always been looked after by her parents. She found it hard not to get sucked in by Paul's commanding nature, his self-confidence, and his very strong sense of protectiveness.

Claire warned her against that sense. "It's common. It's a real thing to feel safe with someone who's saved your life, but he is not safe for you. Paul is the most dangerous thing you've ever happened across."

Dobbs and Claire took a couple of days off to spend time on the mainland while Paul and Rhees worked together like a well-oiled machine, running the shop themselves-together. Paul walked out of the gear room just as Dobbs handed Rhees a brown paper bag the day they returned.

"What's this?" she asked. She opened it and squealed when she saw the contents of the bag. "Peanut butter! Oh my gosh! For me?" She almost got emotional over it. Dobbs was too tall for her to reach when she tried to hug him, so he leaned down and she didn't let go for several seconds. Dobbs seemed uneasy, like he didn't quite know what to do with a young, pretty, hugging girl.

"I can't believe you found peanut butter, and for me," she said with a wide smile, giving his shiny, completely bald head a rub as she released him from her excited show of gratitude. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Dobbs tried to get her to release him from her hug when he noticed the way Paul looked at him as he came around the corner. Rhees didn't notice.

"Claire and I found it," he clarified, pushing away. Rhees ran into the office to thank Claire too.

"You seem to be very fond of her," Paul said to Dobbs.

"She's a sweet girl."

"Does Claire know about your little crush?"

Dobbs jerked around to face the accusation. "I'm just being a friend, nothing more. She could use one right now."

"Or maybe you've been fixating on the revelation we all had a while ago about her. Are you sure you're not hoping she might just give it up to the creepy but nice old guy?"

"You're lucky I'm not a violent man because I have a strong urge to punch you right now." Dobbs, the larger man, leaned down into Paul's face. "You're out of line."

"Really? I'm out of line? I'm not the one who had his hands all over the 'sweet', young virgin just now."

"So help me, Paul," Dobbs hissed. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "You haven't noticed because you never think about anyone but yourself, but because of you, Rhees is always either the object of every man on this island's sleazy fantasies, or she's being snubbed by every girl."

Paul felt like he had been punched. Dobbs shook his head and walked off.

Chapter 14.

Rhees sat in the office at Paul's computer. She had her little brown bag of peanut butter, thinking about how she wanted to eat it first. She decided to stop at a little grocery store on the way home and buy some crackers and jam. She couldn't wait.

A couple of girls from another dive shop walked into the office. "Is Paul around? We came by to wish him a happy birthday." They held up a couple of beers.

Claire rolled her eyes. "There's a box on the floor over there." She flicked her head in the direction of the tunnel.

The girls looked in the box and seemed a little embarrassed by how unoriginal their gift turned out to be. They set their beer in the box with all the other gifts. "We'll leave these here. Is he around? We'd like to tell him we came by."

"I saw him on the deck a few minutes ago," Rhees said. The girls looked her over thoroughly and walked out to go find him, giggling and turning back to look at Rhees again before they disappeared from view.

"I didn't know it was Paul's birthday." Rhees wondered how everyone knew but her.

"Yeah, the gifts and girls have been pouring in all day." Claire laughed as she flicked her head toward the box full of gifts, filled mostly with alcoholic beverages.

Rhees stood and walked over to the box. It overflowed with at least three dozen bottles of beer, four bottles of wine, a pile of handmade birthday cards, a few trinkets, and a pair of women's panties with a ribbon attached.

"Ew! I hate to think too much about those! Think they're used? Maybe some sort of souvenir for, um . . . you know . . . the good time he gave her or something?"

"Believe me, you're thinking about it more than I bleeding want to," Claire said dryly.

Suddenly, Paul walked by the office door with the two girls at his side. The girls giggled and Paul had his hands all over the both of them. Rhees watched out the window as they made their way to Paul's apartment on the other side of the street.

"Why do they do that?" Rhees asked, her voice quiet.

"What? Leave him panties for his birthday?"

"Yeah . . . and go so willingly to . . . you know, knowing that it means nothing to him, at all."

"Oh come now." Claire looked up from her computer and stood next to Rhees to see what she was watching. She scowled. "Being a virgin doesn't make you blind. You can't make me believe you haven't noticed what a fine-looking man he is. I mean, 'I hate his bloody guts' too, as you used to put it, but I would be lying if I said I thought he was ugly."

"Yes. I've noticed," Rhees said. "He is a very attractive man . . . but the thought of letting him, you know . . . do that to me, knowing he most likely just had his thing inside someone else-like the Bobbsey Twins there, just minutes before." She shuddered. "That just makes me sick to my stomach."

"That's because your brains are in your head." Claire put her arm around Rhees. "Paul's, on the other hand, are in his stiffy . . . and the Bobbsey Twin tarts . . ." Claire laughed. "I doubt they have a whole brain between the two of them." They both giggled as they watched Paul unlock his door, but when the two girls anxiously pushed Paul inside, Rhees had to look away.

"It makes me ill too . . . however, I do wish he could give Dobbs just a bit of his stamina," Claire said.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I personally happened to see Paul out on Frock, coming out of the bathroom, and whisking a girl off to his apartment all in one day, all before the shop shut down for the day." Her eyes closed and her expression seemed to be one of envy. Rhees almost felt sick to think Claire might want him as much as the rest of the girls on the island. Claire opened her eyes again and came back from wherever she'd gone in her fantasies.

"If you believe all the gossip, it sounds like he's banging just about every day, and then some." She sighed. "I've been married a while. I consider myself lucky if Dobbs is up for a shagging more than once a week."

"So which is normal?"

It relieved Rhees to see where Claire ended up with her point.

"Well, Paul is not normal. He's only the way he is because of how he looks. Is it really his fault that an endless supply of women are always lined up, ready to throw themselves at him, sending him panties?" Claire looked at the box of birthday gifts again and shrugged. "Thing is, I don't believe he likes himself when it's all said and done."

"You don't really hate him as much as you say you do."

Claire laughed. "Yes, I do! I bloody do. But I feel sorry for him." She sat down and went back to work.

Rhees looked at the box of birthday gifts again and felt like she should give him a present too, but she didn't know what. It looked like he had more than enough alcohol, and she wasn't going to give him a pair of her panties. She looked at her brown paper bag and let out a sigh.

She noticed the pencil cup and grabbed a couple of colored markers. "I'm going to go out for a while. Is it okay if I borrow these markers?"

"Sure," Claire said and Rhees was out the door.

Paul walked back into the office an hour later. He looked at the box Claire had put out to collect all the gifts people brought him and he frowned.

He sat at his computer and waited for it to fire up, when he noticed a brown paper bag next to his screen. It had "Happy Birthday Paul" written on the front. Colorful hand-drawn balloons and confetti decorated the bag and a ribbon bow held it closed. He looked but didn't see a card and he wondered who it was from. He untied the ribbon and peeked inside.

He frowned again, and it took a few minutes to decide what to do. "Claire, give me ten minutes, and then send Rhees over to my place to . . . um." He looked around the office and grabbed the first folder he saw. "Tell her you need this folder from my kitchen counter."

"No!" Claire was aghast. "I'm not doing that! It'd be like sending a lamb into the wolf's den."

Paul held his tongue for a second. "I think you're mixing up two different sayings. You send a lamb to slaughter, or someone is a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"They both apply," she said tersely.

He narrowed his eyes, seeing her point, and it made him laugh in a cocky, flippant way. "It isn't like that. I swear." Paul could see she wasn't buying it. "I swear!" he repeated with more emphasis.

"Yeah, you swear all the time. Promise me! I know you keep your promises. Promise me she'll come back out in the same condition she went in."

He didn't respond right away but finally gave in. "I promise."

"You promise what?"

"Claire!" He sounded exasperated. "I promise not to deflower her. Is that specific enough for you?" He didn't like her implication, even if he wasn't completely sure she wasn't right. He couldn't help himself from adding, "Not today, anyway."

He snatched the bag and the folder and ran out the door before she could hit him with the clipboard she'd just swung at him. "Ten minutes."

"Paul, so help me. If you ever hurt her, I will personally castrate you," she yelled after him.

Rhees unlocked the padlock on Paul's door with the key Claire had given her and walked inside. She'd never been in his apartment.

"Wow! His place is smaller than mine," she muttered to herself.

Straight ahead from the door, the living room-with an almost overwhelmingly large, L-shaped leather couch-wrapped around to the right, and an oval coffee table stood in front of it. A television, too large for the room, sat in the corner to the right of the door and sporting equipment adorned about every nook and cranny of Paul's apartment, crowded but tastefully placed.

"Looks like him."

To the left, on the other side of the room, next to the couch, a set of stairs, looking more like a ladder, led up to an open loft with a wooden railing. She could see the end of a bed through the railing, the only bed in the apartment. She felt her face grow warm, trying not to think about what must have happened in that bed just a short time ago with the Bobbsey Twins.