One Hundred Proposals (14 page)

‘Really, because you look exhausted.’

I closed my eyes again. Sleep was there. If I relaxed it would take me within seconds. ‘You start. Just give me five minutes to sleep and I’ll be right there.’

Harry huffed dramatically. ‘That’s what every husband wants on their wedding night, to find out that he’s so good in bed that his bride falls asleep during the act.’

‘If you want, I’ll throw a few cursory oohs and ahhs your way, make you feel better.’

‘That would be great.’

‘Ohhh Harry. That feels so good.’

‘I haven’t started yet.’

I felt his weight disappear off the bed and I peered round to see him taking my shoes and socks off.

‘Let me know when things get going then.’

‘I would hope that you would know.’

I smiled. ‘You know, just in case I miss it.’

He flashed me a dark look and I closed my eyes again, this time I knew I wouldn’t be opening them again, not least for several hours.

I felt my breathing going heavy and just as I felt myself fall asleep, I heard Harry speak again.

‘Trust me Suzie, you would know.’

*

I sat up in bed and watched the iridescent blue waves glide past. The sun sparkled off the water and there was a heat coming from outside that we hadn’t felt in Britain for many, many months.

I quickly ate the breakfast that Harry had left on a tray by my bed. I was starving – and the eggs, toast, croissants and jam filled the gap perfectly.

There was a note on the tray telling me to get changed, and I guessed from the bright pink wetsuit hanging on the back of the door that I was supposed to get changed into that.

I dressed quickly, hating how clingy the wetsuit was around the stomach and how loose it was around the crotch, reminding me of a baggy nappy.

I raced up the stairs and out onto the deck. In my sleep-induced state the night before I hadn’t appreciated the beauty of the little yacht. Little blue sofas, sun loungers, and double beds dotted the sun deck, which was lined with AstroTurf to make it have a garden feel.

Voices at the back of the boat drew my attention and I went down some steps to get to the launch deck. A dozen people were milling about, in various stages of getting ready for snorkelling and scuba diving.

My heart leapt with joy. I had done a lot of scuba diving a few years before – there were some brilliant wrecks around the British coast and I had seen many of them, at varying depths. British diving required warm clothes, a thermal undersuit and a drysuit over the top so I was padded out like the Michelin man. Diving here would be so much freer and the visibility, I expected, would be outstanding. I had never dived in warm waters before, though I’d had wetsuit training in a local pool. I was hoping to see something a bit more exciting than a few plasters and hair ties today.

I noticed Harry chatting to one of the crew. He looked magnificent in his wetsuit, the black neoprene clinging to his body like a second skin. It was unzipped slightly at the chest, and I could see his smooth skin glistening in the sunlight.

I said hello to a few of the other passengers as I approached him. He continued to talk but slung his arm round my shoulder, including me in the conversation.

He introduced our dive leader, Elias, who was beautiful – with warm caramel skin and dazzling green eyes, flecked with gold. His wetsuit was tied at the waist, revealing a wonderfully toned, brown chest. He was obviously smaller than Harry, everyone was, but he was clearly very strong – years hauling around heavy diving equipment had done things for his body that working out in the gym simply couldn’t achieve. When Elias took my hand to shake it, I felt a spark of pure lust slice through me. His eyes darkened as he continued to hold my hand. He had felt it too.

Though any thoughts I might have had of me and Elias finding our own little island paradise somewhere to get to know each other better, if those sorts of things actually happened in real life, were quickly quelled, when Harry introduced me to Elias as his girlfriend.

Elias dropped my hand like he had been burnt.

‘My apologies, I was told you were friends,’ Elias said, with a glorious Hispanic accent.

I was confused too. There had been incidences over the last few days where we had lied about our relationship status, to Frank to get the hot air balloon ride at such short notice and the American authorities the day before, but I wasn’t sure what gain we would get from lying here.

Harry pulled me tighter against him, claiming me as his own. The vibes telling Elias to back off were so strong, I was surprised he didn’t pee up my leg to mark his territory. Well if Harry wanted to prove we were together, I could do that. Feeling brazen and silly, I ran my hand down Harry’s back and squeezed his bum hard. Harry jolted in shock and stared down at me incredulously. I raised an eyebrow, daring him to protest. Elias smoothly changed the subject, telling us about the dive instead. He talked to Harry, hardly even glancing at me again.

It seemed the dive route we were going to go on was the site of some old volcanic activity, that had left the sea bed textured with walls, ridges and trenches which were now home to a huge array of sea life.

I was itching to get started.

Elias left to help the other passengers and I looked around the bay we were in. We were too far out to appreciate the true beauty of The Galapagos Islands, I hoped that would come later. The boat glided through the tranquil indigo waters, barely causing a ripple. Out in the distance, green hills undulated in rolling peaks, forming a loose circle around us.

Harry turned me into him with his hands on my shoulders, giving me his full attention. I loved it when he looked at me like that, as if I was the only woman in the world. I ignored the voice in my head that told me he had stared at many women like that. He arched his eyebrow at me.

‘What?’ I tried to supress the smirk.

‘I was just surprised by the bum squeeze.’

I shrugged. ‘I was surprised by the upgrade in our relationship status.’

Harry seemed completely unabashed as he lowered his mouth to whisper in my ear, turning my legs to jelly as his hot breath moved over my neck.

‘People are more inclined to help with proposals when they believe they are real.’

It was a fair point but I was still annoyed that the only man that had looked at me in the last two years had just been scared away.

‘And nothing to do with the fact that Elias is some kind of God?’

I blushed as Elias scooted round Harry at that moment to grab a mask for one of the other passengers.

Harry glossed over my embarrassing outburst.

‘How did you sleep?’

‘Went out like a light.’

‘After the great sex we had, of course.’

I smiled at him sweetly. ‘It might have been great for you darling, but it certainly didn’t rock my world.’

I saw Elias wince as he walked away, though nothing seemed to bring Harry down, not even a slur on his manhood. He smiled. ‘I’ll try better tonight then, my love.’

Before I could come up with a smart answer, the boat juddered to a stop and Harry instinctively held me to stop me toppling over.

Activity around us suddenly intensified as people finished their preparations.

I quickly kitted up, clumsily pulling on an air tank and weight belt, finding a mask that fitted and struggling to put the fins on my feet. Harry seemed to kit up with an ease and elegance I simply didn’t possess.

I tested the regulator in my mouth to make sure the air was turned on and flowing. It was. Clearly not happy with my own ability to test my regulator, Harry took it and put it in his mouth, breathing deeply as he watched me. There was something incredibly intimate about seeing him with his mouth wrapped around the same piece of equipment that had been in my mouth seconds before.

‘Happy?’ I said, being forced to lean into him as he pulled the regulator towards him.

He passed it back to me and nodded.

There were six of us going on the dive, the others were just snorkelling. We were going in pairs, Harry and I watching out for each other whilst Elias would flit between the six of us, guiding us to the best places.

With one giant step I jumped in, Harry was right behind me. The water was cool but not cold. The others jumped in too. Once we were ready we sank beneath the waves.

The water had crystal clear visibility, allowing us to see seemingly for miles in every direction. Coral reefs and rocks peppered the sandy bed about ten metres below us, but the water was alive, teeming with fishes of every size and colour.

Something big and silver flashed past my field of vision and I turned in that direction to see two sea lions twisting and gambolling through the water. I watched them playing until something nudged my elbow. I turned to see Harry patiently waiting for me, the other divers had already moved off, following Elias to a larger section of the reef.

Harry stayed at my side as we slowly moved through the water after the other divers. Fish swam in between us, unperturbed by our presence but every time I tried to touch them they moved just beyond my reach.

We reached a wall of reef, the colours of the plant life, the coral and the fishes that swam around it were amazing. I had kind of expected it all to be blue – but reds, greens, golds, oranges, whites and silvers shimmered and twinkled through the water. Harry pointed to something over my shoulder and I turned to see a great ray flying through the water towards us, his great wings flapping like a giant bird. As he reached the top of the reef, hundreds of tiny fish swam out to eat the algae and parasites off his skin, this was what was known as a cleaning station and was one of the things that Elias had said we would probably see.

Harry nudged me again and I watched him descend to the sea bed. Knowing there would be more sea life in the shadows of the wall, I let the air out of my stab jacket and followed him, being careful not to kick up any sand as I neared the bottom.

I could see the other divers getting further away, but Harry was looking at something in a small crevice at the bottom of the reef. He glanced round for me and took my hand, pulling me closer to him. There hiding in the shadows was a tiny seahorse, its fins fluttering wildly as it moved in the water. My heart filled to see it. I wanted to touch it, but it looked so tiny and fragile I was afraid that doing so would break it.

Realising that we had it trapped and it was probably panicking wildly, I nudged Harry to move on, which he did and we left the little horse behind.

Out beyond the wall, the sandy sea bed stretched out into the deep blue but I could see large shadows moving out there and one was coming closer. I waited to see if it was another ray or sea lion but as it appeared from the gloom I screamed with joy through my regulator. A hammerhead shark was swimming towards us. It was the most magnificent sight as his tail propelled him silently through the water. I couldn’t believe it. Of all the animals Elias had said we might encounter, the hammerhead was the one I had been most keen to see.

Harry was suddenly in front of me, protecting me as if the hammerhead was actually a great white. There was no threat here, and Elias had told us that, but Harry it seemed wasn’t taking any chances.

I peered round my over protective bodyguard as the hammerhead swam over us and, with a last flick of the tail, disappeared from view.

From the amount of bubbles Harry was emitting from his regulator I knew he was breathing heavily. He turned to look at me and I gave him two big thumbs up to show him how excited I was about our visitor. When he didn’t look convinced I did calming down gestures with my hands, hoping he would breathe a little slower. He moved on, following the wall but keeping his body between mine and the open sea at all times. I glanced surreptitiously at Harry’s air gauge as we swam – he still had well over a hundred bar left, at this depth that would give us plenty of time.

I saw Elias up ahead, his bright green fins almost glowing in the water. He was waiting for us, making sure we were all right. I gave him the ‘ok’ symbol and he pointed towards something on or in the wall. Harry nodded and we followed Elias in that direction. Brightly coloured stalks of seaweed swirled gently in the water, as if caught in a breeze, fish continued to dart around us, escorting us on our swim. As we rounded a corner of the wall, I could see two of the other divers taking photos of a large turtle as it pushed its way through the water. Its eyes watched us warily as it swam away from the wall and disappeared into the blue gloom.

Of all the diving I had done, this had to be one of the best – there was so much life and colour. It couldn’t possibly get any better.

Harry nudged me again and I looked around to see what other creature we had stumbled upon.

As he moved to one side, I smiled round my regulator. Propped up on the reef was a whiteboard with the words ‘Marry Me’ written in shells. I turned round to look for Harry, only to see him on one knee down on the sea bed.

I floated down to land in front of him and I was very aware of the divers who had been taking photos of the turtle now taking photos of us.

I quickly took my regulator out and kissed him on the cheek. I saw him smile too.

*

I sat on the sunbed under the shade of the roof canopy as the boat bobbed on the water, furiously replying to as many emails as I possibly could. In the one day I’d been away from work due to travelling, there had been fifty-six different enquiries. But despite the sudden surge in my workload, I was blissfully happy. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this happy. I was on a plush yacht bobbing on the crystal blue waters of The Galapagos Islands. I was on holiday with my best friend and I had just been proposed to surrounded by hammerheads, turtles, rays and seahorses. My face was aching from smiling so much. Nothing could ruin my mood. Nothing.

I gritted my teeth as a stupid girly giggle broke into my reverie. No – absolutely nothing was going to bring me down today, so the only tiny blip in my nirvana I was just going to studiously ignore. Another giggle and a deep laugh from Harry and I peered over the top of the laptop to see him chatting to some blonde Barbie on the next sunbed. He had actually been talking to her for the last hour. He was now sitting next to her on her sunbed as she showed him some photos on her phone. They were sitting so close that every part of their body from the knee to the shoulder was touching. As I watched, she laughed again, nudging his knee playfully.