Page 17 of Finding Cory

"How long does the boat trip take?" she called to Cory over the engine noise, which was even louder at the back of the boat.

"About twenty minutes," he called back, picking up a set of flippers and holding them close to her feet, nodding that he thought they were about the right size. She chose a mask and snorkel.

"This'll do."

"Got sunscreen on?"

"All over. I don't need a burn on my first full day."

"Damn."

She looked a query at him; he laughed, hooked an arm around her waist, and pulled her close. "I was hoping to be able to offer to help you apply it."

"Lecher," Olivia accused, laughing back up at him.

"You're mad if you think I'd pass up a chance to put my hands all over this gorgeous body of yours." He bent his head to bring his lips to hers, but Olivia let him claim only a brief kiss before pulling back.

"You're working, Cory. And so am I. I want to talk to some of the guests about what they like best about Sunfish Island. Get some idea of what draws people here in the first place." She gave him an apologetic smile, and he let her go with no sign of reluctance.

"Damn, I love smart women who are right all the time."

She gave him a pert smile for that remark before whirling away, snorkeling gear in hand, to go and get started on her job. It would be easy to get carried away in her romance with Cory, but that wasn't why she was here. She was being given a chance to repair her ruined professional reputation, a chance she'd never get anywhere else, and she had no intention of throwing that away.

Olivia was sitting and chatting with a friendly middle-aged couple when the engines slowed to a gentle throb. Looking out the window beside her, she saw they had drawn up to a small pontoon, which was obviously moored in place. Cory was standing on it and tied off a rope before he gave Jodie a thumbs-up and the engines died altogether.

The sudden silence was almost overwhelming. Cory and Jodie leaped into action, urging everyone off the boat and onto the pontoon, where Cory gave a quick talk about safety, warning everyone not to touch the coral and to stay within sight of the pontoon.

"We're in a bay with very little current, but if you get into any difficulty, turn over onto your back and raise your hand in the air, and I'll come get you," he concluded.

"Aren't you coming in, Cory?" one of his admirers asked.

"Afraid not. Jodie and I are your lifeguards. We're responsible for every one of you, so we'll be staying right here, watching over you. Now has everyone got their sunscreen on? Don't want any red lobsters coming back out of this water!"

There was a general chorus of agreement, then Cory gave them the go-ahead to enter the water. Olivia went in eagerly, keen to see the world-famous reef, although of course she was only seeing a tiny, tiny corner of the World Heritage Site here.

Almost instantly she found herself swimming through a school of tiny, brightly colored fish darting in and out of the coral. A manta ray lifted up from a patch of sand not far away and flew majestically through the turquoise water, wings sweeping slowly up and down.

She saw a new wonder everywhere she looked. She was a strong swimmer, so she had no problem staying under for a good amount of time, blowing bubbles and swimming with long, smooth kicks of her fins to propel herself through the water. It would be easy to lose track of time down here, she thought with a start when she surfaced to get a few deep breaths, checked the time, and found that almost an hour had passed already. She'd swum quite some distance from the pontoon; looking back at it, she found Cory peering towards her. He gave her a wave and she waved back before popping her mouthpiece back in and going facedown in the water again, heading back towards the pontoon this time.

"Enjoying yourself?" Cory said with a grin down at her as she surfaced near his feet.

"This is incredible," Olivia gave him a glowing, happy smile, pulling her mask off. "I mean, I've seen pictures, but I always assumed they were the exception—selected highlights, you know. Not the norm. But it's just as perfect down there as in every picture I've ever seen."

"You really have to go diving with Bryce. The outer reefs have even more variety." Cory reached for a large cooler he'd brought from the boat. "Want to hop out and have a drink of water? We've got about another half hour."

She accepted his offer of a hand out and sat on the edge of the pontoon, dangling her feet in the water as she drained the bottle of water he gave her.

"Hand me the bottle," Cory requested as she finished. "Gotta make sure we take all our rubbish back with us."

"Of course."

"Going back in?" He'd stayed standing beside her, but he wasn’t looking at her, his eyes constantly scanning over the water checking on the other snorkelers instead. He took his job seriously, which Olivia genuinely appreciated. She wouldn't have wanted a man who flirted while he was supposed to be looking out for the safety of others.

She went back into the water for another swim and mainly floated along the surface this time, watching the schools of brightly colored fish darting among the coral and thinking that when she went into town to buy a new laptop, she'd have to have a look at waterproof cameras. An Instagram was just one of the ideas she planned to implement for Sunfish, and posting new photos from the Reef every day would be a big draw.

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