She shook her head. “Just toss the towels over the railing when you’re finished. And take one last stroll with me on the beach before we head to the airport.”
“Sounds great.” Despite his obvious exertion, he wasn’t even breathing hard.
Carm closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his warm body. He smelled of soap and sweat. “I’m so glad you came down to be with me this week, Tony. Your being here made this trip so special.”
Tony wrapped his arms around her too. “You sure as hell brightened up my week, principessa. I can’t thank you enough for letting me be a part of this with you.”
He leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss that was over before it started. She hid her disappointment.
“What are your plans for when you get back home?” she probed, making no move to leave his arms.
“I’m not scheduled to be back on duty until Wednesday morning.”
Great! Maybe he’d stay at her place Monday and Tuesday nights.
“But I have a lot to do to get the dive team up and running.” While predicted, his words dashed any hope.
She put on a smile to hide her disappointment. “I think it’s wonderful that you’re going to be working on this for your community.” Even if I selfishly wish you’d spend that time with me. “Anytime you want a break to go for a hike or have dinner or something, you know where to find me.”
He brushed the hair back from her face. “I’d like that. I’m going to miss you, Carm, much more than I’ll miss this place.” He bent down to kiss her again with more tenderness. She’d have preferred passion, but there wasn’t much time left for that. The vacation bubble was about to burst; she only hoped their bubbles weren’t about to drift apart on the wind.
When he broke away, she thought she detected a similar sense of sadness in his eyes. “Want to join me in the shower before our Uber shows up?”
“Actually, I was thinking a skinny dip might be refreshing.”
He grinned and squeezed her ass with one hand. “I like how you think. Last one in is a rotten egg.” With that he started shucking off his running shorts, but he was no match for her. They cannonballed into the water at about the same time, surfacing and seeking each other out for another long kiss. His hand moved to her breast, cupping it while pinching her nipple. The urgency of their subsequent lovemaking was fast and furious, and all too soon, they were drying off.
Carm watched him walk into the kitchen to make their final preparations to leave. She was going to have a post-vacation crash of monumental proportions. But they couldn’t stay in this vacation bubble forever. Time to return home and see if there was any hope for them to build on what they started this week.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Rafe asked Tony to hang around for the shift-change briefing between officers. Tony wanted to hit the road to Aspen as soon as possible. He was going to see Carmella for the first time since they’d parted at the airport nine days ago. The separation had been torture for him, although he’d been so busy Tony wasn’t sure when he would have fit in time for Carm anyway.
Consumed by plans for the dive team, he’d lain in bed at night going over the day, but his thoughts always returned to Carmella. He’d never realized how lonely his bed could be. All they could do was talk on the phone late at night about their day and make plans for when they might see each other again.
Sitting around the kitchen table, Tony waited to hear what the command staff had decided about his dive-team idea. His lieutenant took a sip from his own mug before delivering the verdict.
“Basically, the fire chief’s completely behind you as long as you can find your own way to fund it without going to the county board of commissioners with hat in hand.”
No big surprise.
But Tony couldn’t hide the excitement bubbling up inside. They hadn’t nixed the idea. Over time, he could show the politicians that their community would benefit from having its own dive team.
“Glad to see you excited about this, Tony,” Rafe began, “but don’t bite off more than you can chew. Give yourself enough time to do this thing right.” Always the big brother.
“It could take a year or more to have a dive squad up and running,” Tony’s lieutenant added. “The fire chief said to work with the deputy chief of operations to schedule training time. The deputy chief can sign off on any fundraiser promotions, help you find donors, and connect you with other Colorado water-rescue squads, but that’s about it.”
“I appreciate you going to bat for me, Lieutenant.” Tony had been afraid the department wouldn’t support the proposal at all, which would have made it dead in the water. Tony shuddered at the poor choice of words and quickly regained his focus. “I think this is going to be a good thing for our station and the community.”
But most of all, for me.
With the green light, nothing could hold him back—other than figuring out where the money for equipment would come from. While a major concern, he’d worry about that later. Of course, Mama had promised she’d do some research on government grants they might qualify for, and he’d emailed Ryan, one of the guys they’d had dinner with at the restaurant that first night on Turks and Caicos, to see what other resources the department might pursue.
But Tony’s current agenda was to see who’d be interested in joining the dive team and get them working on the numerous certifications they would need to attain over the coming months and years.
“The chief also suggested that you recruit divers from SAR workers and others in the community,
