With his every step, thick corded muscles rippled along his thighs. Damp hair matted his chest. Sunlight glinted an enticing call to her eyes straight down to his washboard abs.
Sprinting across the beach, Max tugged a raspberry-red T-shirt over his head. Which offered a perfect excuse to transfer her attention to his face.
His blue-green eyes met hers, eyes as sharp as any diamond edge. A shiver rippled through her, a tingling awareness that made her sensual walk through the jungle pale.
She'd made a grave tactical error.
This guy wasn't some ivory tower academic with minimal real-world experience. He wasn't even a simple beach bum with a brain.
Max Keagan was all man. Too much man. Especially for her.
Forget taking a stand. This might not be the wisest course of action. His eyes blazed with the experience of someone who'd lived more in thirty-some-odd years than most did in two lifetimes. Even if she had all the experience of Cleopatra and Gunsmoke's Miss Kitty compacted into her own ordinary self, she should think twice about the wisdom of finishing her trek up the path.
Not that Max was going to leave her any options. He closed the distance between them, blocking her view of the jungle. "Well, Lieutenant, what brings you here?"
"Just wanted to check out your new dolphin digs." She edged back toward the trees. "But if it's not a convenient time, I can go." Not that she was in any great hurry to place that call to her father and have it out with him.
"No." His fingers wrapped around her arm to stop her. "Now's fine."
Max palmed the back of her waist and guided her in the opposite direction. She would have questioned his determination to redirect her steps, if she could have found words.
Thoughts fled. Sensations ruled. The heat of his splayed fingers steamed through her T-shirt. That pina colada scent saturated her senses, making her thirsty and so very hungry at the same time.
Her feet moved. Or at least they must have, since she found herself standing on a jagged coral ledge overlooking the lagoon. Max stopped beside her. His golden legs radiated heat that scorched the bare skin below her shorts.
From the corner of her eye, she studied him, her gaze lingering on the tattoo below his hacked-off sleeves. Nothing flashy or large. Just a simple diver-down symbol, a small red-and-white rectangle on his upper arm. Did tattooed skin feel different? Rougher, maybe? Her gaze traveled to the thin scar slicing beside it, disappearing into his shirt.
A hard man of so many textures.
His biceps rippled the pattern as he lifted his hand, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Three sharp blasts.
Darcy jolted. Almost pitched off the ledge. Just as she regained her balance, the water exploded in front of her. One dolphin, then another arced through the air, landing with a splash.
"Ohmigosh!"
A rusty chuckle slid from Max's throat as he palmed her waist again. "Easy, now, Lieutenant."
Beneath the clear water, the dolphins circled in perfect harmony until they stopped just shy of the ledge. Side by side, their heads popped above the water.
Max knelt. An elbow resting on his knee, he extended a hand. "Hi, there, girls." He glanced up at Darcy. "I thought you'd like to meet them face-to-face."
She crouched beside him, unable to resist this peek into his world, a world so different from her own. "I understand intellectually how fast they are. But seeing all that power unleashed firsthand. Wow! It's just so..." She shrugged, picked at loose coral along the edge and flicked them into the water. "That probably sounds silly to you."
"Not at all. The day you lose respect for their strength is the day someone gets hurt."
Her gaze jerked to his face. Did he mean his words as a warning about himself, as well? One she should probably heed.
Each dolphin nudged his hand and received a stroke in turn. Those broad hands broadcast a similar restrained power. Magnetic strength.
Darcy pushed aside her fears as well as thoughts of taking a stand. Why not simply enjoy this moment with a man she found surprisingly as captivating as the prospect of a flight takeoff? "Which is which?"
He pointed left. "Lucy." Then right. "Ethel."
She stared at the pair of dolphins, both with gray-green backs fading into a white underbelly. "How do you tell them apart?"
"Every dolphin has a distinctive face and body markings. If you have a kennel full of beagles, they all look different. Or a pasture of horses. Or a room of people. Same with dolphins." A tree rustled behind them. Loose coral skittered down the cliff path. Max hooked a finger under her chin and guided her face toward the dolphins sticking their heads above water. "Look. Closer. Tell me what you see. Think details rather than the whole picture."
She narrowed her eyes until the two animals became more than just a bobbing duo, more than just twin 'Flippers'. "Lucy has a longer, uh—" Darcy gestured a circle around her mouth ''—uh, snout?''