I gasped louder than I should have when I finally got the snorkel out of my mouth and breathed in fresh air. Roman and I sat side by side on the edge of the boat. Even though it didn’t cure me, the air felt good.

"Did you enjoy it?" Roman asked with a smile on his face.

I managed a weak smile and nodded. "That was magical. I can’t believe I got to see fish and reefs so close. It felt like something out of a dream."

He tossed an arm around my shoulders and tugged me into his side. "Would you like to stay for scuba diving? We can see them even closer."

My mind ran wild for a moment. How could I tell him that I didn’t want to because one of the other divers was giving me the creeps? Wouldn’t he think I was being paranoid and weird? Even if I was going to be in a bit of a mood, I didn’t want it rubbing off onto him. Still, I knew that my entire body was screaming for me to run and by no means to get into the water with that man still in attendance.

"How about we come back tomorrow for it? That took it out of me, and some lunch sounds good," I suggested, doing my best to sound confident and maybe even a little flirty.

Roman nodded and kissed the top of my head. "That sounds great to me. That was a good workout, wasn’t it?" he chuckled.

I wasn’t sure if it was to seal my performance or an attempt to convince myself that things were normal and that I felt fine, but I found myself leaning into his ear and whispering, "I’ll give you a good workout."

He grinned at me, the smile so pure that it reached his eyes and made his blue irises shimmer in the sun just like the ocean. "Oh really?" he purred. "Deal." He then peered over to the instructor and said, "Hey, mind taking us back to the mainland? We’ll come back tomorrow."

"Of course, sir, of course. We just have to wait for the others to return," the man replied.

We sat there, halfway cuddling as we waited for everyone to come out of the water. We sat in a comfortable silence, looking out at the water and sky. I was starting to finally relax and let go of all the tension still residing in my body when the staring man emerged from the water like a villain out of a film.

He rose slowly and was already staring at the boat, his face free of expression, and he didn’t even gasp for air like everyone else had. It was eerie for me to watch, but I supposed that it was only me. When I looked around, no one else seemed to take notice.

I turned back to the sky and kept my attention there for the rest of the time on the boat. I just needed to relax and find some sort of inner peace.

Something in the back of my mind thought that maybe counseling would have been beneficial. But it didn’t feel right. Kristen had gone through so much worse than I had but hadn’t gotten herself into therapy. What I had gone through felt so trivial, compared to all the other victims. I mean, I was immediately saved from the Auction House. In the time of the investigation, there had been times where I was in imminent danger—but that was all it was, moments. Besides, I didn’t want to tell Roman I felt as though I needed counseling and make him worry. Nothing was seriously wrong, I just found myself worrying a little too much.

I needed to just give it time. Wasn’t the saying that time heals all wounds? I couldn’t expect to be okay just weeks after my husband was shot and there was a bounty on each of our heads.

Of course, I was still on edge. As the boat arrived back to shore, I made myself a silent promise that if I didn’t start to gradually feel better, over the months to come, I would seriously consider counseling.

We pulled off the soaked wet suits and handed them in with the equipment before moving off of the boat. A few of the other couples got off too, wile the others went back out to sea. I was thankful that the man with the unsettling eyes remained on the boat. Hopefully, he would be out of sight and out of mind.

"What would you like to do for..." Roman peered down at his watch. "I suppose it’ll be an early dinner at this point."

I thought for a moment and knew some comfort food was definitely needed. "Do you think that there’s pasta somewhere on this island?" I asked him.

He grinned at me, one that reached both sides of his face. "I can make it happen. I love a challenge."

Withdrawing his cellphone, Roman sent off a couple of messages before tucking it back in his pocket.

In the meantime, we moved down the beach and back toward the bungalow. We stopped to enjoy the beach together. This time, we didn’t get in and splash around. Instead, we sat down right at the edge of the water so that our feet could get splashed but nothing else.

We lounged back and held hands. There were actually clouds overhead that day, so we watched them roll by lazily.

Slowly but surely, I was able to get back into the mindset of vacation. I wanted to savor the moments like that with Roman, knowing that in a matter of days we would have to get back to normal life. A normal life that would keep him at work and me finding ways to keep myself busy.

There would never be a moment that I didn’t love with him. Even when things were bad, I would rather be by his side than anywhere else.

Roman seemed to take note of my staring and turned to face me. He cocked a brow at me. "What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked playfully.

"Just realizing how happy you make me," I replied without hesitation. "No vacation, no exotic destination, no gift or adventure would ever be able to give me the same feeling that I get just being next to you." I squeezed his hand a little tighter. "Though the vacations are nice to share together."

He leaned up and hovered over me as I laid in the sand. He stroked my cheek as he studied my face. "I never knew happiness like this was possible. I’m glad that it’s a feeling we share."

We kissed softly, my heart thumping joyfully in my chest.

It was an interesting transition to feel our relationship settling. No longer was it just passion and sex, but a sort of deep and vulnerable care. Care that I think we had both felt for a long while, but that neither of us had been confident enough to act on. It was the feeling of growing, not as a person, but as a partner. It was beautiful, delicate, and something to be cherished.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he sat up and glanced at his screen before back to me. "Ready for dinner, Mrs. Thaddeus?" he asked.

"Absolutely, I’m starving," I answered, taking his hand when offered to me to help me stand up. We moved down the beach, holding hands, and giggling over little small talk that was about nothing and everything all at once. About how much we liked one another, flirting, and making silly little jokes. It was bliss and it was a way I hoped we would be able to stay forever.

When we reached the boardwalk of the little resort, I immediately spotted big metal cloches sat on the patio table outside of our bungalow. My eyes beamed and I glanced up to him with curiosity. He smirked. "I think we agree money isn’t everything," he began, pulling me closer. "But it sure does buy Italian pasta, even on an island."

"I love you," I laughed.

"I love you too," he chuckled.

We sat down at the table, and I was giddy to see a bottle of sparkling wine, a basket of warm garlic bread, and, lifted the cloche, a heaping serving of spaghetti and meatballs.

"This is perfect," I sighed, taking in the sight of the gorgeous meal and my equally handsome husband.

He poured us each a drink. "I also have it on reliable source there is gelato in our freezer."

I grinned and clinked glasses before digging in. For pasta made in the Caribbean, it was some of the best I ever had.

I loved it, I loved him, and I found confidence again in the vacation. We were going to have a great time and nothing, not even my own anxiety, would get in the way of that.

After all, how could life get any better than eating one of your favorite meals, on the ocean, with the person who was turning out to be the love of your life?