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"I reckon slow swim," Rikki replies. "No need to rush now that we've both been in the Pacific now," she adds, taking his hand and starting to move forward toward the beach.

Lunch will be nice and relaxed and they have all day to lounge around or go back into the water. Rikki's got the itch out of her system and Ben has at least two items crossed off the bucket list already today. What she hasn't gotten the itch out for yet is thanking Ben properly for bringing her out here.

"I'm glad we did this. It's gonna be a good trip," she says and it's more of a promise than a statement. At least, she hopes it will be. She has a good feeling.

"I'm glad we did this too." He said, wanting to pull her in close to kiss her, but he thought better of it, at least not yet, but lord was the idea there.

They swam back slowly, enjoying a few small dives here or there and playful swimming. Back on the shore, his tent behind a grass and sand covered hill was still there, perfect and safe. He had gotten changed out of the scuba gear and into shorts and a t shirt once again. He left the gear out to dry for now, and had pulled some bags from the car for food.

Towel down on the ground outside the tent, he settled there, pulling out food that was good for trips like this. Though he was very distracted, watching Rikki half the time. He looked as if he almost wanted to say something.

Once they'd made it back to shore, Rikki dried them both off enough that she could have her legs and he could change into dry clothes without too much hassle. She'd dry off his gear later if it hadn't dried on its own in time should they decide to go back out again. But once he was dressed and had laid out the towel, she'd made her way over and sat beside him, her stomach tied in nervous knots.

For every ounce he looked like he wanted to say something but hadn't found the words, Rikki looked like she did, too. She managed after a few long, uncomfortable moments to at least spit out a verbal gratitude.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, her lips pressing together briefly and tongue slipping out to wet them before she cleared her throat and looked back at him. "For doing this. Bringing me here, I mean. I don't think you know how much it really means to me," she confessed, tucking her hair behind her ears and fidgeting in place.

She told herself to just do it. Just lean in and give him a kiss, even if it was super chaste so that, if he looked horrified by it, she could always play it off as just a quick thank you and pretend that cheek kisses weren't as much of a thing in Australia as they were in America for this sort of situation. But her stomach tumbled and her body felt cold and her palms were beading with sweat at the very thought of initiating that sort of thing without knowing that it would be welcome. Rikki was always so sure of herself, but with this sort of thing? She was more cautious.

When she thanked him he smiled, ducking his head a moment. "It's okay, I think I get it actually. And I can't thank you enough for coming with me like this. I'm just glad I could get you close to home at least. Might not be the right island but..." He gave a small shrug but smiled.

He fidgeted with a twist tie in his hand and twirled it around before trying to gain the confidence he needed. There was no reason to be nervous. He was sure she felt the same about him too. Sure it would be fine. SO he sucked it up, turning to her with a bit of a questioning smile.

"Hey."

He stared at her, then let his smile twist more into something a bit cheesy, feeling a bit more courage. "Let me be your boyfriend." Not 'be my girlfriend', because that would have sounded demanding, but what he said was more open, he felt. open for rejection, and him just teasing about how he was kidding, if she rejected him.

"It's good enough," she assured him with a small, shy smile, ducking her head again when he looked back up at her. When he spoke again to get her attention, Rikki looked up, questioning expression on her face.

The way his smile changed made her stomach flutter furiously, but what he said next made it flutter even more furiously. It took a moment for her to fully process it in a way that she was able to feel certain that she'd heard him right and she wouldn't humiliate herself. Giving herself that moment to process, what came out first was a surprised laugh. Not an amused one, one that just illustrated that she had been taken off her guard and, if one knew her well enough to get into her head, that she couldn't believe her luck.

Her stomach tumbled and knotted and settled, over and over, so quickly she couldn't decide if she felt sick or not, but she ended on a bright smile, nodding her head when words failed her briefly. "Yeah," she finally managed. "Yeah, of course. Christ, it took you long enough," she laughed again, reaching for her to draw him in so that she could kiss him. It wasn't rough or frantic; it was chaste but lingering, giving Ben a chance to decide if he wanted to leave it at that for the moment or if he wanted to deepen it.

He smiled at her laugh and for a moment looked worried, but only a moment. The laugh was good, and he settled a bit, learning on his hand there, watching her. His belly in knots and wriggling like the Horrors were just as worried or excited as he was. It was, in fact, just his belly doing it though, and not the horrors.

Though at the kiss he did feel his skin crawl, in a good way, as the horrors seemed to cheer for him as well.

He left it at a chaste kiss for a moment, smiling on her lips and drawing back just a bit to say "Had to make sure the moment was right." He said at a bit of a lie. He'd just been too nervous to ask until now. He said that and leaned in to steal another small chaste kiss, nudging it a bit more. His heart beating fast enough that it felt like it had stopped on him.

Rikki shook her head and huffed another soft laugh, pressing her forehead against his when they paused so that she could catch her breath again. "You've had a million moments that were right, you know," she reminded him playfully.

But then he was kissing her again and Rikki shifted to be closer to him, melting into it. She'd been wanting to kiss him for an age, by now. There was something about Ben that had hooked her the moment she'd met him, really, and while he was a perfectly attractive guy, that hadn't been what it was.

She reckoned that his new lease on life had done it, really. He always seemed to be experiencing everything either for the first time or as though he might never get another chance and there was something about the way he put that level of passion into everything he did that she couldn't help being drawn to like a moth to a flame.

Rikki deepened the kiss a little for a moment but then she pulled back, blushing. She'd never really been the sort for public displays of affection and, even though there wasn't really anyone else around, she still felt shy about it. "I've been wanting to do that for months, mate," she confessed in a soft, almost whisper, a small smile on her face as she looked back at him.

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