Net:

'C'mon, Artemis…' Holly managed to pout and smirk simultaneously, as if she knew the effect both expressions had on him.

It was hard for him to retain his dignity, stripped down to a pair of board shorts and pale in the sunlight that glared at him from the clear blue sky and warm white sands. Holly raised the ball up in her left hand and swung at it with her right, pitching it over the net.

Artemis scrambled to reach it, the sand shifting awkwardly under his feet. The ball sent a fine spray of it into his eyes as it hit the ground. He heard Holly's small sigh and glared at her.

'You only have to catch it!' she exclaimed. 'We're not even playingproper volleyball!' But she was beaming as bright as the sun, and there was no malice in her voice as there might have been had she been any one of his classmates at St Bartleby's.

'This is hopeless,' she conceded, as Artemis's attempt to throw it back over to her had it rebound off the net and back to him. 'Can you swim?'

'Yes,' Artemis replied, triumphantly. 'I will not drown, at least,' he added, because the elf-girl had not waited for him, simply bounding into the surf.

By the time he had reapplied sunscreen and waded out to her, she had already body-surfed into the shore twice, and was half floating and half treading in water slightly too high for her to stand flat-footed. Artemis had no such issue, although she was now level with him, the water buoying her up.

'I don't remember the last time I swam in the ocean…' she mused, looking about them with obvious pleasure.

'I'm sure your company was better,' Artemis said, attempting to joke.

'Artemis!' Holly splashed him. 'There's a reason I blackmailed you into coming, you know. So I could spend time with you that doesn't involve saving our worlds. That, and I wondered if you'd buy the you need to repent for your race excuse.'

'One human making it possible for one elf to experience the joys she lost,' Artemis paraphrased her own argument to her. 'Is that not reason enough?' Holly looked doubtful about his motivations, and he folded. 'Yes, okay, I admit it. This whole event was orchestrated by me so I could see you in a bikini.'

She splashed him more, and at that moment, an errant current surged towards shore, knocking the elf into Artemis, who instinctively closed his arms around her to keep her from slipping under the wave. Artemis felt a flood of hormones at the realisation he did not want to let go.

Neither, it seemed, did Holly. She put her hands on his shoulders, so he could support her weight, and smiled slightly. 'Is it just me, or is it getting warmer?'

'Must be the sun,' Artemis said, trying to draw attention away from the fact both of them were still pressed together. 'It will ruin my Irish complexion, I will have you know.'

'I didn't know Irish was a euphemism for vampire,' Holly replied, biting her lower lip to disguise a grin.

'I didn't know that flyboys used words exceeding three syllables,' Artemis retorted.

'I am very feminine, thank you!' Holly exclaimed, with mock offence.

'I know,' murmured Artemis, a little too audible for Holly's elfish senses.

Her expression was caught between embarrassment and satisfaction as she propelled herself a little backward. The rush of cool water where her body had been pressed against Artemis's left him feeling a touch bereft.

'You are kind of pretty,' Artemis said abruptly, as he attempted to salvage his situation – and some how managing to make it worse. 'That is what I was referring to.'

'Uh huh. Sure,' Holly said, not looking overly convinced. Artemis sighed in relief as she made a few idle backstrokes, thinking that minor chastisement was his salvation.

It was pre-mature. 'Only kind of?' Holly said, her face inscrutable as she swam back toward him.

'Perhaps.'

'Oh, Artemis, stop it. Do you think it or not?'

'Perhaps.' There was no way she could make him be any less vague…

'Tell me what 'perhaps' means, Artemis Fowl,' Holly said, her voice sultry with mesmer.

Artemis closed his eyes as his lips involuntarily formed the word. 'Extraordinarily.'

Holly opened her mouth a little in disbelief.

'Artemis---'

And that was as far as she got. The rest was lost in a mixture of salt water and sand as she was unbalanced by a wave. Artemis manage to regain is footing just before another wave threw him into the shallows with her. Apparently, they'd been carried into the break zone.

When they had regained enough breath to do anything but gasp for it, both stumbled out of the water and collapsed on dry land, under the shade of Juliet's huge and very colourful beach umbrella. Holly glanced over at him, still panting slightly, and caught his fingers in hers.

Artemis did not react to this except to press their sand-covered palms together as Holly edges closer to him.

'Extraordinarily, huh?' Holly murmured, smiling.

'I thought the unwarranted use of mesmer was severely frowned upon by the Council?' Artemis replied.

Holly just smiled.

'I won't tell if you don't.'