by Jen Talty
“Looks that way.” Darcie rolled her eyes. “Why do you salute him?” she whispered. “It’s so not necessary.”
Bradley shrugged.
This last charter had been an easy one. Nothing bad had happened. No drama. Well, at least not with the guests. She couldn’t say the same for her and the chief stew and the captain. Milia always had to take Jim’s side on everything, and it made Darcie nuts. Of course, Milia had been Kim’s best friend on the boat, so when Jim decided to sleep with the second stew while still in a relationship with the boson, things got really ugly, and it made sense that Milia would stick with her bestie.
However, it didn’t help that Milia knew about Jim’s extracurricular activities long before the rest of the world knew and decided to keep that piece of information to herself. Darcie also refused to acknowledge that she and Jim did their best to keep their relationship a secret. The only person who had any idea was Kim.
Oh. The irony.
She plastered a big smile on her face and shook hands with the guests as they went through the crew line like they would at a wedding reception. Right now, she hated her job and contemplated walking off the yacht when the guests did.
When she first started on this crazy career path, it had been exciting and wild. She traveled the globe, worked on various vessels, learned from some amazing captains, bosons, and other deck crew. She’d begun her career at sixteen, and her family thought she was nuts. Her father actually used the word certifiable. Her parents tried to bribe her into staying in college with a car and an apartment all paid for in full.
But stability wasn’t what Darcie craved. Adventure and not knowing what would happen next is what she’d yearned for back in the day. Of course, having a boyfriend who liked to jump out of perfectly good airplanes just for shits and giggles didn’t help tame the beast inside Darcie, and Reid Carson helped fuel her passions in ways she’d never dreamed. He’d filled her sails and her heart with a warmth she hadn’t know she’d been missing.
And then he took it away, leaving her to drift in the middle of the open water all alone.
In the beginning of their relationship, he’d encouraged her to do whatever it took to captain her own ship one day. He’d told her there was nothing she couldn’t do, and she’d believed him.
She still did.
Only, she’d lost faith in his ability to be a decent human being.
She let out a long breath. She was a week away from taking her captain’s test.
Only asshole Jim could put an end to that if he wanted to; another reason she’d kiss his ass these last few seasons. If Jim didn’t give her a glowing report, it wouldn’t matter how great she did on the test, no one would hire her to captain their vessel.
At least not one that would bring on the kind of guests that would command a salary she could live off of, and one that would finally get her family to shut the fuck up about what a real job was all about.
The primary guest handed Captain Jim a thick envelope before turning and heading down the long pier with his friends.
“Let’s meet in fifteen for our tip meeting, and then I will be off the boat until nine tomorrow morning.” Jim smacked the wad of cash with his hand and double-timed it toward his cabin, waving over his right shoulder.
Don’t look. Don’t do it.
Darcie glanced toward the dock, and there stood Kim in a cute little strapless floral sundress and polarized clear shades. She smiled and gave a little waggle of her fingers as if they were old friends.
Which, they were.
Sort of.
She’d known Kim on and off for years. She’d actually recommended Kim for this crew when, about two weeks before the start of the season, they were still looking for someone to round out the interior, and Kim had just finished working on a vessel in Southern California. They weren’t best friends, but they were colleagues and they got along well enough. And Kim had known how Darcie felt about Jim and her concerns about his wandering eye.
Well, it wandered right to Kim.
“She’d like to talk to you but says you won’t respond to her texts.” Milia stood by the stairs leading down to the main salon.
“I have nothing left to say to her.”
“She has things she’d like you to hear.” Milia fiddled with her ponytail.
“I’ve heard them all,” Darcie said, taking a step to the right.
Milia followed. “You can’t help who you fall in love with.”
Oh for fuck’s sake. Not this lame excuse for why his dick just happened to fall out of his pants and land inside her crotch.
“It’s not like she wanted for this to happen. She actually tried to stop it. She asked him to back off more than once.”
Darcie inhaled through her nose and let the breath out slowly through her mouth. She’d learned this little anger management trick from her sister-in-law. “Since you enjoy being in the middle of shit, why don’t you go run down there and remind Kim that Jim, her boyfriend, the man she proclaims to love, was slipping between my sheets and hers for at least a good two weeks. And I’m sure Jim said he wasn’t doing the nasty with me anymore, but I bet if we pulled out our calendars, we’d find some crossover fucking going on.” Darcie leaned in. “How do you think Kim is going to take that juicy little piece of information?”
“Why do you have to be so hurtful?”
“I don’t want to be. That’s the point. But if you keep this up, she’s bound to figure out that Jim’s lying about the fact he and I were still fooling around when he started doing it with your bestie.”
“I don’t know that to be true. You said so yourself you and Jim were on the way out.”
Darcie really didn’t want to hear another word of this utter bullshit.
“She just wants to clear the air. And not for nothing, the rest of us have to work with you. Maybe it would make it all a little easier if you had a sit-down with Kim and Jim. Like fucking adults,” Milia said.
“Jesus. Kim and Jim. They sound like a damn candy bar or something,” Darcie said, shaking her head. “No. I’m not doing a sit-down with the cute couple. You forget. Kim knew about me and Jim and she chose to sleep with him anyway. That’s a pretty low thing to do.”
“Darcie, Darcie, Captain Jim. Can you meet me in the bridge before our tip meeting?”
She tapped her earpiece. “On my way,” she said. “You can tell Kim I’ll talk to her once I’m done with Jim. But just her. I’m not talking with the two of them, got it?” She’d lost her fucking mind. Shaking out her hands to try to calm her pulse, she made her way to the boat’s cockpit. “You wanted to see me?” She set her radio down on the counter. She’d done her best to ignore Jim for the last month, and he’d done the same with her, but she had to admit the tension on the boat had become unbearable.
“I wanted to talk to you privately about two things. One personal and one about our next charter. Which do you want first?”
“You do like to shoot straight from the hip.” She chuckled. “Let’s get the personal shit out of the way.”
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in the captain’s chair. “I’d like to say I’m sorry. However, me apologizing for acting like a child at this point wouldn’t do any of us any good.”
“Oh my. Were you actually considering it?” She blinked a few hundred times and lowered her chin. She could handle working with Jim on a professional level, no problem. But being in the same space with him and shooting the shit?
That would just give her diarrhea of the mouth, which would lead her to saying something stupid, and that might piss him off enough to fire her.
“Why do you have to be like that?” he asked. “It’s not like you and I were having some great big love affair. We were just having some fun. That’s what we both said.”
“I agree, but you should have been a decent human being and—oh, why am I even bothering? Let’s just put this crap aside. I know I can.”
“But you haven’t.”
“Well, neithe
r have you. Or do you want me to give you a laundry list of how you’ve treated me the last month since you and Kim became the king and queen of the Sound?”
“No. I’m perfectly aware. But I could do the same to you and this sarcastic attitude of yours has to be left on the dock. I feed off it, and it’s just bad.”
Darcie hated to admit that he was right, and she was going to have to find away to be less of a bitch around Jim. “I’ll work on it. I promise.”
“Good.”
“Now, you mentioned you have some business stuff?”
“I’m not down with the personal shit.” He shifed in his chair, adjusting his slacks. “ I’m in uncharted waters when it comes to Kim and I’m a little flustered.”
“I’m not even sure what any of that means. Or why I should care.” She cleared her throat, doing her best to squelch the desire to voice the comments she really wanted to make.
He covered his face with his long fingers, bringing them together to a point at his chin. “I’ve always liked you.”
“Jim, you’re not making this don’t-be-sarcastic concept easy for me. Can we get to the point, please?”
“When you told me that you scheduled your captain’s license, I realized I wanted more out of my life. Only, it wasn’t with you that I wanted it.”
“Wow. Do you hear yourself? Why are you having this conversation with the woman you dumped for someone else?”
He had the audacity to smile. “I’m actually trying to thank you.”
“For what?” Oh. Fuck. This should be good.
“I’m in love with Kim, and I’ve never felt that way before. Because of you, I was able to open myself up.”
Oh for the love of all things fucking holy. She had to have her ex-boyfriend tell her that he was in love with the woman he was fucking when he was still dating her? And that it was all thanks to her? “Do you think I really fucking care, Jim?”
“Well, I’m going to ask her to marry me, and I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else. I wanted you to know that I was scared about everything and that I have no good excuse for the way I treated you—”
She covered his mouth with the palm of her hand. She’d heard all she needed to know, and she knew him well enough to know that he couldn’t help himself. He was a shallow man who thought only of himself. “You’re right. Nothing you can say or do will make up for what you did. Just don’t go being an asshole to Kim. She deserves better.”
“So did you.”
Well, wasn’t that a surprise wrapped in a pretzel? “I know,” Darcie said, nearly choking.
“You and I need to be able to work this out through the rest of this season. I don’t want us to be at each other’s throats, or have you acting like this.”
Oh, but he made it so damn easy. “So, let’s get to work, okay?”
Jim scratched the back of his head. “You’re really not going to like this.” Jim leaned over, pulled open a drawer and handed her a piece of paper. He arched his brow. “When was the last time you spoke to Reid?”
“Reid Carson? My ex-boyfriend? Our next charter guest?”
“That would be the one.” Jim gave her a sideways glance.
Yeah. She really needed to let the sarcasm sail away. “About eight months ago,” she admitted. “I ran into him in New Orleans when I was there visiting a friend with my brother and a buddy of his, Matt Montgomery, who also happens to be a detective.”
“And would your friend in New Orleans happen to be a cop, as well?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Asher Smith. He used to work pretty closely with my brother. Why?”
“Actually, it doesn’t matter, unless he can get a night permit for bungee jumping off Deception Pass here in Washington State and help me keep it quiet as hell.” Jim leaned back and folded his arms across his chest.
“What other excursions do Reid and Preston want to do.”
“I suggested a kayak trip through the rapids. That’s no biggie and easily arranged, but this night bungee thing I can’t get approved. At least not the way they want it.”
She held all the rejections he’d gotten from the town and those responsible for such thrill-seeking adventures. “If you’re thinking my brother can do something about this, I’d think again.”
“I know. And if you ask him, and he can’t make it happen, and our guests do it anyway…”
“Fuck,” she mumbled. “I can’t believe Reid would put anyone in that kind of a position. He knows you’d lose your captain’s license.”
“I don’t think he cares. He never liked me.”
“Reid is a lot of things, but he wouldn’t do that.”
“Does he know you’re the boson on this yacht?” Jim asked.
“I don’t see how. He doesn’t even know I’m living in Seattle,” Darcie said. “When I told him I was buying a sailboat for a home, he thought I was joking.”
“He doesn’t know you very well, then,” Jim said with a slight smile, though it turned serious quickly. “My communication has all been with Preston, Reid’s partner. At one point, I wasn’t even sure Reid would be on this charter. Anyway, Preston has made it clear the bungee jumping is happening whether or not it’s sanctioned, and he also made a huge point of saying he doesn’t want media coverage. This isn’t a stunt to draw attention. This is a celebratory jump just for them.”
“We can’t let them do it,” she said. “And in theory, it should be easy to stop them. But Preston doesn’t take no for an answer easily.”
“Preston will be at the docks shortly to confirm and give me an advance on a cash tip. If I say I can’t deliver, he’s going to charter with a different private company, and he says he’s got someone in line.”
“He’s bluffing.”
“I don’t know. I heard chatter today that Gill’s got a potential client.”
“Gill’s a dick and all talk,” Darcie said. But Gill didn’t boast, not unless he had something to back it up, which meant he was being used as a pawn to twist Jim’s arm. Preston was good at manipulating any given situation to get what he wanted. He was a master at the game. A true artist.
But Reid? Not his style. Besides, she thought he’d given up all that adrenaline-junkie crap for the most part.
“What are you planning on doing?” she asked.
“I’m going to tell them it’s all set, and then you and I need to figure it out because I’m not losing this charter, nor am I losing my license.”
“You’re seriously going to leave this all on my shoulders?”
“You are the boson. It is your job.”
The next couple of days was bound to be the longest of her life.
She wasn’t sure what would be worse.
Seeing Reid again.
Or seeing Reid right after she’d had her heart handed to her on a silver platter.
Although she had to admit she wasn’t all that crushed about losing Jim. Her real issue had been the humiliation, not that Jim had dumped her. Because at the end of the day, she hadn’t loved him.
“You do know we can’t let them do it,” she said.
“No. I don’t know that because I’ve got the best boson in the business, and she’s going to make it work. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.” Motherfucker. Her ex-boyfriends were going to get her fired.
Or killed.
Or both.
Chapter 2
“Why do you look so fucking miserable?”
Reid Carson set his phone screen-down on the table and glanced out over the docks. According to his research, Darcie’s home—and sailboat—was docked in this marina, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he could see the ass end of the vessel now. At least, if the information that she’d named it Living the dream had been correct.
She’d always said that if and when she bought a sailboat, that’s exactly what she’d name it. And he certainly hoped all her dreams had come true. He couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more than Darcie.
He only wished he could have been part o
f her future. Not a night went by where she didn’t enter his thoughts. She seeped into his unconscious, making his waking moments both amazing and torturous.
Reid lowered his shades, allowing what little sun was left to bombard his eyes. He stared at his business partner and glared. “Because you make me that way.” He’d become sick and tired of pretending that things were getting back to normal between him and Preston.
Hell, things hadn’t been right since Erin died. Maybe even before.
But the last few months had shown Ried how little he could trust Preston.
With anything.
“What the hell did I do now?” Preston waved at the waiter, holding up the nearly empty pitcher.
The waiter nodded, waving his index finger.
At this point, Reid didn’t want to argue. If he could spend the next three days drunk, he would. But he had too many unanswered questions. “Do you really need to ask?” Fuck it. Getting drunk tonight would do him a world of good.
“Yes. I do,” Preston said. “I don’t get you, man. The two of us are finally back together, side by side, killing it, and you’re acting like the roof just caved in.”
Reid took his frosted mug and chugged the last of his cold brew. There would be more alcohol, and then he’d stumble across the street and pass out until morning, where he’d start all over tomorrow. Maybe if he got wasted enough, he wouldn’t be able to participate in anything Preston had planned on this stupid-ass vacation that celebrated nothing. “It’s too soon. We don’t have approval to go forward, and I don’t know that my design is perfect. It hasn’t been properly tested. Not even for the contract we just signed. I’m worried we’re opening ourselves up for lawsuits.”
“It’s close enough. There is no need to do any more testing. The people at the studios are ready and excited. They’ve already used the suits twice and had no problems. You need to relax a little and let our lawyers take care of the legal shit.”
A fucking night bungee jump from Deception Pass, while it would be exciting, was no place for him to relax, much less test out their new lightweight equipment. It was meant for highly trained professionals, not the masses anyway. It was all part of their Hollywood stuntman line, and none of it was ready to be manufactured.
