But it wasn’t to be.
At least she understood her obsession with vexing the man and getting his attention. Sure, he was gorgeous, but it was more than that.
He was hers. Her wonderful, grumpy, fabulous longhaired pirate rescuer.
And now she needed to keep her distance.
She went to change and then realized the others were out with their snorkels. Why should she miss out? She put on a short black swim skirt, because her sarong had been lost when she went overboard, and tidied her braids in their ponytail before going back out as if nothing had happened.
As if she still didn’t feel slightly shaky.
Maybe she should get something to eat. She walked into the small kitchen at the end of the bedrooms. It was curved due to the shape of the boat, and there were coolers set on the table full of various sundries. She picked two coolers and headed upstairs.
She wanted to keep busy. If she stopped, she’d end up thinking, and that wouldn’t be good. Not when all her thoughts revolved around what she wanted to do to her delicious mate.
She walked up on deck and people were seated here and there on deck chairs. She set down the coolers and pulled out a sandwich for herself, which she unwrapped and began to eat as she stared out at the ocean.
She wasn’t sure what people found so magical about it. Yes, it was big. And blue. And wet. And it could kill you if you approached it wrong. And there were fish in it.
And it could be the most beautiful color, sort of like Sebastien’s eyes. She looked up and saw him talking to the married couple. He was still soaking wet but was walking around like it was business as usual, like he had to jump off his boat to rescue wayward black women every day.
He was all calm and presence, and just being on ship with him made you feel more confident.
He seemed to feel her eyes on him because he slowly turned and met them with his. Damn, those blue irises seemed to sizzle into her. That wet hair that fell around his face begged to be teased back into place.
She was just the one to do it. She’d felt his response when she’d kissed him. He hadn’t been against it. Would it really hurt that much more to leave after experiencing as much as she could with him for two weeks, rather than just staying distant and leaving after?
She didn’t think so. On top of that, she didn’t think she could stay away if she tried.
“Captain,” she called out, gaining his attention again. He rose to full height, as he tended to do when he faced her, as if he wanted to remind her he was bigger and taller and in charge.
“Yes?”
“Will you be snorkeling with us today? I’m not sure we should be out there on our own,” she said, one corner of her lips pulling up in a playful smirk.
He frowned. “Bart is captain on this trip.”
She pursed her lips. She kept forgetting, because it just seemed like wherever he was, he should be in charge. It looked like he felt the same. He looked put out by having to correct her about his title. “What should we call you, then?”
“Mate,” he said, flashing white teeth. “As in first mate. Or Sebastien.”
She gulped and tossed back her hair. It was a habit, one that made her feel powerful. Sebastien it was, then. She wasn’t about to go calling him mate and reinforcing in her stupid brain that she should somehow think of him that way. Things would be bad enough as it were.
“Sebastien, will you be snorkeling with us today?” she asked, tossing her braids over her shoulder against the wind that insisted on pitching them forward.
He looked her up and down again, and she stood firm and tall. Maybe he was trying to make sure she was really okay after falling off the back of the boat. Maybe he was just checking her out, which made her body heat head to toe.
But maybe something else went on behind those Caribbean-blue eyes. There was really no way to know. Not unless he told her, which he didn’t look likely to do anytime soon based on the clenched state of his jaw and the slight purse to those sculpted lips.
Oh well. They didn’t need to talk about their feelings. He just needed to get in the water with them so she could snorkel behind him and hopefully look up his swimsuit.
Ha-ha. Just kidding. Probably.
“As captain, I should stay with the ship,” Bart said helpfully. “So I guess you’ll need to supervise the guests on this one.”
At the betrayal, Sebastien turned to him with a glare, and she thought she saw a faint gleam of satisfaction in the smaller man’s eyes. “Bart…”
“I’ll need you to check the anchor anyway,” Bart said, reaching into a compartment under the seat and handing Sebastien a snorkel and mask.
Sebastien looked at them in distaste. “I like to be on the ocean. Not in it.”
She laughed. “Okay, pretty boy,” she said, putting an arm around him and pulling him toward the back of the boat where the others were climbing down to the small deck to get off. Several were already in the water.
“Don’t call me that,” he muttered.
“But you are,” she said.
He muttered something else under his breath, but she ignored him. He could be grumpy if he wanted, but she intended to enjoy the day.
Wilson was walking out below them and putting on his mask as he went.
When he saw them, he gave an appreciative stare and a whistle, and Sebastien’s sharp gaze whipped to him in an instant.
“Not appropriate,” he said.
“Fine,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t for you anyway.”
Sebastien took a long, slow breath, and Kim felt a slight sense of impending doom. Right before a long leg reached out, kicked Wilson right in the ass, and, with a slightly girlish scream, sent him flying into the ocean in front of them.
She stifled a laugh, waiting to make sure Wilson was okay when he came up coughing. But he gave her a big grin and a thumbs-up, seemingly unruffled.
“You aren’t getting in with that idiot, are you?” Sebastien said, pulling her to the side. “We could just eat lunch.”
“Are you kidding?” she asked, putting on her mask. “This is the vacation of my life. No way I’m going to waste a second of it.”
He tilted his head, like the concept of vacation were foreign to him. After all, this was his job, not his vacation, and he didn’t seem like someone who relaxed very often.
But she had a feeling he’d get in the water if she did. So she put on her fins and walked awkwardly to the edge and jumped off in a sloppy back roll.
The water was the perfect temperature, cool enough to be refreshing, warm enough that you didn’t need a wetsuit. It was such a beautiful color; it had to be the most beautiful water in the world.
She whipped back to look at Sebastien, who was still glaring at the snorkel and mask, which looked hilariously tiny next to him. It was easy to forget the sheer size of the man, due to his gorgeous hair and pretty boy face.
But he was tall, taller than any man she’d been interested in, and as he finally gave in and pulled off his shirt to reveal his bare chest, gleaming and tan, the muscles beneath were huge and rippling. Just one of those men who could naturally get huge when working out.
Her mouth literally watered. What she wouldn’t do to have a man like that in her bed. Just once…
He turned to go back into the cabin, probably to change into his swimsuit, giving her a view of his wide, powerful back and shoulders, which tapered down to a trim waist and a perfect—
“Want to snorkel with me?” A deep, masculine voice interrupted her thoughts.
“What?” she flipped around to see Wilson in the water. He normally would have caught more of her notice, but he just paled next to the chemistry she felt instantly with Sebastien.
But he certainly seemed more interested in her than the latter was.
“Want to pair up with me? The others are partnered.”
“Oh, sure,” she said. “Where to?”
“How about just the other side of the boat? There’s not a lot out here, just coral and fis
h, but it’s nice to just go face down and cool off.”
“Sure,” she said reluctantly, eyeing the boat. She kind of wished she could go with Sebastien, but he was still changing. Plus, he’d made it clear he wasn’t interested, and there was no reason to be cruel to Wilson.
She tightened her mask, put her snorkel in her mouth, and swam forward with her face in the water.
Immediately, the underwater world opened up to her. Blue and shimmering and wonderful. She felt ripples from Wilson swimming alongside her but didn’t pay much attention. At one point, he reached for her hand, maybe just to make sure they didn’t pull apart, but she moved out of reach. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. She’d had plenty of men come on to her in her day and knew it was best to be firm in her rejection.
She looked over at him in the water as he pulled his hand back, but he didn’t seem overly bothered.
After another minute, she felt him catch her hand again. This time she shook him off more intentionally and swam a bit faster ahead. This wasn’t a love cruise, even if she did want it to be that way with the captain. She shouldn’t have agreed to go with Wilson.
Then something grabbed her leg, and she got pissed. She kicked hard, felt a connection with something, and surfaced, pulling off her mask and sputtering in rage. The nerve of some people—
She stopped with a gasp when she shook water out of her eyes and saw Sebastien, red-faced, with a hand over his perfect nose, eyes angry as all hell and burning like blue flames under the Caribbean sun.
“I assume you have a reason for assaulting someone who was just trying to warn you not to go too far from the boat.”
She whipped her head around to survey her surroundings. He was right. She was a little too far from the boat and definitely should have turned back to stay with the group. Wilson’s snorkel was a little ways away. Clearly, he’d taken her rebuff well and had given her some space.
Too much space.
There were currents out here and she could feel herself being pulled away from the boat. She started swimming back, feeling grim embarrassment for having assaulted the captain, thinking it was Wilson and thinking he was making a move.
Of course the captain would only touch her for completely honorable reasons.
She gritted her teeth and swam past him, too humiliated to respond, but he caught her by the arm.
“Hold on. Swim back with me. The currents here are bad.”
She looked into his blue eyes, that gorgeous blond hair streaming around his face. His touch on her arm was too much. Her embarrassment melted into something else entirely. Something warm, hot, and pleasant in an anticipatory sort of way.
They’d done nothing but fight since they met, yet she couldn’t help feeling she’d rather spend time with him than anyone else in the word.
Given the appraising look he was giving her, despite all his protesting, it was possible he felt the same way.
He tried to link an arm though a strap of her lifejacket, but she pushed him off.
“I can swim on my own,” she said, setting out ahead of him.
“Fine, stubborn female,” he said, striking out after her.
They battled for first position, and soon, they were passing their group, reaching the ship, and panting and looking at each other as the others dove and splashed.
He pulled off his mask and put it on the swim platform. His face was tensed, lips pursed, but there was something glinting in his blue eyes. Something she hadn’t seen before.
Pleasure.
“That was fun,” he said, hefting himself up to sit on the low platform and reaching a hand down for her to do the same. “You know, I’ve never really gotten in with the customers before. It’s nice.”
“Shouldn’t you try what you’re selling?”
He shook his head, sending sparkling water droplets spraying around him. Damn, he was beautiful. All that muscle, tanned and dripping wet. “What I’m selling is a safe voyage where everyone can enjoy themselves. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“How do you know it’s enjoyable if you never try it?” she asked.
He looked out at the ocean, and she noticed a familiar gleam in his eyes as he did. He loved it. He surveyed the water the way she surveyed anything that looked fun or adventurous.
He was a man of singular passion. It was almost good he was destined not to be with her. She wouldn’t want to have to compete with the ocean. Especially for her mate. That would hurt.
Not as much as having to walk away from him and go back to New York to keep family promises that were made before her birth, but yeah, it would hurt.
“I’m glad you got me out here. I’m even glad my dad made me first mate instead of captain, though I was pissed at first. Maybe I did need to relax.” He rubbed his nose and glared at her playfully. “Why did you pop me one, though? Can’t say that was enjoyable.”
She tried not to laugh, because it wasn’t funny, but looking back on it, the situation kind of was. “Sorry, I thought you were Wilson.”
His expression darkened as he looked her over. “What?”
Oh shit. Then she’d have to explain why she accidentally kicked Wilson, and she didn’t even know how much Wilson had actually pulled. And he looked angry with her.
She should have just claimed she accidentally kicked too hard. She bit her lip.
4
He didn’t like the dark feelings stirring within him. Anger, possession, jealousy.
And the fear he’d experienced when he’d seen her swimming past her snorkeling partner, getting too far from her boat and out toward dangerous ocean currents.
It was similar to how he’d felt when she’d flown off the back of the boat. Like his heart had stopped and only had permission to start again when she’d been okay.
He’d never felt this way before. He’d always been a protective sort of person. Always wanted to shelter his family and the people under his care on the ship.
But this was different. A soul-deep need that seemed to burn within him.
And he didn’t know what to do about it.
And now he was feeling it again, as she said she’d kicked him, thinking he was Wilson. So what had Wilson done? He had his own suspicions about the guy. He wasn’t sure exactly what kind of shifter he was, but he was something. And he’d been one of the last people to book the boat, after the couple.
So had he done it because Kim had booked it and he could sense Kim was an alpha female, a rarity in the shifter world? It was something to watch out for.
He tried to convince himself it was because she was just a passenger, but he couldn’t help feeling there was something else to it.
Her warm gray eyes sparkled in the afternoon sun. Her dark hair was dotted with glistening drops of water, and her curvaceous, tall body was graceful in the sea. She was some kind of sparkling water sprite, and he found himself wanting to watch out for her for the rest of his life.
Which was stupid, because she was a lawyer. She was going back to New York, back to “civilized” life. She didn’t need him. She’d play and have fun like many of the tourists here and then go back to the “real world.”
Leaving everything behind.
Like his mom had left him and his brothers and his father. True, the location had been different, but the result was the same. Sebastien had seen the destruction it wreaked on his dad’s heart, and he wasn’t going to open himself to the same. Not to mention how damaging it had been for him and his brothers, suddenly rejected and on their own.
Their dad had tried to explain they were part animal, some more than others, and animals didn’t usually stay together in the wild. Especially bears like them.
So after their mom left, making excuses about it being too cold, their father had moved them to the tropics. Polar bears didn’t need to live in the Arctic. In fact, their bodies had to go through intense changes to do so, storing tons of fat to stay warm.
Here in the tropics, as long as there was water, they were fine.
&n
bsp; But he couldn’t help thinking part of the reason his father had come here was in the hope that his mother would show up one day.
But she hadn’t.
He heard Kim clear her throat and made an effort to pull out of his thoughts and be less rude. What had they been talking about? He looked to her for a clue, and she gave him an innocent look as jealousy coiled through him again.
Wilson.
“What did he do?” he growled, a little more harshly than he meant.
She bit her lip and looked to the side. Her lashes sparkled with water. So long. “Nothing.”
He exhaled tensely. “Sure. No, what did he do? I’m captain. You have to tell me.”
Her eyes twinkled, and she slid back into the water and swam a bit away from the platform. “Maybe I’ll tell Bart later, then.”
He hopped into the water to chase her. The others were on the other side of the boat, so they didn’t see her make a break, giggling, to evade questioning.
But she was smaller than him, something his body kept noting even as it noted she was also strong and vivacious, and it was easy to catch up in a couple strokes. Within minutes, he had her against his body, and once again, he liked the feeling far too much.
She struggled helplessly and then gave up, looking up into his eyes with ones that gleamed like polished silver in the sun. “Fine, I give,” she said, biting her lip and pushing her long braids over her shoulder as she looked up at him.
“Good,” he said, still encircling her in his arms, telling himself it was so the current couldn’t pull her away. “Now tell me what happened with Wilson.”
“He made a move on me,” she said. When he let out a low growl, she corrected herself. “Just tried to grab my hand a couple times. I don’t know. I didn’t look back after the first one. Maybe that was you.”
He tried to keep down his anger. He didn’t like the violent reaction he had to another man coming on to her. It suggested things about his bear that he didn’t like. Like he’d found his mate. And he was never going to let something like that dictate his life the way it had his father’s.
Some Bear to Love: BBW Bear Shifter (BWWM) Romance Standalone Page 3
