Forever and For Always

by Debra Clopton

  “Why?”

  “Are you always this obnoxious and nosey?”

  “Not really.” He gave a small, dismissive laugh. “But you obviously love the water, love the small details that make the environment work, and yet you chose to go be a publicist in Hollywood and deal with jerks who can’t take care of their own dirty laundry. I’m baffled. But interested. Very interested. As in you interest me. If I haven’t made that clear.” He smiled and her bad mood softened.

  He really was interested, she realized. Her family had once pressed her to find out why she’d made the choices she’d made and they’d stopped after she’d pushed back. He hadn’t pushed back. They’d understood that once she made her mind up there was no changing it. BJ hadn’t known her long enough to know that about her. You interest me. His words echoed through her.

  He had slowed the boat and was steering it clear of the shallows, but now he angled the boat toward the open water just past the mangroves.

  She sat down for the ride toward open water.

  He smiled over at her. “Don’t be mad at me.”

  She laughed because she couldn’t help it. “Okay, I’m not mad. But you see too much. Push too hard and are nosey as all get-out. If I don’t want to talk about something, then I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fine. Be that way.” He laughed and pulled back on the throttle. Instantly the boat responded with a powerful growl as the engines kicked in with speed.

  “What about you?” she pressed, feeling it was her turn to be nosey. Fair was fair. “Are you any closer to knowing why your mother ran away with you?”

  “Any closer than I was yesterday? Nope. Not a bit.”

  “I find that very baffling.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  She smiled at him, despite still being mildly irritated at his prying. “So, did you think about your situation anymore last night? Are you going to fly to New York and see the lawyer?”

  “Nope. I called him this morning and told him to pack his bags and catch a plane down here and share the details with me.”

  “And he said okay, just like that?”

  “I persuaded him when I told him I’d take him out on the boat. Can you believe that New York lawyer has never taken a fishing vacation? I told him he did not know what he was missing and that I could assure him that he would catch a whole host of deep sea fish if he came out. Tuna, mahi, and if he got here by next week, we’d get him a marlin and possibly a wahoo.”

  She was stunned. “And he took the bait?”

  BJ grinned. “Like a big daddy Goliath grouper.”

  She laughed, hard. “You are a genius.”

  “Nope. I just know how to fish.” There was only about twelve inches separating them as BJ smiled at her with twinkling eyes. His blue eyes were expressive, very pressing and probing at one moment—piercing, icy-blue. But now they shifted to softer blue that twinkled as he grinned that sexy, totally engaging smile at her.

  And she wondered suddenly whether he were fishing right now. For her.

  The idea stole her breath.

  And then he let off the throttle. The boat instantly coasted as he turned and cupped her jaw. The boat rocked as he very gently brushed his thumb across her cheek.

  And she was caught—hook, line, and sinker.

  Chapter Six

  BJ couldn’t help himself as he touched Olivia’s soft cheek. This had been what he’d thought would be a relaxing day. Instead, it had turned unexpectedly to their problems. But it was okay because Olivia had things on her mind that she needed to get off. And he was very curious about what he had learned about her.

  The expression on her face when she talked about the mangroves and about the sharks and about the ocean had been unlike anything prior to that. She’d lit up in a beautiful way.

  Not that she wasn’t already beautiful. No doubt about it—he could look at her all day. Who was he kidding? He could look at her for the rest of his life. It was true. But when she’d started talking about the beauty around them, something in her had engaged him on a deeper level.

  He’d been around a lot of women in his lifetime but none of them moved him like Olivia.

  Everything about her pulled him in and it was as if he could sense and feel what she was thinking. Feeling.

  As if they were connected.

  Likewise, she could almost read him like a book. It was an unnerving feeling. She was probably trying to get back at him because he was prying into her life.

  But right now he wanted to kiss her.

  She didn’t move as he looked down at her lips and then gently he slipped his hand to the back of her neck and tugged her toward him. His heart thundered in his chest and he could see in her eyes that she felt it too. At least he thought—hoped—the feeling was mutual.

  “You are mesmerizing,” he said softly and then he lowered his lips to hers.

  As his lips melted to Olivia’s, emotions and feelings drove through him. When she returned the kiss, his chest tightened, his heart thundered harder, and the sweet sensation of perfection wrapped them in a sweet cocoon, as if only the two of them existed in the world.

  He pulled back. Stunned, he breathed hard. She looked just as dazed as he felt. They stared at each other. He had absolutely no idea what to say. He had never had or felt that connection before. He’d never wanted that connection before…the kind that tied him to one place. Docked him indefinitely.

  Olivia was special and there was nothing about meeting her that was ordinary. Something about being with her made him feel as though his life would never be the same.

  “I am not sure that was a good idea,” he managed to say at last, glad he sounded somewhat coherent. He needed to take this slow and figure out where it was going. He couldn’t bear it if he hurt her.

  She blinked at him. Her brows knit together. “You might be right,” she said. “Although, at least there are no paparazzi around.”

  He laughed, easing the tension. “At least we hope not.”

  A heartbeat of silence stretched between them before he nodded toward her chair. “Have a seat and hang on. We’re going to deep water.”

  In more ways than one, he thought, as he pushed the throttle forward and sent the boat flying across the waves.

  Off the Florida coast, the tropical tones of teal and sea foam cascaded together like puzzle pieces as the shallow water slowly faded into the deeper jewel tones of jade and sapphire. It was a beauty Olivia loved. And had missed.

  The open water and the warm, salty breeze called to Olivia. The scents of seaweed and fresh air filled her lungs, making it a perfect moment. But even that did not rank with the amazing sensation of BJ’s lips on hers. The kiss had launched the beauty and wonder of this day into the stratosphere.

  Her heart hammered erratically as they crossed the water. “It has been so long since I’ve been out on the water,” she called over the rushing air. Once she loved open water and she’d loved deep sea fishing. She’d eaten it up, loved everything about the life: snorkeling, fishing, wave runners, windsurfing…and she’d also loved Adam Davies.

  She hadn’t thought of Adam in a long time. She hadn’t wanted to.

  Adam had been everything to her all through high school and when they’d gone off to college with plans to spend their lives together, life was perfect. Or so she believed.

  “Why not?” BJ asked. “If you love it, why have you stayed away from it? Seriously.” His hair whipped across his forehead as their eyes met.

  “A lot of reasons,” she hedged, finding it unnerving looking at him and realizing she wanted to kiss him again. “Nothing I really want to talk about.” They’d just gone over this and already he was prying again.

  She studied the water, hoping to see dolphins running along with them that might change the subject for her.

  She hoped he’d let the topic go because he’d awakened something inside her that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since Adam, and he was the last person she wanted to think about
right now…but she did.

  Adam had planned to become a marine biologist and she had planned on being an ecologist. They’d dreamed of traveling the world together. And then their senior year in college, out of nowhere, Adam had revealed that there was someone else in his life. And in one fell swoop, he had moved on.

  He’d taken their dreams with him and shared their life with his new love.

  She’d learned that he had been seeing his new love for a year and Olivia had been clueless. Clueless. It was humiliating on so many levels.

  Devastated, furious, and embarrassed, Olivia had told no one.

  She couldn’t pursue the life that she’d planned after that. Her heart hadn’t been in it.

  She had applied every credit that she could toward her new degree in public relations. She was good with words and with people, so she thought it was a good fit.

  “Why did you go into PR work?”

  She could answer that. “Having been raised in a large family, I learned to be diplomatic and a problem solver. I thought it was a good fit.” She repeated some of what she’d been thinking, just not all of it. “One did not have five brothers and three sisters and not know how to talk. Or be diplomatic at times.” Olivia smiled. It was also an easy way out of college without telling her parents how devastated she’d been over Adam. Instead, she just told them that they had grown apart as her life headed in a new direction. She suspected that they knew more—she was positive that her sisters knew something had happened—but she was adamant that she was pursuing a career that she loved.

  “Do you love it?” He sounded skeptical, considering he’d made his views on her clientele known earlier.

  “It excited me, at least in the beginning.” And it actually had. “Now it’s becoming tiresome,” she said, truthfully. “And this problem with Brad hasn’t helped the situation.” It might have even given her the excuse to leave Hollywood and come home for a little while. The thought struck her out of nowhere.

  The revelation was startling.

  “Time to fish,” BJ called when he saw a gathering of seagulls ahead of them. Birds hovering over the water meant fish, lots of fish, and he could see that Olivia was not happy about whatever she was thinking about. Dropping the anchor, he headed to the rods. He wanted to ease her mind and give her a carefree day. Not stress her out more. He smiled and waggled the rod at her. “Are you ready to dip a hook in the water?”

  “I am. As a boat captain, I wondered if it sometimes grew old to you. But you look like a kid in a candy store right now.”

  He shot her a big, wide grin. “I chose this business because I love it. It never grows old. I can fish all day, every day, for the rest of my life. Don’t get me wrong: I do enjoy other things, but this is my dream job. My dream life.”

  It was all true.

  “That’s wonderful. Not many people can say that.”

  “Yeah, I know. I don’t take it for granted.” He motioned for her to come get the rod. “It’s ready. Let’s bring ’em in.”

  He was excited to see the excitement in her expression as she moved to take the rod. Their hands touched and the spark of what he’d come to know was their chemistry fired through him. She swallowed hard as her fingers wrapped around the handle and he let go. This was about fishing, not kissing. Or the want to kiss her.

  He watched her expertly handle the rod and he was impressed that she knew what she was doing. “I can tell this isn’t your first rodeo.”

  She laughed. “Fishing I know. Rodeos are another story.”

  He chuckled and loved her laughter. “No cowgirl or rodeo lover hidden in there like your brother Cam?”

  “No. Cam just always knew from early on that he wanted to be a cowboy. It was the weirdest thing for him to live on the coast and always know he’d be on a horse when he grew up. My parents made sure we all had riding lessons at the small stables just down the road from the resort. But like rooftops, I didn’t take to riding so well. Fishing I loved from the start.”

  Then why, he wondered again, had she stopped? It was baffling but something in her expression earlier had told him she had memories she wasn’t talking about.

  “Don’t get me wrong.” He picked up his own fishing rod. “I enjoy spending time with a beautiful woman too. That’s why today is perfect. I’ve got fishing and a beautiful woman all in the same moment.”

  “You’re a charmer,” she said, giving a cute snort that made him laugh. “So how did you get into this career?”

  “My dad loved it. He was a big fisherman. I can still remember the trips we took when I was a child. He loved it. But we only did it a few times in my lifetime. One day while we were on the water, I can remember him telling me that if there was any career that he could have chosen, it would have been a sea captain. He’d not been raised around water and had come to love it later in life. Long after he’d become an accountant.”

  “I was going to ask what his profession was.”

  “Accountant extraordinaire. He was very good at what he did. He liked it okay, but it wasn’t fishing. When he was on the water, it was like you were earlier—alive, excited. When you started talking about it and when we got the water beneath us, you sparkled, Olivia. He did the same thing. When he and my mom died, those memories of him knowing what made him happy put me on the path to the life I have today. I chose this life because of him. And it’s brought me a lot of happiness.”

  And it had brought him in to Windswept Bay and to Olivia.

  Like the warmth of sunshine on a spring day, the knowledge settled over him. It was true.

  But would it hold him? Could staying in one spot fulfill him?

  Chapter Seven

  Olivia tilted her head and watched him. “Contentment,” she said. He was the most content man she’d ever met and that was something that drew her to him. “I’ve sensed that in you from the first moment I met you.”

  Her stomach trembled as his gaze lingered on her face.

  “So that’s my question to you,” he said. “Why you loved something so much and yet you walked away from it?”

  “You are persistent.” It was irritating but also nice that he seemed so interested in her. Really interested that he kept fishing over and over again for her to open up to him.

  “I am when it comes to something I care about and, Olivia, I’ve already told you I care about you.”

  They stared at each other as the boat bobbed in the water. He glanced away to scan where they were fishing, and then he put his gaze back on her and she was riveted to him.

  She wasn’t ready to open up and yet she was drawn to him. “You never finished telling me how you became a boat captain.”

  She wanted to take the conversation away from her but she really wanted to know everything about him.

  “When my dad and my mom passed away, I remembered what my dad had said and I chose to do what I longed to do. When I was able to, I took the money I inherited and I bought my boat. Then I headed this way. I actually spent a lot of time down in the Keys in Marathon and across the Seven Mile Bridge in the waters around Bahia Hondo National Park, taking people tarpon fishing. People will pay to learn to catch a tarpon and other fighting fish in the waters around there. Good memories gave me a good place to begin my business. Lilly went with me and volunteered at the park for a while before heading off to follow her own path. We both needed time there, though. She still goes down periodically and volunteers at the park.”

  “It sounds like it’s a very important place to you both. I love that area too,” Olivia agreed. “Once, my dad took all of us down there and we stayed in one of the little cabins in the park for two weeks. It was an amazing, busy place but we were able to run around the area and ride our bikes around the island, swim and fish all we wanted to.”

  “Your memories of it sound like mine.”

  “Weird, isn’t it? So where is your sister now?”

  “She went into the field that she adored too, living a nomad’s life—going from one wildlife park t
o another, working and seeing the country. She’s in Yellowstone right now, I think. I can’t keep up with her. It’s time for me to call her and check in. We both have what I call restless spirits.”

  And she’d marked that off earlier. He was restless. Suddenly, her line started to spin out of control. “I’ve got something!”

  “Oh yeah, here we go,” he called, and moved beside her.

  Olivia was smiling as she looked up at him, excitement and adrenaline racing inside her as if she’d just been caught in an electrical storm. “Now, this is fun.”

  “A woman after my own heart,” he said, his eyes bright with excitement.

  Olivia’s knees weakened and she almost forgot about the fish on the end of her line. This trip home had taken an unexpected turn and Olivia suddenly didn’t care whether this day ever ended.

  Everything about it was perfect.

  And then her phone rang.

  The sound startled Olivia and she jerked her line. Instantly it snapped and the large fish on the other end was gone. She’d never even glimpsed what it was.

  “No way,” Olivia yelped in dismay. “I’ve been too many places on the mainland where there was no phone service or terrible phone service but here, fifteen miles offshore, I can receive calls.”

  “I should have gotten us a little farther offshore.” BJ gave an apologetic grimace that made her smile as she pulled the phone from her pocket.

  “Maybe so but this is Levi and if he couldn’t reach me, he might have thought something was wrong so it’s for the best.” She hit Accept and put the phone to her ear. “Hello—”

  “Where are you?” Levi barked, without any kind of hello.

  No question about it, he was irritated. “I’m actually fishing. I’m out on the boat with BJ.”

  “Fishing,” he growled. “Well, I hate to interrupt your day but your entourage has arrived.”

  “My entourage.” She almost laughed—which would have been an obvious mistake given the seriousness of her brother’s voice. He was absolutely in no mood for humor. “Where did you learn that word?” she asked, keeping the laughter out of her voice.