by Duncan, MJ
“Have you ever even seen it?”
“Um, yeah, Jennifer Grey is in it.”
Grey smiled. “Okay, how about you? What’s your favorite movie? No Reservations?”
“Ha, no.” Lauren shook her head. “I mean, I’m always up for some Catherine Zeta-Jones, but no. That movie was awful. Um…I’d have to go with The Cutting Edge.” She saw the smirk that tweaked Grey’s lips before the brunette covered it with her hand and looked away, and she pointed a warning finger at her. “Don’t laugh!”
“I’m not,” Grey chuckled. “I just…really? The Cutting Edge?”
“Shut up.” Lauren waved a hand a Grey. “You like Wind.”
“Yeah.” Grey nodded. “As an avid sailor who grew up in Newport freaking Rhode Island, my favorite movie centers around the most prestigious sailing regatta in the world.”
“Yeah, well, I grew up in Minnesota. We do some skating up there,” Lauren grumbled. “And Moira Kelly was hot in that movie.”
“So you have a thing for bitchy spoiled brats?”
Lauren laughed. “No. And I’m not going to get into a discussion about a character from a movie that you obviously hate.”
“Aww, you’re no fun,” Grey teased. “And I don’t hate the movie, I just don’t think it’s favorite movie material. But, fine. What’s your favorite television show?”
“Of all time? The West Wing,” Lauren said automatically, giving Grey a look that dared her to argue. “But Warehouse 13 is also right up there for me. You?”
“Favorite show of all time has to be Buffy. But I binge watched the first two seasons Once Upon a Time during the off season this year and actually really liked it,” Grey admitted with a small smile. “The first season, anyways. The second one just kind of annoyed me.”
Lauren nodded. “I gave up on the show in the second season because I hated what they were doing to Regina’s character. To me, that’s one of those shows that are better in fic than in real life.”
“You read fanfiction?” Grey asked, looking over at Lauren in surprise.
“It’s fun to read stories about characters I love from television or whatever where they actually do something about the subtext.” Lauren shrugged. “Besides, since you knew exactly what I meant when I said ‘fic’…you obviously do too.”
Grey nodded and held her hands up in surrender. “I do. And, let’s be honest, most shows are better in fic than they are in real life.”
“Absolutely,” Lauren looked down at her iPad that she had more than a hundred such stories downloaded onto, and then back up at Grey. “I think I’m going to go make something to snack on. You want anything?”
Grey looked out over the water and nodded. “Sure. I’ll come help.”
“I can bring it out to you if you want,” Lauren said as she got to her feet.
“Are you trying to get away from me?”
“You caught me,” Lauren drawled, rolling her eyes. “Seriously though, if you think you should play lifeguard, I can bring you something to snack on.”
Grey waved a hand at the water between them and the island. “The water is actually pretty calm and it looks like everyone over there is content to stay in the shallows, so there’s no reason for me to stay out here.”
“You just want to keep making fun of me for liking The Cutting Edge,” Lauren said, grinning over her shoulder at Grey as she made her way into the salon.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Toe Pick.” Grey winked at Lauren as she slid onto a barstool. “So, we’ve covered movies and television shows… I’m guessing you’re a Twins fan.”
Lauren shook her head as she set a couple apples and a chunk of gouda onto a cutting board so that she was facing Grey. “I actually grew up rooting for the Cubs because my dad played in their farm system for a while.”
“Seriously? That’s awesome.”
“Yeah. He was a pitcher, but he blew out his shoulder and that was the end of it.” Lauren pulled a paring knife from the drawer in front of her. “Since you’re a New England girl, I’m guessing you’re a Red Sox fan.”
“Absolutely.” Grey nodded. “So were you a softball player?”
Lauren smiled and shook her head as she began slicing one of the apples into wedges. “My dad would have liked that, but no. I was a decently-awful basketball player though.”
Grey chuckled. “I bet you weren’t that bad. I mean, the fact that you’re tall had to’ve helped.”
“You would think so, but the fact that I was constantly tripping over my own feet made my height rather irrelevant,” Lauren replied drolly. She looked up at Grey as she began coring one of the wedges. “I mostly played left ben—” She dropped the piece of apple she had been holding and her knife. “Shit!”
Grey frowned as her eyes automatically dropped to the slash of blood seeping from Lauren’s thumb. “Stay there, and I’ll go grab the first aid kit.” She hopped off her barstool and hurried down the steps to the small landing between hers and Lauren’s cabins to retrieve the kit from one of the cupboards.
Only vaguely aware of what Grey was doing, Lauren turned to the sink, flipped on the tap, and pinched her injured thumb under the stream. This was not the first time she had accidentally sliced through her own finger. Cuts and burns were an unfortunate hazard of her job, but it had been a while since she had gotten herself quite this good. She rested her elbows on the edge of the sink and let her head fall between her shoulders as she became dangerously lightheaded. “Fuck.”
“How bad is it?” Grey dropped the first aid kit onto the counter and reached for Lauren’s hand.
Lauren shook her head. “I’ll be fine,” she protested weakly as Grey’s fingers wrapped gently around her wrist and turned her hand so that Grey could see the cut. “I just need a band aid.”
“Just lemme see,” Grey murmured, wiping Lauren’s hand dry with a paper towel and then leaning in to inspect the wound. It was a clean slice across the pad of the thumb and, she was relieved to see, did not look like it was quite deep enough to require stitches. It was, however, bad enough to need some butterfly sutures. She held Lauren’s left hand in her own and she rustled through the first aid kit with her right. “You need a little more than a band aid.”
“I’ve had worse.” Lauren pinched the cut closed with her good hand as she watched Grey pull antiseptic wipes, gauze, butterfly sutures, and a band aid from the kit and set them onto the lid of the first-aid kit.
“I’m sure you have.” Grey motioned with her head for Lauren to let go of her injured thumb as she tore the top off an antiseptic wipe package with her teeth. “This is gonna sting,” she warned half-a-second before she swiped it across the cut.
“Fucker,” Lauren hissed, gritting her teeth.
“Sorry,” Grey murmured with a small smile. She looked up through her lashes at Lauren and leaned in to blow lightly over the cut to help the stinging alcohol dry quicker as she opened the package of Steri-Strips she would use to close the cut up. She had to use the small pair of scissors in the kit to cut them to size, and her brow furrowed in concentration as she stretched two strips over the cut, pulling the sliced skin together. Blood trickled from the wound, and she sighed as she covered it with a piece of gauze and held it in place. “Once the bleeding slows, I’ll cover this with a band aid,” she said as she cradled Lauren’s injured hand in both of her own.
Though she knew that she was more than capable of applying pressure to her own wound, Lauren simply nodded, lulled into agreement by the feeling of Grey’s thumb stroking lazily over the back of her hand. Her heart skipped a beat at the way Grey stared at her, warm brown eyes clouded with concern and something else she could not quite identify. She had no idea how long they stood there, Grey caressing her hand while she held the gauze to her thumb, but when Grey finally pulled it back to inspect the wound, the dressing was soaked with blood.
“Bleeding has pretty much stopped.” Grey flicked the edge of her thumb nail over the butterfly sutures to make sure the
y were still holding, and then let go of Lauren’s hand to retrieve the band aid she had pulled out of the kit. She carefully wrapped the bandage around the pad of Lauren’s thumb, being careful to not let the bandage’s adhesive come into contact with the Steri-Strips holding the wound closed. If it needed to be changed later, she did not want to risk pulling them off.
The silence between them crackled with electricity as she smoothed her thumb lightly over Lauren’s. Every breath took more effort to take-in, and the feeling of Lauren’s fingers wrapping almost hesitantly around her hand made her pulse race. Her eyes dropped to Lauren’s lips, and she licked her own impulsively as the urge to kiss the redhead swept through her.
Lauren noticed the way Grey’s attention had dropped to her mouth, and she flashed Grey a small, lopsided smile as she gently pulled her hand away. It would be easy to give in to the attraction she felt toward Grey, but she knew that it would be a mistake. “Um…thank you, for fixing me up,” she murmured. “I guess I should start cleaning up this mess.”
“Oh.” Grey took a step back and ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah. Of course.” The walkie-talkie clipped to the waist of her shorts crackled to life, and she frowned as she pulled it free, surprised to be hearing from the Muellers when they still had an hour of play time left on the island. “This is Grey.”
“Do you have a first aid kit? Max cut his foot,” Kim said without preamble.
“Yeah.” Grey’s eyes flicked over at the still open kit on the counter. “I’ll bring it over right now.”
Lauren watched Grey pack up the orange waterproof kit. Grey’s posture was stiff, her movement lacking her usual confident fluidity, and Lauren’s heart sank when Grey turned to her and she saw the uncertainty dulling her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Grey forced a small smile and nodded. “Pretty sure you didn’t mean to almost cut your finger off, so it’s okay. I’m gonna go patch up Max, and I’ll be back in a few,” she said as she hefted the case off the counter. It bumped lightly against the side of her knee, and she added, “Just try and go easy on the knives while I’m gone, just in case.”
Chapter 12
“This is the island that inspired Stevenson’s Treasure Island.” Grey glanced over at Lauren as she furled the sails and let the Veritas drift into Benures Bay on the northern side of Norman Island.
“Really?” Lauren pushed her sunglasses up onto her head looked around the empty bay. “I loved that book when I was a kid.”
“Me too.” Grey smiled and let her eyes sweep over Lauren’s profile. She had spent the afternoon replaying that moment in the galley over and over again in her mind, trying and failing to make sense of the relief and disappointment she was feeling about it all. She had not missed the searching looks Lauren had thrown her way from the moment she returned from patching-up Max’s foot, but she was grateful that Lauren seemed content to pretend like it had never happened. “The treasure caves are on the southern side of Pirate’s Bight—the main bay we sailed past to get up here.”
“Really?” Lauren’s eyes sparkled with interest as she looked at Grey. “Why didn’t we stay down there?”
Grey chuckled and shook her head. “Pirate’s Bight isn’t a good place for kids. Things tend to get a little wild, there’s way too much drinking happening in that bay. Last time I was there, there was literally an orgy happening on the tramps of the boat next to us.”
“Oh.” Lauren nodded slowly. “I see. That’s… Wow.”
“Yeah.” Grey laughed and ran a hand through her hair. “It was pretty nuts. Anyway, that’s why I figured we’d just stay up here instead.”
“Good idea.” Lauren’s eyes drifted over Grey’s face, and she sighed softly under her breath. She knew that pulling away from Grey earlier had been the right thing to do, but a part of her wondered would have happened had she not. “So, are we going to visit the caves tomorrow, then?”
“Nah. They’re fun to explore, but they’re also dark, and I don’t think it’d be good for the boys. We’ll head over to the Indians instead.” She hitched a thumb at the archipelago they had passed ten minutes earlier. “It’s easier snorkeling, and there are lots of coral and fish to look at.”
Lauren turned to look at the cluster of rocks jutting out of the water. “Are there even any mooring balls out there?”
“There are, but we’ll have to hit it early to grab one because they fill up fast. I’m thinking I’ll get us over there at first light, and then we can do a quick breakfast before they hit the water.”
“Okay.” Lauren looked back at the bay they were motoring across, her eyes sliding over the low hills that spilled down onto the water. A feeling of giddy excitement filled her as snippets of the story she had not read in years flashed across her mind. She was at Treasure Island. “I’m just gonna go get my phone real fast to take a picture…”
Grey smiled and nodded. “Go for it.” She shook her head as she watched Lauren scamper down the stairs, and chuckled softly as she turned her attention back to the water in front of her.
After Lauren had returned to the bridge and taken a good dozen pictures of the bay and the island, she turned with a smile to Grey as she slipped her phone into the back pocket of her shorts. “So what’s the plan for tonight?”
“Eh…probably the usual. More water-time for the Muellers, one of the boys will end up crying, and then we’ll have dinner and just hang out until they all go to bed. Is there anything you’d like to do?”
Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Aww, come on.” Grey slowed the Veritas to a crawl as they neared a mooring ball at the eastern edge of the bay. She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and gave Lauren a searching look. “There’s gotta be something. Snorkeling? Swimming? Taking the kayak out for a spin?”
Lauren laughed and arched a playful brow at Grey. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Not at all.” Grey shook her head. “I’m just trying to get you to do a little vacationing on your working vacation.”
Lauren smiled and gave Grey’s arm a light squeeze. “I’m good. But thank you.”
“You sure?” Grey blew out a quiet breath and gave Lauren a look that clearly said she did not believe her. “Because I know that I’ve pretty much ruined these first few days of your trip. You deserve to have a little fun.”
“Grey.” Lauren shook her head. “Please, don’t. I’ve had lots of fun.”
“Yeah right.” Grey rolled her eyes. “I was a total bitch to you the first day we met. Then there was the whole me running out on you when you told me you were gay thing, and then this morning…”
“Yeah, well…” Lauren looked out over the water and tucked her hair behind her ears. Grey was right, her first few days aboard the Veritas had been an unmitigated train wreck, but that did not change how she felt about them. “Even with all that, I’ve still had fun.”
It was clear that Lauren was serious, and Grey’s expression softened as she looked at her. “You’re crazy.”
The warmth in Grey’s tone was unmistakable, and Lauren sighed as she looked back at her. “Maybe,” she agreed, tipping her head in agreement. She held Grey’s gaze until the moment felt like it was becoming too much, and then smirked and added, “But I’ve never claimed to be sane.”
Grey laughed. “Well, obviously. I mean, your favorite movie is The Cutting Edge, for fuck’s sake.”
“It’s not a bad movie!”
“It’s not a great one, either.” Grey grinned at the look of indignation that flashed across Lauren’s face and nodded as if to confirm her own point.
“You know what, Wells…” Lauren chuckled as she started for the stairs. “I would love to continue this, but I need to get back to work. Those lines aren’t going to secure themselves to that mooring ball, you know.”
“No, they surely aren’t.” A small smiled tugged at Grey’s lips as she watched Lauren walk away, and before she knew what she was doing, she was calling out to her. “Hey, Lauren…”
Lauren stopped with one foot on the top step and turned to look back at Grey. “Yes?”
“I…” Grey ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. How could she possibly put into words everything she was thinking when none of it made any sense? All she knew for sure was that she was glad Lauren was there with her. “Thank you.”
Lauren smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome,” she answered softly, holding Grey’s gaze for an extended beat before she turned and disappeared down the stairs.
Chapter 13
Grey watched the Muellers swim off into the middle of the coral gardens that filled the Indians as she waited for Lauren to finish changing so that they could head out as well. She had been pleasantly surprised by how easy it had been to talk Lauren into going snorkeling with her, and she smiled as she turned the dive mask in her hands over to inspect the lens. She looked up at the sound of Lauren clearing her throat from the doorway, and she was only dimly aware of the way her mouth fell open when she looked at her.
“Goddamn,” Grey whispered as her eyes roamed greedily over Lauren’s body that was shown off to utter perfection by the navy blue halter-top bikini she was wearing.
Lauren smiled at the look of obvious appreciation on Grey’s face and gave the brunette a quick once-over as well. She bit her lip as her eyes dragged over the defined plane of Grey’s abs, and she sighed when she eventually forced her eyes back up to Grey’s. She was going to have a hard time not staring at her. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Grey cleared her throat softly and looked at the snorkeling gear that was laid out on the table beside her. “Here, let’s get this fitted for you,” she said as she handed Lauren a mask.
Lauren slipped the strap over the back of her head and pulled the mask down over her eyes. “Okay.”
“How’s it feel?”
Lauren pushed on the front of the mask and nodded. “Good.”
“We can always make it tighter when we’re in the water if it isn’t sealed right.” Grey waited until she saw Lauren nod again before she lifted a snorkel off the table. “Right, well, your snorkel, milady.”
