by Duncan, MJ
Kelly looked at the luggage carousel, which had just jolted into motion. “She is going to flip her shit when she sees you.”
“I sure hope so,” Lauren murmured.
“She will.” Kelly wrapped an arm around Lauren’s waist and pulled her into a light hug. “Trust me.”
Lauren nodded and pointed at a silver hard shell suitcase that had just spilled down the conveyor to the carousel. “That’s me.”
“Well, grab it, and let’s go,” Kelly said. “Lots of things to do still.”
Once Lauren had her bag, Kelly led the way out of the airport to where she had parked her car, and they then headed to a smaller private airfield where the Kipling helicopter was waiting for them. The green and white Bell 206 was sitting empty on a pad outside a large hangar, and Lauren whistled as Kelly rolled to a stop in front of it. “Wow.”
“Just you wait.” Kelly patted Lauren on the leg. “You’re going to be my copilot for this jump.”
Lauren’s eyebrows lifted over the frame of her sunglasses as she turned to look at Kelly. “You fly that thing?”
“Damn right I do.” Kelly shouldered her door open and flashed an expectant look over her shoulder at Lauren. “Well, do you want to go get your woman, or what? Let’s go!”
“Damn right I do,” Lauren muttered as she slipped out of the passenger seat and walked around the back of the Range Rover to retrieve her suitcase.
A middle-aged man with jet black hair in a pair of khaki shorts, blue polo shirt with the airfield’s logo stitched onto the right breast, and a pair of mirrored aviators drove up in an open Jeep just as her bag hit the pavement, and Lauren smiled gratefully to him when he took her suitcase and lifted it into the cabin. She stood back and watched as Kelly and the man went through the preflight checklist, double-checking everything to make sure the helicopter was ready to fly, and her heart leapt into her throat when Kelly turned and held a gleaming white helmet out to her.
“You’re sure about this?” Lauren asked as she inspected the helmet.
“Helmets are kind of required equipment.”
“I didn’t mean that. I meant having me copilot.”
“I’m not going to make you fly it or anything, I just figured you’d rather sit up front with me. And the helmet has a com, so we’ll be able to talk on the way over.”
Lauren nodded and jammed the helmet onto her head. She looked up at Kelly, who was fastening her own chin strap, and grinned, her excitement getting the better of her as she got one step closer to finally seeing Grey. “Thank you for doing this.”
“You keep Grey happy, and we’ll call it even,” Kelly said with a soft smile.
“I’ll do my best,” Lauren promised with a small nod. She took a deep breath and turned toward the helicopter. “Right. Well, shall we?”
“We most definitely shall.” Kelly walked around the nose of the helicopter to her preferred half of the cockpit and climbed inside. Once Lauren was buckled-in beside her, she turned on the engines and began easing the throttle forward to lift them off the ground.
Kelly spent the flight from Saint Thomas to Tortola explaining what she was doing and answering Lauren’s questions. She did not miss the way Lauren’s attention never wavered from the water beneath them, actively looking for the Veritas even as she held up her half of the conversation, and Kelly chuckled at the way Lauren sat up straighter when she announced that they were coming up on Peter Island.
Lauren’s pulse jumped as a populated bay came into view, and she could not contain the smile that lit her face when she spotted a familiar red and white catamaran tied up at the end of a T-shaped dock. “There it is.”
Kelly leaned forward to look, and nodded when she spotted the Veritas. “That it is. You ready?”
“Oh yeah,” Lauren muttered, nodding as she looked over at Kelly. “More than ready.”
“Let’s go get you your girl, then.”
Chapter 51
Grey had the Veritas to herself for the afternoon because her guests and the chef she had hired for the trip were all off exploring Peter Island’s impressive amenities. It was a nice change of pace after two months of constant charters, and she took advantage of the calm to begin packing for her upcoming trip to New York. She was kneeling at the bow of the port-side hull with her head shoved in one of the storage areas looking for the bag of cold-weather clothes she kept for random trips back home to Newport but which rarely saw any use because her family preferred to visit her in the Caribbean during those months.
“There you are,” she muttered as she spotted the vacuum-sealed bag she was looking for, and she grunted as she leaned further into the hatch to grab it. She startled when the phone in her pocket began ringing, jolting upright and banging the back of her head on the edge of the hatch. She swore softly under her breath as she sat up and rubbed at the spot with her left hand while she used her other hand to pull her phone from her pocket. “What’s up, Kip?”
“Not much. Just checking in. How’s everything going?”
Kip’s tone was playful, and Grey sighed as she pushed herself up to her feet. She picked up the bag of clothes she had injured herself retrieving, and flipped the hatch shut with her foot. “Everything’s fine. Guests are off doing the spa thing on Peter Island, and I’m just rummaging through the storage holds for the clothes I’ll need when I go visit Lauren in a few days. What’s going on?”
“Am I not allowed to just call and shoot the shit?”
“You are, but you never do,” Grey pointed out with a laugh as she worked her way down the hull toward the stern. The marina was calm, the water off to her right perfectly smooth as everybody moored in the lagoon for the day was off exploring the resort. She fisted the edge of the bag in her hand tighter so that it would not drop in the water, and shook her head. “Seriously, is everything okay?”
“Yep. Great, actually. Best day ever type of shit. Hey, do me a favor and go out onto the back deck…”
“I’m on my way there now. Kip, what’s going on?” Grey asked, but her question was answered the moment she jumped onto the back deck and saw a familiar face with a riot of wild red curls standing on the dock just off the stern. The bag she had been so careful to not drop in the water slipped from her grasp, and she barely had the wherewithal to set her phone onto the table before it, too, tumbled to the deck. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times as she tried to find her voice, but her surprise had rendered her completely speechless.
Lauren laughed at Grey’s gobsmacked expression and waved. “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”
“You…” Grey hurried down to the starboard dive platform and jumped onto the dock. Her eyes danced over Lauren’s face as she stopped in front of her, and she shook her head as she pulled Lauren into her arms. “You’re really here.”
“I am.” Lauren smiled and pressed a soft kiss to Grey’s lips, and her eyes fluttered shut when Grey’s hands tightened around her waist to pull her in closer. Their kiss became deeper almost instantly, mouths slanting and lips parting as they lost themselves in the heady feeling of finally being back together. Lauren’s head spun from the passion in Grey’s kisses, and she swayed slightly on her feet when they slowed to a string of lingering pecks. “My god…”
Grey’s eyes were soft as she ran a tender hand over Lauren’s jaw. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.”
Grey nodded and kissed Lauren again, more softly this time, letting the caress convey exactly how much she had missed having her close like this. “How did you even get here? Don’t you have to work tonight?”
Lauren shook her head and smiled at the way Grey’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “I quit my job at Clarke’s.”
“You quit?”
“Well, technically,” Lauren murmured as she nuzzled Grey’s cheek with her nose, loving the feeling of being able to actually touch her again, “I turned down an offer for an executive chef position.” She brushed a soft kiss over the corner of Grey’s li
ps. “And then I quit my job.”
Grey gaped. “You…what?”
“Mmm.” Lauren smiled and kissed Grey again.
“You’re not making any sense,” Grey muttered, keeping her arms around Lauren’s waist as she pulled back to look her in the eye. “You turned down an executive chef position?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Lauren’s smile softened, and she sighed as she tickled her fingers through the fine hairs at the nape of Grey’s neck. “The general manager was wonderful, the restaurant itself was perfect, the kitchen was an absolute dream, and I was tempted to do it. But then he asked me what my favorite meal I’d ever made was, and who I made it for…” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged. “If I had been asked that question two months ago, I would’ve rattled off a dish without even having to stop and think about it. But now…my first thought was of you. Of how good it felt for you to hold me in your arms, and how wonderful it felt when you kissed me. I eventually got around to the food, but it was not what was important. And that was when I knew…”
The look in Lauren’s eyes was unmistakable, and Grey’s heart flew up into her throat. “Knew what?”
“That I don’t need a fancy title or a professional kitchen to be happy.” Lauren took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “I love you, Grey Wells. More than cooking or—”
Grey silenced Lauren with a kiss that was filled with every ounce of love she could pour into the caress. “I love you too,” she whispered against Lauren’s lips, sealing the oath with another kiss that made the world around them disappear and left them both completely breathless. She laughed softly and brushed her lips over Lauren’s forehead. “God, do I love you.”
Lauren smiled and melted into Grey’s embrace, basking in the warm, familiar press of the brunette’s body against her own. Oh, how she had missed this.
The sound of footsteps echoing down the dock toward them made Grey look up, and she shook her head when she saw Kip walking toward them. “I should have known you were involved in this.”
“Yeah, well,” Kelly drawled, smiling at the couple, “somebody had to get her out here.”
“Thanks again, for that,” Lauren said, snuggling into Grey’s side as she turned to half-face Kelly.
“My pleasure.” Kelly cleared her throat loudly and gave Grey a serious look. “So…you gonna give the girl a job, or can I have her?”
Grey laughed, feeling lighter than she ever thought she would again, and shook her head. “No dice, Kip. She’s mine.” She pressed a light kiss to Lauren’s lips. “Whattaya say? You want to be the executive chef aboard the Veritas?”
Lauren smiled and nodded. “I do.”
“Good.” Grey lifted a hand to Lauren’s face, and smoothed a thumb over her cheek. Her eyes danced over Lauren’s face as she leaned in closer, and she sighed as she kissed her again softly, pouring everything she was into the kiss, leaving no doubt in either of their minds that this arrangement was permanent. She had loved and lost and somehow been blessed to love again—and she knew that she would love Lauren Murphy for the rest of her life.
Acknowledgements
Many, many thanks to my wonderful betas, without whom this story would have never seen the light of day. To Amy, thank you for…everything. I look forward to tackling many more projects with you in the future. To Rae D. Magdon, thank you for sharing your impressive knowledge of grammar, and enlightening me to the ways of the Editor. To Jade, thank you for the much-needed pats on the head as I fumbled through getting this story from my head and onto paper. And last, but most certainly not least, thanks go to Wye for taking the time to read through this multiple times, and for your honesty in the face of potentially thrown objects.
