by J. L. Berg
My heart swelled. “No, I guess I don’t.”
“Good,” he said, his smile so genuine and pure that I felt it in my soul. “Then, let’s order some food.”
I pushed him backwards, catching him off guard; otherwise, he wouldn’t have budged an inch. “Not yet.”
“Lani,” he warned, but it was obviously in vain because his body moved along with mine, stepping back toward the chair we’d just vacated. “We don’t have much time.”
“Good.” I grinned, shoving him down. He tumbled into the high wingback chair as I knelt before him, nestling my body between his thighs. “I’ll be quick.”
I hadn’t realized how much I loved the open water until I stepped on a boat with Taylor Sutherland.
Watching him man a boat without a shirt on didn’t hurt either. He was truly in his element out here though, and I could see why so many young tourists had fallen for him over the years.
It was a total turn-on.
Of course, those blonde bitches will have to go through me now, I thought slyly.
And then my gut churned.
Or at least they would for the next month or so.
And then…
I didn’t really want to think about that.
“You look like you’re deep in thought over there,” Taylor said, giving me a wide grin as he walked over to sit by me. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you? About going back?”
I smiled. “You mean, am I wishing I were still shacked up in that hotel room, naked, with you? No. Definitely not.”
He chuckled.
“I am wondering why you’re sitting next to me and not over there,” I said, pointing toward the helm or the wheel or whatever the hell it was called, “driving us.”
His brow rose. “That’s cute.”
I playfully punched him. “Seriously, aren’t we going to drift off or something? I’ve seen movies. I know how people get lost at sea.”
“Okay, first, ow.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Second, I’m kind of hurt on how little you trust me. I do actually know what I’m doing.”
“Which is?” I asked.
“Waiting,” he explained. “Did you even notice that I’d shut off the engine?”
I listened for a moment, and indeed, the world was quiet, free of the loud roar I’d grown accustomed to. “Oh, huh. How about that? What are we waiting for?”
He ignored me. “And, third, we’ve got a pretty sophisticated navigation system back in the office. Even if I didn’t know what I was doing,” he said, holding up a finger to silence me before I even had a chance for a rebuttal, “which I do, my brother could find us. So, are you happy?”
My lips pressed together. “I would be if you told me what we were waiting for because, right now, I’m envisioning sharks.”
He chuckled again.
“Not helping, Taylor!”
I watched as his eyes scanned the water, the boat gently rocking back and forth. Grabbing my waist, he turned my body, angling my head to where he was looking, and said, “There. Do you see them?”
I squinted, but the glare was almost blinding. “See what?” I asked.
Reaching up, he pulled off his sunglasses and placed them on me, shielding my vision from the brightness.
“You’ll have to wait a second for them to surface again, but—”
“Oh my gosh!” I nearly screamed as two dolphins popped up out of the water.
“Shh!” He laughed. “You’ll scare them away!”
“Really?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Do I look like a marine biologist?”
I laughed, my eyes still trained on the spot he’d pointed out. “How did you know they’d be here?”
His arms wrapped around mine. “There are several spots I bring some of my fishing tours to if it’s the right time of the year. I actually wasn’t sure we’d see them; it’s pretty late in the year. They migrate to Florida for the winter.”
“Smart animals.” I smiled, rising to my feet to take a closer look on the other side of the boat.
There were only a few of them, but they were magnificent, and I couldn’t help but watch how they moved and played in the water as a single unit.
A family.
“Thank you for this,” I said, turning back toward him.
He pulled me close, tucking me beneath his chin, like we were two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly.
“Anything for you,” he answered, making my belly flutter.
“Anything?” I found myself saying.
“Teach me to fish?”
Laughter broke from his lips. “What?”
I could barely be heard over the roar he was making. “I just thought, if I was going to be seen hanging around the town fisherman for the next month, I might want to learn.”
His laughter died down as the reality of our time together set in. I watched as he swallowed hard, his eyes meeting mine.
“Yeah, I’ll teach you,” he said, his fingers trailing down my face.
I felt like both of us were waiting, the words right there on the tip of our tongues.
What if I didn’t go?
What if I went with you?
But neither of us said it, neither of us capturing the moment while it dangled there in front of us, waiting to be caught.
Instead, we stood frozen in fear, worrying over what would be when our time together ended and life returned to normal.
But then again, what could ever be considered normal after meeting a man like Taylor Sutherland?
“So, what is this thing we’re doing today?” Leilani asked. “And why am I dressing up like a pirate?”
I chuckled, giving her a once-over as we both dressed, having commandeered the suite she’d made over in the hotel for our very own. We had also spent a few nights over at By the Bay over the last week, enjoying Molly’s scones and the killer dual-head shower.
We had yet to spend a single night at my place, however—a fact that neither of us had decided to bring up.
It was kind of like her impending deadline—when she would go back and present the plans to her father. We knew it was coming. We worked on it daily, yet we didn’t actually talk about it.
Ever.
“It’s a fall festival. By the Bay used to host it at the inn, but it got too big over the last few years, so they moved it to the streets.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“You really are a city girl, aren’t you?” I laughed.
“Okay,” she said, slipping into the long, old-fashioned dress, “but that still doesn’t explain why we’re dressing as pirates.”
I smiled. “Only one of us is dressing as a pirate, Pookie Bear,” I corrected her, knowing I’d always get a rise out of her when using that particular pet name. “You are just a woman.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Just a woman?”
“Sorry! What I meant to say is, you aren’t a pirate; you’re a woman. A specific woman.”
She didn’t look impressed.
“History lesson?” I said like it was a plea for mercy.
A smirk tugged at her lips. “Okay.”
“Every year at the fall festival, there is a theme when it comes to costumes. Molly, who still runs the whole thing, tends to go a little off the rails sometimes. Last year, being pregnant, she picked the color pink.”
“Pink was the theme? Like, just the color pink?”
“Yep. The whole town looked like an ad for Pepto-Bismol. It was crazy. Anyway, this year, she’s a little saner, and she went with historical characters. Anyone in history is fair game.”
“And you chose a pirate?” Again, her tone was less than pleased.
“Not just any pirate. I’m Blackbeard!”
She looked confused. “Like Jack Sparrow?”
“What?” I laughed. “No! Well, kind of. Jack Sparrow was actually created after the original and very real Blackbeard.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“W
as he super sexy like Jack Sparrow? Oh, can you wear guy liner like he did?” she asked, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.
“I think we’re getting off topic,” I said.
She looked down at her plain dress. “You know, I think we are. How about we talk about the fact that you’re some super-cool pirate—”
“He was actually a pretty horrible dude. He murdered—”
She gave me the death stare.
“I’m sorry. Continue.”
“And I’m a woman. Just a woman.”
“I thought that wasn’t okay to say.”
“Taylor!” she hollered.
I tried not to laugh, but it was hard. She was just so damn cute when she was flustered.
“You’re not just a woman,” I finally told her. “You’re Blackbeard’s wife.”
“I’m what now?”
A satisfied grin tugged at the corners of my lips. “There are all sorts of legends and stories about the many wives of Blackbeard. It is rumored that he had up to fourteen wives, but most believe this was just a stunt he did to lure women onto his boat.”
“That’s…weird.”
“Like I said, not a great guy.”
“And yet, here we are, paying tribute to this horrible dude. You couldn’t have picked the Roosevelts?”
My head twisted to the side. “You know, I could have, but I was kind of hoping to get laid after this, and I wasn’t sure that look would do it. Plus, Dean had this costume, so really, it was a win-win.”
“Okay, smart-ass,” she said with a chuckle, “tell me about Blackbeard’s wife.”
“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “Her name was Mary Ormond. She was the daughter of a plantation owner, and I’m guessing he wasn’t a great guy since he offered up his sixteen-year-old daughter to a thug.”
“Maybe they loved each other,” she said.
“I don’t think a guy like that believed in love.”
She walked toward me, slipping her hands around my waist. “Maybe she changed his mind.”
Her words made my breath falter.
“Maybe she did,” I found myself saying.
“Whatever happened to her?”
“No one really knows. Some accounts say he offered her as a gift to his crew.”
She shook her head, disagreeing. “No,” she said. “I think they ruled those seas together until the very end.”
I remembered her out on the boat just a week earlier, her happy laughter as I’d tried to teach her how to wield a fishing line.
Would she stay with me to the very end?
If I asked her to?
“So, this is what small-town Americana looks like, huh?” Lani said as we strolled down the now-closed Silver Lake Drive, which had been completely transformed for the annual fall festival.
“I’m not sure we’re the perfect example, considering we have more boats than kids and our population is mostly retired people, but sure, welcome to small-town life.” As I finished my sentence, a kid whizzed by on a bike, making her smile.
“Sure seems like there are a lot of kids here.”
I gave her a wink. “We bussed those in especially for you.”
She laughed, rolling her eyes.
“The fall festival has become a popular event. Lots of people ferry in for the day, and some even rent houses and stay for the weekend.”
“Really?” That piqued her interest. “That’s useful information.”
“Oh, yeah? Why?” I asked. “Planning something special for the hotel next year?”
Her mouth opened but shut immediately. “No,” she finally answered, her head downcast. “Just thought I could include it in my notes for the future staff.”
Right, because she wasn’t going to run the hotel. Just design it.
Soon, she’d hand it off to someone else, and just as swiftly as she’d arrived, she’d be gone, off to another place and another part of the world.
I swallowed hard and did what I always did in these moments when things got too real.
I ignored it and changed the subject.
“Oh, hey,” I said, motioning toward the other side of the street, “there’s Molly!”
Coward, a voice in my head shouted.
I ignored that, too.
Despite being the lead for today’s festivities, Molly seemed to be as cool and collected as ever, dressed as Cleopatra in a gold-and-black gown that made the bubbly blonde look mysterious and super glamorous.
“Oh my gosh, I love your costume!” Lani said, greeting Molly like the friend I knew they’d become to each other. I watched as the two women hugged, feeling extreme pride over the woman at my side. “You make a gorgeous Cleopatra!”
“Thank you!” Molly said, running her hands over the silky black wig. “I’m glad someone thinks so.”
I got the feeling that someone had a name.
“Jake in the dog house?” I guessed.
Her arms folded across her chest as her eyes picked him out of the crowd. I followed her gaze, seeing him walking toward us, and I immediately broke out in a grin.
I could see why she was so put out.
“Did you come here straight from work, Jake?” I asked the moment he stepped up to our small group.
He gave me a friendly pat on the back and said a quick hello to Lani, whom he’d apparently already met several times at the inn.
“No,” he said. “I’m in costume.”
We all gave him a blank stare.
“What?” he asked. “There are tons of famous doctors in history.”
“Name one,” his wife demanded.
“Uh…” His brow rose, the effort showing as he tried to come up with one. “Oh! Norman Shumway!”
“Who the heck is that?” Molly asked, not looking pleased at all.
“He’s the father of heart transplants, and considering that is what I used to do, that kind of makes him my hero.”
I looked at him and back at Molly.
“Fine!” Jake threw his hands up. “I didn’t want to wear that costume, Molly! Happy?”
A satisfied smirk spread across her face.
“She wanted me to wear a skirt, Taylor. A fucking skirt. In public!”
I couldn’t help but grin as I watched Molly’s eyes roll. Lani seemed to be enjoying the show as well.
“It was not a skirt, Jake. I’m Cleopatra. You were supposed to be Mark Antony! Couples go as couples; that’s how it goes. See, Leilani and Taylor are dressed as…” Molly took a look at our outfits, and her brows furrowed. “Who the heck are you? A pirate and his very prudish wench?”
Lani laughed out loud. “We’re Blackbeard and his wife, Mary Ormond, who was most definitely the love of his life.”
I gave her a devilish grin. “That part is still up for debate.”
“Definitely up for debate,” she agreed, licking her lips in a way that made me want to groan.
“Ah,” Jake said, his gaze dodging between Lani and me. “Well, that’s great. Molly, you want to go check on your mom? See how she’s handling Ruby?”
“Yep.”
They made a beeline across the street, and I couldn’t help but chuckle as Lani wrapped her arms around me.
“I think we made them uncomfortable.”
“Yeah? Well, they’ve been making me uncomfortable my entire life, so it was nice to be the gross one for a change.”
“Could you imagine being with someone that long? Like they have? Molly and I have chatted a few times, so I’ve gotten the readers digest version of their love story. It just seems so romantic, you know?”
I swallowed hard.
Until her, I couldn’t imagine being with someone for longer than a single night.
“I—”
“You know this is a family event, right?”
I turned, breathing out a sigh of relief as my brother and his wife walked over, and I nearly fell into his arms in thanks.
Lani and I were great at a lot of things. Together, even more so. But talking
about us as a couple?
That was one skill we seriously sucked at.
“Hey,” I said before giving him a once-over. “Whoa.”
“I know; I know,” he said, doing a cocky little spin. “Take it all in.”
“Isn’t he hot?” Cora blurted out, nearly jumping up and down.
Lani giggled, having never met my sister in law, but I had a feeling, if they had a few minutes together, they’d become instant friends.
“Hot isn’t really the word I’d use, but, yeah, he looks all right. John Smith, I’m guessing?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?” Dean asked, looking fairly impressed.
“Well, it wasn’t based on you, idiot,” I said, motioning toward his dime-a-dozen white peasant blouse and black jeans. “You look like a Disney reject. But your beautiful wife, that’s a different story.”
“Hey now,” Dean warned.
“You really do look stunning,” Lani said of Cora’s intricate Native American costume.
“Thank you,” Cora said. “Have you guys entered the King and Queen Competition?”
Lani cocked her head to the side. “The what?”
“Yeah…no, we won’t be doing that,” I said nearly at the same time.
She seemed to be slightly more interested at my almost-instantaneous dismissal.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Cora promised. “I honestly think Molly couldn’t come up with a better title.”
“So, what is it?” Lani asked.
“It’s a competition,” Dean explained. “One we happen to be the reigning champions at.” His eyes rose in my direction. “Huh, is that maybe why you don’t want to enter, brother? Intimidated?”
I blew out a loud breath through my teeth. “Hardly.”
“Then, what’s the reason?”
All three sets of eyes were on me, and I felt sweat dripping down my back.
“I, uh…”
“Isn’t it a couples thing?” Lani asked, saving me.
I sent her a silent, Thank you, from across the circle.
The question seemed to throw Cora a bit, but she answered it all the same, “No. I mean, usually. But there are several friends who enter.”
“Molly and I were partners for years,” Dean said before adding, “You know, before we were actually—”
“We got it,” I answered.
“So, what say you, Taylor? In or out?”
