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Cloe didn’t sleepwell, tossing and turning betweenKiss me againandWhy did I let it happen?
She rose at six, the time that Sarah had said she started breakfast preparations. She was achy behind her eyes, anticipating the coffee she was about to start when Trystan poked his head out of the door to his cabin.
“Cloe!” he whispered. “C’mere.”
He sounded so urgent, she immediately replaced the lid on the coffee grounds so it wouldn’t spill if the boat happened to list and slipped around the island, moving closer so he could keep his voice down.
“What’s wrong?” She tried not to ogle his naked chest as she came down the stairs. His darkly tanned skin was stretched like oiled satin over his powerful shoulders and well-defined biceps. His chest hair looked natural, lying in a thin, fine layer across his pecs, thickening down his sternum to where his gray drawstring shorts hung low across his solid, six-pack abs.
Okay, she was ogling.
They hadn’t been alone since their walk yesterday. Everything they’d said—and done—rushed back with a flush of heat. Longing tangled into a knot in her belly.
As soon as she reached the bottom step into the stairwell, he touched his lips and caught her wrist. She wasn’t sure which made her heart pitch more wildly, the feel of his warm grasp or the insistent way he drew her into his cabin.
Fresh morning air hit her, telling her his other door was open before she could grow alarmed at being pulled inside. Sunlight poured in from the stern along with the sound of a distinctive, wet exhale.
She dropped her mouth open. “Whales?” she mouthed.
“Orcas.” His voice was a scant whisper. His wide hand splayed on her back and steered her ahead of him, out the door.
The space out here was like a narrow covered balcony. It was mostly taken up by neatly stowed safety equipment and the stairs that descended from the upper deck, plus another set that flipped down to provide access to the diving platform off the back of the boat.
Cloe stepped up to the rail and Trystan stood half behind her.
A fin drifted past the rail, almost as tall as Trystan. She could have touched it if she had leaned out. All the hairs on her body rose and butterflies of awe released inside her. She was utterly transfixed, not knowing where to look when she felt as though she was as close to swimming among them as it was possible to get.
“Calf.” Trystan’s breath tickled her ear. His long arm came up in her periphery. A small fin mirrored the one that had just disappeared. A short distance away, another fin sliced up to break the surface before disappearing again.
“Should we wake the guests?” she whispered.
“They’re on vacation.” His hand settled lightly on her shoulder. “We’ll see more. Maybe not this close, but…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
He had wanted her to see them. That’s why he’d called her to come out here and watch with him.
It didn’t mean anything. He was just being nice, but the backs of her eyes grew hot with emotion. She let herself breathe in the moment, memorizing it so she could hold it within her forever—the brush of his body against her back, the way the boat bobbed ever so slightly beneath their feet. The peaceful glide of the orcas and the puffs of their breaths. The call of birds from the shore.
The way her heartbeat seemed to fall into sync with his and the feel of his thumb drawing an absent circle against her shoulder, lifting the fine hairs on the back of her neck.
Just as she would have let her weight settle back against him, there was a sense of movement elsewhere on the vessel. She tossed him an unsteadyit was nice while it lastedsmile, disconcerted to find him watching her, not the orcas.
He stepped back and she moved quietly back to the galley.
The boys came upstairs, followed by their father and Elodie.
Trystan came out of his room seconds later wearing cargo shorts and a Raven’s Cove T-shirt. He went on deck with the guests to answer their questions about the huge mammals.
“Did you get some good photos?” Cloe asked Elodie when she came in for coffee. The senior was an avid photographer who had shared some very artistic shots of Ocean Falls over dinner last night.
“Animals and children are always a challenge,” she said with atsk.
“They don’t hold still and say ‘cheese’?” Cloe joked.
“Never.” Elodie clicked through her shots, showing them to Cloe. They were all prize winners in Cloe’s opinion, crystal clear with the light catching in the spray of their spouts.
The boys came in a moment later. Stefan hurried to fetch their bingo cards, eager to record the sighting. Karl was more interested in breakfast. He attacked the baked quiche cups and toasted bagels with gusto.
