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“How can you even see?” Laura asked, her hands gripping the handle hanging above her window.
“I can’t, really.”
“And there aren’t any lights on this highway.” Laura seemed worried.
“Calling it a highway is a stretch,” Mark said. “St. Anthony’s has always been a little rustic, and a little off the beaten path, until the cruise ships found us anyway. We don’t need no stinkin’ highways.” He grinned and Laura laughed a little.
Ahead, oncoming headlights flashed through the torrential rain and Mark heard Laura suck in her breath.
“Look out,” she murmured, even as the oncoming car seemed to recognize it was coming into their lane and swerved back. Mark adjusted the course of the truck, too, just to be safe, and the oncoming car sped on by, safely back in his lane.
“We’ll be home soon,” Mark promised her, hoping the rain would let up. The cliffside highway had been known to become a little unstable after serious rains, but he wasn’t about to tell Laura that. She was anxious enough as it was. One year, after the rainy season, a stretch of the outer part of the road fell into the ocean. Luckily, no one was hurt, and they fixed it quickly, but that was on his mind as Mark steered the truck around a tight bend.
Just a little farther, he thought, and then they’d be safe at home.
“You really think I’m ready?” Laura asked, sounding unsure. “For the race, I mean.”
Mark wasn’t certain, but he also knew that really didn’t matter. They were going to try their best. That’s all they could do. “Well, you’re going to race whether you’re ready or not, so I guess we’ll find out on race day.”
“Not exactly an inspiring talk, Mr. Grumpy Pants,” Laura joked.
“I just call ’em like I see ’em,” he said. “And given how little you knew about sailing even a week ago, I’d say you’re amazingly ready.”
“You do?”
Mark nodded, keeping his attention focused on the road ahead. How could he explain to her that working with her on the boat felt like they were engaged in a kind of waltz, that they worked together as well on the boat as they did in the bedroom. Reading each other’s minds, instinctively knowing where to put their bodies. Garrett was almost unnecessary. The two worked together like they had one mind.
“We’re a good team,” he said. “I mean, a really good team. Elle and I could never…I mean, we could never sail. We tried, but she never listened to me, and her instincts were all wrong.”
“Really?” Laura perked up at this.
“It’s true.” He risked a glance at her and saw her beam from the compliment. “You’re like no other woman I’ve ever met.”
Laura reached over and covered his hand, which was resting on the gearshift.
“You’re like no man I’ve ever met, either.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” he joked, and Laura laughed. Then, Laura spotted a drugstore on the corner.
“Hey, can we stop?” She pointed through the windshield.
Mark pulled into the small parking lot. “Sure. Want me to come in?”
“No. I just wanna grab something really quick. Women’s stuff.” She gave him a peck on the cheek and opened her door.
“Take my coat to keep you dry,” he said, handing her his rain slicker. She took it, held it over her head like a tent and ran into the store.
* * *
LAURA STEPPED INTO the small, brightly lit drugstore, biting her lower lip. She was going to get a pregnancy test. All the symptoms, the missed period…she owed it to herself to take it. Put the unease to rest. She was 99 percent sure she wasn’t pregnant. One night? She doubted it could happen.
She grabbed a pregnancy test and then a box of tampons. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but if she wasn’t pregnant, it meant that she would get her period eventually. Besides, the tampons in the opaque bag would neatly hide the pregnancy test box.
She checked out under the watchful eye of the clerk, feeling the heat rise in her face. Laura would find a way to take this…later. When Mark was sleeping, maybe.
She ran back through the rain to his truck.
“Want to come to my place for a drink?” he asked.
“Only if we do more than drink,” she teased as they pulled off the highway onto the exit leading to their condo building. As he steered into the parking lot, he squeezed her hand a little tighter. He pulled into a parking space and cut the engine.
Together, they ran to the shelter of the patio overhang, giggling as Mark pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Rain ran down the storm gutters in rivulets, splashing on the ground near them as they stayed dry beneath the overhang. The kiss turned more passionate as he opened his mouth, his tongue flicked hers, soft and inviting. They kissed for who knows how long, the rain pelting down in the dark around them. Eventually, Mark pulled away.
