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“Damn straight.” I grinned. “Get in and I’ll shove us out.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Deacon asked.
I liked that about him. He was the guest here, but he was never afraid to lend a hand.
I shook my head. “Just get your lifejacket on and stay inside the boat.”
Once we pushed away from the dock, it took me no time at all to hoist the little sail and trim the rigging tight. Out of the three personal sailboats, this one was the smallest—maybe twelve feet from nose to stern. It was a fun little vessel—light and whippy.
The wind caught the sail at once, and within moments we were cutting across the water nearly as fast as a motorboat, and without all the noise.
Deacon’s amazed chuckle was lost in the wind. “All right, I admit it. You seem to know what you’re doing.”
I grinned back at him. “I’ve been handling little sailboats since I was a kid. My dad was big into visiting the lake every weekend, and there was only so much to do—”
I stopped as the familiar mix of anger and betrayal I felt whenever I thought of my dad—of my old life back in the states—churned in my guts.
There were very good reasons why I didn’t talk about my past.
Luckily, Deacon didn’t seem to notice. He was still looking out to sea and the small receding resort island in the distance. By the time he glanced back at me, I made sure my game face was back on.
“My college had yacht racing,” Deacon said. “I never did it, but I saw a couple of competitions.”
I could hear a few questions hidden there: What college did you go to, and what did you do?
The answer to both was none. I left home when my world fell apart and escaped out of the country as soon as I legally could. The resort had been my first and only job.
Deacon was a great lay, and I had a lot of fun with him but no way in hell was I going there.
Instead of answering, I pointed ahead. “Keep an eye out for spouts. People often spot whales and dolphins between the reefs over here.”
Not usually this time of the year, but Deacon didn’t need to know that.
The distraction worked. He turned away from me to squint out to the ocean, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
We didn’t spot any whales, but lucky for us, the sea turtles showed up in force. Deacon and I snorkeled above them and watched with awe as they chomped on the reef bed a good twenty feet below us. Yes, I had seen sea turtles on more outings than I could count, but each one was the size of a small car. I dared anyone not to be impressed.
Or maybe, I got my kicks watching Deacon. He kept sending me wide-eyed gazes, and silly grins around his mask. Occasionally, he took a deep breath and struggled downward a few feet to get a closer look.
Eventually, the sea turtles moved on to do whatever sea turtles do, and we swam out further to examine the rest of the reef. His hand caught mine, our fingers tangling as we floated at the surface and gazed down at a spectacular living aquarium below.
We returned to the boat. Masks off, he pulled me into a kiss that tasted like briny seawater and a sweet man. I kissed him back, the waves lapping gently around us and our legs jumping and wrapping around one another briefly.
Once we pulled ourselves into the boat, I fished around in the cooler and brought out a couple of beers. He leaned languidly against the other end, arms hooked behind himself and grinning a silly carefree grin I hadn’t seen from him before. It looked good on him.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked and wondered if it was dirty.
“You.”
“Oh ha ha. Too bad I didn’t bring any condoms along.” I let my gaze sweep him up and down.
He grinned back at me, fondly. He didn’t make a move, though, and I suspected he was too tired to try anything. Honestly, so was I. Grabbing my own beer, I leaned against the other side of the boat. I would have snuggled up right next to him but was wary of the weight balance. So, I compromised by sitting towards the middle, my legs thrown over his.
“You look good like this,” I said.
He looked down at himself in slight confusion. “You like my swim trunks?”
I would like you out of them, I thought but didn’t say. “I meant, you don’t look as stressed as you did before.”
