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I always did dream big. I couldn’t believe he remembered.
“Nope. You’re looking at it. The dream I mean,” I said with a mouthful of ice cream. “This is the most time off I’ve had in years. What about you?” I wanted to change the subject.
“I’ve traveled some,” he said sheepishly. The gesture was so out of character I stared at him for a moment.
“Don’t hold back on my account. Tell me about all the adventures you’ve been on.”
He raised his eyebrows.
I laughed. “Okay, sounds like that would take all night,” I playfully nudged him with my foot against his thigh on the couch. He stared down at my toes. Thank goodness I’d given myself a pedicure last week. My mom had insisted on a spa day, so I’d relented and painted our nails.
“All right. There was this one time, a friend and I decided to drive to New York and take a cruise to Bermuda. Colton refused to lend me the yacht, so I found a way to go, anyway.”
“Oh, the yacht was unavailable, so you had to slum it with the common folk, did you?”
He tilted his head and tried to look annoyed, but his brown hair fell forward and covered his eye, making him look roguish instead. “As I was saying, we took a cruise to Bermuda and didn’t realize when we disembarked for an excursion to reset our watches. The island is one hour ahead. We spent the day at the beach and as we walked along the pier toward the ship, we noticed hundreds of passengers waving at us. My friend thought they had recognized me, but as we got closer, I heard someone shout, ‘Run! The ship’s gonna leave without you!’”
“Oh my gosh, that’s right. Cruise ships warn you to be on time, otherwise, they’ll leave you at the port and you’ll have to find your way back to the next port.”
“Exactly. And the next port was New York and since our passports were still on the ship, we would be stuck on the island and I knew Colton would kill me. So, we jumped.”
“Wait, what? You jumped?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “We hightailed it and dove into the water just as the ship took off without us.”
“No, you didn’t?”
He laughed, taking a spoonful of ice cream. “Sure did. Swam along the ship until they lowered a small boat to collect us.”
I sat back and stared at him. “I don’t believe it.”
“Trust me. I wouldn’t make that up. It’s pretty embarrassing. For the rest of the trip, everyone on the ship called us The Castaways. But not in a good way, you know.” He laughed and collected my bowl when I scraped the last of the Rocky Road onto my spoon and licked it. Placing the bowls on the side table, he pulled the fabric ottoman up against the couch so we could raise our legs and lean back. It was quite comfortable. “Thank you,” I said and yawned. The ice cream had hit the spot and cooled me down at the same time. I felt satiated and relaxed.
“I can’t swim,” I admitted. “I’m terrified of water.”
“I’ll have to teach you sometime.”
“I don’t think so. I’d probably drown you trying.”
“I’m tougher than you think. And so are you.”
I stared at him sideways. “You’re right. I am.”
He yawned this time and leaned his head back. My eyes drooped, and I snuggled deeper into the couch. Luke said something, but I didn’t hear him. His voice sounded far away, and then I heard nothing.
A little while later, I felt cold. I opened my eyes to find Luke asleep beside me. I considered going upstairs to bed but worried I’d wake up completely if I tried to navigate the stairs now. It was better if I stayed here. I grabbed a soft wool blanket from the opposite couch and laid it over Luke’s body, then I slid inside and fell asleep.
11
Luke
The scent of vanilla surrounded me, and something so distinctly feminine that it made my mouth water. A warm weight lay on top of my thigh. When I reached down and felt the soft curve of a woman’s leg only inches away from my groin, my body reacted. I jackknifed off the couch, throwing a blanket I hadn’t noticed before onto the floor.
Grace braced herself with both hands on the couch, her eyes bulging out, and her chest heaving. “Oh my gosh, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”
“Uh… nothing.” I had no idea why I reacted that way, except my next move was to pull her leg closer to me, then run my hand up her thigh… and that definitely wouldn’t be a good idea so I launched myself as far away from her as possible.
“I think I heard some trucks outside. I’ll go check it out.”
