S.E.C.R.E.T. (Secret 1)

“You’ll see,” he said, his eyes smiling, lingering on mine.

My butterflies were still there, but they were becoming more manageable, and the fear, something I could push through. That I would willingly head off in a helicopter when a storm was brewing, flying above it to who knows where, to do who knows what with who knows who, would have been impossible to imagine five months ago. But today, beneath the natural fear was a feeling I recognized as sheer excitement.

Once we had stabilized above the clouds, the helicopter sped towards the vivid blue Gulf. I alternated between watching the water below and watching the pilot’s sculpted hands flicking this and that button with efficiency and ease. His forearms were tanned and lightly furred with pale blond hair. Was he going to be the one? Was he part of my fantasy? If so, we were off to a solid start.

“Where are we going?” I yelled, pulling off my scarf and letting my hair cascade. I was flirting. For the first time in my life, it seemed to come naturally.

“You’ll see. It won’t be long now!” he said with a wink.

I held his gaze, this time letting him be the one to break it first. I’d never done that before and it was a little intoxicating, flirting through my fear.

A few minutes later, I felt the helicopter begin to descend. Panic crept in. I couldn’t see directly below us, so from my back-seat vantage point we looked to be landing directly in the blue Gulf waters. When the helicopter skids hit something solid, I realized we’d landed on a boat. It was a very big boat. In fact, a yacht.

The pilot hopped down and opened my door, offering me a hand.

I leapt onto the polished landing deck, shielding my eyes from the now-blinding sun and thinking how quickly weather can change.

“This is unbelievable,” I said.

“It is,” said the pilot, giving me the impression he might not have been referring to the boat. “I have been instructed to bring you here, and now I must leave.”

“That’s too bad,” I said, meaning it. From the upper deck, I could look around. It was a yacht, indeed, and one of the most beautiful vehicles of any kind I’d ever seen in my life. The deck was gleaming, polished wood, the hull and the walls a vivid white. “Can you stay for a drink? Just one?”

What was I doing? The fantasies usually unfolded before me, and now I was interfering with whatever was planned for me. But the helicopter trip had energized me, and I wanted to continue the flirtation.

“I supposed one drink wouldn’t hurt,” he said. “Join me in the pool?”

Pool? My breath stopped when I leaned around the bow and saw the oval-shaped pool, on a yacht, circling the deck in front. White lounge chairs lined both sides, red-and-white striped towels casually folded over their backs. For me? Was this all for me? Whatever happens to me here doesn’t matter, I thought, so long as I get to swim, in a pool, on a yacht! And though the waters were starting to get a bit choppy, the boat was huge and felt rock-solid, even with a small helicopter perched on top. It dawned on me that a bathing suit wasn’t among the clothes provided, but the pilot was already making his way to the pool, dropping pieces of his clothing before turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

I waited a beat, then followed him. No one else seemed to be aboard the boat, the windows to the pilot’s bay so darkly tinted you couldn’t see the crew inside, if they were there. By the time I reached him poolside, the pilot was submerged, and by the look of the pile of clothes he’d left behind, he was naked.

“Get in. It’s warm.”

“Will you get in trouble?” I asked, feeling shy.

“Not unless you protest my being here.”

“I won’t do that,” I said. “But … would you mind turning around?”

“I don’t mind at all,” he said, facing the other way. He was tanned all over, though I could see that his butt below the surface of the water was shining white. I hesitated for a moment, and then shook off the remnants of fear. I was in charge of this fantasy, it seemed, and no one was stopping me. I slipped out of my clothes, then carefully laid them across a lounge chair. I eased into the water, which felt war

mer because there was a slight chill in the air, the kind of chill storms bring. The sun still shone hot, but there were dark clouds on the horizon and a feeling of electricity in the atmosphere.

“Okay, you can turn around now,” I said, keeping my arms across my breasts, which were below the water. Why was I so shy? I also realized he hadn’t asked me to accept the Step, which had become almost Pavlovian to me. After uttering those words, I slipped into a kind of trance that allowed me to go along with a fantasy. This time, I was the one propelling things forward with a man not already earmarked, though he should have been. I had never been one for blonds, but he was so masculine, his brown arms reaching for me, pulling me towards him through the water’s resistance.

“Your skin feels amazing in the water,” he said, running his hands down my back, lifting me onto his lap. I felt him stiffen. He bent to take one of my nipples boldly into his mouth, and his hand squeezed my naked buttocks. Our bodies splashed against each other as the pool water got choppier and choppier with our movements. At least that’s what I thought was making the waves. I opened my eyes to the sky again and this time it cast a very different glow, a more malevolent one. The sun was obscured by indigo clouds, the kind that caused Captain Archer to stop nibbling at my shoulder.

“Oh jeez, that’s a bad, bad sky,” he said, standing up, toppling me from his lap. “I have to get that helicopter off the boat or it’ll get tossed into the Gulf. You, my dear, are going below deck and you’re not to move until someone comes to get you, do you hear me? This was really not in the plans. I’m sorry for that. I’ll radio for some backup.”

He was out of the pool in a second. There was no time for vanity. He held up a towel that swallowed me whole and placed my clothes in my hand. The wind whipped up a frenzy, nearly taking us both over the side. He grabbed me and pressed me against the wall of the bow, plucking a lifejacket off a hook above me.

“Go below, change, and put this jacket on!”

“Can’t I go with you?” I said, fear gathering in my gut again. I clutched the towel under my chin and padded after him, dripping the whole way to the helipad.

“Too dangerous, Cassie. You’re better off on this boat. It moves fast. It’ll take you from the storm. Go below now and don’t leave until someone comes to get you. And don’t fret,” he said, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“But does anyone know I’m here?”