NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

This young man was in his physical prime. Every defined muscle was covered in tight, perfectly tanned skin, and the bulge in his tiny swimsuit had been making my mouth water since I’d first spotted him on the top deck. Why was I trying so hard to deny my desire to toss him down on the nearest surface and make him come?

Why not just fuck him and enjoy yourself?

Before I could argue with the devil on my shoulder, Prescott and Lucas came around the corner, followed by everyone else.

“We’re crashing your make-out session,” Natalia said, plopping down on the giant chaise.

Cal slowed his crawl and winked at me. I could almost see the machinations going on in his rum-soaked brain. His face turned into a lazy smile, and he draped himself across my chest, resting his head on my shoulder and snuggling all of his sun-warmed bare skin against me. I wrapped my arm around his back and began to trail my fingers along his spine.

If Prescott was there, I needed to play the part.

Keep telling yourself that.

Nat moved closer to me to make room for Mia. Jade perched on one of the side benches so she could set her drink down on a nearby table and have her hands free for texting.

Nat sat cross-legged facing us. “So, Cal, tell us more about you. What do you do when you’re not sailing?”

I wasn’t surprised by her inquisition since she knew I’d sworn off dating when things had crashed and burned with Mason. She had to be extremely curious about what kind of man would have changed my mind.

Cal kept his head on my shoulder but angled it so he could see her across my chest. “I’ve been learning origami. So far I can make a boat and a crane, but I have the instructions for a turtle next.”

Nat stretched her neck around to seek out Jin. “Jin! Cal’s been learning origami. Tell him about the ones your baba makes.”

Before I could worry this was just another of Cal’s tall tales, he sat up excitedly and reached out with a come here gesture toward Jin. “Do you know how to do it? I really want to be able to make one of those multicolored cubes. My family all exchange handmade Christmas ornaments each year, so that’s what got me into it. I want to make origami ornaments. I only have a few months left to make a gazillion of them.”

Jin sat down on the edge of the big chaise next to Cal. “Yeah, so my grandmother is crazy good at those things. She can make the kind of birds with all the folds for feathers in their wings. Whenever someone has a new baby, she makes a mobile to hang over their crib with multicolored birds—all different kinds—and they’re like works of art. She wants everyone to use the mobile over the crib, but no one will. They take lots of pictures and then display it in a glass case or whatever, to keep it for the baby when they grow up.”

Cal’s face lit up as he listened to Jin’s stories. When Cal asked Jin where he was from, he’d gotten even more excited.

“I’ve always wanted to dive there. My brother Otto said he dove in Okinawa when he was in the navy and loved it. He has a ton of friends who’ve been stationed there long-term. They rave about it. Did you love growing up there?”

Jin laughed. “Yeah, I was spoiled, but then we moved to Indiana when I was fourteen and it was a total culture shock.”

Cal nodded. “Ugh. No shit. I remember coming back to Texas after my first trip to visit my parents in Singapore, and it was like seeing America through new eyes. I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”

They continued chattering on while Natalie nudged my shoulder. “He’s adorable. And so sweet. How’d you really meet him?”

I didn’t want to lie to her, but at the same time, everyone was within hearing distance, and I wasn’t about to tell her the truth. “I really did meet him on a boat,” I said. “It was a bit of a whirlwind. I’m still not quite sure which way is up.”

All true.

Her eyes flicked between us, and a little wrinkle formed between her eyes. “But… after Mason… I thought…”

I hated looking like a fool and feeling like a hypocrite. I’d made such a production about what a mistake it had been dating a younger man that I couldn’t blame her for calling me out on it.

“What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.” I’d tried to say it lightly, but it was hard to sugarcoat the truth. My entire relationship with Mason had been punishment, and judging myself afterward for allowing it to happen was a second round of punishment. A double whammy of regret and stupidity.