NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

I turned and headed to the bathroom, feeling the heat of his stare on my ass. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I heard him mutter about still being able to perv on me even in a wet suit.

10

Worth

I hadn’t been kidding about Cal. The man was in prime shape from working on boats and most likely spending plenty of time in the water and sun. He was healthy and vibrant, the opposite of someone like me who spent most of their time in a climate-controlled high-rise.

In addition to that, he was charismatic and sweet. Natalia had been right when she’d pointed out how attentive he was. All through dinner, he’d asked open-ended questions of Nat’s friends to learn more about them and then listened carefully to their answers.

It was still early, so we were the only ones up. Julo greeted us with coffee served on the aft part of the main deck.

Cal stretched out on the sofa cushions and hugged his mug to his chest. “God, how can you ever leave this to go back to Chicago?”

I looked out at the aquamarine water and the white sandy beach in the distance. Sea birds flapped lazily here and there, and the soft sounds of the water lapping against the hull made the perfect accompaniment to the soft island jazz Julo was playing in the galley.

“Sometimes I don’t,” I admitted. “After Mason and I parted ways, I came down here intending to sell the ship, but the sun was like a drug on my winter skin. I ended up staying for two months.”

Cal’s jaw dropped so comically, I wished I’d had my phone to snap a picture of it.

“You what? That doesn’t gel at all with the way Nat describes you. What about work?”

I took a sip of the hot coffee and groaned in relief. It was perfect. “I still worked. The ship has Wi-Fi as you know. I just couldn’t face returning to the biting cold. Julo, Vin, and Freya were good company.”

He studied me as if seeing me in a new light. “That breakup must have thrown you for a big loop. Does Nat know you spent two months down here?”

I looked around to make sure she wasn’t sneaking up on us. Little sisters were notorious for hearing everything. “No. I didn’t tell the twins because I wanted to be alone. I was afraid if they knew I was down here wallowing, they’d show up to help.”

Julo appeared with a couple of trays full of breakfast finger foods like the banana dumplings I couldn’t get enough of, crepes wrapped around eggs and sausage, and more fresh fruit on skewers.

Cal practically drooled. “Julo, I think I’m in love with you.”

He shot me a wink. “Well, you’ll have to fight Freya for me, and I’m afraid she hits below the belt.”

Cal’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re together? Congratulations on the baby, man. I had no idea.”

“Luckiest bum alive,” he said with a wink before returning to the galley.

Cal turned his sparkling eyes to me. “How exciting for them. And what a dream to work and live together on a ship like this. I have a million questions for them now, but I refuse to get sidetracked. What happened with Mason?”

“Julo and Freya met when Vin hired them both two years ago. It’s a good story.”

“Stop changing the subject,” he said, taking a bite of a banana dumpling. “Oh Christ on a cracker. This is better than sex.”

Sitting on the deck next to an attractive man and feeling the warm Caribbean breeze across my skin while I ate one of my favorite breakfast treats was a little bit of heaven. I didn’t want to ruin it by going into detail about my embarrassing choices.

I flapped my hand. “What’s the expression you young people use these days when something is long and boring? Tee dee el are?”

Cal snorted and sat forward when some coffee dripped out of the corner of his mouth. “TL;DR,” he corrected. “Back in the day, people called it the CliffsNotes version. At least, that’s what my mom told me one time.”

I leaned my head back and groaned. He was so young. “Anyway, the bottom line is, I hired an executive assistant to help me manage my responsibilities at Dad’s company after he died since I was still busy managing my own firm and didn’t want anything to fall through the cracks. After several lunches and late-night meetings, I made the mistake of sleeping with Mason. Then I started dating him. It took me three years to learn that he’d been more in love with the company shares than with me. To add insult to injury, I was dealing with my stepmother at the time, Lucas and Nat’s mom, who—it turned out—had been having an affair during my father’s battle with lung cancer and had only stayed with my father to inherit half the company when he passed. It was a mess, and it left me feeling very jaded about relationships to say the least.”