NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

I was in my happy place, on a sailboat and on the water. Two gorgeous men sat beside me, and the sun was shining. There was enough wind to carry us wherever we wanted to go, and I was at the helm of one of my favorite boats. If I stayed in the present, settled into this current moment, I could forget everything else for a while.

Worth picked up my hand and pressed it to his mouth. “You are absolutely gorgeous,” he said so only I could hear him. “Your passion is contagious.”

I wiggled the tiller to make sure we were optimizing the angle, and I felt it when the sail found the sweet spot. The boat zinged across the water. Lucas yelped, grabbing on to the front crossbar to keep from sliding into the trampoline. Worth laughed and reached out to clap a hand on Lucas’s shoulder to steady him.

“Ready about,” I said, ducking and sliding to the port side as I moved the tiller and switched hands. “Hard alee.” Worth made sure Lucas made the switch without getting brained by the boom, and we were off in another direction on our tack.

The sail found enough air to increase our speed until one of the hulls wanted to come up. “Hold on,” I said. “We’re going to heel a little so you can see what it feels like. Angle your body back to compensate for the side that comes up. Like this.” I leaned back as I let the port side hull lift out of the water.

Worth let out a whoop and kept a strong hand on Lucas’s elbow to keep him from tumbling forward. The three of us leaned back as the boat moved even faster across the water. After a while, I switched again with Worth so he could take control. He had just as much fun as I did before finally sailing us back toward the entrance to the bay and calmer air.

I loved watching the muscles of his arms and shoulders work as he angled the main sheet and worked the tiller. I wondered aloud if there was such a thing as sailing porn, and if so, would he consider filming some of it to make a little extra money on the side. That set Lucas off laughing so hard, he almost tipped overboard.

Once we slowed down, we moved Lucas into the driver’s seat and walked him through managing the tiller and the main sheet. He loved it, and watching him take to it made Worth so happy, I wanted to bottle this day and keep it forever.

“Mia would love this!” Lucas said at one point. “We need to get her out here to try it.”

“Do you want to ask the ladies to come out or maybe Mia and Prescott?” I asked, trying to be polite. “I’m not sure if Jade would be interested.”

“Oh, uh, maybe. I don’t think Prescott wants to sail, but Jade might. We can ask her.”

I took over again and steered us toward the Worthington. Freya was waiting at the back of the stern deck to tie us off to the nearest cleat.

“How was it?” she asked with a big smile. “Looked like a ton of fun.”

Lucas told her all of his favorite parts before leaving to find the others on the top deck. As I passed Freya, she mentioned she’d heard a phone ringing in our stateroom earlier when she was tidying up.

“Thank you,” Worth said. “That might be my assistant calling back about this afternoon’s conference call.”

But it wasn’t. It was a missed call on my phone. Worth brought it to me where I was chatting in the galley with Julo before returning downstairs to prepare for his call. The voicemail was from Grandpa, and instead of listening to it, I clicked the button to call him back.

“Cal, there you are,” Grandpa’s familiar voice came on the line. “Did you listen to my message?”

“No, sir. I figured I’d just call you. What’s up?”

I wandered out onto the deck behind the large open living room and plopped down in a chair.

“It’s Annie. She had a bad fall.”

I sat up. “What? Is she okay?”

“Doc ran into Mrs. Parnell in town today and she said Annie had been washing down a boat when she slipped. They think she broke her hip. West is trying to find out more details, but I wanted to make sure you knew. She’d probably love to hear from you, even if it’s just a text to let her know you’re thinking of her.”

I thought of the tough-as-nails woman who’d had a big hand in raising me. Her frizzled brown hair falling out of its messy bun onto her wide, freckled shoulders and the pink tip of her sunburned nose poking out beyond her faded green eyes were as familiar to me as the sound of Grump’s heavy breathing while he slept next to Grandpa’s feet in the family room.