Love the One You Hate

She’s grinning as the wind whips her hair, sitting close to me so she can hear my instructions.

We don’t make it very far out onto the water, just to the opposite side of Rose Island. The conditions are calm so that when I drop anchor, there’s no real threat of the wind picking up. I tell Maren to keep a lookout for any vessels while I go down into the cabin to get us some water.

When I make it back to the top, she’s standing at the bow with her hands on her hips, taking her job very seriously.

“See anything?” I ask, handing her a bottle of water.

She smiles. “Nothing. It’s dead out here.”

“Yeah, not much wind. Most everyone is probably packing it in.”

“We’ll stay out here for a bit, won’t we? I’d like to jump in the water.”

“You can. It’s safe. There’s not much boat traffic.”

I confirm the engine is off and hand her a life jacket after she strips out of her shirt and shorts.

“I can swim.” She laughs, not putting it on at first.

I take it back from her and turn her around so I can put it on for her, tightening it around her chest until it’s snug.

“I have no doubt, but you haven’t experienced open water like this before and it’s better to be safe than sorry. There’s the current and swell to contend with.”

“All right, all right. Now step back so I can jump in and impress you.”

I laugh and watch her go, staying up on the boat while she dives into the water and surfaces a moment later, grinning in the sunlight.

“Did I look like I knew what I was doing?”

“Absolutely.”

“Aren’t you going to get in too?”

I shake my head. “There always has to be one person on the boat.”

“You take your job very seriously,” she says, lying on her back and bobbing in the sea.

If only she knew how many times Rhett and I have screwed up in the past. Forgetting to let down the ladder, forgetting to toss down a PFD on a line so we could use it to get to the boat if we were too tired to swim all the way back—and that’s just mistakes on our end. Now that we have bare poles and no canvases up, we’re at the mercy of other boats. I’ve seen a few crazy assholes in my time, and I won’t take any chances with Maren.

When she’s ready to come back onto the boat, she swims over to the ladder and starts to climb. I reach down to help her up and over then unhook her life jacket to toss it back near the storage bench.

“Feel better?” I ask as she wrings the water out of her hair.

“Much. You should jump in and cool off. I promise I won’t screw anything up while you’re off the boat.”

I shake my head. “Too much could go wrong.”

“All right fine, then here,” she says, stepping toward me and throwing her arms around my neck. “I’ll just cool you off this way.”

I smile and bend down to kiss her as water soaks through my shirt. It was meant to be a quick kiss, but she doesn’t let me pull away, and I don’t need any encouragement to keep her pressed against me. The sun beats down, warming us from overhead as my hands skate down her back and cup her ass.

We’re a flame, instantly reignited.

I have half a mind to drag her down to the cabin, but there’s no one around and I like being up here with her. She doesn’t protest as I deepen the kiss. In fact, her hands find the hem of my shirt so she can start working it up and over my chest.

I help her out, yanking it off and tossing it behind me.

She laughs and steps back, tipping her head to look at me.

“Think anyone will see us out here?” she asks with a playful glint in her eyes.

I shrug. “Maybe.”

She reaches back to tug on the bikini string tied around her back. “So then we should stop?”

I watch, mesmerized, as the string comes loose. “Probably.”

Water drips down her bare stomach, pooling in her navel then continuing down into her bikini bottom. I stand with my hands propped on my hips, my body coiled like a tight spring.

“So then why aren’t you stopping me?” she asks, reaching up to untie the string around her neck.

Her bikini falls away and she stands topless on my boat, the sea and sky behind her.

I’m frozen by the sight of her, my chest heavy with longing.

She’s wearing such a devious smile, and I know she can see the effect she’s having on me. It’s obvious how much I want her. Anything—I’d do anything to feel her underneath me again, and that power is going to her head. She loops her fingers around the sides of her bikini bottoms.