Waterfall Kisses (The Kisses 9)

“I was planning on taking my boat out and enjoying the island for a bit. The items I want aren't on sale until the end of the auction anyway,” Leo explained.

I paused. “Which boat?” There was a boat of his that I did not like. A dangerous boat. I sincerely hoped he meant his yacht or a sailboat. Or even a paddle-boat. Anything but his racing boat.

“The one you hate,” he teased, confirming what I was dreading.

“I hate it because it's dangerous, Leo.” My happy feelings were quickly disappearing. I felt a little cold, even despite the warm Caribbean air. That boat was bad news.

“You're just a worry-wart,” Leo started. This was a familiar argument. One we'd had at least a hundred times before. He usually just stepped around me and did whatever he pleased, but I wasn't going to let it slide. Not this time. Not when he said he wanted to kiss me.

“I worry because I care!” I stopped dancing and stepped away from him. “Your boat was designed to break the water speed record. A record with an eighty-five percent fatality rate, Leo. No sane person takes those odds.”

I hated even thinking about it. The water speed record was the fastest a boat had ever gone. There was a good reason why no one had beaten the record of 317mph set in 1978- everyone who tried usually ended up dead on the water. Going speeds that fast, the water turned into cement and the smallest wave, a stray piece of kelp, or a moment's distraction could send the boat hydroplaning into the water. With a fatality rate of eighty-five percent since 1940, trying to break the water speed record was a death wish. Yet, Leo insisted on playing with the boats capable of doing it.

He picked my hands back up and spun me back into the dance. “I'm still here, aren't I?”

“That's not the point,” I said, a scowl filling my face. My steps back into the dance were slow and unwilling. “It's dangerous.”

Leo sighed. “Charlotte, I'm not racing. I go out, I get some speed, and I come back in. I'm not trying to break the water speed record. I'm just enjoying the boat.”

“A boat that is designed to break records. It's not exactly a normal speed boat.” I paused, hating the sinking feeling thinking of his boat always gave me. “I've seen you crash on the water, Leo. The last one put you in the hospital.”

“For a day, Charlotte,” Leo snapped, getting frustrated. He spun me around, but the motion was angry rather than graceful. “And the doctor said that was overkill. I'm fine. You can tell Bastian not to go out on the water, but not me.”

I thought of how Bastian went out paddle-boarding every morning and how I would get so angry at finding his broken boards or other evidence of him being dangerous out on the water. Bastian, Leo and Gabe were my only family. If anything happened to them...

“Do you know why I ask him not to go out?” I asked quietly. My feet shuffled to the music, not really dancing. I couldn't meet his eyes and instead stared at his suit jacket. He had a dark gray handkerchief in his pocket folded into an elaborate design. “I don't care that he's paddle boarding. I don't even care about the sharks or the rogue waves or what could happen. I ask him because I'm selfish.”

“Selfish?” Leo asked, surprise filling his voice. His step faltered. “You are one of the least selfish people I know. You put your life on hold for this auction, even though it's Bastian's.” He stopped dancing and put his hand under my chin, gently forcing me to look up at him. “Why, Charlotte? Why do you ask him not to push the limits when it's what the three of us were born to do?”

The memory, the nightmare, flashed to my memory.

I wake up from my nap to see the neighbor lady slowly getting up from the raggedy chair by the TV. Someone is knocking on the door.

It's a police officer, his uniform wet with rain. He says something to the old woman. She smells like cats, but she's the only one who can watch me when Mommy and Daddy have to leave. I hate when they're gone. They always come back smelling strange.

The old woman covers her mouth with her hand and looks over at me.

There's terror and heartbreak in her eyes that I don't yet understand.

But I will.

“It's because I can't lose him,” I whisper, avoiding Leo's eyes. “Bastian is my foster brother because I lost everyone when I was six years old. They left one night, and never came back.” There was more to it than that. It was complicated and something I wasn't proud of, but the truth was still there. I slowly raised my eyes to meet his. “I don't want to lose you, too. Not to some stupid boat.”

Leo's blue eyes softened and his expression shifted from exasperation to concern. “You've never told me that part,” he said softly. His hands went to my shoulders and he kissed my forehead. “Okay.”

“Okay, what?” Tears were trying to form in my eyes at the memory of being alone. I never wanted to be alone like that again. I was glad there were several other couples on the dance floor so we weren't just standing there with me about to burst into tears.

“Okay, I won't go out on the boat. For you.” He pulled me in close, his arms wrapping around me and keeping me safe. “Because I care about you, too.”

“Really?” My voice was muffled by his suit jacket as I pressed my face into his chest, not caring if I smudged my mascara on it.

“I kissed you today, didn't I?” he said softly. He looked down, a soft smile filling his handsome face. “And all I want to do is kiss you again.”

I smiled back, blinking the tears out of my eyes. “Me too.”

I nestled into his shoulder, letting him hug me more than dance. With his arms around me, I was safe. The nightmare memory faded until it was just static in the back of my mind. Leo wouldn't leave me. He never had, and he never would.

The song ended and another round of applause scattered through the tent as the new dancers took their bows.