I take a slow breath, trying to steady the desire coursing through my body. When I do, I feel that same sensation I had when I was in the water tonight, like my body was moving separately from my mind.
The men take me in with eyes so full of need, that a powerful current of sexuality courses through me, A current with the same strength as the one that pulled me out to sea tonight. It starts at my toes and climbs up my legs, over my shimmering thighs, past my belly, and finally staking a claim at my heart. I want to give into the relentless waves of desire crashing against my body.
This was supposed to my big night--my twenty-first birthday. I don’t know why that seal called to me. Why I swam the way I did. But I’m done asking questions tonight.
Because maybe this is perfect. Maybe this is how losing my virginity-- or rather giving my virginity-- needs to occur.
With these four men who caught me in their net.
5
Eric
Harlow excuses herself to use the restroom, and the moment she leaves the cabin, a hush falls over us.
Who is this woman and how did we manage to save her?
It makes no sense how she ended up in our net. Hell, why do we even have a net on our boat?
But she’s here, and she’s real, and she did call to us.
We heard her.
I clear my thoughts, needing to speak. “I know we have our differences,” I begin, knowing that’s an understatement. Our backgrounds are wildly different, but the one thing we do all have is a love for the sea. A desire to be on a boat, on the deep blue water, untethered to a home back on dry land. “Look, under normal circumstances, I’d never suggest it but… I need to be with Harlow.”
Kai raises an eyebrow. “What are you are saying?”
I shrug, running a hand through my hair. It’s insane to be thinking this way, but it’s like one look at her and my heart expanded, grew to a size I didn’t think was possible.
How is this possible? To feel so much for a stranger?
“I’m just saying, if the opportunity presents itself, I won’t say no. It’s like, I need Harlow. Crazy as it sounds.”
Crew snorts. “Well, hell, I need her too.”
I narrow my eyes, needing to read Crew’s intentions.
“Do you really?” I ask.
Crew stiffens, pulling back his shoulders. “Fuck, Eric, I was on the boat just like you. I heard that call same as you. I felt her presence just like you. “
West cuts in. “It’s not a fight about who wants her more. Hell, we’re all looking at the same girl. It’s about what this might look like.”
Kai looks over at the door to see if she’s back, but Harlow is still in the bathroom, the water is running in the sink. “I think we all know what we want.”
“What does that look like then? We fight for her?” Crew asks.
West speaks up, “Harlow didn’t call to one of us. She called to all of us.”
“Which means?” Kai asks.
The truth dawns on me. “She didn’t come here for one sailor; she came here for four. “
We look at one another, shaking our heads as we consider the implications.
“When we were still training in college,” Kai says. “Before we got the sponsor, we always argued unless we were on the boat. It’s the only time we put our differences aside is when we’re on the ocean, working as a team against the elements.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Crew asks.
“It means,” I say, “that we’re still out at sea. We can still work together as a team.”
“Only instead of a race,” West says with a grin. “We are working to win Harlow’s heart.”
“You think she would want this?” Crew asks.
I smile, shaking my head. “I guess we’re gonna find out.”
6
Crew
She licks her lips as if suddenly parched. “Can I have some water?”
Eric nods. He turns to the fridge and grabs a bottle of water, offering it to her.
How he can hand it to her with a steady hand is fucking beyond me. I can’t get past the fact this woman is standing before all four us practically naked--with a look in her eyes that screams for attention.
Oh, I’ll give her attention all right.
I’ll give her everything she ever asked for.
She drinks the water so fucking fast, and I watch, mesmerized as her lower body literally starts to sparkle. It’s as if the water fuels her in a way nothing else can.
Her eyes follow mine, widening in surprise, like she’s seeing her legs for the first time in her life.
She looks up with a gasp--startled by what she sees, the way her body is changing. She’s so beautiful. Pink hair and eyes the color of the sea--turquoise, with flecks of white, the foaming of the ocean. She stands with her shoulders back and eyebrow cocked just so, watching me with intent.