Going Under (Wildfire Lake 2)

I laugh, and my chest relaxes. “Eloquent, Dr. Latham.”

“I’m…truly speechless.” He shakes his head. “What are you going to do?”

I kiss him and rest my forehead against his as the rest of the stress finally evaporates. “I’m going to talk to Laiyla and Levi about staying on as an employee after the sale. Or maybe I’ll keep my part of the investment for the time being. All I want is to be with you and the girls. There’s a lot less joy in sailing the world when you can’t share the experience with the people you love most.”

He searches my eyes with a kind of love I’ve never seen before. And I’m grateful when he doesn’t ask me to expand on that expression of love I just admitted to, one that includes him. I’m still not quite ready to delve that deeply yet. But he kisses me, long and sweet, and I know he understands.

When he pulls back, he’s got a quirky little smile on his lips. “The girls and I did something while you were gone.”

“Uh-oh.” I laugh and pick up my beer. “That sounds like trouble to me.”

“You can blame Violet. She’s the one who started the whole thing.”

After a long drink, I say, “That girl’s pretty imaginative.”

“For sure.”

“What did you do?”

“We kinda went for a test run on the catamaran Jaime showed us in Santa Barbara.”

My eyes go wide. “Nuh-uh.”

“Uh-huh.” His smile is bright.

“What did you think?”

“I wish you could have been there. It was…” He shakes his head. “Exhilarating, thrilling, fun as hell.”

Now I can’t stop smiling. “What about the girls? What did they think?”

“They didn’t want to get off. They’ve begged me to buy it every day since we came home.”

I laugh. “I wonder if they know just how much they run our lives, not the other way around.”

“Violet’s picking up on it. God help us when the others do too.”

Us. God help us.

It’s the sweetest word I’ve heard in forever. “I’m so happy they loved it.”

“And then,” he says, drawing out the words, “I did something else.”

I pull in a sharp breath and tent my hands over my mouth. “You didn’t buy it.”

“Not…exactly.”

“Not exactly? You either did or you didn’t.”

“I found one that was perfect and made an offer.” He pulls a piece of paper from the pocket of his hoodie and flattens it on the bar. “It’s just an offer. I knew I had to talk to you about everything before I went through with it.”

My stomach is flipping like a fish as I look over the contract. “This isn’t just perfect, Ben, it’s new. Brand-fucking-new.” I cut a look at him. “Do you know how insanely cool these new ones are? The entire top level—”

“Slides down,” he says, “fitting inside the lower level until the roof and the deck are flush, effectively making it bulletproof when you’re away. Yeah, I know.”

I’m having a hard time breathing as I turn the pages looking over all the bells, whistles, and top-of-the-line features on this boat. Then my gaze falls on the final price, and I frown. I turn the paper over, then thumb through the pages again, looking for something I’ve missed. When I can’t find anything, I meet his gaze. “Where’s the catch? This is way underpriced, by like, a hundred grand. Is it missing an engine? What?”

“No, it’s not missing the engine,” he says, laughing. “And it’s seventy-five grand less than sticker. You can thank Jaime for that. He said it was overpriced to begin with, so the savings isn’t as dramatic as it appears, but he pulled in one of many favors he is evidently owed by people in the industry.” He shrugs. “Of course, he did it for you, not me.”