Cal’s hand slid down from my elbow to my hand and gripped it tightly. I tried to read the expression on his face, but all I could sense was discomfort. I had no idea why. “Kincaid. Hi, how are you?”
“Oh, darling, it’s lovely to see you again. Come, give a kiss,” the man said as he leaned in to give Cal double cheek kisses. Cal’s hand tightened in mine, and I squeezed it back to let him know I wasn’t going anywhere.
“What are you doing in Turshall Cay?” Cal asked as if making polite conversation. “Have you chartered another boat?”
Kincaid’s eyes flicked between me and Cal. “Yes, the BVI again. I tried to get you as our captain, but they said you weren’t working there anymore.” He pushed his lip out in an exaggerated pout. I wondered what I could do or say to move this exchange along.
Cal shifted on his feet. “I work out of St. Mitz now.” The man shot me another curious look, so Cal finally caved and introduced me. “Kincaid Price, this is Jonathan Worthington.”
At the sound of my name, the man’s eyes lit up with recognition and his entire body language changed. He reached out a hand to shake which meant I had to let go of Cal. “Nice to meet you,” I said politely.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Worth,” he gushed. “I’ve heard incredible things about your firm. My friend Terry owns Ansoft. I believe you helped them with their most recent round of funding.”
I slid my arm around Cal’s waist and pulled him against my side. “I did. How do you know Terry? Are you from Boston as well?”
He nodded and went into a small-talk frenzy of name-dropping. I finally lost my patience. “I’m so sorry to cut off our conversation, but I promised Cal we’d pick up his new watch before meeting my family back on the ship. Maybe we’ll see you on one of the islands this week?”
Kincaid’s eyebrows lifted. “You’ll be in the BVI too? How wonderful. Let’s do dinner one night.”
Cal’s hand clutched at the hem of my shirt in a very clear message of no fucking way. I shot Kincaid my biggest smile. “We’re here celebrating my brother’s engagement, so I’ll have to leave our plans up to him, I’m afraid. Have a wonderful week on the water.”
I pulled Cal over to the first free salesperson I saw on the opposite side of the store. Thankfully, she brought us the watch selection we needed right away, and we walked out of the store fifteen minutes later with a Seamaster gleaming on Cal’s wrist.
He was clearly self-conscious about it and kept thrusting that hand deep into the pocket of his shorts to hide it. It was kind of endearing.
“Who was that?” I finally asked once we’d left the shop and wandered several shops down to a place we could get a coffee.
“Total creeper. He and his snotty friends seemed to think that I was more than the ship’s captain. At some point during the week of their trip, I think they all tried it on with me. He was the worst though. He snuck into my room one night drunk off his ass, acted like I’d been encouraging him, which I assure you, I hadn’t been.”
I stared at him. “You’re kidding? What did you do?”
Part of me wanted to turn right around and confront the asshole—teach him a lesson about abuse of power—but then I remembered this wasn’t the Wild West and I wasn’t Cal’s protector.
He sighed. “I blamed it on my boss. I told him I was dating someone and I’d also get fired if they found out I’d slept with a customer. Which wasn’t necessarily true, but it was all I could think of in the moment. I didn’t want him to get angry and pull his business from the company I worked for. He tried to assure me no one at my work would find out, but I was finally able to convince him I was in a monogamous relationship. I told my boss about it when I got back, in hopes of not having to work with Kincaid’s group again, but I don’t think my boss believed me. That’s when he transferred me to St. Mitz, and it’s probably why I was the first captain let go at the end of the high season.”
“That’s unacceptable,” I said angrily. “That’s illegal. It’s a hostile working environment.”
Cal shrugged. “Well, they control my work permits, and as long as I was still employed on the water, I was happy. The guy wasn’t going to force me physically or anything. He was just super pushy. It happens.”
We placed our orders at the counter for iced coffee and stood to the side to wait. “What an ass.”
Cal chuckled. “Actually, it was kind of nice running into him while I had you with me. Made my story about being in a relationship more believable.”