I get dressed and then head out into the rest of the boat.
I pass by Richard in the galley who is grabbing a can of soda from the fridge, looking bleary-eyed and annoyed.
“Sorry about that,” I tell him.
The look he gives me tells me he doesn’t believe me.
I have to wonder if he heard Tai’s moan when I palmed his dick.
I hope not, though I know that sound will forever be the soundtrack of all my future sex dreams.
On deck the air feels different than normal, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. Electric and alive, but not in a good way.
Tai is already at the wheel, looking uncomfortable as he stares at something on the GPS plotter. He’s forgotten to make coffee tonight, so already this shift is starting off on the wrong foot.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, just as the wind starts to blow, rattling the sails.
“That front is here quicker than I thought,” he says.
“Are we in trouble?”
He shakes his head, looking around him. There are no stars out tonight and the sky is dark and murky. You can’t see much beyond the lights from the boat, but it looks like white caps are starting to form. “I don’t think so,” he says.
“Should I go downstairs and make coffee?” I ask him.
He manages to give me a quick smile. “Sure. Thank you.”
Maybe he’s feeling bad for being curt earlier.
I head downstairs and put the stove on, waiting for the water boil and arranging the French press. The wait gives me some time to think about what happened.
If Richard hadn’t knocked on the door…
I don’t know. Tai was looking at me like he was not only going to kiss me, but that he was going to take both my arms and pin them above my head and fuck the life out of me.
God, it would have been so easy too.
So needed.
Just to have someone touch me.
And not just anyone.
His touch. With those hands.
All over.
I gulp, feeling sexually frustrated again, wondering if there’ll be another opportunity before we get to Fiji.
I have to say, as much as I am dying to get off this boat, I don’t think I’m ready to say good-bye to him.
Which is funny, because days ago I couldn’t wait.
As long as he doesn’t turn into an ass again, I think. It’s a big if.
When the coffee is ready, I pour it into the thermos, grab the mugs and head up top.
The wind is even stronger now, the cable that runs up the side of the mast making an incessant clanking sound.
He’s busy figuring stuff out on the touch screen, so I pour him a mug and put it in the holder beside the wheel.
“Thank you,” he says, giving me an appreciative glance before going back to whatever he’s trying to do.
“You’re welcome,” I say. Then I hesitate, because I feel like something needs to be said about earlier. “I’m sorry I touched your dick.”
He chuckles. “I’m not. It’s my one redeeming quality.”
I take a sip of my coffee and smile. “I wouldn’t say that. I’d list them all but I wouldn’t want to give you an ego. And yet something tells me it might be too late.”
The smile he gives me is a little more rushed. He’s frowning.
My heart sinks. I hope it’s not me.
Then again, I hope it’s nothing related to the boat, either.
Suddenly, BAM!
The wind slams into us from behind and I’m nearly knocked over.
It didn’t seem possible, but the sky behind Tai has turned even darker, the waves even choppier. The wind is relentless all of a sudden.
“She’s here,” Tai says warily.
My heart thuds and I have to sit down to keep my balance. “Who?”
“The storm.”
Ten
Tai
Fuck.
I knew I should have woken up earlier this morning. That was the plan. I had even set my alarm an hour earlier because I didn’t want to leave Richard at the wheel for too long, not in this weather with the front coming in, especially as the southern reaches of the Lau Islands were showing up on the radar. They weren’t our stop, but I wanted to stay clear of them just in case.
Last night was fucking torture having Daisy in bed next to me.
I was asleep for maybe an hour before the show began.
I shouldn’t have stayed awake.
I should have ignored it, and believe me, at first I tried. Jammed those earplugs so deep inside my ears I thought they’d meld with my brain.
But they didn’t hide the shaking. Her quivering limbs.
And even the breathiest moans began to slide into my ears.
So I did what anyone would do.
Or maybe what any pervert would do.
It was pitch dark in the cabin, so I just listened.
Listened to the wet sounds her fingers were making as she stroked herself, listened to her moans and the gasps and the way she’d cry out, “Oh yes.”