33. Cole

CHAPTER 33

COLE

“ E verything okay?”

Thursday morning, and Cole had woken at six to head to the market on Dreadhaven with Bella—their last chance to stock up on supplies before heading farther west toward Skeleton Cay, and he should have been happy because another successful charter was drawing to an end. In a week, he’d have earned enough money to cover his living expenses in Vegas for six months, plus he’d be able to pay the Crosswind ’s slip fees until he managed to return home again.

But in a week, his relationship with Bella would change to something more distant, and he liked it just the way it was.

Now he carried a box of soft drinks, water, and juice up to the sundeck, partly because the cooler needed restocking, but mostly because Bella was up there and he couldn’t stay away.

“Oh, go fuck a porcupine,” she said, and he froze at the top of the stairs. Her phone bounced off a cushion as she tossed it beside her. Cole had a feeling he shouldn’t have been privy to the conversation she’d been having, even though he’d heard barely anything at all.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” she said.

Uh-oh. “What’s up?”

“I just said I was fine.”

“Yeah, you did, and that’s bullshit. I might be a man, but I’m not a fool.”

The look on her face said she wasn’t entirely convinced of that, and she huffed. But she did answer.

“It was a friend in Vegas.”

“A friend? That conversation didn’t sound very friendly to me.”

“She isn’t in my good books at the moment.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.” A month ago, Bella’s “no” would have meant the end of the conversation, but today, she gave a heavy sigh and continued, “The friends who are helping out with work while I’m away won’t tell me how things are going.”

“You think they’ve messed up? Upset a client?”

She snorted. “No.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“They want me to relax and forget real life for a month.”

She rolled her eyes, but Cole couldn’t see the issue.

“Isn’t that living the dream? If someone would take the mess at the Galaxy off my hands for a month, I’d kiss their damn feet.”

“I don’t like being kept out of the loop.”

Being kept out of the loop was Cole’s goal in life. He longed for a time when he could go half a day without getting a call from Nancy or Perry or another member of the team. This morning, a kid had taken a shit in the larger of the two pools. Or so everyone thought. After the staff had cleared the area and offered a thousand apologies and vouchers for complimentary cocktails, it turned out the offending turd was made from plastic and a teenager had dropped it in the water for a joke. At least, that’s what Perry suspected. A group of three boys had been sniggering by the door as they watched the chaos.

Cole felt as though he were cheating on his staff by spending this time in San Gallicano with Bella. Yes, she could be prickly, and yes, she could be secretive, but she’d slotted into his life so easily, so comfortably, that he wondered how he’d ever thought he could spend the rest of his life alone. It wasn’t just the sex. It was her. Now that Cole had the space to look back on his time with Gretchen, he realised how screwed up that relationship had been. How subtly manipulative she’d acted every time she wanted to get her own way.

If you buy me the ring with the full carat, it’ll show how much you love me.

Can you believe she accused me of flirting with her boyfriend? You’re not going to let her get away with that, are you?

Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of a honeymoon in the Caribbean. Don’t you want to make me happy?

Although he did have to thank her for that last point. When he’d seen photos of Emerald Shores on a travel blog, off the beaten track and therefore affordable if he maxed out his credit card, he’d booked the trip. Except it turned out that when Gretchen said “Caribbean,” she meant Aruba. Cole had bought non-refundable tickets because they were cheaper, and when he insisted he couldn’t exchange them, she’d stormed out.

To Marcus’s place.

Cole had only found out because he’d decided to head over there himself to ask Marcus if he was being selfish about the tickets. Gretchen’s car had been parked in the driveway, and when he looked through the living room window…

A shake of the head did nothing to clear the memory .

“Are you okay?” Bella asked.

“I’m fine. Just trying to forget about the past.”

She nodded. “I can understand that. Is there anything else we need to do before we set off?”

“I want to take another look at the charts. Restless spirits aren’t the only reason folk avoid the area around Skeleton Cay. The waters around there are rocky, and the sea is poorly mapped. The last people to sail the area regularly were pirates, and they turned the hazards to their advantage.”

“How dangerous is the trip? If the charts lack detail, is there a risk the Crosswind might sink?”

“No trip is one hundred percent risk-free, but if I thought there was a chance I’d lose my boat, I’d have turned down the job. I just need to prepare, that’s all. When the Crosswind was built, the specs included fish-finder sonar, which looks a little way ahead of the boat. As long as we stay slow in the problem areas, we can avoid any rocks.” Cole wrapped an arm around Bella’s shoulders and gave a comforting squeeze. “I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

Was that a snort?

“Sorry, I swallowed a bug.”

Good thing Cole had just brought a box of drinks to restock the cooler. He uncapped a bottle of water and handed it over.

“Year before last, a customer swallowed a paper wasp.”

“Bet that stung like a motherfucker.”

“She screamed until her throat swelled up. First time I’ve had to use an EpiPen.”

“You carry one on board?”

“Frankie’s brother is—” Cole realised he’d used the wrong tense and thanked the stars he was talking to Bella and not his friend. “Was. He was allergic to peanuts. Frankie used to store EpiPens everywhere. And now…now it seems like a good idea to keep one in the first-aid kit. ”

“Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.”

“My neighbour in Crescent City used to say that. Old military guy. Except he used to say ‘piss poor.’”

“I was trying to be polite.”

“You just said ‘motherfucker.’”

Bella shrugged. “Yeah, well.”

Cole had to smile. “Relax, there’s not going to be any drama on this trip. Only sea, sun, sand, and…”

“Sex,” she finished.

No, serendipity.

Damn, he loved her.