Page 17 of Sail Away
“Doing what, exactly? Because isn’t being on charter what you live for?” He groaned. “Sorry. Old habits die hard.”
“I guess they do,” she said. “I’m taking the written portion of my captain’s test next week. I wanted to use this time to study. You ruined that for me,” she said.
“I’m shocked you haven’t already taken it. You wanted to be a captain by now when we were together.”
“Another thing you fucked up for me.”
“How am I responsible for you not taking your test?”
“You’re not.” She huffed. “Other than it took me a little while to get my head on straight after we broke up.”
“I can relate to that,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll ace it. You’ll make a great captain.” He desperately wanted to pull her into his arms, hold her close to his chest, and kiss her sweet, tender lips. Letting her go had been the dumbest thing he’d ever done.
No. Telling her to leave her career had been.
“You didn’t have that much faith in me when we were a couple.” She wrapped one arm around her middle and brought her thumb to her mouth. She swayed back and forth.
That always drove him mad with desire. “Yes, I did.”
“Really? Because near the end of our relationship, I seem to remember you telling me that my job was a waste of time and energy.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“Then you shouldn’t have said it.”
“I just didn’t want you gone all the time. It’s not easy to have a relationship with a woman whose job has her in exotic places with hot, sexy bodies surrounding her all the time. I’m generally not the type to get jealous, but you seemed more interested in your career than me, and it started to get to me.”
“Now wait one second.” She poked his biceps. “You told me you didn’t think I was cut out to be a yachtie.”
“No. I said you were in the business for the wrong reasons and that needed to stop. I said you needed to quit trying to prove you were good enough, and to either do it or get out.” He held up his hand. This was not what he’d come here for, and he needed to go into tomorrow on basically the same page as Darcie. “I wanted to apologize, and I did. But I need to talk to you about something else. Can we go somewhere?”
“I don’t know. I’m tired. I’m a little tipsy, as you can tell since I’m quick to temper. Can it wait until tomorrow?”
“No. It can’t.” He took her by the forearm and led her onto her boat. He’d spent the last few hours contemplating if he wanted to tell her anything. By doing so, he was really putting her in an awkward situation, and that was really unfair and an asshole move on his part. Apologizing to her didn’t make up for it either. “I’m sorry, and you know I don’t believe in this kind of crap, but maybe things do happen for a reason.” He was all alone and had no one to turn to at this point. If he didn’t shut Preston down, Reid ran the risk of losing it all. He didn’t believe Preston was just going behind Reid’s back with a new product.
No.
Reid couldn’t help but wonder if Preston was making a run for the company. It shouldn’t surpise Reid. Hell, it was something Reid had thought about doing to Preston a few years ago.
Only, Reid wouldn’t be so underhanded about it.
The only question was how and when. And Reid needed a few days to figure out exactly what the fuck Preston was up to.
Darcie was an opportunity that had landed in his lap. No one could fault him for what he was about to do. Not in the long run.
“If you’re going to say that you chartering the vessel I work on is a good thing, I’m going to absolutely disagree. You broke my heart. You called me a selfish bitch and humiliated me in front of the people I work with. And by the way”—she leaned closer and poked his chest—“you should know that Captain Jim is commanding the yacht. And up until about a month ago, I was sleeping with him.”
“You and Jim? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He rubbed where her finger had bruised his body. She always found the most sensitive spots and then managed to get him with the sharpest side of her nail.
“I’m dead serious. But he’s supposed to be getting engaged tonight to someone who used to be my friend.” She patted Reid’s arm. “I have shit taste in men who like to do horrible things to me.”
“Come on, you should have known Jim would cheat. He’s never been faithful to anyone, which is why I’m shocked he’s getting married. Is she holding a gun to his head?”
“No. He really loves her,” Darcie said, letting out a long breath. “Or so he says.”
“I’m sorry about what Jim did. And I’ve said I’m sorry about what I did.” He let out a puff of air. “I’m not helping my case here, but you broke my heart too. So don’t go playing innocent in our breakup. I’m taking a lot of the blame because I did put the final nail in our coffin. But you enjoyed tossing dirt on it.”
“That was poetic,” she mumbled. “I sure know how to pick the assholes.”
