Chapter 8
EIGHT
Was this a mistake? It was probably a mistake.
Yet here Maddy was, carrying two coffees down the dock in the morning mist while the scent of saltwater and acrid creosote filled the air and the others chatted around her.
She was prepared to make the best of it now that she’d committed to her decision and put it into action.
She’d justified the last-minute decision to come on the trip by telling herself this was for research purposes. And that it wouldn’t be weird because she had Xanthe, Bronwyn, and Willow with her.
But when they were halfway down the dock, Lachlan looked up from where he was doing something near the bow of the zodiac. And when he saw her, the smile he gave her made her stomach do a backwards somersault.
“Mornin’,” he called out to them.
“Captain.” Then Bronwyn nudged her in the side and lowered her voice to murmur, “Wow, you just made someone’s day.”
Maddy flushed and stole a glance at Xanthe even as a secret thrill shot through her. Xanthe looked over at her and didn’t say anything but seemed to fight a smile.
Maddy waited behind the others as they climbed aboard. Lachlan offered a hand to Bronwyn and Willow while Xanthe hopped aboard with practiced ease. Then it was Maddy’s turn.
“I’m glad you came,” he said to her when she stepped up to the edge of the boat.
She was, too, now that she was here. Close up he was more gorgeous than she remembered, wearing a thick charcoal-gray sweater under his flotation suit pant suspenders and a knit cap with his company’s logo on the front.
His eyes dipped to the takeout cups she held. “What’ve you got there?”
“Just a coffee from Seas the Day Café. Xanthe said it’s your favorite. Two creams, two sugars.”
“North of the border, we like to call that a double-double,” Bronwyn said.
He gave Maddy another smile that made her stare. “That was really thoughtful of you. Thanks.” He accepted the still-hot cup in a big hand.
She felt small next to him, acutely aware of her femininity in a good way. Only a bit nervous because of the way she reacted to him.
“Here, let me help you aboard.”
She had gone out with him on the water twice before and was perfectly capable of getting in by herself. But she accepted the hand he held out anyway, unprepared for the electric leap inside her when his long fingers closed around her hand in a firm, sure grip that was still gentle.
“Watch your step.” He guided her over the inflated tube inside the gunwale and onto the steel step that led down to the deck. Held on just a fraction of a second longer than necessary, until she looked up at him and once again got caught by those green eyes.
“How’s she looking?” Xanthe asked from near the bow where she was handing the others their flotation suits. They were waterproof and would help cut the wind.
“Perfect,” he answered, looking straight into Maddy’s eyes.
She flushed and lowered her gaze as she eased her hand from his, struggling not to smile. He was charming, and even she, with her difficulty in reading social cues, could tell he was flirting with her.
No. Research, she reminded herself, and went to Xanthe to get her own suit.
She’d intended to dig into the video footage cache last night after returning from the party to do more analysis. Instead, she’d wound up reading and watching videos about Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers.
She’d started out knowing next to nothing about them and ended with the utmost admiration for them.
They were brave, selfless heroes, and there weren’t many of them.
Now she knew that both Lachlan and his brother had gone through intense, punishing training just to earn the title, then stayed in phenomenal condition through a relentless schedule of missions and more training exercises while serving.
Researching his old job might have been a mistake too. Because now she was even more into him.
“You ladies all ready to head out?” he asked from the pilothouse.
Xanthe gave a thumbs up. “Everyone grab a seat.” She handed everyone binoculars before they scattered.
Maddy chose a straddle seat in the middle row. After untying the lines, Xanthe sat on the tube near the bow. Bronwyn and Willow were on straddle seats in the front row.
Lachlan eased them away from the dock and swung them around to sail out of the marina.
Maddy zipped her flotation jacket up tight, trying not to think about how sexy it was that he controlled the boat so expertly—and that he had jumped many times from a hovering helicopter into rough, freezing seas to save people.
Why was he single again? It made no sense to her. Actually, it was a little suspicious. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Or maybe he had a string of women and enjoyed that kind of lifestyle too much to get involved in a real relationship.
There had to be something.
“Don’t worry. This is gonna be smooth sailing compared to last time,” Lachlan said, just loud enough for her to hear.
The seas that night had been incredibly rough.
She’d been scared to death of capsizing or being swamped by a big wave and winding up in the water, but she’d insisted on going along because Blaine had been in danger.
Now she realized she couldn’t have been in better hands than with the McCaffrey brothers.
A pale blanket of mist hugged the water and shrouded the base of the island as they motored out into the harbor. The wind picked up as soon as they left its shelter, but it was nothing like that night they’d gone to rescue Blaine and Xanthe.
She smiled when they cleared the harbor and Lachlan opened up the throttle.
The zodiac’s bow skipped over the crests of the waves as it cruised along.
With him at the helm, she felt completely safe.
Exhilarated by the cold air whipping against her face and hair, all but stealing her breath.
Moving through the mist at high speed gave it a dreamlike quality.
Bronwyn and Willow both laughed in delight when they caught air and slammed down on the other side of a wave. Xanthe grinned and glanced her way, checking on her. Maddy smiled back.
“You ladies okay up there?” Lachlan asked over the mic.
The sound of his voice was dreamy, too. Calm. Deep as the ocean they were racing across.
Bronwyn and Willow threw their hands in the air, and Maddy raised her thumb over her head. She stole a secret glance at Lachlan over her shoulder. She’d stood next to him in the pilothouse on the way to rescue Xanthe and Blaine but had been too scared to appreciate it.
The sight of him now, in command of the vessel, gaze on the horizon, broad shoulders filling the pilothouse window… He was completely at ease and at home on the water. And in it, given what she’d read and seen online last night.
Her insides fluttered.
She shook herself. They were here for a reason far more important than her crush.