Chapter 18
DAREK
The sun was setting when Liza walked out onto the aft deck where we were having dinner.
The crew had outdone themselves. I paid them well, of course, but they still managed to impress me.
The table was set with actual china and crystal and candles flickering in hurricane lamps.
The whole scene was painted in the golden light of the dying day.
But she was the most beautiful thing out there.
I thought she had looked hot in that bathing suit. I’d literally forgotten how to form words when I had seen her lying there. I literally almost swallowed my tongue. My cock had twitched and nearly humiliated me by standing up and waving at her through my shorts.
The swimsuit was sexy, but this was different.
She’d done something to her hair, left it down in soft waves instead of her usual ponytail.
There was a braid on one side that pulled her hair from her face while giving her a very medieval look.
She had put on a little makeup. It was subtle but somehow made her eyes look even brighter and bluer.
Or maybe it was just the way her cheeks were still rosy from the sun with her skin glowing.
I stood up when she approached, some ingrained sense of manners kicking in. Liza settled into the chair across from me and I retook my seat.
“You look so pretty, Liza!” Daisie said, voicing exactly what I was thinking but couldn’t say. “Can you do my hair like yours?”
“Of course,” Liza said, smiling at her. “After we eat, though.”
“Deal!”
The crew started bringing out food. Grilled fish, salads with ingredients from some farm-to-table place I probably paid too much for, and bread that was still warm. Wine for Liza and me, sparkling cider for Daisie because I wanted her to feel like it was a special dinner.
I poured the wine, trying to focus on the mechanical task instead of staring at Liza. I couldn’t explain any one thing about her that appealed to me. It was the total package. She was so naturally beautiful.
My willpower was crumbling. Every boundary I had carefully constructed and every reason I had given myself for keeping this professional was eroding like sand beneath waves, wearing away a little more each day.
Each hour.
Each time she smiled at me.
We ate and talked. The conversation flowed easily like it always did.
Daisie told us about her friend Emma’s upcoming birthday party and how they were going to have a bounce house and a petting zoo.
Liza asked questions, genuinely interested.
I watched them interact with that familiar ache in my chest.
This was what Daisie needed. This warmth, this attention, this maternal presence that I couldn’t give her no matter how hard I tried.
After dinner, Liza kept her promise and helped Daisie with her hair.
They disappeared below deck to the stateroom where Liza had apparently left some hair supplies.
I gave them their space. It was girl time.
And while I knew how dangerous it was to let Daisie get close, a little hair time couldn’t hurt.
And if Liza did want to visit and see Daisie after our contract was up, then I would allow it.
God knew it was unlikely I would actually find a woman to have a relationship with.
I could hear them laughing and chatting. It made my heart sing.
I sat down at the table and thumbed through my emails. I tried to focus on what I was reading, but I found myself eavesdropping. Daisie was asking Liza about makeup. I cringed and waited.
“Makeup can be really fun,” Liza said. “But the best way to use it is to enhance what’s already beautiful about you, not to change your whole face. You know what I mean?”
“I think so,” Daisie said, though she sounded uncertain.
“Like, you have these gorgeous blue eyes. Just like your dad’s, actually. If you wanted to wear makeup someday, you’d choose colors that make your eyes stand out even more. Not because your eyes need fixing, but because they’re already beautiful and you’re just highlighting them.”
“Oh! Like when you highlight words in a book?”
“Exactly like that! You’re highlighting the good stuff that’s already there.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. She got it. She understood the balance I was trying to strike with Daisie. Not shielding her from the world completely but teaching her to navigate it with confidence and self-respect. I did not want Daisie getting her makeup tips from Sasha.
“What about like… Kim Kardashian?” Daisie asked. “She wears a lot of makeup, right?”
“She does, yeah. And you know what? That’s her choice, and she looks great. But she also has a whole team of professional makeup artists who do it for her. It’s literally their job. And even then, sometimes she goes out with no makeup and she looks beautiful that way too.”
“Really?”
“Really. The point is, makeup is a tool. Some people love using it, some people don’t care about it at all, and both of those choices are totally fine. The important thing is that you feel good about yourself, with or without it.”
“Do you wear makeup?”
“Sometimes. Like tonight, I put on a little mascara and some lip gloss because we’re having a nice dinner and I felt like it. But most days? I don’t wear any at all.”
“My friend’s sister wears a lot of makeup and she said she’ll show us how to put it on so boys will think we’re pretty.”
“Don’t worry too much about what other people think,” Liza said.
Crisis averted. We would have to address the makeup situation soon enough, but I hoped I had a good five years before we had to have that conversation. I decided to stop eavesdropping and went up above to watch the rest of the sunset.
When they emerged twenty minutes later, Daisie had her hair partially pulled back with some kind of braid situation that looked complicated and made her look older than seven. She was beaming, running to show me.
“Look, Daddy! Liza made me beautiful!”
“You were already beautiful, kiddo. But yeah, your hair looks great.”
Daisie ran to look at her reflection in one of the windows. Liza came to stand beside me at the railing. The sun had fully set now, stars beginning to appear in the darkening sky.
“You’re good with her,” I said quietly.
“She makes it easy.”
I felt it again, that sense of rightness and completion. Like this was how things were supposed to be. The three of us together, sharing moments like this.
This was the life I thought I was going to have when I settled down with Sasha. Family dinners on the boat, a wife who loved spending time with our daughter, moments of simple joy that didn’t require anything more than being together.
Sasha had stolen that from us. From Daisie and me both. She had painted this picture of what our life would be and made me believe in it. Then she ran away when reality didn’t match her fantasy.
Standing here with Liza, I could almost taste what I had lost. I could almost believe that maybe it wasn’t too late to have the dream after all.
Except it was fake.
Liza would leave in three weeks, and I’d be right back where I started, alone except for Daisie, trying to be enough for her when I so clearly wasn’t.
“Daddy, I’m tired,” Daisie announced, abandoning her reflection. “Can I go to bed?”
“Of course. Come on, let’s get you settled.”
I took her below deck to the stateroom she always used when we were on the boat. “You can watch a show while we head back to shore.”
She yawned and climbed into the bed. I handed her the remote.
“Did you have a good day?” I asked, tucking her in.
“The best day ever.” She yawned again. “I like Liza.”
“I know.”
“Can she stay longer?”
“Liza has her own life,” I said carefully. “Her own work and plans. She’s just visiting for a little while.”
“But she could stay if she wanted to, right? If you asked?”
“Maybe. But that’s grown-up stuff you don’t need to worry about. For now, just enjoy having her here, okay?”
“Okay.”
I tucked the blanket around her. I knew she would be asleep in no time.
I headed back up. The crew had cleared the dinner dishes and were busy preparing the yacht for the journey back to port. We’d be heading back soon, but for now, we were still drifting in the dark, stars overhead and ocean all around.
Liza was at the railing, looking up at the sky. I came to stand beside her, close enough that our arms brushed.
“She asleep?” Liza asked.
“She will be soon. Big day.”
“Big day,” she agreed.
“Do you want a drink?” I asked. “Another glass of wine?”
“No thanks. I’m good. I want to be totally sober for this view.”
“I agree.”
“We should probably get our story straight,” Liza said with a sigh. “For the evaluation and anyone that might ask. How we met, how long we’ve been together, all of that.”
“Right. Good idea.” I tried to focus on the practical aspects instead of the way she looked in the starlight. “So. How did we meet?”
“Through mutual friends in New York. That’s what you told people at the yacht club, right?”
“Yeah. We can stick with that. Keep it vague. Mutual friends, hit it off, started dating.”
“How long ago?”
“Two months? Three? Long enough to be serious but not so long that people would wonder why they haven’t heard about you before.”
“Two months works. That puts it before the custody stuff heated up.”
“Right. And we decided you would move up here to be closer and since the location is perfect for whale research.”
“Which is all technically true. Just missing the part about the contract and the payment.”
“Minor details.”
She smiled at that. We could do this. We could sell this story and make it believable because most of it was true. The connection between us was real even if the circumstances were fabricated.
“What else should we establish?” Liza asked. “Any relationship milestones people might ask about? First date, first kiss, any of that?”
“First date was dinner in New York. Italian place, nothing fancy. We talked for hours, closed down the restaurant.”
“Romantic.”
“I’m a romantic guy.” I turned to face her fully. “First kiss was later that night. I walked you home, and we stood outside your building talking, and I couldn’t help myself.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Once again I felt the electricity in the air. We weren’t talking about our fake story anymore. We were talking about us and this thing building between us that was getting harder and harder to ignore.
“And the kiss?” Liza asked, her voice softer now. “How was it?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t had it yet.”
“The fake one. In our story.”
“Right. The fake one.” I stepped closer, my hand coming up to cup her cheek the way I’d done in the boathouse before thunder interrupted us. “It was perfect. The kind of kiss you remember for the rest of your life.”
“That’s a lot of pressure for a fictional kiss.”
“Maybe we should make it real. For authenticity. So we can describe it better if anyone asks.”
“That’s a terrible justification.”
“I know.”
“We agreed no physical contact.”
“I know that too.”
“This is a really bad idea, Darek.”
“Probably the worst.”
But neither of us moved away. We stood there with a glittering sky overhead and ocean all around. I couldn’t have created a more perfect backdrop for a first kiss.
I was done fighting the connection.
“Tell me to stop,” I said.
“I should.”
“But are you going to?”
She looked up at me and slowly shook her head. “No.”
That was all the permission I needed.
I leaned in, giving her one last chance to pull away, but she met me halfway.
Our lips touched, soft and tentative at first. It was like we were testing to see if we were going to be struck by lightning.
When nothing happened, we both leaned in.
She made a small sound in the back of her throat and everything changed.