Chapter 4 #2
“Sometimes, telling our story is what we need to do to set ourselves free.” He seemed to consider her for a moment, then his gaze flickered down to her lips.
Her heart hammered against her chest.
“Austen,” he said quietly, his voice husky. “Can I?—”
Yes.
“Not on your life!”
The words jolted through her, and she jerked, turned. What ? —
Stein?
He looked like some modern-day pirate, minus the cutlass but wearing flip-flops, shorts, and a black T-shirt, striding toward them with such fury in his eyes that it froze her to the spot.
Declan had found his feet, however. “Steinbeck.”
Stein ignored him and his outstretched hand and marched over to her. “Do you not listen to anything I say?”
That shook her to life. “Seriously?” She stood up.
His mouth closed, tightened. Then he pulled her into a hug so tight it nearly cut off her breathing. And he was trembling a little, maybe from rage, but possibly from relief.
Oh.
“Are you okay?” His voice lowered, roughened by emotion.
“Yeah.”
Then he stepped back, met her eyes, the words from days before in his gaze. “Do not trust Declan. Don’t even talk to him again.”
She wanted to argue with him, but not here in front of Declan. Mostly because she couldn’t bear for Declan to hear Stein’s accusation.
He didn’t deserve to be so disrespected.
“How’d you find me?” Except, just then, Hawkeye came up the stairs. He appeared tired as he gave her a tight smile.
“He made us find Declan’s boat.”
“I needed to see for myself that she was okay,” Stein said, his stare hard on Declan.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. “Stein, Declan saved my life. If he hadn’t found me, I would have been eaten by sharks or drowned.” In other words, back off, bro.
Stein nodded and held out his hand to Declan. “Thank you.”
Declan shook it. “Of course.” He still wore a frown, however.
And Stein’s jaw was so tight he might crack some molars.
Yes, she’d need to get Stein alone, talk him off the Declan-is-a-criminal ledge.
“I’ll get Austen back to the Keys,” Stein said and turned to her. “Let’s go.”
She looked at Hawkeye, back at Stein, and...
She shook her head. Just impulse, but... no .
And it wasn’t about trying to dig around Declan’s past, but...
That near kiss. The desire that had formed inside her still pulsed.
She hadn’t dreamed up that spark between them. The way her body tingled as he stood so close to her, his aura radiating out to her.
“I’m staying.”
* * *
Declan didn’t know what had gone down between Austen and Stein in the sky lounge when her superhero brother appeared out of the night, but he attributed it to some twin connection. Or maybe competing strong personalities. Because as the two stared at each other, they couldn’t be more alike.
Determined, courageous, and stubborn.
Declan hadn’t quite known what to do when Austen dragged Stein away for some private conversation. She’d bade Declan good night, and there went his opportunity to continue what he’d started, or at least had wanted to start, as they sat by the fire table under the stars.
When she’d told him about Margo’s accident, he couldn’t help but pull her into his arms, and of course that had just ignited all of his desires to protect her and hold her and keep her safe. It hadn’t helped that only hours earlier, he’d pulled her from the ocean.
Maybe he’d imagined her going strangely cold during his phone call.
Because then Austen had smiled at him and said, “I will take you up on your offer to stick around.” And suggested that she’d like to get to know him better.
And when she’d looked up at him with those big green eyes, yes, he’d been a goner.
So he would have kissed her and kissed her well, and maybe ignited the start of something beautiful if Stein hadn’t shown up, obviously simmering. Declan didn’t have a clue what he’d done to make Stein so angry, but clearly they had an overdue conversation in front of them.
He’d found Stein later, after Austen retired, standing at the stern of the boat, watching his friend Hawkeye tie his forty-foot fishing trawler to Declan’s yacht. Declan had stood in the quiet, the night wind blowing against his linen shirt.
Declan had wanted to ask “Did I somehow wrong you?” But before he could get the words out, Stein turned to him.
“Declan, I can’t thank you enough for what you did to find Austen. I’m truly grateful. Is it possible for me to bunk here on the yacht tonight? To be clear, I’ll be talking Austen into coming back with me to the Keys tomorrow, but it’s getting late.”
Declan had understood that. And maybe a little sleep would do them all good. “Sure,” he’d said. “I have an extra stateroom.”
Of course, Jermaine had appeared out of nowhere and directed Stein to the right stateroom.
Now as Declan lay in his bed, staring outside through the port window, he was still trying to sort out the mix of emotions and the fact that he’d actually found Austen in the middle of the vast sea.
Thank You, God.
And he didn’t know where that thought came from, because frankly, God hadn’t shown up for him in, well, years.
So maybe it was a dormant habit.
Very dormant.
And if he was honest, he knew he didn’t deserve God showing up, not really.
“Grace, son. And mercy. We don’t realize it, but they surround us every day.” His mother’s voice, of course.
Yes, well, she believed because it was all she had.
Still, Declan could admit gratefulness the next morning when he got up and the sun shone bright and warm.
As he sat in the sky lounge with a bowl of fruit and a mug of coffee, the dawn cresting upon the waters, his mother’s verses from Lamentations came into his head: “His mercies are new every morning; great is his faithfulness.” He didn’t really deserve any of it, but he wasn’t going to shrug away the morning mercies.
Movement on the steps, and he looked up to see Elise and Hunter joining him on the deck. Elise wore a yellow sundress, and Hunter, attired in shorts and a T-shirt, pulled out a chair for her.
“I see there’s another boat attached to us,” Hunter said as he sat down. Belle, one of the new stewards, came over and poured him coffee.
“Yes,” Declan said. “Austen’s brother Steinbeck showed up last night with his friend Hawkeye from the Keys.”
“I remember Stein from the island,” Elise said. “How is he? Wasn’t he shot?”
“I never did get to the bottom of that.” Declan had had his hands full trying to deal with the landslide and three missing kids.
When Stein had shown up, shot, Declan had simply arranged for a med flight out.
So yeah, he had questions, and he hoped that Stein had answers.
But maybe it took a back burner to convincing Stein that Austen was safe. Here. With him.
“How soon do you think it will be until we’re underway?” Elise asked as Belle returned with cups of coffee for her and Hunter.
“Thank you,” Elise said. She pointed to Declan’s fruit. “Could I get a bowl of fruit too?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Belle said. She turned to Hunter. “Anything for you, sir?”
“Just some eggs and bacon.”
Belle nodded and walked away.
“My captain said that we should be ready to leave this morning,” Declan said.
“Is Austen going with us?” Elise asked.
“No, actually, she’s not.” This voice came from Stein, who had come up the stairs and walked over to the table.
Declan looked at him and raised an eyebrow. This would be an interesting morning.
A night’s sleep still hadn’t wiped the scowl from Stein’s face, but maybe he hadn’t slept well.
“She needs to get back to Key West and maybe get checked out by a real doctor, and we need to start looking for her boat,” Steinbeck said as he sat down.
Declan nodded. “I’m happy to look for her boat after we drop the Jamesons off in Mariposa,” he said.
Steinbeck said nothing as Belle set a cup of black coffee in front of him. She turned quickly and walked away.
“Anything for breakfast, Steinbeck?” Declan added, glancing at her already heading down the galley steps.
Odd.
Steinbeck shook his head. “Thank you.”
Declan couldn’t help it: “Last night, Austen said she was staying.”
Steinbeck’s mouth made a grim line. And again Declan wanted to ask “What is your problem, dude? How did I wrong you?” But maybe not here at the table under the bright blue sky with the Jamesons within earshot.
Because he had a strange feeling that this wasn’t just something superficial—a misspoken word or a neglectful action.
And then it hit him. How did Stein get shot? He knew Stein had gone missing during the landslide after going back to Declan’s house. Stein had met with security and had even gone down to the vault to check on it. And then he’d disappeared. So yeah, they needed a conversation, and soon.
“What a gorgeous day.”
He looked over and saw Austen climbing up the steps.
She still wore last night’s yoga pants and T-shirt, the bathrobe around her as if she might still be cold.
But her auburn hair had been let down and hung wavy down her back, turning a shiny copper in the sunlight, sort of like a mermaid with luminous green eyes.
Once again he was back to last night, sitting on the sofa, the desire to kiss her, to be in her life, filling his chest.
“Good morning,” he said, which felt lame compared to what he really wanted to say, which was “Please stay with me on this boat.” Or even “Please stay with me.” Period, full stop.
And that sounded sappy even in his head, so instead, he spotted Jermaine entering the deck and said, “Jermaine, would you mind getting Austen a cup of coffee? How do you take it, Austen?”
“Like candy,” Steinbeck said, “with sugar and cream.”
Austen looked at him. “Actually, black will be just fine.”
Oh, the sparks had already begun by the shake of Steinbeck’s head. Austen went around and sat in the chair at the other end of the table, looking at her brother, and Declan felt like he was in the middle of a family stare-off.
“Shouldn’t you and I be heading back to Key West about now?” Stein said.