Chapter 13
“Come on, sleepyhead.”
Mac lay on her stomach with her face half buried into her pillow.
She cracked a heavy eyelid open to see Barry hovering over her.
She closed her eyes, thinking he would get the hint and let her go back to sleep.
She was exhausted, and she couldn’t even blame sex as the culprit.
Okay, not fully. They had only had sex once more before passing out.
The man had just completely wiped her out.
“Come on,” Barry prodded and followed it up with a smack on her ass. It didn’t hurt through the comforter, but it still startled her and had the effect of waking her up.
“It’s too early,” she mumbled, rolling over to her side to face away from him.
“It’s about the same time you woke me up yesterday. I don’t want you to be late.” It took her brain a second to clear through the sleepy fog and remember she had lied, saying she was going out with her crew today. Followed up with the time he said, she had never slept in that much before.
“I would have let you sleep in longer if you didn’t have to work. You looked so adorable sleeping. I made coffee.”
Mac took a whiff of the fresh-brewed coffee. The man was smart to make coffee before waking her. She could be a bit of a gremlin before she got her morning dose of caffeine.
Mac rolled back over to face him to see him holding up the steaming mug. Mac sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before finger combing her hair. She was sure she looked a mess but wasn’t going to blatantly point it out.
“Thank you.” She took the mug in both hands and took a sip. “I can’t believe I slept in so late.”
“You must have been tired.”
“Somebody exhausted me,” she said in an accusatory tone, but there was no heat in it.
“Should I apologize?” he asked, not looking unrepentant in the least.
“No, and I don’t think you would even mean it if you said it.”
Barry shrugged with a look that said she was right. “What can I say, I can’t resist you.” He leaned forward and kissed her, uncaring about her morning breath. It wasn’t a deep kiss, just a sweet peck.
If she were being honest with herself, she had the same addiction to him.
It was the last thing she wanted. It was just supposed to be a bit of fun, without getting emotions involved.
She was failing on that. Already she was dreading when he’d have to leave, and it had only been two nights.
What was she going to do when he was here longer? “I need to go shower, but I’m late.”
Mac set down her mug on the nightstand and scooted out of the bed. Barry stood up to let her out, and she hurried into the bathroom to take a quick shower.
She used that time to get her emotions back under control. When she made it back to her bedroom, Barry was already gone. She quickly dressed in her swimsuit and put her shorts and red short-sleeved shirt over them.
Barry was waiting for her in the kitchen with what looked like a sandwich in a napkin. “What is that?” she asked when he held it out for her.
“Breakfast.”
Mac looked at it harder. There was egg and bacon inside the bread. “Thanks.” She took it and bit into it. The bacon was nice and crispy, but the egg was still hot and threatened to burn the roof of her mouth. She sucked in a breath and moved it around before she was able to swallow it.
“You’re welcome. I wasn’t sure if you needed lunch or if your crew handles that.”
Normally she packed her own lunch, but since she wasn’t supposed to go out today, she didn’t last night.
She didn’t dare risk taking longer to make one and raise Barry’s suspicions.
“We rotate on the boat who brings lunch.” She didn’t plan on spending all day on the water either.
A few hours and she would be back with no one the wiser.
Mac checked her watch again. If she was really going to work today, she would already be out the door. “I should get going.”
“I’ll walk you down to the dock.”
“No,” she said more forcefully than she meant. It threw Barry off too by the wide-eyed look he was giving her, but she couldn’t risk him going down to the dock and not seeing anyone waiting for her. “Sorry, there’s no need to do that. I’m sure you have things to do today.”
“Not for a while.”
“I’m sure you want to go back to your hotel and shower.” She was grasping at straws for any reason for him not to walk her to the dock and catch her in a lie.
“It’s along the way.”
Mac wasn’t getting rid of him as she’d hoped. Instead of continuing to push him and start to raise his suspicions, she grabbed her stuff and headed for the door. Barry quickly followed in step.
“Will you back around the regular time?”
“I’ll be back earlier, I think.” She just wanted to scope out that area where the sharks had been disappearing. It wouldn’t take her all day to do it. “Why?”
“I was going to see if you want to have dinner with me?”
“Are you planning on spending a majority of your vacation with me?” She enjoyed spending time with Barry, but shouldn’t he be doing other things on his vacation than hanging out with her so much?
“Is that a problem?”
It just meant more time for him to set his claws inside her heart, only to rip them out when he left.
“No.” As much as it was going to hurt when he left, she enjoyed spending time with him.
“But instead of going out to dinner, I have a better plan.” There was a perfect place to go for a little picnic.
“What’s that?” Barry asked, stepping closer to her, looking intrigued.
“It’s a surprise.”
Barry’s face fell. “I don’t like surprises.”
“This is a good one, trust me. Meet me at my house around six tonight.”
“Alright.” Barry still didn’t look convinced about this surprise, but at least he agreed.
“Good, now I have to go.” She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight.” She walked away quickly, only waving at him over her shoulder until she passed the storage shed next to the pier. The same storage he had been leaning against when she’d arrived last night.
She ducked behind the wall and peeked around the corner to see if he was still there.
Barry stood there for a moment before leaving, probably headed for his hotel.
She slid along the side of the wall, getting a few strange looks from a few local fishermen.
She opened the storage door and grabbed her scuba gear, then walked back along the path to Jacques.
He would have a small boat that could get her to the southeastern coast.
Several of the locals looked at her curiously. It was odd to see her walking down the lane with a scuba tank when they knew her boat was docked behind her, but no one stopped her. Most people kept to themselves here. Except Elsie.
Mac spotted her shop up ahead. She was lifting the front lid above her shack to provide shade from the scorching sun. If anyone would stop her, it would be Elsie.
Mac darted into the thick brush before the woman turned and saw her. The bottom of the tank caught on thick roots and vegetation, making lugging it around even harder. Sweat started to dot her forehead, and her arm felt the strain from carrying it through the jungle.
Normally it didn’t bother her to take it from the storage shed to the boat, but when having to lug it around for half a mile, it was a pain.
Finally, she made it through a clearing and stood in front of Jacques’ dock. He sat in a rocking chair next to his makeshift shack to advertise his services. He had an array of speed boats with tubes or jet skis to pull behind and fishing charter boats.
Inside the shack, he had fishing tackle and scuba gear. She could have saved herself the arm strain and gotten it from him, but she didn’t want to pay Jacques’ fees for using what she already had available to herself.
Jacques was leaning back in his chair with a white bucket under his feet to keep him propped up. His straw hat that was more black than tan and had frayed edges was tipped over his face as he napped under the already hot sun.
Mac set down the tank next to Jacques’ side. He nearly jumped out of his seat, his hat falling onto the ground. He looked around for the source of his fright until his glare landed on her.
“Morning, Jacques.” Mac smiled sweetly.
“Gosh dang it, Mac.” He bent forward and picked up his hat, dusting it off before putting it back on his head.
The man had dark tanned skin from being out in the sun all day for years.
He had been running this business since she had been on the island and probably years before that.
Jacques didn’t talk much about himself, so she didn’t know his backstory.
But one thing she did know was that he hated being startled.
“What are you doing waking a man from a good nap like that?”
“I apologize, Jacques. It was getting so heavy, and it just sort of slipped from my grip.”
“What are you doing with your tank down here anyway?”
“I need to rent one of your boats.” Mac knew he wouldn’t ask too many questions, only enough to appease his curiosity.
“What’s wrong with Burt’s boat?”
“Nothing. They have the day off, and I want to do some exploring on my own. I found a really pretty coral area I want to explore.”
Jacques stood up. They were of equal height. “I thought you only did sharks?” he asked, giving her a critical eye.
“I research and study sharks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like exploring the island.” Jacques continued to stare at her. “Besides, I need a smaller boat to get near the inlet where it’s at.”
“Which area?” he continued, giving her a questioning look. The downside to a small island: everyone was curious about everyone and suspicious when you did things out of the ordinary.
“Since when do you care where your guests go so long as they bring the boat back?” she snapped. Since when did he get so inquisitive? If she didn’t know better, he had spoken to Burt, and the two of them were suspicious of her. It really was too small of an island sometimes.