Chapter 37
The Hidden Cove Answers
The answer came from the water.
At first, Nathan thought it was a trick of moonlight: a pale shimmer near the base of the cliff, then another, then a faint blue pulse beneath the surface. Marissa saw it next. She gripped his arm with sudden childlike wonder.
"What is that?"
Dane stood, and for the first time that night, his smile was unguarded.
"The cove showing off."
The water brightened again. Tiny blue sparks appeared wherever the current brushed stone, scattered like stars shaken loose from the sky.
Bioluminescence, Nathan realized. He had seen videos online, but nothing prepared him for the intimacy of it here.
The cove was answering every movement with light.
Marissa stepped toward the rail.
"It's beautiful."
Dane moved beside her. "Don't lean too far."
Nathan followed automatically, one hand hovering near her back.
The three of them watched the water glow.
A small fish flashed beneath the surface and vanished in a streak of blue fire. The yacht rocked, and the anchor line drew a luminous curve through the dark.
Marissa laughed softly, astonished.
The sound entered Nathan with more force than the sight. He knew that laugh. He had heard it on vacations, in bookstores, once in the middle of a rainstorm when their rental car flooded and everything went wrong. It was her unguarded laugh, the one she could not manufacture.
Dane heard it too.
Nathan saw his face change.
Not with conquest. With appreciation.
Jealousy rose again, but it was different now. It no longer asked Nathan to stop the moment. It asked him to witness its value.
"Take off your shoes," Dane said.
Marissa looked down at her bare feet and laughed. "Ahead of you."
"Nathan, yours."
Nathan blinked. "Mine?"
"Unless you plan to experience the cove through leather soles."
Marissa turned to him with bright eyes. "Please."
That was enough.
He removed his shoes and socks, feeling absurd and exposed, then followed them down the short steps to the swim platform at the stern. Dane turned on a low safety light, checked the ladder, checked the water, checked the wind. The spell did not break under his practicality. Somehow, it deepened.
"We are not swimming," Dane said. "Current is gentle but not worth romance making idiots of us. Feet only. Sit here. Move slow. Watch."
Marissa sat at the edge of the platform. Nathan sat on one side of her. Dane sat on the other.
Their feet hovered above black water.
"Together," Marissa said.
They lowered their feet.
The cove bloomed.
Blue light burst around their ankles, soft and electric, rippling outward in rings. Marissa gasped. Nathan laughed aloud, shocked by beauty. Dane's foot moved once beneath the surface and left a comet trail.
For a few minutes, wonder replaced everything else.
They moved their feet like children, drawing light from darkness. Marissa leaned against Nathan, then against Dane, then sat upright between them, laughing each time the water answered.
Nathan looked at her knees glowing beneath the surface, at Dane's hand braced on the platform near hers, at the small distance between their fingers.
Marissa noticed him noticing.
She did not move away.
Instead, she let her hand drift until her little finger touched Dane's.
The water flashed below them.
Nathan's breath caught.
Marissa looked at him, asking without words.
He nodded once.
Dane turned his hand palm up.
She placed her fingers in his.
Another pulse of blue light moved around their feet as if the cove approved of the smallest bravery.
Nathan stared at their joined hands. Then he looked at his own hand resting on Marissa's other side.
She reached for him too.
There they were again: three points of contact, two men, one woman, the yacht steady above luminous water.
"This is insane," Nathan said quietly.
Marissa smiled. "Yes."
"I mean that in a good way. Mostly."
Dane looked amused. "Mostly is often the honest part."
Marissa squeezed both their hands.
The water kept glowing around their ankles.
Nathan felt the hidden cove answering things no one had said aloud. Every movement made visible. Every disturbance translated into light. There was no way to touch the water without changing it.
Maybe desire worked like that too.
Maybe marriage did.
Marissa leaned her head on Nathan's shoulder. Her fingers remained laced with Dane's.
"Are you okay?" she asked him.
Nathan watched the blue shimmer fade, then flare again when he moved his foot.
"I'm not unchanged," he said.
She lifted her head.
"But are you okay?"
He looked at her. "I think I'm more okay because I'm not unchanged."
Her eyes searched his.
Dane's hand remained still in hers, offering no pressure, no claim beyond presence.
Marissa leaned over and kissed Nathan first.
The water brightened around their feet as they shifted toward each other. Nathan felt Dane beside them, close enough to be part of the heat, restrained enough to make the restraint its own invitation.
When Marissa drew back from Nathan, she did not release Dane's hand.
She turned to the captain.
Nathan felt the question before anyone asked it.
Dane did not move.
"Still yes?" Marissa whispered.
Nathan answered because she was looking at him.
"Yes."
Only then did she kiss Dane with the glowing water around their feet and Nathan's hand still wrapped around hers.
The hidden cove answered in blue.