“You tired? Want to paddle back to shore and get a smoothie?” I asked Darla when she popped back above water. “We can come back out tomorrow morning.”
“We should bring Mom.”
“Want to know a little secret?” I dragged her near, holding her wet body up and close to my face. I kissed her nose and whispered, “I kind of like it being just you and me.”
“Me too.”
“We won’t tell Mom. Plus, she needs her beauty sleep to beat me in tennis later.”
Jules loved watching us play. She’d pull a chair by the net and call out the score.
Darla didn’t know it wouldn’t be for much longer, or that Jules really needed her beauty sleep for the baby growing inside her.
Darla giggled as I hoisted her back into the kayak. “I’m going to get a pineapple-banana smoothie. How ’bout you, Dad?”
I climbed in, then picked up the paddle and turned us back toward shore. “Sounds good to me. Can we share?”
“Nope.”
“Hey, Darla?”
“Yeah, Daddy?”
“Remember the first time I bought you a strawberry smoothie at Rocky Brook?”
She nodded. “After my first lesson with you.”
“I loved you then as much as I love you now. I fell for you in an instant.”
“Me too. I wished that day to have you as my daddy.”
Those words were even more spectacular than the killer whale cresting on the horizon.
Later that night, with Darla out cold and tucked into her bed, the ocean air doing its magic, I brought Jules a sparkling water with lemon. We had a suite with two rooms despite Jules arguing over it. I wanted her to get rest, and I wanted toserviceher. This pregnancy had made her horny as fuck.
Considering I missed the whole shebang with Darla, my plan was to attend to every detail of this one. Especially the horny part.
From the moment Jules told me, the day before we left for Hawaii, I’d been on cloud nine. It was better than making a million, better than anything.
“Thanks,” she said from the sofa in the common area of our suite.
“Want anything else?”
She shook her head and curled into the corner, patting the cushion next to her.
That’s right, I obliged.
“Having a good time?” I asked, taking her foot in my hand.
“Mmm,” melted from her mouth. “Not as good as you. Snorkeling, kayaking, water slides, buying Darla big smoothies in those fake pineapple cups. I’d say you’re having the most fun.”
“You won at tennis today,” I said, trying to console her.
She giggled. “Because you let me.”
“No way.”
“Drew, you did. You barely made a forehand.”
