I may have lived the last two years in Guatemala, but red hair still graced the top of my head. The sun was serious there. I’d burned so much in my first few months there, I’d developed a base tan—something unheard of for me—and I refuse to lose it underneath the clouds of Pelican Bay this fall.
Oliver’s eyes sparkled. “Want a better view?”
“What?” I asked turning back to Pierce’s amazing view of the ocean. “This view is one of the best I’ve ever seen.” It wasn’t distorted by tall buildings, loud busy streets, or commuters making their way through the city like the one I grew up looking at every day.
“My boat is at the marina. How about we do a bit of sailing?”
How did I forget Oliver lived on a boat? He waited for my answer expectantly, and from his suggestion I wondered if there was more to his words. Was he missing his comfort zone as well?
“Okay, let me change.”
* * *
Oliver’s boatrocked on the water as the waves pushed in from the ocean. We walked to the main portion of the bow and the sun hit my face as the craft bobbed, trying to catch me off guard. When Oliver said boat, I didn’t realize he meant a big yacht.
The thing was a piece of beauty. I’d been on boats before, but Oliver’s yacht felt like a home. There’s no way he paid less than a million for it and the design screamed money and class. Yet in a soft sophisticated way. Even my mother would have found the accommodations appealing.
“Here, Mari, I can set you up over here with your towel. The bench folds out to a tanning bed, but if I keep it on this side, the overhang will cover you,” Oliver said fluffing the towel he grabbed from a basket on the lower level of the boat.
I waited for him to lay it out under the shade canopy behind the captain’s wheel and then took a position so I saw the ocean straight out the back. A seagull flew off from shore and skimmed its body along the water before raising to the sky again with a caw.
I couldn’t remember a more peaceful sight. The waves bobbed us along the water and I lay back relaxing as the shores of Pelican Bay faded into the distance. The engine purred as we made our way out to the ocean. So far from civilization.
Once we were far enough out, I turned to stare at Oliver’s back as he guided the yacht out further into open water. When he turned around and met my gaze, I smiled. “So you travel around the world in your big boat?”
He turned off the engine after a quick scan of the surrounding area, appearing comfortable with where we were, and then twisted his chair to face me. “Yup.”
“What happens if you want to settle down one day?” Get married, have kids, do those things people were supposed to do.
Oliver stared at the water in thought and then drove his attention right to me. “I’ve never felt the drive until recently, but I’ve been thinking it over more lately. If I can get my new solar project off the ground, having the boat will be handy because I can visit our various locations easier and always have a home base to come back to at night.”
I suppose having your home travel around with you would make it easier than constantly having to fly back to the United states thousands of miles away.
“What about the business functions here at the states?” He was serious with using a US manufacturer, but somebody had to look over the production. Keep things working together and on time. There were quality controls and safety checks to maintain.
“Pierce agreed to head up the operations on the East Coast. I’m more of a hands-on man. Much to my grandfather’s dismay I’ve never enjoyed sitting behind a desk.”
I nodded in understanding about expectations. I’d spent many hours behind a desk while running my family company in San Francisco, and I can’t say I ever enjoyed many of them. I used to stare out of my corner office window and long to be strolling the streets of San Francisco.
Our conversation turned in that direction and I filled Oliver in on pieces of my life. Work pieces. I even shared the truth of what caused me to flee California.
Trey, my ex had a fierce work ethic as well, but then he spent most of his day playing video games and considered it work. As one of the business developers of the largest gaming industries in America his day-to-day operations differed significantly from my own.
I used to make fun of him and called him only half a business man, but secretly I envied how much he loved what he did. I could never figure out why I didn’t get the same satisfaction from a day of work. Even though helping in Guatemala was at times backbreaking, I found more satisfaction from drilling holes in the ground in a third-world country than I did running one of the largest businesses in San Francisco.
It was no secret I grew during my time in Guatemala. Who I was as a person transformed, but it seemed even then I was still figuring things out. As I sat with Oliver a few more pieces fell into place.
I smiled at the gorgeous man who’d brought me to his boat for a day out at sea, wishing desperately that I hadn’t agreed to my arrangement with Pierce. I needed that two million dollars for my community, but right then my selfish needs of wanting to lean over and kiss Oliver felt like a deep enough price to pray to taste his lips against mine.
We were out in open water on the ocean. Who would see us out here? But I had no indication Oliver had the same feelings about me that I experienced for him. He was loyal to Pierce and I couldn’t mess that up.
The risk wasn’t worth it in the long run. The people in Guatemala had too much at stake for me to make selfish decisions.
12
Mari
“It’s game face time,” Pierce said as we stopped at the first step leading up to the porch at the Pelican Bay bed-and-breakfast. The tall blue building loomed ahead of us with white trim and so many windows it looked as if it fell out of a historical romance novel.
