I observed him for a while after that from my cocoon of warmth as he undid the sails and turned off the engine.
Then, just as the boat picked up speed, I dozed off.
‘Luscinia,’Elio’s voice woke me from the pleasant dream I’d been having that involved him, Nico, and a very large can of whipped cream.
I was still on the boat, though we weren’t moving anymore and the sun had come out fully, making me feel hot and stifled in the blanket that was still wrapped around me.
Kicking it away, I stretched my arms high above my head.
‘Luscinia,’Elio repeated again and I realized that his voice wasn’t just in my dream.
I glanced around, finding myself alone.
‘Where are you?’I asked with a frown, thinking that somehow Nico had picked him up during my nap.
‘At the house. I just found Nico’s lovely little note,’he said, sounding irritated.
My brows rose at that.‘Wow, I’ve gotta say, our mind walkie-talkies have quite the impressive range.’
‘Yes they do, I wonder just how far it actually works…’Elio mused, temporarily distracted.‘Oh, that isn’t the point. The point is it’s dangerous for you and Nico to wander off on your own. What on earth were you thinking?’
‘Nico woke me up. I figured you guys knew,’I replied, fully throwing my beau for the day under the bus. I knew he wouldn’t mind.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nico, now shirtless and dressed in only his swim trunks as he pulled himself up out of the water from what looked like a quick swim. Water sluiced down his bare chest in between each individual abdominal muscle and I found myself gawking at him as he made eye contact and grinned.
‘Gotta go,’I told Elio suddenly, mentally hanging up our conversation as I scrambled to my knees.
Nico, noticing I was awake, shot me a look that was somewhere between a happy puppy seeing its owner come home from work and a wolf that was intent on gobbling up its prey.
‘You’re awake,’he signed as he helped me to my feet and back onto the deck.
I nodded, pulling him down for a sudden, wet kiss.
Nico froze for a moment, probably shocked by how forward I was being, before he melted into me and cupped my jaw in his hands as he deepened the meeting of our lips.
Then he pulled away far too soon and something vibrated in my throat as I glared up at him.
His dark eyebrows rose with shock. “Did you just growl at me, love?”
I shrugged, not sure.
‘You stopped kissing me,’I signed back, moving to pull him in for another kiss which he dodged. Another vibration in my throat.
Nico threw his head back and laughed.
“That,” he said, his lips moving slowly for me to keep up with him.“Was absolutely adorable.”
‘Why won’t you kiss me?’I asked before crossing my arms over my chest.
‘Because you need to eat before we do anything else,’he signed before putting his hands on my shoulders and turning me to face the back of the boat where we’d initially gotten on.
At some point he had pulled a table up from the deck and it now sat in front of the bench I’d been sitting on earlier. On top of the table was a picnic basket that seemed to have magically appeared from thin air because all we had brought onto the boat was my bag.
Inside was various cheeses, meats, and crackers. I wanted to kiss him again, but my stomach rumbled at the sight of the food and I realized I hadn’t had anything to eat since last night.
We quickly tucked into our food, too preoccupied with it to have any real sort of conversation aside from the occasional nudges from Nico where he pointed out dolphins cresting the waves in the distance.
It was more peaceful than most of what I had done in my life so far.
