World renowned writer, Molly Tulip, moves up to Northern Montana, hoping to escape the busy city life and a cheating ex. After years of stress and toxicity from her previous relationship, Molly needs to focus on healing herself through her writing...
"Don't mind my sister." Carver sighs as we walk towards the front of the boat. "She's always been overprotective over me." We walk past a drunken Angie who has cornered Karl at the edge of the boat and is practically throwing herself all over him. My eyebrows shoot up in disdain at the way that Angie is acting. It boggles my mind that Carver might have had any type of feelings towards such a sleazy girl. Carver sees my reaction and chuckles more to himself than at me.
"Why'd you bring her?" My displeasure spilling into my words more than I had anticipated and I quickly cover my mouth. My cheeks must be a brilliant shade of red because Carver doesn't hold his laughter back anymore.
"I didn't pin you as the jealous type, Molly." Carver teases and pokes at my arm with his free hand. I swat away his jabs and take a big sip from my drink.
"I'm not jealous." I emphasize the 'not' part of that statement. "There's nothing to be jealous of. We barely know each other. For all I know, she's the kind of girl that you chase after on a day to day basis." His eyes grow wide at what I said. The fits of laughter coming from him are now uncontrollable. Angie glances back at the sound of Carver's laughter and glares at me. Her anger doesn't last very long since this quick look is just enough time for Karl to slip away from her and takes off towards the back of the boat. Angie lets out some sort of primal squeak and chases after him.
"So, you think you know what kind of girls I date?"
"Oh, I never claimed I did." I quickly defend myself, "All I'm saying is you brought her," I gesture towards the fleeing Angie, "So who's to say she's not your type."
"Touché. But in my defense I didn't bring her. She's really good friends with Robbie and I couldn't turn her down without feeling Robbie's wrath. Trust me, that's something you never want to experience." Carver's whole body shivers as he melodramatically stares off into the distance. I glance over at where he's looking and my eyes fall on Robbie, the tall, slender woman standing at the edge of the boat. I notice her long, dark hair unfurling itself from the intricate braid she placed a top her head. She looks like a more gauntly version of Rose from the Titanic, just as beautiful and stunning as Kate Winslet, however, her deathly glare makes you look away quickly from fear that she might be able to judge the deepest part of your soul just from the smallest of glances.
My eyes fall back onto Carver who is staring at me. My cheeks heat up again and his grin widens as I ask, "So what kind of girls are you into?"
"Oh, well, where would the fun be in telling you that?" Carver wiggles his eyebrows and I sigh and roll my eyes. We reach the helm of the yacht and I see one of the guys that came with Robbie and Angie is steering the boat. "Thanks for taking over Marcus." Marcus turns around as Carver pats him on the shoulder.
"No worries, man. It's been a while since I've been able to drive this beauty. We've just been getting reconnected while you were hunting down your girl." Marcus had his shirt on earlier when we met, but now since we're on the water he's gotten comfy with just wearing his swim trunks. Not that I mind, the view is pretty great. Marcus is built like a bodybuilder and you can easily tell that the majority of his time is spent at the gym. He's to the point where you start to wonder if there are supplements in his diet that are helping to enhance his workout performance.
"I'm not actually his girl." I volunteer the information and Marcus chuckles. I look over at Carver who is beet red and he's making every effort not to look my way.
"Whatever you say señorita, I'll let you two take over command of the yacht." He winks at me as he slides around both Carver and me towards the back of the ship. I watch Marcus leave and I can practically see him mentally high-fiving himself for making his boy, Carver, feel awkward.
"You've got quite the array of friends." I tease and Carver nods while he runs his hands through his windblown hair. His face is still red as he takes over the steering wheel. His eyes scan the devices hooked up to the navigation and takes the controls off auto-steer. Carver's gaze meet mine, his eyes as blue and clear as the water we're sailing, and he motions for me to join him at the wheel of the ship. His soft hands guide mine to the metal circle and I feel the direction of the yacht adjust to the slightest move I make. Carver positions himself behind me, the warmth from his bare skin heating the parts of my body that aren't covered by my swimsuit. Both of his hands gently cover mine as he helps me steer the boat further into the lake and a massive grin erupts across my face. I can feel the power of this ship in my fingertips and I understand now why Marcus enjoyed steering her so much.
"You're quite the natural helmsman." Carver whispers in my ear and I feel goosebumps flow down from my head to my feet. His hot breath against my neck makes my knees turn to jello and I lean back against him for support. Carver moves closer to me, his arms wrapping tighter around my waist, and our grip on the wheel gets ever stronger. I glance up at him, expecting him to be looking at the open water ahead of us, but instead his eyes are fully fixed on me. We stare at each other, both taking in the face of the other person as our eyes settle both on the other person's lips. Carver leans down, our faces just inches from one another, his shallow breath gently grazing my face as he brings me in closer to him.
The sound of a boat horn startles both of us and we quickly look back to the water. A smaller boat is barreling right towards us, the crew aboard waving frantically for us to move. Carver jerks the wheel to the side, sending our drinks we had placed on the dashboard flying off the edge of the boat. We miss the small boat, but just barely. Carver and I watch as the people aboard the other ship flip us the bird and shout profanities at the top of their lungs. It takes a moment before both Carver and I relax and look back at one another. Laughter fills my lungs once I see the stress on his face.
"Okay! Which one of you tried to kill us?" Clara exclaims as she barges up to the helm of the ship. Carver and I tear apart and once she's in sight you can practically see the steam fuming from her ears as she chucks her flip flop at Carver. We both burst out in laughter and she throws her other shoe at me.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
