“No, that makes sense. And why wine?”
Highland chuckled before he pressed his lips around his straw, taking a sip of his.
“Jo-Jo told her you like wine, said it puts you in a good mood.” I shook my head in total surprise at these kids and whythe topic was even on me and wine. Highland tossed his free hand up.
“In my defense, the source sounded strong as hell, so I didn’t question it too much. Shit, now I feel silly for even doing any alcohol at all. I figured a pina colada would blend in nicely without too much trouble though.” I covered my mouth as I laughed.
“No, it’s much appreciated. Thank you. I swear, these damn kids will spread all your dirty secrets if they knew them. Well, I do love a good wine, but this is good. It’s making me wish I was laid on the beach, being greedy, soaking up all the sun I could take.” My mind went to Byrdie’s vacation idea then I thought about how Jasiel wasn’t coming home; so the idea of even a staycation that didn’t include him was out for me. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back for a moment, enjoying the heat rays against my face.
Enjoy this moment, Olive, this might be as close as you get to paradise like this.
“The way it’s glistening off your skin right now, I don’t think the sun would mind letting you take as much as you wanted.”
Highland’s words had me sitting back up to see him staring at me with low eyes full of lust. I cleared my eyes and looked away, taking another sip of my drink.
The sound of Neela’s little cries broke our little moment up as we looked up to see her making her way over to us. I thought she would go to her dad, but she came right to my lap instead, crying about a pretend boo-boo. I looked at Highland who smirked while giving me the eye to continue as he leaned back, tossing his arm over the rail of the bench, landing it perfectly behind me.
“Oh Neela, let me see.” I picked her up and brushed off the debris before I kissed her little arm.
“There, all cleaned. Is that better, pretty girl?” She sniffled as she nodded before laying her head on my shoulder. This wasnew for us. Granted, no kid had hurt themselves on my watch. But still, we hadn’t had these types of moments. I wrapped her in my arms, held her closely, and began to instantly soothe her further, getting her to calm down completely.
The girls are getting too attached to you, Olive, and too fast. You have to pull back.
Panic set in and now I was frantically passing her to Highland so I could call Jo-Jo. We had to go, and I meant now.
Olive, what are you doing?
“Well, I think we should be going. Thank you for the quick trip to the beach, Highland,” I said just as Neela landed in his arms. I was sure both were confused by my sudden change of mood. Shit, I was too as I got up, grabbing my bag and cup at the same time as I called Jo-Jo’s name, gaining his attention.
“Anytime.” Jo-Jo waved his goodbyes and we headed off.
We’d reached the car when Highland called out to me with Ceona next to him and Neela still in his arms.
“Ay, Olive, what about a playdate not on the playground sometime?” Even with my feet moving to get away from him, my mouth responded, doing the complete opposite.
“Sure.” I had no idea why I even agreed to be in another, more closed off space with this man and his family.
It’s for the kids, Olive.
That was my excuse and I was sticking to it. He wore a silly grin as he made his way further into my space.
“Put your number in and we can set something up for tomorrow.” He licked his lips, holding out his phone, that I took and did as I was told.
“See you later, Ms. Liv.” That was Ceona just as she hugged my legs and Neela waved.
Chapter
Six
Highland
“Shiver me timbers,” Tunk called out as he stepped onto the ferry, making the girls break out in a fit of giggles. Tunk stayed teaching the girls all this boat lingo even if I told him a lot of it was only used in the movies. No real boat or ship captain actually used a lot of the phrases. But the girls always got a kick out of it, so I had grown to ignore him instead of correcting him.
Since I switched my schedule around, I was on the late-night crew, meaning the girls were with me. I knew I had their camp coming at the end of the week, so I wanted to double check the inventory myself of a couple things, like the life jackets for the kids. I always kept a normal amount of kid sizes on a regular basis, but I was taking on triple the number of kids on one ride. And I would need all the assorted sizes to accommodate all the kids that day.
“Uncle Tunk!” the girls sang.
“What’s up, fool.” I offered a nod, not breaking my count and attention away from the case I was still going through.
