“I was enjoying watching.” My cheeks heat, and I can’t blame it on the wine.
“But you’re over here by yourself,” I say, leaning my hip onto the rail.
“Not anymore.”
I take a swig of the juice as a distraction from the flame that flickers in my belly at his words.
He tracks the bottle as I lower it, and I raise my eyebrow. “What? Are you going to tell me to slow down?”
Making sure the rest of the crew saw me partaking in the fun was important, but not as important as Weston. Knowing Sig and I are moving forward with our plans for the night puts me more on edge, and makes me worried he might suspect something is going on, when he otherwise wouldn’t. I need to be sure. I need to convince him there is no reason to worry, no reason to try to keep track of my whereabouts.
“No, princess,” he says and takes a drink from his own bottle. He swallows and clears his throat. “But if you decide you want to go for a swim after two bottles, then I’ll have no choice but to stop you.”
“You can try,” I say, narrowing my eyes in a challenge.
He smiles, one of his rare full smiles that makes my insides melt. He looks down at his feet like he’s trying to hide it. “Why do you keep putting yourself in danger?”
A thrill courses through my body like a shiver, and I think back to how loose his lips were after he played the game, how he said things I’m sure he wouldn’t otherwise say. Tonight feelslike the right time with a good excuse to say them, especially knowing that everything could be different in a matter of hours.
I can’t deny my feelings for him, and how he makes me feel about myself. Behind the tough exterior and the constant denials, I think he feels it too, more than just this physical attraction that keeps drawing us together.
But there’s something stopping him, and it isn’t Dane.
Is it my title? Or his? Is it my father?
He refuses to accept that we are not in Blackwood, and it is likely we never will be. The expectations and restrictions don’t exist here.
I can’t keep pushing down the pull I feel toward him any longer. From the moment I opened my eyes and found him hovering over me, begging me to breathe, I’ve felt it. There’s always been something in the way, but tonight, I want to break down all those barriers, before I put up another one, one he may never get past.
Before I leave and possibly destroy it all.
“Maybe I changed my mind,” I say, my eyes staying fixed on his face. “Maybe I like being rescued.”
He tries to fight it, but loses, and drags his gaze up, teal eyes meeting mine.
“I don’t want to have to, but I will always rescue you, princess,” he grumbles, and a muscle twitches in his cheek. “Please don’t make me have to.”
Clearing my throat, I turn my head, dropping my chin to my shoulder and gaze out over the water. I can’t handle the emotion behind his words, behind his stare, not tonight of all nights. Not when I know I’m going to do exactly what he doesn’t want me to, and told Sig not to let him rescue me.
A sharp pain slices through my tongue as I bite into it, trying not to respond to the conversation I had started. I tap my handon the wooden rail, trying to find a way out of this corner I’ve backed myself into.
“You did great earlier, with what you said. I think the entire crew appreciated you being honest with them.”
“Thank you,” he murmurs. The glint of the fire on the glass bottle catches my eye as he raises it to his lips.
“What were they saying? The ones who came up to you after?” I ask. I set my bottle down on the rail and face him again.
Jorn had been so understanding and supportive, probably knowing it was extremely hard for Weston to get up and address his crew about something he considers a failure. Others might not have been so understanding though, and I worry that even though everyone seems to be moving forward now, they gave him grief in the moment.
“They weren’t upset with me, if that is what you are worried about.”
“Good,” I breathe.
“They more want to talk about what comes next and how we’re going to exist here forever with the Voyagers still on the island. I don’t think anyone wants to stay on this ship forever.”
“Are you thinking about some kind of truce?”
He shrugs. “If there’s no way to leave, then we have to figure something out. At that point, finding the waters means nothing, and it wouldn’t matter if Dane knows where they are because he can’t leave either. We’d need to find a way to coexist.”
