Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Stephenie Meyer owns anything and everything relating to Twilight. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended and in order to keep it that way, No reproduction, copying, reposting, downloading, or any kind of redistribution of this story is allowed. This is to cover my arse as much as yours! And finally, the Original characters, plot, names, nicknames, songs, poems—anything I created from my very own brain—are all the property of the author of this fanfic, My-Bella. Unauthorized use of the material is plagiarism so please be kind and don't steal my creations.
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Chapter 31 – The Rewards of Trusting
Sunday, June 29th
Bella immediately rolled over to quiet her alarm. She didn't want to wake the whole crew with it and she definitely didn't want to wake her little sister. She wanted the next hour to be just for her and Edward.
After a brief stop in the bathroom to tame her hair and get rid of what she called "morning mouth funk", she headed upstairs to the helm. Edward didn't notice her right away, his nose too deep into the book he was reading. Rather than sitting in the chair with his feet propped up on the dashboard like usual, he was on the floor with his back to the wall and one leg bent with the other straight out. If he was anything like her when lost in a book, this was position number four in the search to remain comfortable while reading for hours.
He must have felt her eyes on him because he suddenly pulled his head from the book and looked right at her. He quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. "What are you doing up? It's only three."
She faked a shocked gasp. "Oh no! I'm up at three instead of four? It's almost as if my alarm was set an hour early."
Her teasing had him grinning. "Smart ass."
"What are you reading?" she asked, trying to see the cover as she sat down beside him.
"What are you doing up?" he countered.
She shrugged as if she was here simply because she had nothing better to do. The truth was that she had nowhere she wanted to be more, not even asleep in bed. "I was thinking you might enjoy some time alone with me but if you're busy …" She made as if she was going to stand up and he immediately tossed his book aside to grab her and pull her onto his lap.
She chuckled quietly while he made himself comfortable, banding his arms around her waist and setting his chin on her shoulder. His stubble ever so slightly brushed against her cheek but it wasn't enough contact for her so she leaned into him and pressed her cheek right up against his. She could tell he liked it as much as she did because while her content sigh had been internal, his had been audible.
She felt more than heard his whispered words. "You feel so good in my arms, kapu." There was a long pause and then he told her, "I'm sorry for last night. This is what I should have been focused on. Not whether or not you know sign language."
"You weren't upset about the sign language," she pointed out, hoping he would say the rest himself. If they were going to have any chance at all, he was going to have to stop shrinking away every time he felt the full strength of their bond. She knew exactly how big and scary it could feel—and she also knew he could do exactly as she was doing and lean into it rather than run from it.
"No," he agreed. "I was angry that this—us—that it might not be real." He swallowed thickly and held her tighter. "I was also angry that I need you because where would that leave me if you didn't need me back? Wanting you is one thing. I can turn it off and push it aside. No harm, no foul. But needing you …" With his last word his voice trailed away to nothing but a soft exhale of breath. He didn't need to say anything more, though, not with the way she could feel his heart hammering against her shoulder blade.
She picked up his right arm and with the pad of her thumb she caressed the scar on his wrist. "It's a more powerful anxiety in some ways. The other kind, it's strong and it's deep but we have no doubts we can overcome it if we just keep pushing. But this kind—it's like your whole life, even your next breath, it's all in someone else's hands and you have zero control over what happens next. It's all up to them to either love you back or let you go."
He took in a ragged breath and she could hear the shakiness in his voice. "Turn around. Please."
She did as he asked, folding her legs around his waist and setting her arms on his shoulders. His own hands lay flat against her lower back just beneath her shirt, the heat from his palms quickly warming her skin. The temperature difference sent a shiver running down her spine, creating an involuntary shake. Edward may or may not have noticed—all that mattered to her right then was that he was pressing harder, sinking his hands deeper into her back and temporarily satisfying her craving to feel more of him.
"Kapu." The pleading edge of his tone had her searching his face for the reason behind it. She had prepared herself to see blue eyes but she was extremely happy to see they were a beautiful shade of deep green. He was completely in this moment with her despite his uncertainty and fears.
"I don't want to let go."
"I don't want that either," she promised. "I want this." She leaned in and pressed her lips hard against the side of his neck, making sure he felt it. "I want to be close to you, to feel you. And I want to feel that you want me just as much." She kissed his neck again, feeling his breath catch and then his hard swallow.
"I never stop wanting you. It's just … Everything feels more when you're with me."
She wrapped her arms around his head, drawing it to hers and putting her lips at his ear. "This is real, and you can trust that I love you and need you." She pulled away slightly to show him her true and happy smile. "I am your kapu, after all."
"You are." He made it sound like a promise so that was exactly how she was going to take it. His pressed his hands more firmly into her back, pushing her chest against his and bringing her lips within kissing distance. "I love you."
"I never once doubted it." Although she knew the answer already, she had one of those questions on the tip of her tongue that required verbal affirmation from him. "Did you really doubt me?"
"No. Never. It just didn't make sense that you would. Like you said, I'm not the guy you would ever pick."
She smiled in hopes of getting him to do the same. "And you certainly wouldn't have picked me since I'm not fond of your favorite creature in the sea. So I guess it's for the best that we never had a choice."
He snorted and gave her one measly kiss—sweet but measly.
She playfully huffed at him. "Here I am, loving you and even getting up an hour early just to hang out with you, and all I get for my troubles is a tiny peck."
His eyebrows lifted and he seemed unsure if he was being teased. "So you want to be rewarded for loving me?"
Bella nodded emphatically and dramatically in an effort to make him laugh, to show him she was moving on from last night's fiasco and ready to have fun with him. "It's only fair. It is a tough job."
"Then I better make it a good kiss."
Her stomach twisted at his words, and then did a full-on summersault when his tongue flicked across his lower lip. He left one hand at her lower back and brought the other to her neck, pulling her in and fitting as much of her body to his as he could manage. Even in the middle of the night he still smelled like a warm beach on a sunny day, both fresh and salty with a hint of something she couldn't quite put into words.
Being this close and not having his lips on hers was suddenly no longer acceptable so she remedied it herself, grabbing a handful of his soft hair and pulling his lips to hers. He found her impatience funny and laughed against her lips—right up until she slid her tongue along his bottom lip the same way he had done earlier.
A low growl from the back of his throat was followed by a diabolical attack on every single sense she had. He started with touch—attacking her lips while positioning his hands so that she couldn't back away or ignore the brush of his thumbs against the sides of her breasts. Her senses of smell and taste quickly became useless, so full of him that she could hardly remember the aroma or flavor of anything else in existence. She gave up on seeing, finding it completely impossible because every time she opened her eyes he either shifted his lips or his thumbs just enough to make her eyes cross and then close all over again. Even with all of that she might have had a tiny shot at keeping her wits about her so she could help make sure no lines were crossed. But then she heard him—a low moan she felt reverberate deep inside herself. And she was lost.
As lost as she was, she wasn't alone and Edward never made an attempt to take things any further. He wasn't in any hurry to stop either, but then again neither was she. Her lips literally hurt from how hard they'd been kissing and yet if he'd come in for another kiss, she absolutely would have let him land it.
But he didn't. He held her instead, stroking her hair while she listened to the rock concert drum solo beat of his heart slowly calm until it became a steady, easy to count rhythm.
She had just begun to wonder if they'd knocked each other speechless when he asked, "Did Alice wake up with your alarm?"
"How did you know she was in my room?"
"Whit."
"Ah." She should have guessed that since he really did seem to know all.
"I was thinking maybe I should talk to her. Let her know that she didn't have anything to do with what happened between us last tonight. And that she's still welcome here if she wants to stay. If you think she would want me to talk to her."
Bella leaned back so she could hold Edward's face in her hands and enjoy the green of his eyes before their work began and turned them blue. "I appreciate so much that you're trying with her. I know she's been kind of a brat since she got here but I also know she was serious last night about seeing the real you and not the one she made up in her head. She wants to be friends with you, Edward. She also wants to see me happy with you."
"Really?" he asked with an adorably hopeful grin. "I'm no longer a bossy beast?"
"I wouldn't go that far," she joked. "But she is looking forward to building a friendship with you."
"Friends with Thumper." He said it slowly as if he was considering it for the very first time. And then he pulled out his shitty grin. "Promise you won't get jealous when she wants to be my B-F-F?"
Bella snorted. "The day she becomes your B-F-F is the day I let you get a peek at what's under my red bikini you like so much."
"You should probably move so I can go wake her up and get started on this friendship thing."
She shook her head. "Trust me, waking her up before she absolutely has to be up is not the way to start a friendship with her."
"Then what do you suggest?"
She pretended to think about it for a moment. "I think you should focus on me right now so that I'm happy and smiling when she gets up."
"Happy and smiling, huh?" He leaned in to press a few soft kisses along the column of her neck. "What about blushing and breathless instead?"
"That … uh … that could …" That was all she got out before becoming too distracted by his touch to even try to finish her sentence. And honestly, what did she need words for anyway? He'd already said all the important things she'd needed to hear and expressed a desire to make things right with her sister. There was absolutely no reason she could come up with for talking instead of relaxing in his arms and enjoying the sweet torture of his lips on her skin. He had absolutely and unequivocally made rising early her new favorite thing.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
"Summer storms are a real pain in my ass," Masen grumbled as he sifted through the pages of the latest weather report. The forecast had drastically changed in the past couple of hours due to a storm system suddenly deciding to go left when it had been tracking right for two days straight.
"Shit, shit, and more shit," Lee said, leaning against his arm to read with him. She seemed to have the same idea that he did, that maybe if they kept looking at the report, the forecast would change back.
"We'll figure it out," he assured her as he stood up.
"We always do," Whit agreed. "And, hey, we have a damn near perfect day right in front of us."
"Then let's get to work and not waste a second of it," Masen said. "If anyone has any questions about the assignment sheet we went over earlier, now is the time to ask. If not, get your gear and be on deck in ten minutes."
He had expected at least one question from Thumper after all the ones she'd asked yesterday but she got up from the table and trailed off after Bella without a word.
Masen slid the weather report into the same folder he'd put today's assignment sheet and gave it a tap on the table to make sure all the pages were completely inside. He also noticed Gopher still sitting at the table.
"What?" he asked, wary of the man's excited smile.
"Mase, I know what I want my favor to be," Gopher replied, his voice full of confidence. "I want time in the cage today and—"
"And? There's no 'and'. You did me one favor, you get one favor."
"Dude! It was a huge favor!" Gopher challenged, holding his arms out to their full length.
As much as he hated to admit it, Gopher was right. Even if Bella's phone hadn't died that night, Masen had serious doubts that a phone call would have been enough. Being able to show her the video from that day and giving her the ability to see he was perfectly safe were the things that had lessened her anxiety.
With a reluctant sigh, he said, "Let me hear it before I agree to anything."
Gopher's grin was so big it was comical. "Okay, so when Whit showed me the weather report this morning, I knew tomorrow would be a scrap and we'd need something else to do. Mase, I want to pick what we do tomorrow."
His initial second of shock immediately gave way to worry for the team's safety and annoyance with Gopher. "No. No way in hell. Why would you even ask for that?"
"Just hang on a sec," Gopher replied calmly, lifting his hands up palms out. "The wind's gonna make the water too choppy to do anything tomorrow and the heavy rain will keep us indoors all day. There's nothing I could come up with that would be dangerous."
He lowered his eyebrows and crossed his arms, completely certain that given the chance, Gopher could absolutely find something dangerous to do indoors.
"Okay, maybe there is if I thought on it long enough," Gopher conceded with a shrug. "But that's not what I want. Plus, you get veto power. Anything you deem unsafe is out."
"And you won't give me any shit about it?"
Gopher looked at him as if he'd said something insane. "Of course I will." He then lifted a finger and added, "But I'll also go along with whatever you decide."
Indoors. I'll be right there. Lee will be right there. He can't cause that much trouble, I guess. Masen sighed heavily while fighting with himself. He wanted to give Gopher more opportunities to be valuable to the team but he also had a responsibility to ensure everyone's safety.
Maybe it won't be so bad, he thought. "What did you have in mind?" he asked as he sat across from Gopher.
Gopher's giant excited smile was back in full force. He smacked his hand against the tabletop and then slid it toward Masen. It took a second for Masen to realize there was a sheet of paper under the man's hand.
"I took a cue from you and did my research," Gopher explained. "I figure if we can't learn about sharks, then we should learn about each other."
From the look of the notes scribbled on it, Masen doubted any real research had gone into this list and said as much. "All you've done is pair us off as couples."
"Trust me, bro, there's a method to my madness."
The sounds of the others coming back upstairs had Masen shoving the sheet into his folder. "You'll have to explain it to me later. We've got work to do right now."
"That's not a 'no', right?" Gopher questioned as he got to his feet.
"It's not a 'no'," he confirmed. "Get your gear together and get on deck."
"To be continued. Cool."
Gopher and his ridiculous smile went away, leaving Masen shaking his head while turning toward the couch and the gear he'd set down on it just before breakfast. He snagged the strap of his backpack and slung it onto his shoulder, then stepped outside into the darkness of pre-dawn.
Masen was in the middle of setting up the last work-light when he heard Bella behind him. "I wondered how we'd work safely before sunrise."
"This?" he asked, smirking and pointing up at the fixture. "This is just a prop. We're not working until well after the sun is up. I just wanted to make you all get up super early."
"Liar."
He looked up from the extension cord in his hands to verify that the smile he'd heard in her voice was on her pretty face—It was and it made him smile in return. "What makes you so sure?"
"You wouldn't have stopped kissing me just to play a prank on the team."
"You stopped," he reminded her. "I had no choice since you left the room."
"To get ready for the work you scheduled," she argued.
"That was me, huh?" he joked as he put his arms around her and drew her closer.
She looked down at his arms and then up into his eyes again. "Isn't this interfering with your work mode?"
"I've got until the last team member gets on deck to get into work mode." He leaned in for a kiss but she pulled back with an odd look on her face. "What? Not into my breakfast breath?"
"Do you think you'll go back to studying other creatures anytime soon? Or is MMR going to be focused on sharks all the time from now on?"
"I'm sure we'll eventually study other marine life, but right now we're at our most useful studying sharks and fighting for their protection. I would love to be able to go off for three to five years to study other things and be assured that I can come back to sharks and see the same groups I'm studying now. But that's not reality at this point."
"I never thought of it that way. Right now could be the last chance for you, for everyone in the world, to see these creatures and study them and learn from them. If they don't become protected soon, they could be extinct in a few years."
"They will be unless we change things, MMR and groups like us all over the world. We have to convince governments and communities that sharks need our protection. The best way I believe to do that is to show sharks as vital members of the marine ecosystem, rather than the monsters portrayed in movies and on television. We have to change their perception in order to change their future."
"If it helps to know it, you're off to a pretty good start with me."
"At least I'm getting something right with you." He'd meant it as a joke but he knew neither of them had really taken it that way.
"You get plenty right. It's just that when you get something wrong, you go straight to setting off the giant Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza instead of using safe little sparklers."
He couldn't help his snort. "I can absolutely say I haven't heard that analogy before."
Her grin was sly as she said, "So you're admitting you don't know it all?"
"Smart ass," he breathed against her lips. And then he kissed her; a breath-stealing, sensory-overloading, and temperature-raising kiss that had the hairs on his arms prickling like he'd touched a live battery on one of his home-made remote control cars.
"I'm here, Captain!" Alice announced cheerily.
Bella laughed against his lips while he rolled his eyes and reluctantly released her. He turned to face Alice and asked, "What's your job this morning?"
Alice grinned. "Shadow you and ask questions when I don't understand a vital task. Save all other questions for break periods. And under no circumstances am I to get in your way."
"That's as much for your safety as mine," he said, feeling she needed to hear it again.
Whit, Lee, and Gopher joined them on deck and everyone broke off into their assigned teams. Whit and Lee went to work with Guppy to get the cameras ready, and Thumper joined Masen and Gopher near the railing. Gopher set down a large metal case that opened to reveal a variety of research tools, everything from an extendable gaffing hook to a roll of forty pound fishing line.
Despite Masen's repeated explanation of the difference between a vital question and a non-essential one, Thumper continued to ask about every single tool in the box. He was not surprised that his level of tolerance was dwindling the faster his frustration rose. What did surprise him was Gopher fielding a good portion of the questions to at least give Masen a chance to focus on his work.
"You're doing that wrong," Alice alerted the men from her mandatory safe distance of two feet behind the case.
Should have made it ten, Masen thought, continuing his check on all the components of their winch system.
"You'll waste time that way," continued Alice. "You should have two short rows with the most used items closest to you."
Gopher chuckled under his breath at Masen's frustrated eye-roll. "Want me to toss her over? Or do you want the honor?"
After taking a deep breath, Masen explained his method to her. "We setup single file in one row because it keeps Gopher close to me, reducing the risk of something falling and being damaged or causing an injury to a crew member. It probably does take longer our way, but it's safer."
She nodded but she still looked confused. "Are you sure you want to use that stuff to poke a shark? I mean, I get that you're gonna be in a cage and all, but it just seems silly. I know I wouldn't poke an angry bear."
Gopher must have heard Masen's teeth grind together because he let out another quiet laugh and whispered, "You just did."
Then he did something new, something that immediately earned him another favor from Masen though he didn't know it. He grinned at Masen and then looked over at Alice and told her, "Thumper, get a pen and a piece of paper and write down the name of every item we've gone over and how it's used."
He then looked to Masen to see if there was any objection to the assignment. Wanting to see where this would go, Masen gave a slight nod only Gopher noticed.
Gopher grinned and turned his attention back to Alice. "I'm going to quiz you throughout the day until you know it all by heart. Once you do, we'll give you a more hands-on assignment. Think you can handle that?"
"Can I get a pen and paper from the office downstairs?"
"Knock yourself out," he told her.
As soon as Alice was out of sight, Masen sighed in relief and sat down for a moment to calm down and re-center himself. He also grinned at Gopher.
Gopher also relaxed and sat down to take his own breather. "I'm glad you don't seem to mind me giving her a quiet assignment."
"Not even a little. The best idea I could come up with was duct tape but Bella would have my ass."
"Yeah, you kinda filled your quota for pissing her off last night."
Masen lifted his eyebrows at him.
"No offense, bro," Gopher said with a smile. "I've been in the hot seat myself and Lee's put herself in it plenty of times. It's not fun for anyone, but it happens. None of us are perfect and we get shit wrong sometimes. But hey! You realized duct tape is a bad idea so you learned something last night. That's all any of us can hope for—to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them."
Masen's smile widened. "If I'd known you were this smart before now—"
Gopher cut him off with his deep, booming laugh. "You'd have still been an ass …" he said as he got to his feet, "… which is cool with me only so long as you don't forget you owe me time in the cage today."
"After Lee and before Whit," Masen promised, standing and then bumping fists with Gopher.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
Monday, June 30th
With all the work they'd done yesterday, trying to cram in as much as possible before the bad weather arrived, Bella should have been in a deep sleep. But the rocking of the boat had made sleeping impossible and left Bella yawning continually and feeling cranky long before it was time to get up. She traded her pajamas for a comfy t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts, grabbed her journal and pen, and headed up to the kitchen to make some coffee.
She was happily surprised to find a nearly full pot on the burner and figured it must have been Edward. He'd left her room about an hour ago for his project room, wanting to go over the details for today's assignments one more time. She could tell he wanted to be able to trust Gopher to be the team leader for a day, but she could also see how much Edward was struggling to relinquish his role as watchdog of the group. He probably felt a lot like she did when he was in the water—that it was imperative he keep watch.
Bella slid into the seat at the kitchen table and looked out at the rainy world. Unfortunately, it was well before sunrise and the only thing she could see was the reflection of her own tired face distorted by the fat rain drops sliding quickly down the glass. She realized she could also hear the muffled voice of the weather announcer coming from the ship's weather radio. She was pretty sure it was Whit's turn at the helm but she really wasn't up for company just yet.
She stared at the cover of her journal, remembering how last night she'd naively assumed it would be easy to write about her day. The fact that she'd been nervous all day but had never had an anxiety attack had bolstered her confidence. Plus, Edward had been sitting beside her in bed at that moment. She'd opened the journal, turned to a fresh page, and put the pen to the paper. And nothing had come out. Not a single thing.
An involuntary smile curled her lips as she thought of Edward's idea of making her feel better about her writer's block. He had set his hand under hers on the mattress and curled his pinky around hers. His eyes had been green and his smile had been sweet, happy, and genuine.
"You're holding my hand," he'd told her.
She'd stared at him for a minute, trying to figure out what he was up to. "You put your finger around mine. You're holding my hand."
He'd looked down at their hands and then back at her. "That's purely inconceivable, and this hand holding business is clearly a figment of your exhausted imagination. You should probably get some sleep to fix that. Or if you're not as tired as your imagination leads me to believe, I've got an idea on how to spend an hour or two."
She hadn't been sure whether to laugh, to kiss him, or to question his use of the word 'inconceivable'. It was so rarely heard and she knew so few people who were fans of The Princess Bride. In the end she'd decided playing along was best.
"Edward?"
"Yeah?" he'd responded, pretending to be lost in the book in his hands.
She'd leaned into him and breathed her words beside his ear. "I like it when you hold my hand."
A fake groan and a book toss later had found them wrapped up in each other's arms and kisses, the journal and the writer's block completely forgotten for a time. She'd even managed to sleep for a little while until she'd felt Edward get up from the bed. She'd promised him she'd try to go back to sleep but by then the storm had rolled in and the rocking had begun.
And now here she was with sleep an impossibility and the journal sitting in front of her again. And the truth that the longer she put it off, the harder it would be to get it done. Not only would she be battling with her desire to forget it all instead, the details would have started to fade.
Taking up her pen, she focused on the facts first …
Sighted: Great White Sharks
Where: False Bay, around three miles from Seal Island
Description: Majority of sightings were underwater shadows. Did see a few heads break the surface near the cage.
Side Note:
She paused and took a deep breath, worried her mind would go blank all over again. She drew a question mark on the page, half-heartedly hoping it would work as a key and unlock her thoughts. That didn't work for her so she wrote a single word … Alice. And just like that, the words came fast and free.
It's draining to be brave for someone else. Not to say that it's ever easy to be brave for myself, but it's a different kind of hard to do it for someone else. Observing my expressions and my body language, making sure I'm not giving away how hard my heart is pounding while tracking that shadow drawing ever closer to the cage Edward and my friends are in. But I can't complain about it too much because I think it's what kept my constant nervous feeling from turning into anxiety. I'd love to say it was all my work with Edward but I know I haven't really faced my fears yet—I haven't conquered them.
Seeing Alice work with Edward and Gopher, watching her take her assignment seriously, it was amazing the way she just dove in and gave it her all. I don't expect it to last any more than I expect her truce with Edward to last. He's right about her, that her fear is worse than mine, and that she ignores it. While I couldn't tear my eyes away from those shadows, she always managed to find something she needed to do on the other side of the boat or even indoors. This purposeful ignorance will catch up with her eventually and it'll most likely come out in anger, though tears are also a distinct possibility with her. And no matter what, it will definitely come with more pleading for me to leave and go home with her. I'm still hopeful for change so my answer will be still be "no".
Edward's also right about sharks. Not completely, of course. I don't think they're beautiful. I don't think something built for a violent life can ever attain beauty. It's not like the shark has a moral compass and a soul to redeem itself of the damage it inflicts. But I will admit they are magnetic creatures. They draw your eyes to them and they hold your attention, your fascination, and even your breath.
There's another truth to sharks—their every move carries the power to change your life and all it takes is seconds for it to happen. As strange as it feels to admit it, they don't do it purposefully or maliciously. They only do what they were built to do—swim and eat. I haven't decided how I feel about this. It doesn't make the loss of my father any easier to accept. There still feels like there should be someone to blame, some action to point to and say "That's it. That's the source of my pain and grief and loss and if I can tell everyone to avoid that one thing, then no one will suffer the way I have." But that's not how it works. It's not that easy, that black and white. I feel like the only thing I learned from yesterday was to look at the same problem from a different view but with the same end result, which is no resolution at all.
The sound of a slurp had Bella lifting her head and finding Lee sitting across from her. "You work just like Masen," Lee told her. "So far into your work that the world could fall down around you and you wouldn't hear a thing."
Bella blushed and closed her journal. "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Long enough to know whatever you were writing wasn't enjoyable. Want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Good because I want to hear about Masen." The smile she flashed let Bella know if she had wanted to talk about something else, Lee definitely would have listened.
"What about him?" Bella asked, wondering what she could say that Lee wouldn't already know.
"For starters, I was really excited by the change I saw in him yesterday. It was all Bella all the time."
She found herself blushing again. "It wasn't. He paid attention to you guys too. He even joked with Alice a little last night during dinner."
"Scraps! That's what we got." The giant smile on Lee's face let Bella know she was being teased. "So is he actually sleeping or is he freaking out about how different yesterday went?"
"Actually, he's in his project room freaking out about today. What about you? What's your excuse for being up at this hour?"
For once, Lee blushed. "I am too excited to sleep. I'm beyond proud of my Emmett. He's taking a step out of his comfortable background role to show he has leadership skills. He doesn't take it lightly and he very much wants to prove he can do it. Not to me because he knows I have complete confidence in him. He wants to show Masen and Whit. And I'm proud of Masen too. It's huge for him to trust our safety to someone else."
Bella wasn't sure how to phrase her worry that Edward wouldn't be able to go through with this favor. "The way Edward was writing all over that page, even down the side of it, I wasn't sure he was ever going to feel comfortable with Gopher's plan."
"Knowing Mase, he's probably scrutinizing that poor sheet of paper again. But I really believe he'll come through and give it a chance." Lee shifted in her seat and shifted the focus of the conversation. "What about you? What has you up?"
"First it was the boat rocking but then I wanted to try writing about yesterday."
"I was teasing earlier, but I'm serious right now. The difference you made yesterday, the change we saw in Masen, that was amazing to see. He needs that. He needs that balance between work and real life and you not only give it to him, you make him happy about it. And as far as your work goes, I think you did a damn fine job as a spotter. I know it was hard on you and I could tell a couple times the word got stuck in your throat, but every single time you pulled it through."
"Thank you," Bella replied, absolutely beaming inside and out from knowing the praise had been whole-heartedly earned.
"But!" Lee warned, shaking a finger at her. "You have got to stop worrying about your sister. And before you say it, I know exactly how hard that is to do. Mase and Whit may not be blood relatives, but they are damn sure my little brothers and I would do anything to protect them. Sometimes the best way to do that is to focus on me and let them handle their own business. None of us can afford to be distracted by while we're working."
She nodded, recognizing the truth and wisdom in what Lee was saying. She also thought about the journal entry she'd made and how most of it had pertained to her sister rather than to the sharks she was supposed to have been studying.
"I'm hungry," Lee announced. "Want to make a snack with me?"
"Sure. Should we make some for Whit since he's at the helm?"
"Oh, I guess we can be nice to him," Lee answered with a soft chuckle.
The ladies decided instead of making a snack they'd make something that could be warmed up for breakfast for everyone. They found all the ingredients for banana nut muffins and set to work while comparing favorite foods for all occasions.
They were in the middle of sharing warm muffins and laughs with Whit when Edward and Gopher came into the room. Edward had what was now a well-worn sheet of paper in his hands and Gopher was sporting a huge smile.
"Morning, Minions," Gopher greeted.
"What did I just say?" Edward asked, looking as if he'd love nothing more than to smack Gopher.
Gopher must have legitimately been shocked because his voice was an octave higher than usual. "You meant all day?"
Lee and Whit laughed at them while Bella grinned and shook her head, wondering how in the world these two polar opposite personalities would manage to work together today.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
"So what's everyone else doing?" Bella asked as she grabbed a duster from the shelf.
Masen smirked, knowing she wasn't going to like his answer. "I'm not supposed to tell. Gopher thinks it's best if his master plan stays between him and me until after dinner tonight."
"Seriously?" she asked, stopping to look at him. "You aren't going to tell me?"
"I didn't say I wouldn't. I'm open to bribery."
She rolled her eyes. "You mandated there was to be no joking today," she reminded him while reaching up on her tip-toes for a roll of paper towels.
He slipped an arm around her and pulled her against him. "I'm not joking." He smirked at her gasp and then snagged the roll off the shelf for her.
She spun to face him and nearly collided with him since he was still standing right behind her. "Don't you think it's a little hypocritical to demand seriousness from everyone else while you joke around?"
"You must have some seaweed in your ears because you don't seem to have heard me the first time. I'm not joking. Besides, we all know Gopher isn't going to make it an entire day without being himself. Hell, he probably won't even last the first couple of hours. I made that demand to start him off in the right frame of mind in hopes that at least part of his brain will remember to focus on the team's safety throughout the day."
"Is this really about safety? Because I'm having trouble imagining any indoor task that would lead to harm."
Masen quickly ticked off a few for her. "Inattention could leave a wet spot on a freshly washed floor and lead to a slip and fall accident. Missed trash could become a trip hazard. Not realizing a knife is in the sink could lead to a sliced hand. Last year alone there were over 48,000 unintentional injuries. And that's just U.S. statistics."
Bella stared at him for a long moment. "You're not just giving him a hard time. You really are worried."
"Gopher is a good guy, and he is smart about a lot of things, but he's also an in-the-moment guy. He's focused on what's right in front of him while I'm trying to see every nook and cranny possible."
"You spend so much time and energy searching for dangers and finding ways to avoid them … Does it ever bother you?"
He was pretty sure she was trying to delicately ask if he ever felt depressed by all the injury and death statistics he knew. "To me there are two things in life. Facts and events. The facts are all the things that could happen. They're also just numbers. It's the events that count because those are things that have actually happened. Those are the experiences and the memories that make us who we are and affect future decisions."
"If that's true, then why did you see me as such a threat? We didn't have events between us yet."
He smiled and put his arms around her, getting as close to her as possible and enjoying the way it made her blush. "Kapu, you make the facts irrelevant. For a guy like me, someone who plans every day according to the facts, you are as terrifying as you are exhilarating. Every single thing about you is an unknown."
Her brows creased and her brown eyes filled with sadness. "I'm your anomaly. Everything I do causes you to have to deviate in some way and I make every day harder for you."
"No." He said it sternly and as a promise. "You have made every day different, there's no denying that. Some have been fun and amazing, and others have been stressful and trying. And sure, I've had to deviate a lot from what I consider to be my norm, but I can't think of a single instance where that turned out to be a bad thing."
"What about my run-in with the ray?"
"Stressful but also fun. I got to hang out with you pretty much uninterrupted, it brought the entire team closer together, and it showed me a different side of Gopher. Plus, it brought your uncle and your sister into our lives, which in turn brought Esme and Whit some extra happiness."
She smiled as she pressed her palms to his stubble-covered cheeks. "You're amazing. You and your brilliant, unique mind. I'm throwing off the facts and changing the events, causing you to fight your own self to be with me, and from all that you pull out the positives."
She leaned up while pulling his face down to hers and planted one hell of a kiss on his lips, a kiss he enthusiastically returned.
As much as the thought of staying here appealed to him, he knew they needed to get started on their cleaning duties. They'd been assigned the sleeping deck, and the office alone was going to take at least a couple of hours. Whit and Lee were great at their work but not so much on filing away all of it.
With Bella's help the office only took half the time he'd expected. She'd even made some suggestions for a more efficient filing system that would maximize their shelf space. They were saving dailies, assignment sheets, and photos in separate binders which kept the document types together but also meant they needed to pull out three binders to look up one day. Bella's suggestion was to keep only a year's worth of information on the shelf, with everything together and each binder containing a month of information. If any older data needed to be kept, it could be kept in boxes stacked across the hall in the office they used as a medic's station. It was one of those ideas that was so simple it was hard to understand how he'd missed it. Then again, it could be hard not to get tunnel vision when caring so much about a project.
"Where to next?" Bella asked, following Masen out into the hallway.
Looking toward his room, Masen realized he'd never shown it to her. She'd probably seen it while working with Gopher but that wasn't the same, especially since he knew Gopher would protect his privacy and not talk about anything she saw in there, especially his treasured photos.
He didn't know why he felt nervous about inviting her in yet he stood there scratching his nose and debating on whether to get it over with or save it for last. And then he realized he was looking at things all wrong. He shouldn't be thinking of getting it over with—he should be excited to share another part of his world with her. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, he knew just what he wanted to show her first.
"I wanna show you something," he said, offering his hand to her.
She smiled and linked her fingers with his, not hesitating for a second to let him lead her wherever he wanted.
Once they were in his room, he let go of her hand so he could grab his sketchpad from his nightstand. He flipped it open to the sketch he'd done the other night and then turned to show it to her.
She came closer and touched the edge of the paper. "Did you do this?"
He held the pad tighter to keep from scratching the bridge of his nose and giving away just how nervous he was for her reaction. "Sometimes when I really like a photo, I'll make a sketch of it. Out of all the ones we took at Seal Island, yours was my favorite."
"It's beautiful." Her tone alone told him she meant it but it was nice to also see it in her eyes. "You're really talented, Edward. I'm just wondering … what's so special about a seal floating?"
"It's the way he's floating with his flippers up. One person can look at it and think he's soaking up the sun, enjoying the mild waves. Someone else can think he's praying for shark-free waters. And some will even just see a seal floating. This is a photo that tells a story, that speaks to people."
She blushed at his praise even as her happy smile spread across her face. "I know the photo belongs to MMR, but could I have the sketch?"
He hadn't expected that and his shock kept him silent too long which ended up making Bella nervous enough to say "never mind".
That loosened his tongue right up. "Are you kidding? You can't say 'never mind' after paying me a huge compliment like that, kapu." He carefully tore the page from his pad and handed it to her. "It's yours."
"Thank you," she said softly, her blush once again blazing brightly.
"Why are you feeling nervous?"
"I'm not nervous. Not really. Actually, I'm amazed to find something else you're great at. It's starting to look like there's nothing you can't do."
"I guess we're gonna find out." He took a deep breath and then a leap of faith, trusting that this was the right step to take with her. "So we're in my room. Ask me anything you want about anything you see in here."
Bella carefully set the sketch on his bed and then made a beeline for his bookcase, picking up the picture frames sitting on top. She held the one in her left hand a little higher. "Elizabeth and you?"
He nodded while taking the photo from her. "That's the lake my grandparents' house backed up to. There was a dock and a small sailboat. We had a lot of good times there."
"Did you miss it when you moved to Hawaii?"
"Not really. I wanted my mom more than I wanted a boat and a lake."
She rested her head on his arm and touched the edge of the frame. "It's a beautiful picture, seeing her sharing her love of the water with you." She smiled up at him and he could see in her eyes that she was going to tease him. She got this little glint in the corners every time she made fun of him.
"But that hat? Really?" She didn't even try to hide the laughter in her voice.
"You're hating on my baby hat? Isn't there some law that all babies are beautiful or something?"
She snorted. "You're right in that all parents think their babies are beautiful but that doesn't apply to the rest of the world. Besides, that's an abnormally ugly hat."
He couldn't help grinning at her silliness. "I'll admit it's not the most flattering thing she ever put me in. Still, it beats the sailor suit."
Bella gasped and her eyes grew at least two sizes. "There is a picture of you in a sailor suit? Where? I have to see this!"
"Not happening."
"Fine. I'll ask Esme."
"Ask away. She won't show you. She made me a solemn promise that picture would never see the light of day again."
"We'll see."
He ignored her taunt. "What's your question on this one?" he asked, taking the second picture frame from her.
"The little girl in this one?" Bella asked, tapping the glass. "Esme?"
"Yeah." His smile was loving and his eyes tender as he looked at the old photograph. "One of Elizabeth's favorite pictures of her too. Supposedly, Esme and I were best friends from the first moment she held me."
"That's sweet."
Masen put both pictures back on the bookcase and then sat down on the edge of his bed with Bella. "Most people think so but my grandparents were worried it was a sign she would follow Elizabeth's footsteps and have a child too young so they sent her away to boarding school. It pretty much ruined her relationship with them, not that it had been that great before. She was a last minute surprise. Instead of getting the overbearing parenting my mom got, Esme was pretty much left to her nanny and the housekeepers.
"When Elizabeth first told me we were going to visit Esme in Hawaii, I was kind of worried. Esme called us and wrote us letters all the time but that's not the same as being in the same room together. I thought maybe she might blame me since it was sort of my fault she got sent away and was just being nice for Elizabeth's sake. But the minute I stepped off the plane, Esme had me in her arms, giving me embarrassing kisses right there in public and yapping away about all the things we were going to do together."
"Did you ever worry she was so nice just because your mother was sick?"
"We didn't know Elizabeth was sick then. We were just going to Hawaii for a two-week summer vacation."
"How did … Um …"
Masen smiled and put an arm around her to let her know he was alright with her asking. "A few days into the trip, she woke up too weak to get out of bed. They both told me it was just jet-lag catching up with her and that I shouldn't worry. Esme seemed positive that Elizabeth just needed a day at the spa. Almost a week later, they were sitting me down to tell me Elizabeth was sick, and that while I'd been stuck with Tanya and her sisters, Esme had actually taken Elizabeth to the hospital for tests."
He smiled again, but this time it was tainted by his sadness and the intensity with which he missed his mother. "She wouldn't let any of us mope," he shared, thinking of his mother's strength and her determination to keep life as normal as possible for as long as possible. "She made sure we made the most of the summer. And if she was ever too sick to participate, she made sure Esme and I still went through with whatever was planned."
Bella threaded her fingers through his and gave him a smile only she could—one full of understanding and comfort. "Thank you."
His lips rested against her forehead for a long moment before he stood and pulled her up with him. "We need to get back to work."
"One question first," she replied, tugging at his hand to get him to stop moving. "The books on your shelf. Peter Pan and Treasure Island are definite pirate books. And I can even see where Nemo is a pirate of sorts in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. But there's one book I can't quite figure out."
Masen smirked, knowing exactly which book had caught her eye. "Dread Pirate Roberts was feared across all seven seas for his ruthlessness and mastery of a sword. He absolutely belongs on that shelf."
Bella's eyes lit up and her smile filled her face. "You really have read it! You've read The Princess Bride. What did you think of the movie? It deviated in a few spots but I thought it was pretty good otherwise." Her excitement had him laughing.
Since they really did need to get back work, he made her an offer he was sure she wouldn't refuse, "I'll tell you all about while we clean the next room." He gave her hand a gentle tug but her feet didn't move and her excitement drained completely from her eyes and face. "Bella, what's wrong?"
"I—It'll sound stupid."
"So? We've already established I'm good at saying stupid things. If you want to share something with me, then I want to hear it, silly or not."
"I wanted Miracle Max to be real, even if it was just for one day. I wanted—" She shook her head, unable to finish her thought.
"You wanted mostly dead and not all dead so Max could bring your dad back. Bella, that's not stupid." He tugged on her hand once more, getting her to come closer so he could hug her and reassure her. With his chin resting on top of her head, he gave her a few words of comfort as well. "It's definitely not any sillier than searching an atlas for Florin."
"Yeah?"
"Two of them, actually. I thought the first was incomplete." He'd never told anyone about that, not even Esme. She probably had some idea though; he'd asked her where Florin was after not finding it in the second atlas, but she had never asked why he wanted to know. He'd never thought to tell Whit or Lee, probably because they always spent the entire movie laughing and reciting the lines in silly accents.
Bella stepped away and smiled while sliding her fingers under her eyes to dry them. "We should get back to work. Never know if Gopher will check on his teams."
Wanting to make sure she was okay and back to being in a good mood, Masen took her hand and kissed the back of it. "As you wish."
He not only got the blush he'd expected, he was rewarded with a big genuine smile like he'd hoped.
The conversation during the completion of their cleaning duties never faltered and covered so many topics that he never had a chance to feel bored or tired of talking. Bella even brought up sharks a couple of times, though it was always in reference to non-dangerous species like the whale shark and zebra shark.
"Your turn," Bella said, offering him the mop and sliding the bucket closer with her foot. When he made no move to take it, she grabbed his hand and wrapped it around the handle for him. "The deal was that we each mop half. My half is done so get busy with yours."
He pulled out his shitty grin, surprised she was missing such an obvious detail. "I'd love to get to work, Guppy, but you're holding up my progress."
"How do you figure that one?"
He leaned against the mop handle and looked down at her feet long enough to make sure she'd noticed. "If I start mopping with you standing here, you're gonna be stuck until the floor dries. Not to mention your little area will remain unclean."
She blushed. And then she ranted while making her way to the stairwell. "This is all your fault. You've been distracting me all day with your teasing and your bribery comments. I was prepared for you to be worried and wanting to check on the others every five minutes but instead I get a comedian on my hands."
"Your lips," he corrected, still smirking. The truth was that as much as he was enjoying her company, and all the kissing, he was worried about the others and often fighting the urge to sneak off to check on them.
She spun to face him, her grin almost as big as his. "Lips you won't touch again if you don't get your half done."
"Keep telling yourself that, Guppy."
She laughed at him. "Edward, you're not irresistible."
"Come here and say that," he challenged, pointing at the floor directly in front of him.
"Oh, no!" she replied, laughing again. "You need to mop and I'm going to dump in the first load of laundry."
"Come here. It'll just take a few seconds. Or less."
He was able to hear her laughter long after he lost sight of her. He smiled while shaking his head and thinking of her smile and the way her eyes turned caramel whenever she was enjoying herself. It was by far the strangest work day he'd ever had, but in some ways it was also one of the best. It was infinitely more relaxing than a typical day, and it was definitely moving at a slower pace. Plus for all the talking and his occasional teasing, their work was getting done completely and correctly. There was no way working like this could happen on deck but knowing it was possible for the inside duties was some interesting information to have collected.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
"That's not a very healthy choice," Bella said in answer to Edward's question.
His head immediately popped up from behind the refrigerator door. "What do you mean a B-L-T isn't healthy?" he asked, managing to pull off an offended expression. "It has lettuce and tomato as two of the main ingredients. That gives you a vegetable and a fruit in the same dish."
"It also gives you greasy bacon."
"But you love bacon. I know you do because you stole mine."
She giggled, remembering how shocked he'd looked that morning. "I do love it, but I also know to eat it in moderation. Now salmon is very healthy and it doesn't take a large portion to have you feeling full. And you'll love the olive oil and rosemary red potatoes I make as a side."
He closed the refrigerator door and came over to where she was sitting on the small island. After sliding her right up to the edge, he uncrossed her legs and wrapped them around his waist. "I could make you forget all about your dinner idea."
She smiled as her fingers disappeared into the silk jungle that was his wild hair, doing her best to hide his effects on her so she could tease him for a change. "There you go again, thinking you're utterly irresistible. It didn't work with the mopping or with Alice during the tiger shark video, and it's not going to work with me now."
"I am incredibly proud of you for how you handled yourself during the video. You didn't look away once and you helped me try to engage Alice in our discussion."
She frowned, sure he wouldn't be proud if he knew how many times she'd come close to throwing up because of her anxiety. Just as quickly as she had the thought, she corrected herself. That's not true. He would still be proud. He would remind me that it's a natural reaction. He would tell me watching the video is major progress no matter how much anxiety I felt. Last time I was running off and crying at the sight of those tigers and today I held it together. Plus I talked about what I remembered of skipjacks.
Edward's voice pulled her out of her head. "Hey, where'd you go just now, Guppy?"
"Nowhere," she answered with a smile. "I'm right here."
"I know you better than that."
She leaned forward to rest her forehead against his, delighted by the truth of his words. "I'm still getting used to the idea that it's okay to be anxious so long as I keep trying. At first I found it hard to see my progress today because I was thinking of all the anxiety I'd felt. But then I compared how much of the video I made it through before with how I did today and I could see there's definite progress."
"Have you thought any more about what I said?"
"About learning to incorporate the anxiety rather than fighting it? I have on and off a little but right now I just can't picture doing that."
"I know it's not going to be easy but the next time you start to feel anxious, try to turn it into energy. Let it motivate you and drive you."
She sat up straight and gave him a nod. "I'll try. For now, let's get back to deciding on dinner."
"There's only one reasonable way to solve this." He released her legs from his waist then reached into his cargo shorts and pulled out a quarter. "Coin toss."
"Okay, but if you win, we're baking the bacon."
"Baking the bacon?" he asked through his laughter. "I know I heard that wrong."
"You get all the crisp and none of the popping grease. Plus cleanup is way easier because you just fold the foil up and discard."
He crossed his arms. "No. I'm not letting a bacon-travesty occur in my kitchen. It's not happening."
Bella reached out and ruffled Edward's mess of hair. "It's so cute how you think you have a choice. Now flip the coin."
"Smart ass." He ducked in for a quick kiss and then balanced the quarter on his fingers. "Heads or tails, Guppy?"
"Ooh, that's an awfully big decision. I think I need some—"
He flipped the coin, sending it up into the air and cutting off her teasing.
"Heads!" she yelled as she tracked the coin's movement down and into his palm.
Edward opened his hand and showed her a coin tails up. "Victory is mine!" he boasted with a grin.
"Half yours. I'm still baking the bacon."
"I'm warning you now, if you ruin my bacon, there will be hell to pay."
She laughed as she slid off the counter. "If you don't like it, make your own darn bacon."
He grabbed her up, lifting her feet from the floor and making her squeal. "You're spending far too much time with Lee and Whit."
"And you like it." She pecked his lips and then wiggled out of his hold.
After setting the oven to preheat, she opened the cabinet where Gopher kept the baking dishes. She could feel Edward watching and she grinned as she thought of how sweet it was going to be to hear him say she was right once he tasted the bacon.
Just as she went to put the bacon in the oven, Edward called for her to stop. He darted around the island and went to the small pantry at the edge of the kitchen. When he finally stepped away from it, he had a fire extinguisher in his hands.
Her surprise had her laughing. "Edward! Really?"
"You can never be too safe, Guppy."
She let him see her eye roll and then she slid the bacon into the oven.
Not only did Edward end up liking her bacon, the entire team raved about it and Gopher made her promise to share how she'd done it. He even declared it was now the only way anyone was allowed to make bacon; Bella highly doubted Edward would stick to that. It felt incredible to see everyone enjoying themselves and getting along.
Lee tugged her arm. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Bella asked as she stood with Lee.
"The rain's finally stopping. Let's go up to the observation deck and get some air."
Bella was pretty sure air wasn't the only thing Lee planned to get up there.
She was proved right as soon as they made it outside. "How in the world did you keep Masen from running around checking on everyone every few minutes?"
Bella laughed. "I didn't do a thing. All I can come up with is that he really did put his trust in Gopher. Whatever revisions he made to the assignment sheet, they must have been enough to let him feel secure."
"Masen is a worry-wart. Always has been and always will be." Lee grinned. "I think he was distracted by a certain someone. Fess up, Guppy. How much was work today and how much was play?"
"All I will say is that if there was any play involved, he started it. It was the weirdest and the best work day I've had yet with him."
"Huh," Lee said, her grin faltering as her eyebrows drew together.
Before Bella could ask her what she meant, Edward came out onto the deck. "I get up for a refill and you two disappear. What are you up to?"
Lee put her hand against his chest and pushed him toward the sofa on the other side. "You've had Guppy all to yourself all day. It's my turn."
Edward laughed as he grabbed her wrist. With one quick pull, he had Lee in his arms, laughing and squealing. "One of these days you're going to have to realize you're not the boss of me."
She snorted loudly. "You first."
"Unhand my woman," Gopher ordered from the doorway.
"Why should I?" Edward challenged.
"We don't work tomorrow and I have beer," Gopher replied, grinning and holding up two beers.
Only after Edward had released Lee did Gopher pass him a beer, the two of them sitting down together on the sofa. Lee and Bella looked at each other and grinned; she knew they were both hoping what they were seeing right now would become the new norm.
Lee turned toward the railing and took hold of Bella's elbow, getting her to turn too. Bella blushed, knowing they were about to listen in to Gopher and Edward and also knowing it wasn't going to be anything too terribly private or Lee would have had them go inside.
"So have you figured out the point of my assignment for you yet?" Gopher questioned.
For far too long the only sound was of a label being peeled off a bottle.
"It's not just about someone else running the team," Edward stated. "I know that much."
"Let me give you a clue … You worked all day side-by-side with Guppy. Did you feel overly distracted at any point?"
"No."
Bella wasn't completely sure since she was still learning his moods and signs, but he sounded surprised.
"Everyone survived today unscathed, right?"
Edward snorted. "Yeah, you did good, Gopher."
"We did good, Mase. You shared the responsibility instead of shouldering it all yourself. And because you weren't on constant alert, you were able to enjoy your workday in ways you don't normally experience."
"That had more to do with being indoors."
"You sure about that?"
"Some of it definitely had to do with my partner for the day."
"Partner is the exact right word, Mase. That's what she is, at work and in your personal life. And the more you share with her, the more you're both going to enjoy it." Gopher raised his voice, "As for you two over there, you might as well come sit with us since you're listening to everything we say anyway."
"Don't mind if I do," Lee said as she turned to face them. She marched right on over, sat down on Gopher's lap, and snagged his beer from him.
Gopher and Edward laughed at her behavior while Bella moved toward the chair next to them. Just as she went to sit, Edward grabbed her and pulled her down on top of him.
"Save the chair for Whit and your sister," he said as he made himself comfortable with his chin on her shoulder.
"How annoyed are you at being overheard?"
He chuckled and held her tighter. "Not at all because I expected it. Besides, it's nothing I wouldn't have told you if you'd have asked."
"I was enjoying today too much to question it."
"It can't be every day, especially not days where we're in the water. But I can see the benefits of letting someone else run the team once in a while."
"What about the benefits of baked bacon?"
He tickled her side until she squealed. "Smart ass."
"Yeah, but you like that about me."
He hummed his agreement against her neck and then softly kissed her skin.
She felt Gopher nudge Edward and then she watched them grin and clink their beers together. In that moment, she'd never felt more calm or more herself. This, this boat in these waters, this was the first place that had felt like home since losing her father. She felt a little guilty knowing how hard her uncle had worked to make Florida feel like home. And then she felt Edward's lips on her neck and she was happy to just relax and enjoy the night.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
A/N: We hope you all enjoyed!
We've got a special surprise for all of you tonight! We've put up a teaser for the next chapter on the blog! Enjoy!