Page 45 of Redemption

I fired up the engine, relief washing over me at the sound of it turning over. I smiled at Jackson, and he smiled back, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Good job.”

“You too.” I was grateful for his help. For his faith in me.

We made it a few more hours until the engine died again. We repeated the same process as before, working as quickly as possible and trying not to throw up. One of the waves was so strong, I got knocked into the wall.

I hissed at the pain, squeezing my eyes shut, and tried to refocus myself. I’m fine. We’re going to be fine.

Jackson eyed me with concern. “You good?”

“Let’s get this over with.” I gritted my teeth as I tried to ignore the pain.

By the time we pulled into Clarence Town, we’d bled the system four times. We still didn’t know the source of the problem, but we knew we had an issue that needed to be resolved. We were banged up, exhausted, and I was honestly feeling a bit defeated. I sensed Jackson was too.

We were trying to scope out an anchorage when it started raining.

Jackson turned his face up to the sky. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I stared at him, watching as the water ran in rivulets down his face. He was breathtaking.

I heard shouting in the distance, and I turned toward its source. “Yikes.” I winced.

Jackson followed my gaze to where another sailboat had run aground. “They were just behind us. Like, right behind us. And I thought our day sucked.”

“I know.” I cringed, thinking of the damage to the boat. “I feel bad for them.”

By the time we got the Athena settled in, a large megayacht had helped the other boat off the reef. And the rain had let up.

“Look.” Jackson nudged me. He pointed to the sky—and to a full rainbow.

I gasped at the sight of the vibrant colors against the ominous gray sky. “It’s beautiful.”

We’d made it through the storm—together. And that was perhaps the most surprising thing of all.

“I guess if you want to see a rainbow,” I said, “you have to put up with some rain.”

Jackson smiled back at me, and despite how rough the day had been, I found that for the first time in a long time, I was…happy.

When I emerged from the bathroom an hour later, I’d showered and shaved. I’d washed my hair, and I felt like a new woman.

Jackson glanced up from his computer. His eyes dragged down my form from head to toe, lingering on my breasts, my hips, my bare legs. Heat flooded my core at his leisurely perusal.

We were supposed to go ashore to have dinner at a local restaurant. According to one of the online sailing forums, we were in for a treat. Clarence Town might have a population of less than one hundred and only a handful of buildings, but the restaurant was touted as having the best food in the Bahamas. And after the day we’d had, I was ready for a nice, relaxing meal.

I’d decided to dress up for dinner, and apparently, so had he. Jackson was wearing a pair of linen slacks and a white button-down shirt that stretched across the muscles of his chest. The sleeves were rolled up, revealing tanned, corded forearms.

“Ready?” I asked.

He nodded, closing his laptop and stowing it away. I reached for my purse, slinging it over my shoulder. But when it grazed my side, I sucked in a breath that was more of a hiss. Ow. Shit.

I clutched my side. Now that I was no longer so focused on keeping my food down, I realized how much my side hurt.

Jackson frowned. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” I exhaled slowly. Or at least, I would be.

“Sloan.” He raised one eyebrow, clearly skeptical.

“My side hurts from where I whacked it on the boat earlier, but it’ll be fine.”

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