Page 16 of Stranded

“Yep. I’mthatidiot.”

Alph laughs softly and claps my shoulder. The pressure of his palm, even for a few moments, is… well, it takes an embarrassing amount of self-control not to gasp.

“Missed the last ferry?” The bartender sympathetically clicks his tongue against his teeth. “Must have given you a fright. You’ll need a drink. What’s your pleasure?”

Wait… does he mean for free?

I glance at Alph, who smiles at me. “It’s your lucky night. Kieran never compsmedrinks.”

“Pfff,” Kieran waves at him. “We’d go out of business if you got a free drink every time you parked the boat.”

“Dockedthe boat,” Alph corrects Kieran in a long-suffering groan.

Kieran nods. “Like I said. Parked the boat.” Then he twitches a finger at me. “Come on, name it.”

“Uh… vodka-soda? Thank you.”

He winks at me and pirouettes to grab the vodka, flipping and spinning the bottle behind his back. “You were saying?” he asks Alph innocently.

I cough to hide my laugh as Alph scowls. It’s nice to see him in his element with a friendly coworker. And it’s even nicer to see that Alph doesn’t give Kieran the same look he givesmefor teasing him.

“A car gets parked. A boat gets moored,” Alph continues. “I’ll even accepttied up.”

Kieran manages to keep a deadpan expression. “Scandalous. I learn something new about you every day.” He glances meaningfully at me and winks, while I snort with laughter.

“Oh, I give up,” Alph groans. He folds his arms on the bar top, gently thumping his forehead against them.

“There you are, gorgeous!” Kieran slides the finished drink to me. “Now… for the skipper whose… ahem…mooring…just deafened half my customers?”

Alph clears his throat sheepishly. “Oh. Uh. Just a beer on my tab, thanks.”

Kieran cracks open a bottle, hands it over, and salutes us with one finger. “Enjoy. You’ll be happy to know Berty’s finished up for the night. Now, I’ll distract your audience while you get away.”

“What…” I trail off, watching him head back to the committee ladies.

They’re stealthily glancing at me and Alph, and all of them are wearing mischievous grins.

Oh, god. I bet they know exactly what’s going on.

I’m trying my hardest not to drape myself all over Alph, but I’m also not holding back from showing him how I feel. And I’m certainly not letting him off the hook for everything he wants.

It’s so obvious that we feel the same magnetic pull. I just want to know why Alph is resisting it.

I glance around to check out the table situation before pointing at a table by the glass inner wall. “Let’s sit there.” It’s the quietest spot, since most people are clustered around the open windows.

Alph sighs. “Are you sure? It’s August,” he mutters, glancing longingly at those windows as he tugs on the neck of his T-shirt.

“I, for one, am dressed for the conditions,” I tell him with a hair toss before heading for the table.

When I glance over my shoulder, Alph is following. His deliciously kissable, sea-spray-salty lips are curved in a bemused smile that makes my belly flutter with nervous excitement.

I’m the one leading this dance, but we’re twirling across the wharf together, hand-in-hand. Plunging unstoppably toward the edge, and beyond it… a deep water that neither of us really knows.

It’s time to sink or swim.

Chapter

Six

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