Page 37 of Flyboy

“Is that . . . a baby?” Ivy leaned over further.

“I think so.”

A group of whales swam together, one smaller and sticking close to its mother swam closer to the surface, near the boat. Then the little one leaped out of the water.

Ivy stared in wonder. Colton came up behind her again, wrapping his arms around her as they peered over the water. “This is magical.”

“It is.” He nuzzled her neck and then placed his lips on the soft skin at the top of her shoulder. Wild goose bumps lifted the hair on her skin.

Their boat entered the open water, and the sails went up. Ivy loved the white, billowing sail as it rose to the top of the mast. When at last the ropes were tied, and the sails were up, Tiago turned their boat out of the wind and the sails filled, stretching taut against the ropes that held them back, and the boat moved across the water powered only by the wind.

She leaned back up against Colton. “It’s so peaceful.”

“It’s the closest thing to being up close to the clouds.”

“I thought riding horses was the closest thing to flying.”

His low chuckle that she didn’t hear but felt along her back made her smile. “Okay, so there are a few things that are the closest thing to flying.”

She turned back, leaning up against the railing behind her. “Oh? And what is the other?”

His lips found hers again, and she gripped the metal railing with the happy surprise. After a moment, she nodded. “Like flying.” Then she laughed. “Flyboy. Who knew.”

He shrugged. “I knew. Just goes to show you that some of us are smarter than others, even if we don’t prance around with clipboards and spout statistics.”

“Oh, you are terrible.” She shook her head. “Well, I’m happy I know now.”

He leaned back against the railing at her side. “Just to be clear, what do we know?”

“That something special could happen between us.” She shrugged. “That we could be so happy.” She reached for his hand. “I don’t know any better than you what’s going to happen here, but I’m liking what we have so far.”

“And to think. You were all fired-up angry at me just a month ago.”

“I’m embarrassed about my letter of complaint. How presumptuous. Can I ask for it to be deleted?”

“Sure. But no harm done. We talked about it. I took it to heart. And here we are.”

She searched his face, surprised. “You took it to heart?”

“Of course. The woman I most wanted to get to know, the one I was planning on placing on my team in Brazil, was campaigning against me. I had to either fix myself or fix your perception.”

“Hmm.” The woman he most wanted to know? “But you never even looked in my direction. I didn’t think you knew who I was before this trip.”

“Oh, I knew. I remember the first time I met you. It was right before Ace pulled you in for your first assignment. You were sitting on the front row. I think you wrote down everything Amanda said.”

“She’s pretty awesome.”

“And you wrote down some of what Ace said.”

“I’m sure I did. The man is a legend in his circles.”

“And Ridley.” She knew where he was going with this.

“Of course I wrote down what Bear said. The man has been around a lot longer than I have.”

“But . . .” He toyed with her fingers. “You didn’t write down a single thing I said.” He opened up a white box, pulled out two rods, and smiled. “And I knew that was just not going to work.”

“What?”

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