Page 4 of Riding the Tide

Shit.

CHAPTER TWO

BLAIRLEANEDagainsttherailing of a small two-deck boat staring out at the dark waters. The LGBT dinner cruise was packed. Lord knows, he was propositioned more in the past two hours than any one person had the right to be. Regrettably, not one of the men who approached him did a thing for him.

That seemed to be par for the course lately. For crying out loud, he was in his late twenties and his sex drive was in the toilet. Maybe he was in a funk or something. Actually, there was no maybe about it. He hadn’t had sex—outside of his hand—in months.

He sipped his drink and stared out across the ocean as the boat crawled along. At age twenty-two he inherited three million upon his grandmother’s death. God, he still missed her. He loved her more than anything, and even to this day he still ached when he thought of her.

She raised him from age five on after his parents died in a head-on collision. They were having a “date night,” so he’d been left with his grandmother. Otherwise he’d have died, too. He was thankful for the money he’d inherited even if it came with responsibilities.

Well, maybe responsibilities weren’t the right word. It came with a price tag. More times than he cared to count, the men he dated ended up proving they were more interested in his bank account than him. He’d learned to keep his financials quiet.

He’d spent the next two years establishing an online business, which he sold when he turned twenty-four. Having a case of what his grandmother called itchy feet, he decided to travel. Since he’d sold his business, he spent six months backpacking across Europe.

After that, he’d ended up in Africa. He’d stayed with different tribes, and he learned right quick sex without commitment was a no-no. That was enough to put the kibosh on his sexual appetites. Then there was the other thing that happened.

He shoved those thoughts out of his head—he simply wasn’t going to relive that. Not again. Already he’d spent too much time reliving that nightmare. Shaking the dirt of the Dark Continent off his boots never felt so good.

It was a nice moonlit night. So pretty. So serene. A perfect night for lovers. Shit, there he went again. He seriously needed to get laid.

A loud clicking noise from below him caught his attention, and he looked down at the water. “Well, hello.” A dolphin bobbed in the water. It made an odd clicking sound and then disappeared. “Aw, don’t leave.” He leaned against the railing. Hopefully his new friend would come back.

The dolphin popped up again, and this time there were a couple of friends with him.

“I see you have a couple of buddies with you.”

The dolphin made a half-patch squealing noise, his head nodding in a “yes” motion.

“What are you guys up to on a nice night like this? Looking for a bunch of female dolphins?” Blair swore some of the sounds they made were negative. “No? So, if you’re not looking for females, what are you guys up to? Nothing good, I’d bet.”

More squeals and clicks greeted him. The noise they made was entertaining, and he enjoyed watching them play in the water. Who knew their antics could be so relaxing?

He leaned out farther. “You know, maybe I phrased my question all wrong. Maybe I should ask if you are looking for other male dolphins.”

One dolphin waved his tail in the air. Blair snorted, delighted at the dolphin’s antics. There was no way the dolphin could have understood him, no possible way, but it was still funny.

“Sounds like a yes to me. We seem to be in the same boat.” Blair snickered. “So to speak.” Then he sighed. “I hope you guys are having better luck than me.”

How strange. It looked as if they were smiling at him.

“Well, if you’re smiling, I’ll take that as a yes, too. Any advice on attracting someone of the male persuasion? Because I got to tell you guys, nobody’s rang my bell lately. I’m beginning to think my bell is broken.”

Apparently, they found that highly entertaining, if the whistles and screeches were any indication.

“Now y’all wouldn’t laugh at a fellow male, would you? Even if I have two legs and you guys have tails. We’re still all males, right?”

The one that waved his tail at him earlier bobbed in the water nodding at him. Damn, he almost wished he was in the water with them. They were truly fascinating creatures. While researching vacation destinations, he noticed dolphins seem to be very popular with tourists.

The resort he was staying at offered a chance to swim with the animals. He’d discounted it, but maybe he needed to rethink that. The lights from the ship and the bright moonlight enabled him to see the animals pretty well. Yes, he definitely needed to rethink swimming with them. Maybe do some snorkeling, too. He loved the water and couldn’t think of anything more fun.

One of the dolphins launched itself out of the water.

“Whoa now!” He jerked back from the railing.

The dolphin dropped back down into the water, and his cohorts whistled and splashed. Blair, heart thumping madly, pursed his lips. Were they congratulating him on scaring the human? Having a dolphin jump that far out of the water startled him.

Good Lord, what kind of chaos would’ve ensued if it had managed to end up on the deck? He peered back over the railing to see the dolphin laughing up at him. It was as if the damn thing was trying to dare him into the water, but that couldn’t be right. It was just an animal.

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