Page 34 of Unmoored

I’ve never seen such fancy food on such chipped old plates. Eden’s cooked some kind of creamy risotto and salmon, with fancy herbs to and lemon slices as garnish.

“Yeah?” Eden beams up at me, hope and pride written all over his face. “Worth coming home for?” Then he blushes. “I—I mean, to my home,” he stutters.

I nod slowly, rubbing my forehead as I swallow the lump in my throat. I like looking after people, rescuing them, being in charge. I’m not used to… well, to having anyone spoil me.

“Fuck,” I finally breathe out, looking up at Eden with a smile.

He smiles back at me, sitting upright like I’ve given him the world’s best compliment. “That’s a good fuck, right?” he murmurs.

My turn to lighten the mood a little.

“It’s intended to be. We’ll see later.” I wink at Eden. “But let’s have dinner first.”

Eden turns bright red and fumbles to pick up his wine glass. Then he murmurs, “Yes, skipper,” and peeks up at me like he’s trying to retaliate in kind.

I just smirk at him, watching his blush deepen. We both know I won this round, fair and square. But I’m enjoying the sight of him getting truly flustered—it’s cute as hell.

“So, um… yeah. Bon appétit.” Eden picks up his wine glass, and I mirror him to clink them together.

“Mmmm,” I groan at the very first bite. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting Eden to be such a good cook—especially when he’s working with a galley kitchen like that. “Wow. Holy shit, Eden.”

If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, he’s got me—hook, line, and sinker.

Eden sits up straight and even flashes me a cocky little grin. He stabs his fork into the salmon so hard that a little caper goes flying. “I know, right?”

This might be the first time we’ve both been so quiet. I guess we’ve both worked up an appetite today—and a nice, comfortable silence is settling between us as we focus on satisfying that hunger. In between bites, I’m watching Eden, studying everything from the candlelit twinkle in his eye to the soft fuzz of his forearm.

This is heaven.

Now that we’re mostly done eating, Eden is starting to chatter. Hopefully I’m smiling and nodding at the right moments. All I can think right now is how I could fall asleep perfectly happily to the sound of his voice washing over me.

“Wow. Are those seals?”

Oh. That one was for me.

“If they’re slowly spinning around like tops.” I set down my wine glass and follow the direction he’s pointing. “Like that, yeah. Otters are more…” I trail off, trying to think how to describe how they move.

“Slithery?”

I laugh with surprise. I never would have thought of the word, but it works. “Yes, actually. Are you an otter expert? Sea otters, not the gay kind.”

Eden snorts, then gives me a long-suffering sigh. “Oh, don’t start.” He rolls his head back to dramatically stare away. “After today, I am.” Then he waits. And… did he just sneak a glance at me?

I narrow my eyes and frown at him, trying to figure out whether he wants me to ask or not.

Two seconds later, Eden sighs again, like I’ve twisted his arm. “Fine, I’ll admit it. An otter made fun of me for being bad at paddling.”

“He—you—paddling?—”

“I don’t want to relive it.” Eden dramatically lays a hand on his forehead as I fight back a laugh. As I expected, he keeps going anyway. “It wasmortifying. And it gets worse. A whole bunch of islanders saw me. Turns out the emergency boat I bought at that discount place by the highway… it’s not an inflatable dinghy.”

Torn between laughter and an exasperated groan, I set down my fork and stare at Eden. “What is it?”

Eden hangs his head. “A pool toy.”

I can’t stop the laughter. I run my hand back through my hair, almost leaning back in the chair before I remember how flimsy it is. “Eden Meyers, you worry the shit out of me.”

“It’s okay. The bartender, Kieran, gave me a towel… Justin opened the store so I could go shopping… this guy, Alph, he gave me a ride back to the boat... and Berty just talked my ear off. I was a real community project today.”

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