Kerry exhaled silently, rolling her eyes outside of his line of vision.
“Besides, I owe you dinner and a drink,” Bob said. “You gotta at least let me do that, for what you did for me.”
Yikes. Kerry watched the marina approach. “Dar, you want me to call in to the dockmaster?”
“Yep,” Dar responded. “Looks like it’s busy.”
Kerry turned. “Excuse me.” She waited for Bob to back off, then walked to the cabin radio. “St. Johns Marina, St. Johns Marina, this is the Dixieland Yankee. Over.”
“That’s a cute name,” Bob offered. “Does it mean something?”
Kerry eyed him wryly. “She’s the Dixie part and I’m the Yankee,” she explained simply.
“Dixieland Yankee, this is St. Johns. G’wan.”
Bob cocked his head, producing a puzzled smile. “Oh. You guys related?”
Kerry sighed and leaned against the cabin door. “St. Johns, we have a reservation for a berth. Please advise.” She gave Bob a kindly smile. “You might want to sit down. Sounds like a busy dock.”
“Okay.” Bob wandered over and took a seat, leaving Kerry to finish her radio work.
“Gotcha, Dixieland Yankee. Tenth row, third berth. You’ve got 54 feet, yeah?”
“That’s a roger,” Kerry replied. “Thanks.” She put down the radio mic and walked to the ladder, climbing up it as fast as dignity allowed and joining Dar at the console. “Row ten, slot three.” She sat down and rested her elbows on her knees. “Dar…”
“How’s your little worshipper doing?” Dar drawled, giving her a wicked smile. “He invited you to dinner yet?”
Kerry sighed. “Dinner, drinks, diving, you name it,” she muttered. “Why do guys always do that?”
Dar eyed her. “’Cause you’re charming and adorable?”
“Pffffttt.” Kerry stuck out her tongue. “But you know something? He had a run-in with those 24 karat sleezoids we met on the island, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s looking for the wreck of his grandfather’s fishing boat. Supposedly it went down in that area they blocked off.”
Dar frowned. “Busy spot of ocean.”
“Mm.”
92 Melissa Good They looked at each other. Kerry scratched her jaw. “Um. He really did ask me to dinner, to thank me for saving his life.” She studied Dar’s face. “Would you mind if I went?”
Dar’s expression went still for a moment, only the tiny muscles on the sides of her eyes twitching. A silence fell between them as Dar glanced at the oncoming marina and adjusted their course. She watched the console for a moment, then returned her eyes to Kerry’s face. She spoke very softly. “Yes, I would mind.”
Kerry felt a mixture of surprise and pleasure. Surprise, because she’d expected Dar to profess a disinterest in preventing her from going, and pleasure because of the gut-level honesty of the actual reaction she’d gotten. “Good.” She exhaled. “Because I would, if it were me.”
Dar grinned briefly. “Jealousy’s an interesting sensation,” she commented, before she returned her careful attention to their approach.
“Mm,” Kerry agreed, watching the island grow larger. “Ain’t that the truth.”
KERRY NUDGED OPEN the door to their room and peered inside. “Whoa.” She chuckled as she entered and tossed her overnight bag down on the king size bed. “Definitely more colorful than your average Marriott.”
Dar closed the door. She eyed the peach walls, strongly patterned carpet, and rich fabrics on the windows and bed with a half grin. “I like it,” she decided. “Wouldn’t want it in my bedroom, but it’s nice for a change.” She put her own bag down and reviewed the rest of the room. It had a high, peaked ceiling, with a fan and a dual vent to remove the hot air from the room. The windows were large and featured a gorgeous view of the half circle bay, and the atmosphere was light and airy.
Kerry went to the window and looked out. “Nice.” She turned and leaned on the sill, watching Dar take off her sunglasses and toss them on the table. Much to Kerry’s relief, when they’d docked Bob had scampered off to take care of his business, and she was looking forward to exploring the resort’s interesting offerings.
She’d spotted kayaks, among other things, and seen mention in the lobby of a rum-tasting demonstration.
Dar lifted the bottle of complimentary rum from the sideboard and held it up. “Very nice.” There was also bottled water. “Use this,” she cautioned Kerry. “I’ve had mixed results drinking from the tap.”
“Ah. Thanks,” Kerry said. “Not having phones was a surprise, though.”
“Mm.” Dar examined the discrete data port. “Internet access Terrors of the High Seas 93
but no phones. Incredible.”
Kerry went to the locked, distressed leather briefcase Dar had put down on the chair. “I guess we’ve gotta bite the bullet, huh?”
They’d agreed not to unlock the case, which held their cell phones and pagers, unless a full-blown crisis was at hand.
“Yeap.” Dar tossed her the keys to the briefcase. “Probably better off using ours anyway.” She watched Kerry unlock the catch and open the case, stick her hand inside, and withdraw one of their two phones. “I know there’s phones outside in the lobby, but…”
“Yeah.” Kerry tossed the phone to Dar, then she wandered back over to the windows, discovering a patio outside. “Hey.” She opened the door and went out onto the stone edifice, alternately splashed with sunlight and the shade from nearby banana trees. It was quiet and peaceful, and the view of the water was quite spectacular. “Breakfast out here tomorrow, I think,” Kerry mused, as a breeze off the water puffed her hair back out of her eyes.
With a satisfied grunt, she turned and went back inside their pleasant room, where she found Dar sprawled across the king size canopy bed with the phone to her ear. The sight was so attractive, Kerry decided to join her, and she crawled over to where Dar was lying, flipped over onto her back, and settled there as she watched the fan circle lazily overhead.
“That’s right, Mark. Just run it for me.” Dar inched her hand over and tugged a bit of Kerry’s hair. “I don’t have the registration number.”
Mark’s voice trickled from the cell phone’s speaker. “Right, boss. How’s the vacation going?”
“Aside from nearly being heaved to by pirates, and Kerry saving a drowning man in a storm, it’s been pretty peaceful,” Dar replied blandly. “How’s it been there?”
A long silence ensued. “Did you actually fucking say pirates?”
Mark asked. “Holy shit, Dar!”
“You didn’t really think we could just have an ordinary vacation, did you?” Dar asked with an amused smirk. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Huh?” Mark spluttered. “Oh, here? It’s been dead,” he told her. “Honest.”
Dar waited silently. To pass the time, she blew gently in Kerry’s ear and watched her torso shiver as she held back a laugh.
“Well, just the usual shit, you know, boss,” Mark finally admitted. “Nothin’ you guys need to worry about.”
Kerry turned her head at that and her green eyes widened.
“Mark?” She raised her voice. “You just made me really nervous.”
“Um…”
Dar covered her eyes. “Mark, just spill it,” she sighed.
“Honest, guys, just more of the usual,” Mark insisted. “We’ve 94 Melissa Good got some international lines down, and one of the northwest data centers crashed. I had to overnight them a bunch of stuff.”
Kerry eyed her partner. ‘Doesn’t sound that bad,’ she mouthed.