Chapter 40

Lock

SIX MONTHS LATER

Sammi’s got her back to me, bending over slightly to reach the bar. Even after six months of staring at it in awe, I still can’t believe what a great ass my wife has.

Or how freely I can finally stare at it now. Not that I didn’t before anyway, but now she smiles when she catches me looking. In fact, she’s smiling at me right now, glancing over her shoulder at me while she makes us drinks.

Her lips quirk up in a knowing grin. They do that a lot now.

She turns back to the bar, and I just keep right on staring.

The setting sun behind her hits her exposed skin just right, making her glow. And damn if most of her isn’t exposed, her bikini barely covering anything.

I really have the world’s sexiest wife.

Wife.

The word still feels odd in my mouth. Or on my mind, as it were.

No matter how many days pass, I’m still amazed that it’s true. That she actually married me.

Not to mention stayed married to me.

That right there is the real shocker.

After Bangkok, Sammi and I both needed a change. She from spending so much time working in labs, me from spending so much time on solid ground.

The solution was obvious. We made a beeline for my boat, and we’ve been here pretty much ever since. It was obvious from that first night in the 3D aquarium that Sammi had dreams that could never be reached from a lab.

Her safe and rational approach held her back in more ways than one. At the end of the day, no matter how well meaning, you can’t affect change without getting your hands a bit dirty.

Still, I was nervous when Sammi told me her plan.

Fighting shark poachers?

I mean, I’d only just married the girl. I wasn’t exactly keen on losing her.

When she gets an idea in her head, though, nothing can stop her.

So here we are: sea breeze blowing, sun setting behind us like a picture. Our own little chunk of paradise.

Sure, it’s not been all easy sailing, so to speak.

I look at the scar running down her back—a close call, that one. Cut with a diving knife.

Right in front of me.

My heart about fucking stopped beating. You can imagine what happened to the guy wielding it. He’ll be lucky if he walks again.

Even before we got married, I would’ve ruined a man for touching Sammi. Now, that bastard’s just lucky she was there to pull me off of him. That’s Sammi for you.

Such a soft touch.

She walks over to me now, drinks in hand. I take mine with thanks, smiling up at her as she straddles my lap. She leans in, kissing me on the cheek, home to a new scar of my own.

“It’s not healed properly,” I say about it, “I think this is as small as it’s gonna get.”

“Good,” she says, “I love it.”

Oddly enough, I believe her.

I set my drink aside, using both hands to pull her closer against me.

“Yeah? You think you can stand to look at this face forever?”

She laughs. “Well, not forever. Just until we die.”

“Nope, not long enough.” I respond.

She nods in agreement.

It’s been a crazy few months. Almost as crazy as the time we spent in Bangkok.

Almost.

It feels good to have this time with her. We may have our hands full with shark poachers and near-death experiences, but in the middle of it all, we have these moments. Times when it’s just the two of us. Calm seas and stiff drinks.

I live for these moments. I live for her.

I pick my glass back up and take a long drink. It’s a margarita, of course. Whenever we drink together, it’s tequila.

And whenever Sammi mixes us margaritas, it means we’re in for a hell of a night. Although really, every night with Sammi is kind of that way.

“What is it?” she asks, looking down at me.

“Hmmm?” I come back to reality. “Oh, nothing, just thinking…I’m just really fucking happy, Sammi.”

She nuzzles closer to me. “I love you, Lock.”

“I love you, too…Sammi-Poo.”

The look of abject terror that crosses her face is worth the smack it costs me. She wriggles in my grip, and I hold her tighter.

“Don’t you DARE!”

“But—Sammi-Poo!”

I can’t control my laughter. I love how much she hates the nickname almost as much as I love calling her by it. To think she almost married that fucker.

Insanity.

She must be thinking along the same lines because her laugh sounds more than a little like relief.

“Fuck you, Lachlan,” she chokes out between giggles.

“Is that an invitation?”

I’m already getting hard between us.

Raging boners are pretty much my natural state of being now. Difficult to be around Sammi without one. She grinds against me, feeling for herself.

“Maybe…if you quit this Sammi-Poo bullshit.”

“Hmm…you drive a hard bargain, darl.”

“Sure do.”

She leans in again, this time directing her lips to my own. Her kiss is soft. They often are now, full of meaning in a way that they never were before.

I kiss her back, my own meaning clear as well. The sun continues to set behind us, bathing the world in gold. The ocean sloshes against the boat, its splashes soothing in the otherworldly silence of open sea.

“Lock,” she mumbles, breaking the kiss.

“Yes, darl?”

“Tell me you love me. For real.”

“I fucking love you, Sammi Williams.”

“Better,” she says, leaning back towards me.

Of course, it’s this moment when her phone begins to ring.

“Ignore it.” I say, redoubling my grip on her.

“Lock!” she laughs.

“Oh, come on!”

“It could be important” she says, wiggling out of my arms. “Two minutes. Tops.”

I growl at her, sulking a bit, but make no further argument. The way we live now, it very well could be important. She crosses the deck to grab her phone, and I hear her indistinct answer.

I reach again for my margarita, downing half of it in one long drink. If I have to sit here waiting, I might as well get a little off my head. The sunset is breathtaking, and I direct my attention to it.

I could never feel this calm in the city. There’s always something going on there, always so much noise. I love how quiet it is here.

“AHHHHH!” Sammi squeals, startling me out of my thoughts.

“Oh my god, when?!” she shouts.

What the fuck?

“Of course we will be,” she goes on. “We wouldn’t fucking miss it.”

Her words grow indistinct again, and I’m about to go over and find out what all the fuss is when she turns around, setting her phone back on the chair.

She walks over to me, grinning from ear to ear.

“Guess what?” she says

“What?”

“Percy’s getting married!”

“What? When?”

“In three months!”

She’s practically giddy as she settles herself back on my lap.

“Okay…” I say. “Where are we going?”

“Amsterdam! Isn’t that wild?”

“Oh, man.”

Yeah, I suspect it will be.

Sammi scoots closer to me, her mouth hovering mere centimeters from mine.

“We’ll worry about that later, though,” she says. “So…where were we?”

Where indeed.

I close the gap, kissing her hard. Behind us, the sun is on its last breath, stars already starting to cut through the sky. I wrap my arms tightly back around my wife.

Yeah, it’s gonna be a hell of a night.

In fact, you could say it’s going to be a night to remember.