An unexpected fire drove me as I led Kate down the beach a mile to where I’d pulled a dinghy up on the shore yesterday. Her eyes were wide, her arms tight to her sides as she watched me tug it toward the shallow waves.

“This isn’t the boat, right?”

I laughed heartily. “No, sweetness. It’s out there.” I pointed to the boat anchored several meters from the shore.

“Oh,” she said.

Maybe a good night’s rest had made the seemingly impossible predicament we were facing seem surmountable. Waking up to Kate’s perfect mouth wrapped around me might have helped too. But damn, I had hope today that I hadn’t had yesterday. Despite Kate’s mini-meltdown over the omelet she did ultimately make—her best yet—today felt like a fresh start in some ways.

So far I’d maneuvered around her probing questions, and I was determined to deliver a day of simple happiness—the kind we used to have on any given day. God knew we both deserved it.

“In you go.” I lifted her into my arms, carried her until the water was up to my thighs, and lowered her into the boat.

She scooted to the side, gripping the plastic handles tightly. I pushed the boat farther out before jumping in myself and yanking the propeller into action. In less than a minute I had us sidled up to the back of the boat. We’d made the journey between her space and mine, and somehow that brief transition gave me more hope still.

“My God, it’s enormous,” Kate said, her tone filled with awe as she looked up at the two-story vessel.

I laughed as I lifted her onto the back deck. “It’s all right.”

“You said it wasn’t much. I wasn’t expecting this.”

I shrugged and hoisted the dinghy up onto the stern. “She’s only a sixty-footer. Hanging around boat harbors in Maui and the Riviera puts things into perspective, I guess. Anything flashier would draw attention. Last thing I need is people asking questions about the guy on the yacht.”

She trailed her fingertips over the black block letters circling the life ring that hung on the back. “Was she always named Katherine?”

I stepped behind her, hugging her against me. “If she were, I would have paid the seller his asking price,” I murmured, nuzzling her hair and breathing in her fruity scent.

“I doubt it. Expecting you not to negotiate is like asking you not to breathe.” She looked over her shoulder at me, intrigue sparkling behind her blue eyes. “Isn’t it bad luck to rename a boat?”

I shrugged. “Not if you christen the new name properly. It’s a process. You have to remove every trace of the old name from the ship before you bring anything with the new name on. Took me a couple weeks to get everything. I even had to throw the log books out.”

I remembered those several days vividly. I hadn’t been in a rush. After all, I’d had nothing but time since the crash. Stripping the vessel of its old identity had been oddly cathartic. I didn’t have to guess as to why. Still, I’d brought Kate’s memory with me, through everything, like a tattoo on my heart. A constant reminder of what I’d lost.

“What was she named before?”

“Shh.” I lifted my finger to my lips with a crooked grin. “She’s Katherine now, and she’s served me well, so let’s not jinx it.” I took her hand, threading our fingers together. “Come on. Let me show you around.”

I toured her through the few rooms of the boat—a master and a guest room, a basic kitchen and living room. I studied her expression all the while, looking for some sign of hesitation or uncertainty. All I could sense was that she was taking it all in. She’d always been the consummate observer, a true journalist at heart.

“So you live here…all the time?”

I razored my teeth along my bottom lip, weighing her words. “I do. I mean…” I brought my palm to the back of my neck and squeezed. Shit. I had to offer her more than a nomadic existence on a used boat. “You deserve more than this. I know that. This worked for me, but—”

She came up to me, resting her fingers over my lips. “Hush. That’s not what I was trying to say. I asked out of pure curiosity. You can pretty much guess what this past year has been like for me. It was our life…just without you in it. I don’t know anything about the life you’ve been living. Don’t read into everything, okay?”

I exhaled with a nod. “Right.”

She took my hand with a squeeze and brushed her lips against mine, the barest kiss. “Are you going to show me how to drive this thing or what, Captain?”

I smiled broadly against her lips. “Hell, yeah, baby.”

I led her to the top deck and buzzed around, getting everything ready for an afternoon cruise around Leiloa. Kate took a seat on one of the couches flanking the captain’s chair as I revved the engines to life.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” I teased. I swiveled and caught her by the ankles, lifting them onto my lap as I steered. Touching her even in the smallest way gave me comfort beyond measure. That connection kept my hope alive over my doubts.

“You aren’t going to tell me?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me.” I gave her foot a little squeeze.

She giggled and tried to squirm away, but I kept her trapped.

“Leiloa is small, but it’s full of hidden treasures. I’m going to show you a few of my favorite spots. Some you can only get to easily by boat.”

She nodded, and even when I shifted my focus back to the waters ahead, I could feel her stare on me. I caressed up and down her calves, growing hard at the simple contact, but I had to stay focused on the trip and the long day I had planned for us.

“I did a little reading about this place before we arrived.”

I lifted an eyebrow with a smirk. “Why am I not surprised?”

My mind conjured a vision of Kate doing her research after Chelle dropped the last-minute travel plans on her. She would stay up half the night reading articles and digging up information she’d need for a story. I’d find her hunched over her laptop, grooves marking the space between her eyebrows, so engrossed in her work she’d let hours go by without a break.

“Did you know in Samoan, Leiloa means ‘lost’?”

My smirk faded a little. I met her thoughtful stare. “I did know that, actually. Hopefully it stays lost too. Only a couple thousand people live on the island. It’s so out of the way I can’t imagine it’ll ever get built up and overtaken by tourists at this rate.”

She frowned slightly. “How long have you been here?”

I shrugged. “A few months. I’ve never stayed anywhere too long, actually, but I like it here. Doesn’t get more ‘in the middle of nowhere’ than an island lost in the Pacific.”

She was quiet a moment before speaking. “A lost island for a lost man.”

I tightened my lips into a flat line, because how could I argue? I had been lost—lost until Chelle brought my wife back to me. I’d be lost again if she left. Forever lost. Even so, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to bring myself to leave the island knowing that we’d made our last memories here.

“Where were you before?”

I thought of the laundry list of places I’d landed on my way here. I’d never felt settled or especially safe anywhere since leaving Kate that fateful night.

“I hid out in Europe for a while. Small towns in Switzerland. Then I made my way down to Italy and through Asia. I kept going south until I hit water. When I got a chance to hitch on a boat heading to Hawaii, I took it. I got to know the islands there well. That’s when I bought Katherine and started exploring islands farther out.”

“I think I’m jealous.” She looked down at her lap, twisting her fingers. “Chelle was right about that trip to Spain. Nothing could fix what broke inside me when you…died, but getting out of New York and filling up some of that emptiness with a new place and new discoveries helped somehow. Made me think I should do more traveling. Maybe it would help me move on. But when I came home, it didn’t take long for everything to start to feel hopeless again.” She offered a weak smile. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re fine. For better or worse, right? I couldn’t be there with you, but I’m here now and I can listen. I know it’s not the same, but I want to hear it if it helps at all.”

She nodded, and I followed her stare out to the horizon. I wanted to hold her then, tell her everything was going to be okay now. I wanted to tell her over and over how sorry I was for everything I put her through.

The rhythm of the waves beating against the boat stilled my thoughts, letting them drift to happier times, when our love was simpler.

I smiled when an old memory floated over me. “Remember when we used to talk about Bali?”

Kate’s eyes glittered with recognition, the corners wrinkling as she smiled. “Of course, I remember. What ever happened to that plan?”

I laughed and slowed the boat as we neared an alcove where I was hoping we’d spend the first part of the afternoon. Leiloa was just the kind of tropical paradise we’d talked about when we were two broke college kids. Then real life sucked us in and took over. Our dreams of spending a few years living in a shack on the beach were swallowed up by job hunting and then the non-stop rhythm of life in New York City. Once we found our footing, all I could think about was making more money to buy us a bigger place in a better neighborhood. Somewhere we could raise kids, host dinner parties, and impress our families who’d mortgaged everything to put us through college.

“Just because it’s an old dream doesn’t mean we can’t make it come true,” I said, my tone hopeful.

I didn’t look for her reaction, because the fear of her rejection still scared the shit out of me. But I wanted her to know it wasn’t too late. I could still show her the world. We could find the kind of paradise we’d dreamed of.

---

The falling sun marked the nearing end of a perfect day. We swam and snorkeled. We stopped into a little beach shack on the opposite side of the island for the best kalua chicken I’d ever tasted. We drank beers and remembered stories from our old life together. We laughed, and every time I heard that sweet music, I thought my heart would break from sheer joy.

I wanted Kate back in my life for my own happiness, but the promise of restoring hers took hold of something deep inside of me. It made me want to strip her of the choice and demand she stay, for her sake and for mine.

We sailed on to a tiny remote beach with the most beautiful blue-green waters I’d ever seen. She laughed when I chased her across the sand, finally reaching her only to haul her into my arms and kiss her breathless. We must have kissed for an hour under the shade of a smattering of palm trees whose umber trunks bent as they reached for the sea. I would have made love to her there too, but I didn’t want to wipe her out before we’d finished our day.

If only every day could be this way. If only Kate could see this as our future. The two of us. An endless horizon.

My skin felt warm and tight from the hot sun on us all afternoon. Underneath, my muscles were relaxed, satisfied from the day’s exertions. I wasn’t quite ready to head home and let sleep take me, though. We were still a couple miles away from the place where I’d anchor Katherine for the night. Ahead of me, Kate was perched on the bow, her chin rested on her folded arms as she gazed out at the sea. Her legs were tucked under her, giving me the perfect view of her ass.

If nothing else, today completed the visual fantasy I’d had about this life with her. She didn’t know yet that saying yes would mandate her to wearing bikinis for the foreseeable future. The same way I never wanted a moment to go by without touching her, every minute not being able to see and appreciate her physical beauty was a wasted one.

I slowed the boat to a stop, turning us so we faced the setting sun. I joined her a few minutes later, sinking into the cushion beside her.

“Hey, beautiful.”

She moaned softly, leaning her head to one side. “Today was so perfect. It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

I trailed the back of my fingers along her arm. She didn’t know heaven yet. Heaven was our bodies coming together while the sun sank into the horizon, nothing but the waves and the ocean breeze kissing our bare skin like a fine warm silk.

When our eyes locked, I cupped her cheek and led her lips to mine. I still hadn’t tired of her mouth or the way our tongues stroked and dueled, a sensual dance we both knew well. As we kissed, I let my hands roam. Unhurried, I grazed over the pale pink triangles covering her full breasts, up the smooth column of her throat. When I found the tie of her bikini at her neck, I pulled it, baring her breasts for me.

She covered herself with her hands. “Price, we can’t.”

I slipped my hand between her thighs, dragging the tip of my thumb along the front center of the bikini bottoms. “Why not, sweetness?”

She released a small sigh and looked toward the island. Any curious humans would be the size of ant from this distance.

“Because…”

“It’s just you and me, Kate.” I took one of her hands away and wrapped my mouth around her nipple, enjoying how it beaded almost instantly under my tongue. I licked and nipped, plumping her breast in my hand, thanking God once again for creating the perfect woman for me.

“Are you sure?” Her voice was light, almost getting lost in the breeze that billowed over us. She bucked her hips to the rhythm of my teasing strokes against her clit.

I could make her say yes to anything right now. I licked the underside of her breast and blew a puff of air over her nipple. Her skin pebbled with gooseflesh.

“You want me to stop?” I slid the small scrap of her bottoms to the side, and before she could answer, I slid two fingers inside her. She was so ready for me, her cunt gloving me like wet velvet.

“No,” she whimpered. “Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.”

Her eyes were half-mast, her breaths coming fast and shallow through those perfect lips. She reached for my shoulder as if to straddle me. Slipping out of her, I rose before she could. With my hands on her hips, I levered her forward. She took hold of the metal railing that framed the bow and spread her knees apart a few more inches.

I suppressed a groan of anticipated pleasure at the invitation. Straight ahead, the sun was a pinpoint of white light dropping toward the iridescent water. I made quick work of her bikini ties and positioned myself behind her. Releasing my cock from my trunks, I dragged the tip up and down her slit. The slow journey was the best kind of torture. My blood ran hot from my sun-scorched chest to the head of my aching cock as it met her clit, dipped along her drenched opening, and trailed all the way up to the star of her ass. I bit my lip, lingering. I’d have her there again. Soon, but not tonight.

Instead, I sank into her pussy the second the sun disappeared from view, its legacy a warm orange and pink glow stretching across the heavens. When she cried out, I thrust again, skimming my palms over every inch of my own personal heaven. The elegant angles of her shoulder blades as she held on through my thrusts. The narrow river of her spine flowing down to her tailbone. Those two perfect little dimples that fit my thumbs as I hauled her hips back, driving our bodies together in the most intimate way.

“So beautiful,” I rasped.

I knew the slopes and valleys of this woman’s body by heart. She belonged to me, the same way I’d always belonged to her. The thought of another man ever having this view, or having already had it…

Fuck. That single thought cut straight through the haze of my pleasure. I sank my fingers into her flesh and punched my hips forward until I felt the resistance of her cervix against the head of my cock. Her knuckles whitened around the rail, but she didn’t stop me.

My next thrusts were hard and fast. Possessive and fevered. Love, jealousy, regret, despair fueled each one. Her cries degraded into throaty moans and breathless curses, echoing and disappearing over the water until I could feel her nearing climax.

Stay with me. Be with me. Let me love you this way forever.

Every minute since I’d given her the offer, I’d wanted to get on my knees and beg her to stay. I couldn’t get the words past my lips, though. Only one sentence would form, one plea that held all the others.

“I love you.”

I said it over and over, under my breath, through gritted teeth as her velvet cunt tensed and tightened around me. My own release took me under, and I jetted inside of her, claiming her in the only way I could for now.