Beka grinned back, vowing to get those fish back for him if she had to steal Kesh’s seal skin and hold it for ransom, like in the old tales. “Who, me?” she said innocently. “When have you ever known me to get into trouble?”
They both laughed, the unaccustomed activity making Marcus suddenly seem younger and less unyielding. Beka had a thought. Marcus worked so hard on the boat for his father, and never seemed to do anything for fun. Maybe she could repay him for his help by getting him to actually relax and have a good time for a change. Although she fully expected that the suggestion that he could have fun in her company would meet with an argument, to say the least.
She leaned forward a little, and hid a tiny smile as she caught him looking down the front of her bathing suit. At least she knew he was not completely oblivious to her charms. Such as they were. Perversely, that knowledge gave her the courage to make her suggestion.
“You’re an impressive diver,” she said. “You must have spent a lot of time in the water when you were younger.”
He nodded. “Kind of hard to avoid, growing up on the bay.”
“Ever go surfing?” she asked. “Because I have an extra board; I just thought maybe I’d thank you for all your help by taking you out on the waves some morning.”
His expression turned to stone, and their temporary camaraderie seemed to slide through her grasp like the fish that got away. Shadows filled his eyes as the past swallowed him up.
“I did surf, when I was younger,” he said, his voice flat. “I was okay at it. Not great. Even then, I was really too big to ever be supple enough for anything other than simply powering through the water. My brother Kyle, though, he was a wizard.” He shook his head. “You should have seen him; he rode the waves like he was a part of them, as if that board were just an extension of his body. I swear, some days it was as if the water were dancing with him. The sheer joy of it used to radiate from his whole being. Even the other surfers used to stop what they were doing just to watch, if they weren’t racing out into the breakers to try and imitate him. It was really something to see.”
“It must have been,” Beka said softly. “Chico told me he died. I’m sorry.”
Marcus grimaced. “It was a long time ago. But no, I don’t surf. I haven’t since Kyle was killed. After he drowned, the water just didn’t seem that friendly to me anymore. Hell, I went halfway across the world to work in the desert, just to get away from it.” He looked around at the ocean surrounding the dinghy, as if he couldn’t quite figure out how he’d gotten back there.
“Maybe it is time to make your peace with it,” Beka said, venturing a small smile. “Since you seem to be stuck here with all this water, for a while, at least.”
She tilted her head, thinking out loud. “I suspect Kyle would like it if you went back out on a surfboard, doing the thing he loved so much. I know you’ll probably think I’m just being a flaky New Age nut, but I’d bet that if you rode the waves with joy, the way you used to, you might even feel him out there, riding along by your side.”
Marcus was silent for a moment, and then he stunned Beka by leaning forward and kissing her with fervor. He wrapped one big hand around the curve of her shoulder and the other around the back of her head, pulling her in close as his lips pressed firmly against hers, both soft and rough at the same time. Heat blossomed between them, roaring up out of her core like a wildfire, fierce and magical and completely unexpected.
The kiss only lasted a minute or two, but it felt like an eternity of bliss. Beka felt strangely bereft without his arms around her.
“Wow,” she said, blinking rapidly.
Marcus gave her a wicked grin. “Sorry about that,” he said, clearly not sorry at all. “I just wanted to thank you for giving me a way to reconnect with my brother. I never would have thought of it like that.” He paused, and then added, his smile widening, “Not being a flaky New Age nut, and all.”
Beka rolled her eyes, pleased that her idea had gone over so well. And wondering what on earth she could suggest next to elicit the same reaction. Her heart still hadn’t stopped beating fast, and she thought her kneecaps might actually be trembling.
“Does that mean you’ll come surfing?” she asked.
“It means I’ll think about it,” Marcus said, back to his usual serious self.
And for a moment, it seemed as though he was going to lean forward and kiss her again, until a yell from off to their stern heralded the arrival of the Wily Serpent, with Chico waving wildly over the port side. Apparently they’d had a good day out on the water.
Beka rather felt that way herself.
TWELVE