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  She swats my arm playfully. “Well then, if you like it…” She trails off and smiles at me.

  “Let’s get you to bed,” I say as I look at the clock. It’s nearly one in the morning.

  I pull her to me and cover us up with the blanket. I lie there long after she falls asleep, feeling her in my arms.

  I barely remember Mel leaving in the morning, other than a quick peck on my cheek and a barely audible, “see you later, handsome,” she slips from the room like a mouse in the night. I wake late and miss breakfast. I find Zoe lounging by the pool, and I get myself a coffee and sit down next to her.

  “So, cuz,” I say to her as I mainline my caffeine.

  She raises her eyebrow and lifts her wide-brimmed pool hat while lowering her sunglasses down her nose, so she can look me in the eye. “I like her,” she says and then pushes the glasses back up and takes a long pull on a straw stuck into a glass of some sort of fruity drink.

  “So do I,” I agree with a huff and lean back in the chaise lounge.

  “Cody likes her too,” she adds.

  I roll my eyes. “Well, then if you guys approve, I guess we can go steady,” I mock.

  “Oh, fuck off, Nick. You can be so irritating,” she sighs.

  I laugh. “And yet you love me anyhow,” I quip.

  “Fucking blood being thicker than water my ass,” she mumbles. We sit quietly for a few minutes looking out at the boats. “We really do like her though.”

  I laugh again. “Please don’t tell me you two stayed up all night discussing my love life,” I say.

  She puts up a hand. “Dear boy, there was no talking going on in my room.” I blush, mostly because this is my cousin, and she’s talking about my boss, well my boss’s boss.

  “So, what’s on the agenda today?” she asks.

  I shrug. “Mel is out on a boat this morning,” I start and then frown. I don’t actually know when she’ll be back. “You guys want to go over to Pico tomorrow?”

  Zoe sits up and nods. “Yes, I’ve been staring over there all morning,” she says so enthusiastically that her drink sloshes in her hand and a drop falls on her wrist. She goes to wipe it away, but her hand is promptly grabbed by Cody who leans down and sucks the cool liquid away with his lips. Zoe practically swoons, and I roll my eyes.

  “Get a room,” I moan and lie back down.

  “Oh, we have one,” Cody says. “It just needs to get cleaned.”

  “TMI, Cody, TMI,” I say, mimicking something my sister always says to them.

  They both laugh, and Cody sits down on the lounge next to Zoe and runs a hand up her leg, but more in an affectionate way than one that makes me feel like a voyeur. “So, Pico tomorrow?” Cody says.

  I nod. I look out at a giant mega-yacht that is slowly heading toward the harbor. Something about it looks familiar to me like I’ve seen it somewhere before, but then again, I’m staring at another one as we speak. Plus, last time we came here there were two here as well.

  “Cody, we should buy one of those,” Zoe says with a smile. Cody rolls his eyes.

  “We don’t need a boat, princess,” he answers curtly. “We have a boat.”

  Zoe laughs. “Yeah, I know, but not a mega-yacht,” she giggles and raises her eyebrows. Cody can’t contain his affection any longer and leans down to give her a kiss that has me looking away. Normally, PDA doesn’t creep me out, but seriously she’s my cousin. There should be some unwritten rule that close family members can’t do that shit in front of you.

  “OK, I’m off to check on something Mark emailed me about over at the site,” Cody says. “You up for a visit?” he asks as he pulls away from sucking face with Zoe.

  “Sure,” I say with a sigh as I see no commercial fishing boats coming in toward the harbor yet. We head over to the construction site and a grim-faced Mark greets us.

  “Hey, guys, thanks for coming back over this morning,” he says as he shakes our hands. “I think we have an issue, and I could really use your expertise.”

  We follow him over to what is quickly becoming a base for one of the wind turbines. He points out a problem, or what he fears may become one. “The grading of the soil around here. Does it look off to you?” He points at the ground. We had been very specific about how the earth needed to slope or not slope around the wind turbines. The ground needed to act as a partial wind block for the base of the turbine while making sure runoff water kept away from the base and to make sure in a seismic event that debris didn’t collect at the base either. I look around at the other bases and a few pilings. Everything seems right, but then as I circle the land again and start walking up a hill the site topography warps, and I start to see the issue that Mark has astutely found.

  “Cody, come up here,” I say as I reach the top of a nearby manmade hill. Cody climbs up beside me, and I point to several problem areas. “Damn it!” I yell to myself. “The site is perfect, but the topographic map on that hill over there is off, it has to be. Perhaps erosion or wind has further carved it down, because now all these manmade mounds are wrong, all of them!”

  Cody looks out and sees what I see. “Well, shit,” he says, running his hand over his face. “You’re right.” He calls Mark up to stand beside us and explains. “How much will it cost to fix this?”

  Mark shrugs. “Depends on how much fixing we need. Can you guys run new figures?”

  “Yeah, I’ll need to resurvey that hill, and then I can work on them,” I say. “We could possibly have new figures in a matter of days, it just depends how ‘off’ the original drawings were.”

  We talk game plan, and Mark calls the surveyor to come out first thing on Monday. We head back to the hotel and decide to get a drink at the bar.

  “Well, this is shitastic,” Cody groans as he drinks a scotch.

  “Yeah, possibly. We won’t know till the surveyor gets us the figures,” I say to him. “It could be a minor tweak or a big fuckup.”

  Cody shakes his head, and I can tell he’s pissed. “That was a good catch on your part today,” he says as he stares into his glass.

  I shrug. “You’d have figured it out too. I just can’t believe that hill could be that off from the original measurements. When were they made?” I ask him.

  “I’m not sure, but someone is going to get their ass chewed out over this. I’m just hoping it doesn’t cost us too much or set us back by more than a few weeks.”

  “Hey, boys, why so glum?” a familiar voice says from behind us, and I feel warm hands on my back. I turn around and gaze into Mel’s eyes. She looks happy and her cheeks are red from the wind.

  “Just an issue at the site,” I say.

  “Oh?” she asks, looking concerned.

  “Nothing monumental,” Cody says. “You guys want to grab dinner later?”

  “Sure,” we say in unison, and I look back at Mel and wink. She gives me a shy smile. Cody excuses himself. He wanders off toward the pool.

  “How was your day?” I ask Mel as I finish my beer.

  “Fantastic!” she exclaims, unable to hide her excitement. She quickly launches into a story about finding a pod of dolphins and that one was entangled in some fishing net. She was able to get it free, and then the other dolphins were all coming up to her and essentially thanking her in their dolphin way. Apparently, it was super cool and from the sound of her voice and the video she took on her phone, I can tell it was a unique experience, even for her.

  “That’s amazing,” I say as I pull her into an embrace. I notice how tired she looks through the excitement. “Hey, let’s change and go to the pool and lounge for the afternoon. We can get some appetizers and drinks and just hang out and relax.”

  “That sounds perfect,” she says with a smile and gives me a kiss. I put my arm around her as we head up to our room to change.

  Chapter 8

  Nick’s Playlist: “Addicted to You” by Shakira

  Zoe is still at the pool when we arrive. Cody has taken up residence in the chair next to her. They are chatting
about something, although I can’t hear them as we approach.

  “Oh hey,” Zoe says as we sit down in chairs next to them. “Come to join my party too?”

  Mel laughs. “A chill afternoon by the pool seemed like a great plan,” she says. We proceed to order some food and drinks and graze throughout the afternoon. We watch the mega-yacht attempt to come into the marina area and fail miserably. It’s just too large. It ends up anchoring out in between the islands. Of course, the discussion has a lot of “that’s what she said” comments and by the end, Mel and Zoe fall into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

  I jump in the pool and swim a few laps before noticing that Mel is floating on her back staring up at the late afternoon sky. She has on mirrored sunglasses and lies motionless in the water, her body is splayed out like the human form drawing, making a perfect X on the water’s still surface. I watch her for a few long seconds, taking in her natural beauty and the air of carefreeness that surrounds her. I can see the sky reflected in her lenses. I plunge under the water, swimming deep down until I am underneath her. I lie parallel at the bottom of the pool gazing up at her backside. I smile to myself as I full throttle up and grab her around the waist. She squeals and bursts into a fit of giggles once she recognizes my body.

  I pepper the back of her neck with kisses and pull her tighter against me, her back to my chest. “Gotcha,” I whisper in her ear. She leans back against me then, relaxing her body. She rests her head on my shoulder and lets the lower half of her body float to the surface. I twirl her around in the water, and she sighs a contented sigh as she turns her face toward my neck and kisses it slowly. We do this for several minutes until she turns in my arms and wraps her limbs around my body. She’s weightless in the water. Our faces are not more than an inch apart. I reach out and push her glasses up over her head, mirroring what I’ve already done with my swim goggles. We are eye to eye now. I become re-acquainted with each fleck of color in her irises, each freckle on her face. They are just as I remembered them. We stare at one another for a long time before I begin to spin us in the water, round and round, making the outside world become a whirl of unrecognizable colors around us. All my focus is on her. I feel connected to her in this moment, a complete connection that I’ve only ever had with one other person, Lily. But, of course, I have a soul connection with my twin, we shared a confined space for the better part of eight months once upon a time.

  “What are you thinking?” Mel finally breaks the silence. It’s funny how I think of her as Mel now when only a day ago my mind thought of her as Melissa. Now the two names are merged into this one person in my head and also in my arms.

  I shake my head to clear my thoughts. “Just pondering the meaning of life,” I answer with a wink. Her lips quirk up into the most beautiful smile.

  “Well, as long as you aren’t deep in thought then,” she says as she brushes her lips softly against mine. I can’t help but deepen our kiss, uncaring about who can see us. She’s like an aphrodisiac, her smell, the satin texture of her skin. I’m completely attracted to everything about this woman.

  We only break apart when I hear Cody clearing his throat at the water’s edge. “You two lovebirds ready for dinner?” he asks with an eyebrow cocked.

  “I suppose,” Mel says and smirks at me. “But I want dessert afterward,” she whispers. I groan as I feel her rub her core against my stomach. Even in the cool pool water, I can feel the intensity of her heat.

  She lets go of me and swims to the side of the pool, I watch as she lifts herself up and sits on the edge before swiveling around and heading to her lounge chair. In the lowering sun glare of the late afternoon, the water drips off her like little sparkling diamonds glistening as they run over her pale skin. It’s mesmerizing to watch, and I almost forget to follow her out until I hear Cody clear his throat yet again. I look over at him, and he’s stifling a laugh while shaking his head. I’ve been caught ogling, but fuck it, I don’t care.

  Dinner is low-key. Mel recommends a place that is filled with locals. It’s a few blocks off the main tourist trek. Mel orders for us in her now fluent Portuguese. It’s locally caught fish, and it’s delicious.

  I find myself watching Mel, stealing side glances at her. She’s wearing a form-fitting, red wrap dress, or at least that’s what I’ve heard Lily call similar dresses. The deep V of the dress accents her amazing cleavage and because of my height, I can easily glance down at it as I take a bite of fish. She insisted we dress in a hurry for dinner, so we could get a good table at this little hole in the wall place. After thirty minutes of being here, I can now understand why. The place is completely packed. Every table is filled with locals and the atmosphere is that of friends having a good time together.

  I glance across the table and see Zoe’s face blush. I also see that Cody’s hand is not in view. I try to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

  “So, Pico tomorrow?” I say, looking at them pointedly. Zoe’s face maintains a flush and Cody nods, giving nothing away. Damn, I think to myself, he is the master of coolness.

  “I texted Marco earlier, he and Michelle can have the sailboat ready at around ten. He has a friend on the island that owns a vineyard. I thought we could have a picnic at the vineyard, hike for a bit, and then eat at the restaurant where we ate last time?” Mel offers. We all nod enthusiastically.

  “Nick was telling me about your research project,” Zoe says. “It sounds really amazing.”

  Mel smiles. “It is. I’m waiting to hear about my funding though. I’m sort of here on borrowed time. I’m hoping I’ll be able to stay longer, but, well, I’ll find out soon,” she says, looking a bit sad.

  I place a hand on her shoulder and give it a squeeze. “I’m sure it’ll work out, one way or another,” I tell her.

  She gives me a brave face and nods. “I hope so,” she says quietly. Mel then regales us with her latest adventures while studying the local dolphin pods and several pods of dolphins who have migrated through the islands. I can tell Zoe adores her already and that somehow warms my heart. My family is so important to me, and I want them to love Mel because…fuck because I love Mel. The thought is sobering, like a bucket of cold water on my libido. I knew I liked her, a lot, but I’m fooling myself if I can’t admit that this woman has gotten under my skin and taken up residence.

  I feel literal electric currents between us throughout dinner, the walk back to the hotel, the nightcap at the bar, and all the way down the hallway to our room, where she’s taken up residence with me since my return. I unlock the door, and she walks through as I close it and switch the bolt. As I turn around, I see she is slowly removing her clothes as she makes her way to the bed. By the time I stagger over, she is in a black, lace bra and panties, her stilettos still on, basically she’s every guy’s fucking wet dream. I’m sure her shoes are some expensive, important designer type, but I don’t know anything about that shit. What I do know is she looks like pure sin, and I would spend an eternity in a confession booth if I got one night with her dressed like this.

  She smiles at me. “Should I be afraid?” she asks, raising her eyebrow.

  “No, why?” I say as I remove my jacket and start unbuttoning my shirt.

  “Because you look like you’re going to devour me,” she says.

  I grin at her as I unbutton my pants and push them and my briefs to the floor. “Oh, but I am, beautiful,” I murmur as I push her down on the bed and crawl up between her legs.

  I can’t help it. I run my nose along the wet material of her panties. I love her smell. She squirms against me. I smile as I pull her panties to the side and glimpse the prize behind them. I hear her breath hitch, and I know she’s waiting, anticipating my touch. I also know I want to draw it out as long as possible.

  I slowly make my way up her body and pull her bra cups down so her full breasts are pushed up and out, greeting me with nipples that are ready for my mouth. After lavishing each with several runs of my tongue, I reach over to my bag and pull out a tie. Mel gives a loo
k of curiosity. Now or never, I think.

  “I want to blindfold you,” I say slowly, pausing to gauge her response.

  I see a flash of something in her eyes, and I can’t tell if she’s curious, angry, scared, or just amused. “Alright,” she says equally slowly.

  I gently kiss her lips before I place the tie over her eyes, tying it in the back.

  “This will enhance—”

  “My sense of touch,” she finishes my sentence.

  “Yes,” I breathe. Her statement gives me pause, but I continue my ministrations and then remove her bra and panties and slowly slide her heels off, gently rubbing each foot as I do.

  I stand back and look at her. She’s breathtaking in the moonlight of the room wearing only my tie around her eyes. I leisurely make my way up her body, taking my time kissing and sucking her skin as I part her legs. I begin to wonder what she’d look like tied up on my bed, spread out for me like a buffet. I find her center and run my finger over her wetness. Her breathing is now erratic, and she whimpers with my light touches. I blow hot air against her and she tries to jerk her body toward me.

  “Patience, beautiful,” I murmur as I gently swirl my fingers around her clit and back down, just barely dipping inside. I repeat the pattern again and again. She’s so wet that it runs down my fingers, and then I plunge them inside her as I take her clit in my mouth and suck long and hard. She cries out as I find that place deep inside her and stroke it rapidly, feeling her tissues swelling and her muscles clenching me. I slowly work her back down from her orgasm.

  “Please,” she whispers.

  “You’ve been patient, so I’ll reward you,” I say with a smile as I trail kisses up her body. Truthfully, I’m so fucking turned on right now, I’m not sure how long I’ll last.

  “Nick?” she asks, and her voice fills me with concern. I rip off the tie and look into her eyes as I hover over her.

  “What’s wrong, beautiful?” I ask her.

  “Ummm…” She smiles shyly up at me.

  “What’s wrong, Mel?” I ask her as I stroke her cheek.