His Plus One by Kate Aster

Chapter 15

~ HAILEY ~

Oh. My. God.

The squeal—no, actually it’s more like a full-blown scream—couldn’t possibly be coming from me.

But it is—because our feet are being lifted higher and higher still, only kept from plummeting into the ocean by a tether hooked onto a power boat.

A boat that is getting smaller and smaller in the distance with every second.

“You okay?” A combination of concern and amusement washes over Graydon’s face as he peers at me from behind his GoPro camera.

“I’m freaking flying!” I cry out.

I’m a bird.This is exactly how it must feel—the wind toying with me as we soar high above the waves.

I glance over at Graydon as he pans his camera in a steady sweep, capturing the stunning, crystal clear waters below us and then back to me. I can tell he’s perfectly comfortable up here, as though parasailing is something he does every day.

Looking as though he’s enjoying my response to this experience even more than parasailing itself, he laughs at what is probably an absurdly childlike expression on my face.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so happy,” he chuckles.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. How did you know I’ve always wanted to do this, Graydon?”

“You totally lit up when you saw it on the list of shore excursions that first day we arrived. I was just surprised you didn’t book it yourself.”

“I actually tried the second day of the cruise, but they were sold out already. When did you book this?”

“Same day we arrived. Wanted to surprise you.”

“You booked this the day we arrived?” I feel the need to verify.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I—” I stop, pulling my eyes away from the sparkling water below us to look at him for a moment. My heart warms.

He did this before.

Before we were even having sex.

The idea that he listened… that he paid attention to something as trivial as the tone of my voice or the expression on my face—it makes my heart expand even more than this sublime feeling of inching closer to the clouds.

I’ve never had that—a man who listened like that. And even with my limited experience of men, I can’t imagine it happens that often, finding someone who is so attuned to someone else’s wants and needs.

But it shouldn’t surprise me. It’s the same way he makes love to me.

Because it feels like love we’re making when our bodies are joined. There’s no mistaking that.

“That was…” My voice trails for a moment, feeling so damn lucky right now. “…really thoughtful of you.”

He shrugs as though it was no big deal. “Check it out! Dolphins!” He points downward as an entire pod of them jump in and out of the wave breaks below us, almost seeming as though they are racing us.

“Can you get a shot of that?” I ask, but he’s already on it, pointing his camera at them.

I shriek as a breeze passes, making the parasail almost shudder in response. “Aren’t we going too high? I hope they know what they’re doing down there.”

“You’ll be fine. You know I’m not letting anything bad happen to you. Don’t worry.”

Yet I’m not worried somehow. Because even if we are going too high, even if we dropped into the water, there’s just nothing that could happen that would make me regret this moment.

Fun? I came on this cruise to have fun?

Somehow the word doesn’t seem to cover what I’m experiencing.

“You know, if you stop screaming, you’ll hear how quiet it gets up here.”

I suppress the squeal that seems to be continuously percolating in my throat and listen… to nothing.

I can barely even hear the boat below us. Just the calming sound of the wind in my ears. My eyes catch sight of two seagulls near us, flying so close I feel like we’ve found kindred souls. I point. “I think we’ve found some friends.”

He smiles as he looks at them and then gazes downward again. “I can’t seem to get over the water here. That turquoise is so bright it almost hurts my eyes to look at it.”

“I know.” I let its beauty soak into my senses. “I’ve traveled so much for work, that I always kind of thought I had seen a lot of the world. But seeing water like this… it makes me want to travel more for fun. Even maybe move someplace else for a while.”

His eyes widen with surprise, then his lips curve upward slightly. “There are always jobs with the DoD for people with your clearance and skills.”

“Yeah, I see the listings all the time. I just never really realized how much of a rut I’ve been in.”

“So let’s keep you out of the rut.”

I nibble my lip as I nod. “Definitely.”

“No, I mean—let’s make sure of it. We could book another cruise right while we’re on board, you know. They’ve got some deals they’ve been pushing in those fliers they put on our bed every night. Maybe we could take one out of New York next. One of those bigger ships that David was talking about.”

The idea of it—and the fact that it came from him—has my eyes pulling away from the water to settle on him for a few beats.

He’s serious. He really wants to continue this after we get back—so much that he’s willing to book our next vacation together.

God help me. I could so easily fall in love with him.

I try to tamp down the swell of feelings, reminding myself of the harmless crush I’ve always fostered for this man. It would be so easy now, in these almost surreal surroundings, enjoying moments of sheer perfection, to fool myself into thinking that the little, harmless crush has turned into something more.

I need to be careful. This time we’re sharing doesn’t even remotely resemble real life.

Yet falling in love with Graydon seems like the most natural thing in the world.

How could I not? How could I not fall for him?

“Let’s do it. Let’s book another cruise,” I breathe out and as I say it, he turns the camera on both of us and kisses me, long and thoroughly. His lips are so soft—such a contradiction to his body.

I love how they taste, how they meld perfectly to mine.

I yield to him, letting his tongue enter me. A murmur of satisfaction escapes me, and suddenly, I’ve forgotten the wind in my hair, the space between my toes and the earth below. Everything has melted away—time, rational thought, control. They are all lost to me, and I don’t fight it anymore.

Right now, it’s just him and me and this emotion that I feel welling up inside of me as the last vestiges of practicality seem to be extinguished by the love in my heart.

I’m in love with him. Truly.

I feel it all the way down to my toes as we kiss. I feel it even in this deep part of me that I could only describe as my very soul.

And I still feel it, even after our lips part and I’m looking into the eyes of a man I want to be with forever.

Oh, God help me. This is too much emotion in too little time.

“You certainly did that thoroughly,” I say, and he chuckles in response. “Glad you captured that one on camera.”

“Well, if you’re putting it on social media, I have a reputation at stake.” He turns his camera away from us again, shooting downward at the water beneath us.

I shake my head. “No. I think I just want that video for myself,” I find myself saying. Because it’s too personal to slap onto the internet. That moment he captured in video, whether he knows it or not, was the moment I lost my heart completely to Graydon Adler.

I’ll cherish the memory of that forever, no matter how long this paradise lasts.

My heart pinches as I feel our tether starting to get pulled in. “Nooo! I don’t want to go in yet.”

He gives me a devilish look. “Want me to cut the line?”

I send him my most incredulous gaze. “I think we’d still be headed down if you did. And a little more painfully.”

Yet even as I speak the words, I almost have a hard time believing it. Because right now, I feel so gloriously light, so out of reach by the laws of mere gravity. If we really were set free of this tether, I feel like I could still soar right up to the clouds.

So long as I had him next to me.