Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Derrick

He came. Arthur really came. And he was grinning at me and waiting for me to kiss him.

I didn’t realize how scared I’d been that he wouldn’t be there until I saw his sign, and relief so intense flooded me that my knees legit shook. Not the best thing when standing on deck of a moving sub, but somehow I stayed upright and made it through the last bit of waiting.

Now my shaky legs had carried me here, to him, and as I pulled him to me, I swore one of those mental soundtracks he was always joking about swelled like an orchestra was among our audience. But beyond that, I didn’t register much of our surroundings as I claimed his mouth. I wanted to go slow, remember each second of the contact, but my body kept sprinting ahead of my brain.

In some ways it felt like our first kiss all over again, new and special, and in others it felt like we’d never paused, like I’d been gone an hour not weeks and weeks, a comfortable familiarity there that hadn’t been there that very first kiss.

He tasted like a memory, like mint and tea and a hint of sweet coffee too. His lips were every bit as soft as I remembered, and his strong arms clutching me lived up to my memories as well. He was solid and real and there and we kissed and kissed.

Behind us, I heard some whoops and the sound of cameras flashing. But still I kissed him.

“Welcome home,” he murmured against my mouth.

“You’re my home.” I sucked in a big lungful of air, even oxygen tasting better now. Or maybe that was still more relief, more tension bleeding away so I could breathe easier.

“Can you go viral twice?” Sabrina mused next to Arthur, holding up her shiny phone. “Who says we find out?”

“I’m too happy to care.” Arthur laughed.

“Me too.”

“Bet that ex of yours will have kittens if he sees,” Sabrina crowed as she clicked something on her phone with a long orange nail.

“Let him. I don’t care.” And it was true. I wasn’t jealous anymore, if I’d ever truly been. I’d been hurt and embarrassed, but I’d never wanted Steve back, even in the beginning of this whole thing. I’d hated how inadequate the breakup had made me feel, but the intervening time had healed a lot of those more petty feelings.

And from the very first kiss, I’d wanted Arthur. He, not Steve, had consumed my thoughts for months and he was truly all I cared about.

“He lost out.” Arthur tugged me closer for another kiss, this one way more possessive and showy. Laughing, I kissed him back.

“You’re cute when you go all caveman,” I said to him.

“I could say the same thing to you.” He beamed at me. There was so much more I needed to say to him. Simply him being here was amazing, but it was a start not an endpoint. I was ecstatic, but not deluding myself into thinking everything would work out from here onward.

However, right then, I only wanted to kiss him more, bask in his realness and there-ness. True conversation could wait.

“You got my message.” I pointed at his sign. He’d had balloons too, but those seemed to have escaped at some point.

“I did.” Eyes deep with meaning, he nodded. “Thank you for sending it. But I was coming anyway, and I want you to know that.”

“For real?” I met his intense gaze, trying to suss out whether he was simply being nice.

“For real and also not because you left me your sweet ride.” His chuckle was as welcome as his words and smile. “I was coming for me.”

“Good.” I grabbed his hand because I couldn’t not touch him. Around us, people were chattering, hugging, taking pictures, a chaos I was so happy to be a part of. And for maybe the first time ever, I did feel part of the festivities, not removed and watching at a distance.

“Welcome home, Derrick.” Arthur’s mom gave me a hug.

“You both came too?” I finally registered the presence of Arthur’s parents on the other side of Sabrina.

“Wouldn’t miss it. You’re practically an honorary Euler at this point. Good work, son.” That was maybe the longest I’d heard Arthur’s father speak at one go. My chest went so tight, it was surprising that my uniform didn’t crack.

“Thank you, sir.” I maybe should have been a little embarrassed that Arthur’s parents had had to witness yet another highly enthusiastic kiss between Arthur and me. But this one had been real, not fake, and there was no ruse about my feelings for their son. Also, I was a little too giddy to care overly about shocking anyone right then.

“Dad’s right. You’re one of us now.” A deep voice I’d recognize anywhere came up behind me, and I whirled. Except for this guy. Maybe I did care a little more than I’d thought about shocking or pissing Calder off. He was wearing a work uniform and was slightly out of breath, like he’d jogged across base.

“Sorry, man. I almost missed it. Finally got free.” He clapped me on the shoulder hard and his expression was difficult to read. Not affable like normal, no easy smile, and his usually sparkling eyes were cloudy, but there was also no anger there. And he’d come. That had to count for something.

“You sure you want to claim me?” I asked, a quiver running down my legs. Losing his friendship would suck, and his approval meant possibly more to me than even Arthur’s parents’. I was doing this thing regardless, but I couldn’t deny wanting to keep Calder in my life too.

“Dude. I’m always gonna claim you.” Calder regarded me solemnly. “You kissing my brother doesn’t change anything between us.”

“Ride or die,” Sabrina supplied.

“Yup. And if you want to put up with this guy, you’re welcome to him. Man, he was the king of misery at Dad’s birthday. I didn’t think he could miss anything that much. Guess it is the real deal.” Calder shrugged, all relaxed now, but my back tensed.

“I wasn’t that miserable.” Arthur made a pained face at Calder. “He’s overstating.”

“No, he’s not. You sulked—”

“Sabrina,” Arthur said sharply.

“Oops.” Sabrina giggled. “Sorry, Arthur was the picture of patience. All zen and chill.”

She offered me a winning smile, but I wasn’t convinced. “That so?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Arthur squeezed my hand tight. “Not now. Please?”

“Okay.” I agreed because this was neither the time nor the place, but I also added it to my mental list of conversation topics.

“I know exactly what you both need.” Arthur’s mom had an alarmingly wide smile.

“Oh?” I kept my voice upbeat even though I was almost certain that the answer involved a Euler family dinner. Which would be fine and fun and eventually, some century, I would get Arthur alone and we could have the first of what promised to be several important conversations. Maybe we’d get lucky and Liam and Craig wouldn’t be around tonight. At least I had a few days’ leave and an Arthur to spend them with.

However, instead of announcing a dinner, she dug in her purse. “Here.” She held up a piece of plastic that for a single horrifying second I thought was two condoms, but then realized had the name of a local chain of hotels on it. “Now you don’t have to do the ferry tonight and you can be alone that much sooner.”

“Oh wow.” My jaw went as slack as my brain right then, but Arthur was faster, plucking the card from his mom’s fingers.

“Thank you. You shouldn’t have, but wow is right, and boy am I glad you did. Sabrina—”

“Like I was ever going back with you?” She rolled her elegant eyes. “Don’t worry, honey. I already got the number of Petty Officer Helpful from the bus.”

“Excellent.” Arthur gave her a high five. “I suppose we should do dinner first...”

“Your father and I have reservations.” His mom continued to beam. “For two. I cashed in a bunch of airline miles. Dinner for us, hotel for you. Oh, and I asked for a late checkout time.”

That last bit made both Calder and his father turn pink and look away.

“Thank you,” I said, perhaps a little too heartily because Arthur’s dad’s blush worsened.

“You’re the best.” Arthur gave his mom a fast hug. “Calder? Were you counting on Derrick for dinner?”

A strange look flitted across Calder’s face. Perhaps he was thinking about all the times he hadn’t made an effort to include Arthur. “No,” he said at last. “He’s all yours.”

“He is at that.” Arthur linked arms with me. I wanted to say something else to Calder, a thank-you at least, or touch his arm, but he was already striding away, murmuring something about getting back on duty. It might take a little time for our friendship to get unweird, but him showing up meant a great deal.

“Ready to go?” Arthur asked. “I’m more than ready to kiss you without going viral or risking indecent exposure.”

“Me too.” Talking. We needed to talk, with words. And sentences. Lots of them. But hell if I wasn’t wanting more kissing too, the indecent kind especially.