Kyle slipped both arms around her from behind. “Towels, swim suits, a fresh change of clothes. Toiletries are in the vanity.”
She leaned into him and turned her head slightly. “Okay, what’s the story? I’ve waited long enough.” He was sounding possessive. He wouldn’t have bought a boat without telling her, would he?
“I have Diet Cokes in the fridge and more bubbly for later,” he said with a kiss into her hair. “Let’s sit and I’ll explain, then we’ll cast off.”
They settled into the chairs, icy cold cans nestled into green koozies with Adventures Below logos. “Connor and Ellen are getting to the point where they can begin to take some vacations and other friends of theirs were ready to stop traveling and wanted to sell the boat. Connor and I were talking about the cost of slipping a boat and we do after all, have the adjoining lot we aren’t doing anything with yet.”
Bev smiled. “Plus, this convenient homeowners’ park.”
“Exactly. Connor came down a couple of days ago to finalize the deal. If all goes well, he and Ellen will be here next week and they want to spend the rest of the month poking around the Keys, maybe go over to the Gulf side. They don’t want a set schedule for their first time out.”
Bev looked around. “And when they aren’t here…”
“We have full use, just keep it taken care of. They’ll handle anything major, insurance and what have you.”
Bev smiled. “The next best thing to having a boat is having a friend with a boat,” she said of the familiar line.
“It’s pretty much like that.” Kyle set his can down and reached for both her hands. “I don’t care how tough you are, which is considerably so, this case has been hard on you. An evening and night on the water with champagne will be good for us.”
“I can’t argue with that,” she said softly, thinking how beautiful it would be away from shore with starlight overhead.
Kyle leaned in for a long kiss. After dinner, Bev would text Les to tell him she’d be taking the next day off.
The End
Shades of Deception Page 25