“Oh my God!” I shriek. “Help it!”
Ryan’s eyes go wide. “What?”
“The hook is in its mouth!” I rush over to the poor little fish who’s squirming, most likely in pain. “It’s hurt, Ryan! We have to help him.” Ryan stares at me like I’ve lost my mind, but I ignore him, my entire focus on saving this poor little fish. Carefully, I unhook the hook from his mouth. “It’s okay, little guy. I got you. You’re going to be okay.” I quickly toss him back into the water and watch as he lands with a tiny splash, disappearing into the abyss.
I grab the pole that’s still in the water and reel it in. “No more fishing.” I hand the pole to Ryan, who’s looking at me like I’m crazy. “Those poor fish don’t deserve to be hooked and reeled in for our entertainment.”
A slow smile creeps up on Ryan’s face, making his dimples pop out.
“What?” I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head, his amused grin widening. “You’re just… kind of fucking adorable.”
Great, he thinks I’m adorable… like a damn child.
“What did you think we were doing when I mentioned fishing?” he asks.
“I don’t know.” I shrug a shoulder. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, until you reeled in that poor, helpless fish.”
Ryan laughs, and his strong shoulders shake. “Okay. So, no fishing…”
“No fishing. It’s not nice.” I glance around, eyeing all the people who are fishing on the pier. Those poles aren’t just poles, they’re weapons, threatening to hurt and kill all of the sea life.
“You can’t stop all these people from fishing, so don’t even think about it,” he says as if reading my mind. “Why don’t we go for a walk and sit on the beach.”
I shoot the people fishing a stink eye. “Fine, okay.”
Ryan takes the chairs and poles, and I grab the cooler. We find a secluded spot, but instead of sitting in the chairs, we opt for sitting in the sand.
After a few minutes of watching the waves come in, I say, “My major was marine biology.”
“Was?”
“I had a semester left to get my AS… my associate’s in science,” I explain.
“I know what that is. I have an engineering degree.”
I whip my head around, looking at him with new eyes. “Really?”
“What? I can’t have a degree because I’m in the military?”
“No, I just didn’t know you went to college. Ian…” At the mention of his name, I stop for a second, but then force myself to continue. “Ian enlisted.” He bypassed going to college to enlist directly into the Navy SEALs.
“I did too. But I took online classes. I wanted a degree I could use one day, as well as in the field. I’m a combat engineer.” He takes two bottles of water out of the cooler and hands me one. “So, you were majoring in marine biology?”
“Yeah, the plan was for me to apply to the University of San Diego and to Scripps for an internship. I want to study marine life. I find it fascinating.”
“What made you want to do that?” He twists the top of the bottle and brings it to his lips. As he swallows the water, his Adam’s apple bobs, and I find myself squeezing my thighs together. Why does everything he does have to be so damn masculine and sexy?
“Micaela,” he prompts with a smirk, telling me he totally caught me staring at him.
“Umm…” I shake my head slightly to clear the hormones clogging my brain. “We went on a cruise when I was thirteen. We went snorkeling and I was drawn to the marine life. A few years ago, my dad and I got our scuba license and went scuba diving. I became obsessed with learning about everything. I would love to be able to research the mammals, maybe work to help save those that are endangered.” I shrug. “I haven’t really given a lot of thought to the logistics. The first two years are just the prerequisites. I figured I have plenty of time to figure out exactly what I want to do.” Time, something I’ve learned the hard way we never really have enough of.
“And what, now you don’t want to do that anymore?”
“No, I do… I just…” I was supposed to move to San Diego to be with Ian. That was part of our plan.
“You just what?” He’s not going to let me off the hook. I already know this about Ryan. He’s the kind of person to push you past the point of safe.
“Ian and I had this five-year plan.” I open my water and gulp down several sips. “When he died, it was like my life paused, and I don’t know how to press play again.”
“You will when you’re ready.”
Ryan
Micaela is a good eight years younger than me—barely an adult. But her eyes scream maturity. She’s experienced the kind of heartbreak that ages you by several years. I’ve never experienced it myself, but I’ve seen my men go through it. I’ve lost men along the way, on a couple of rough deployments. Shit goes wrong. But I’ve never allowed myself to be close enough to someone to feel the loss the way Micaela feels it.
She should be in college, going to parties, having a good time. Not struggling every day to just simply breathe. I have two older sisters—Faith and Chloe—and even though we aren’t as close as they’d like because of me being away more than I’m home, we still talk a lot. They’re close with Micaela’s family, so I’ve heard on a few different occasions how Micaela is handling the death of her husband—or not handling it. I don’t know what it is about her, but something draws me in and holds me captive. I want to cut her open, learn all of her secrets, her deepest wishes and desires, and then sew her back together and make them all come true. I shouldn’t feel this way. I’ve only been around her for a few hours. She’s too young, too jaded, and I’m… well, fuck, I’m just me. I’m—
“If you want to stay at the house I can go home,” she says, knocking me from my thoughts. “It doesn’t really matter where I am.”
“Or we can both stay here,” I blurt out, not ready for her to leave. I can’t remember the last time I felt this content. And I can’t help but think it’s because of her presence.
Her eyes go wide, and her mouth opens and closes like the fish she saved earlier. “Umm…”
“We’re both already here. There are plenty of rooms. I can cook, you can eat.”
Micaela glares adorable daggers my way, and I laugh. “C’mon, you brought weed and ice cream. That’s not exactly part of the food pyramid.”
“That was my only joint,” she argues. “I’m not a junkie. Lexi gave it to me.” She shrugs. “It just helps me forget for a little while.”
“Maybe it’s time to work on accepting and moving forward.”
She rolls her eyes. “There you go… doing that whole savior shit again.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll show you a savior.”
Before she can question what I’m saying, I’m picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder. She shrieks, slamming her fists against my ass and back, as I run us straight into the ocean. It’s cold as fuck, but it doesn’t deter me. Holding on to her, I dip us both into the saltwater.