Veritas (14 page)

Before Grey could answer, however, a tiny, sobbin
g voice called out, “Moooooooom!”

Lauren froze at the sound, momentarily confused as to where it came from. A few seconds later, another little voice called out as the sound of retching filtered down to them, and Lauren
closed her eyes in disbelief as she leaned her forehead against Grey’s shoulder. “Would it be bad if we went into your cabin and locked the door behind us?”

“No.
” Grey shook her head and rocked her hips desperately against Lauren’s hand. “Fuck, Lauren, please…”

Heavy footfalls pounded through the salon as one of the boys’ parents rushed to their aid. The “Oh geez!” that followed answered Lauren’s question for them. It would be one thing to hide from what was happening, but the haze of blind passion that had surrounded them disappeared completely at the continued, agonized retching sounds that seemed to multiply.

“Max is using the potty, try and hit the tub, Pey!”

“Christ,” Grey muttered, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to
ignore what was happening upstairs. It did not work.

Lauren pulled
her hand gingerly away from Grey as she took a small step back, the look on her face a cross between concern, disbelief, and wry amusement at their situation.

“I’m thinking ‘later’ need
s to be when we’re alone, alone.” Grey sighed as she began putting her clothes back in order, resigned to the fact that no matter how much she wanted it, she was not getting off any time soon. “Like, nobody on the boat but us, alone.”

Lauren sighed and ran a hand th
rough her hair. “Yeah.” She chuckled at the absolute absurdity of being cockblocked by a puking kid who was not even hers, and shook her head as she leaned in and kiss Grey softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,
” Grey grumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah.
” Lauren kissed Grey again as the sound of more retching and Will’s half-frantic instructions to the boys filtered down to them. “Should we go see if they need some help?”

“
Probably should. Unless you want to be mopping floors later,” Grey replied dryly. She sighed and stole one last quick kiss. “We
will
continue this later.”

“
Bet your ass we will,” Lauren breathed. She instantly missed the warmth of Grey’s body and she sighed as she turned and started up the stairs to see what she could do to help.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lauren asked as she sat down in the barstool beside Grey and handed her a steaming cup of coffee. The dark circles under Grey’s eyes matched her own, and she shuddered at the memory of the last twelve hours. She would have never imagined that little kids could throw up that much. But they were sleeping now, and the sun was already well above the eastern horizon, which meant that it was time to begin another day—whether they were ready to face it or not.

Grey shrugged and sipped gratefully at the coffee. “The plan was to jump up to The Baths on Virgin Gorda for a day of exploring and stuff, but I think it’s safe to say that the boys won’t be up for that.”

“Can we just stay here?”

“I only reserved this spot for the one night. W
e need to be out of here by ten.” Grey ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I guess we can always just head up to the North Sound. We are supposed to tie up there tonight anyways, and there are usually more than enough mooring balls at Bitter End. It’s a longer sail than I would normally try and fit into one go, just because clients like to stop and do things, but if going ashore isn’t really an option anyway…”

“May as well try and stick to the original itinerary as much as possible?”

“Exactly.” Grey glanced around the empty salon and smiled as she leaned in to press a quick kiss to Lauren’s lips. The easy comfort she felt when she was with Lauren was exhilarating, and she smiled as she pulled back to look at her. “Good morning.”

Lauren reached up to lightly drag the fingers of her left hand down Grey’s jaw. “Good morning to you.” She chuckled at the feeling of Grey’s
hand sliding slowly up her leg, long fingers dipping beneath the edge of her shorts to tickle her inner thigh. “Whoa there, tiger.” She covered Grey’s wandering hand with her own. “For as much as it seems like it at the moment, we are not alone.”

“But I want to touch you,” Grey murmured, squeezing Lauren’s leg. Her smile
grew wider at the shiver she felt roll through Lauren’s body, and she wiggled her fingers playfully under Lauren’s hand. “Do you want me to touch you?”

“God yes,” Lauren whispered
, her hold on Grey’s hand unconsciously relaxing, giving her enough slack to slide her fingers high enough that they brushed against her panties. “But…” Her argument died in her throat at the feeling of Grey’s fingers lightly stroking the length of her.

Grey smiled as she focused her attention on Lauren’s clit, rubbing slow,
soft circles on the hidden bud. “Hmm?” she teased as she watched Lauren’s eyes flutter and her mouth fall open.

Really,
Grey knew that she was pushing it. If anything, last night had proven exactly how careful they needed to be, but the soft pants falling from Lauren’s lips made it all but impossible for her to exercise caution. She pressed harder, her stomach clenching at the low moan that rumbled in Lauren’s throat, and she swore softly as the sound of a cabin door opening and closing interrupted them.

Her own disappointment was nothing compared to Lauren’s, though, judging by the annoy
ed ire flashing in the redhead’s eyes when they snapped open, and she chuckled at the death glare Lauren shot her as she quickly pulled her hand from her shorts. “Sorry?”

“You’re a tease,” Lauren grumbled, doing her best to not shift in her seat.

Grey smirked and gave Lauren’s leg a gentle squeeze. “You like it.”

Lauren laughed in spite of herself and nodded. “I do
. But beware what you ask for, Captain Wells…”

“Mmm, is that a
challenge?” Grey whispered huskily in Lauren’s ear as she slid out of her chair, purposefully rubbing her chest against Lauren’s arm.

“If you would like it to be,”
Lauren retorted with far more confidence than she actually possessed. Her pulse jumped under Grey's knowing gaze, and she held her breath as she refused to look away. The stare was a challenge, plain and simple, and she was determined that she would not lose. Seconds seemed to last for hours, and Lauren finally let the breath she had been holding go when the sound of a third person entering the salon reached their ears, drawing Grey’s attention away from her.

Lauren followed Grey’s gaze
, and a sympathetic smile pulled at her lips when she spied Kim shuffling across the salon in a pair of black running shorts and a t-shirt emblazoned with the 2012 Miami Marathon logo. The woman looked like she was dead on her feet, and Lauren could not help but wonder why in the world she was even awake since the boys were all asleep.

“
Good morning,” Grey greeted their guest.

“Morning,” Kim
mumbled. “I was just going to grab a cup of coffee before I showered.”

“You want me to get it for you
?” Lauren offered.

“It’s okay, I got it,” Kim said, waving the offer off with a sleepy hand.

Once Kim was distracted with the coffee machine, Grey leaned down and flicked her tongue over the shell of Lauren’s ear. Her eyes fluttered closed for the briefest of moments at the quiet sound of Lauren's breath hitching, and she hummed softly as she nipped at her earlobe. She chuckled at the low growl that rumbled in Lauren’s throat, and gave her side a discreet squeeze.

Kim looked up from the coffee machine
, too sleep-deprived to notice what was happening in front of her. “I know the plan was to head over to those caves to go exploring today, but the boys aren’t going to be up for much more than watching movies.”

“We figured as much,” Grey said, nodding.
“Instead of stopping at The Baths, we’ll just make the jump up to Bitter End, since the plan was to moor there tonight anyways. Hopefully they’ll be back to themselves tomorrow, and you guys will be able to do all the water-sports you had planned. The itinerary has us spending tomorrow night there too, so we’ll just jockey down and hit The Baths on Thursday,” she said, doing some quick mental calculations as she adjusted their agreed-upon itinerary. “I figure we can tie up at Jost Thursday night and clear customs there. Friday we can head on over to Saint John, and then we’ll head back to Charlotte Amalie on Saturday.” She shrugged. “Not a big deal at all.”

Kim smiled. “Okay. Good. I am sorry about all this.”

“Please,” Grey scoffed, shaking her head. “Like you really planned for the boys to spend the night channeling the Exorcist.”

“They really did, didn’t they?” Kim chuckled. She poured some milk into her coffee and sighed as she lifted the mug to her lips. “God, that sucked.”

“Yeah it did,” Lauren muttered under her breath, her cheeks flushing a little as her mind flashed back to what she had been doing when puke-a-palooza had begun. She looked up to find Grey watching her, and she cleared her throat softly as she reached out to stroke the side of her left index finger up and down Grey’s leg.

“Tell me about it,” Grey whispered in agreement.

“Well,” Kim said, flashing a curious look at Grey and Lauren, “since all of my boys are sleeping, I am going to go shower in peace.”

Once they were alone, Grey hooked a finger under Lauren's chin and g
ently guided her face upwards. “I really do want to touch you,” she whispered, smiling as she leaned down to claim Lauren's mouth in a slow, sweet, kiss that thrummed with the promise of more. She smiled as she pulled away just far enough to nuzzle Lauren's cheek, her next words falling in seductive waves over Lauren's lips. “I want to see all of you, touch all of you...”

Lauren groaned.

“And I really, really want you to finish what you started last night,” Grey continued in a husky whisper. “But, unfortunately, if we’re really going to wait until we are ‘alone alone’, we have another four and a half days to wait until that can happen.”

“
Oh god.”

Grey chuckled and
pressed one last lingering kiss to Lauren's lips. “Tell me about it.”

After receiving mooring instructions from the Bitter End harbormaster, Grey clipped the radio back into place and turned around in her seat to look for Lauren, who had spent the majority of the morning camped out on the starboard dive platform with Reid while Kim and Will attended to the older boys, whose stomachs did not appreciate the gentle pitch and roll of the boat as they sailed. Grey had watched off and on during the trip as Lauren taught Reid how to cast a fishing line that was rigged with only a light casting weight, nothing heavy enough to get caught in their wake and pull the rod out of his hands, and he was now casting and reeling-in his line like a pro.

Though she hated to break up his fun, Grey needed Lauren’s help to get them hooked up to their assigned mooring ball in the harbor
, and she sighed as she slid out of her chair. “Lauren!”

Lauren looked up to where
Grey was standing on the bridge, and shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand left hand even as she fisted her right around one of the straps that ran along the back of the lifejacket Reid was wearing so that she had a good hold on him. “Yeah?”

“Harbormaster just gave me our mooring assignment.
I’m going to need your help.”

“Got it,” Lauren hollered back as she turned to Reid, who was still casting and reeling-in his line with a
wide smile on his face. “Hey, buddy. I gotta go help Grey, so we’re going to have to stop fishing for a little bit. Do you want to go up to the bridge with Grey, or do you want to go inside and try to find your mom?”

Reid frowned thoughtfully as he spun the handle on his reel, his eyes glued to the water as he looked for his bright yellow casting weight. “Can I go up with Grey?” he finally asked once the weight was snug against the tip top of the pole.

“Of course you can.” Lauren smiled and took the pole out of his hand. She looked up at Grey, who was still watching them from the bridge, and pointed first at Reid and then at her, the unspoken message clearly received when Grey nodded and waved him up. “I’ll put this away someplace safe,” she told Reid, “and you head on up to Grey.”

Lauren followed Reid
up onto the deck and waited until he was working his way up the stairs before she started toward the forward storage compartments for the boat pole she would need to capture the buoy attached to the mooring ball. She set the pole down on the trampoline and hurried to ready the port and starboard bow lines that she would use to tie off with. She worked quickly and efficiently, her every movement so fluid and natural that, to anyone who did not know better, she looked like she had done this particular task every day for years. She glanced up at the bridge when she finished readying the lines, and her stomach fluttered at the appreciative tilt of Grey’s lips. It was patently unfair that she should be so affected by just a look, and she sighed as she turned away.