Page 49 of Anchor

“Why don’t you have Gabe bring you over next weekend? My wife and I are going to grill out.” Before she can respond, Tyler gropes for the handle of the door. “I won’t take no for an answer now,” he says. “So I expect to see you on Saturday. You two have fun.”

He makes a quick escape before I can untangle myself from Chloe’s arms and the grasping tangle of the monitor wires.

She puts a hand on my shoulder and I still. “It’s okay,” she says softly.

I fight my way out of the wires until I can see her face. “Are you sure? I never should have—I mean I should have waited.”

Her hand moves up my cheek. “No, it’s okay. It was pretty damn good actually.”

Her shy confession makes me want to do it all over again. “Really?” I ask, my voice husky.

“Really.”

I kiss her again, because I can. When it ends, she rests her head on my chest and draws patterns on my stomach. “When do you have to go home?” I almost don’t want to know the answer, but I figure I’d better rip off the band aid.

She shrugs. “I’m not sure. My boss, her name’s Sienna, we’ve been good friends for a long time. Anyway, she feels like shit for making me get on that ferry so I think it’s safe to assume I’ll have as much vacation time as I want for the foreseeable future.”

“This Sienna sounds like a great friend.”

“She is. Anyway, why’d you want to know?” she teases. “Want me out of here?”

“Definitely not.” I hesitate, then barrel through. “I’m asking ‘cause I was going to see if you wanted to come stay at my place. I mean until you have to go back.”

We knock heads when she arches backward to look at me. “Are you sure?” she asks. “What about Emily? I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“She’s with her mom. They both hadn’t slept in a couple days and Emily was getting a little cranky. She’s so young, I didn’t want to scare her being at the hospital so much. They’re staying at her mom’s house for a couple days and then Em’s gonna come spend the week with me when things calm down. I don’t want you to feel obligated—”

“Yes,” she says.

“Yeah?”

Laughter spills from her lips. “I said yes. When do we get out of here?”

“If they don’t let me out by this afternoon, we’ll break out.”

“Bonnie and Clyde style,” she jokes, then she grows serious. “Have you heard anything about the others? I mean the other hostages. The captain.”

I sigh and pull her closer against me like I can shield her from everything. The fact that I even want to does not bode well for my dedicated bachelorhood, but I set that aside.

“There were some injuries, a couple serious, but everyone is expected to recover. They haven’t found the captain yet.” I swallow thickly. “They’ve sent out Search & Rescue, but no luck yet.”

“I’m so sorry, Gabe,” she says.

“Me, too.”

“It’s not your fault though, you know that, right?” When I don’t answer, she looks up at me. “Right?” she insists.

I sigh. “Intellectually, yes, I know that, but emotionally, I feel every single death like a chain around my neck. On some level, if I had saved her, none of this would have happened.”

“Oh, honey,” she whispers and then kisses my throat. “You can’t control everything.”

“Chloe, I’m a man. I have to think that I can or I’ll self-destruct.” I joke, but a part of me is serious.

“You’re not God, it’s not like you can influence other people’s decisions or control the weather.”

Not wanting to talk about it anymore, I crowd her on the small bed. “Sure about that?” I caress her arm with the pads of my fingers. “Pretty sure I caninfluenceyou.”

She slaps my hand away. “Don’t try and change the subject.”