Page 34 of Buck (Diver Downeast #2)

Buck didn’t want to, but he needed to say goodbye because satellite calls cost an exorbitant amount of money per minute. Not that he wouldn’t mind paying, but Bobbie surely wouldn’t let him, and she’d always been the frugal sort, so…

Something occurred to him, however, just before he reluctantly signed off.

“Bobbie, I’m curious. Originally, we were going to see each other tomorrow night once you moored in Searsport. How were we going to do that without your brothers finding out?”

She chuckled. “Ahh. You mean tonight, right? Remember? it’s already Wednesday in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Semantics,” he laughed, because yeah, he’d just been asleep and his brain wasn’t quite functioning yet. Unlike Bobbie, who seemed to be firing on all cylinders even though she’d been up since…? Damn .

The woman had to be running on freaking fumes.

“Hey. Are you alright? Good enough to sail? Cognitively speaking I mean?” Buck asked, putting aside his original question for a moment.

“Seriously? You’re doubting my mental acuity? Let’s remember who’s smarter, here, buddy,” she snorted humorously.

“Oh. You mean me?” Buck returned in kind, easily falling back into one of their old “who’s better” routines.

“But Bobbie, just because I’m smarter than you, doesn’t mean I think you can’t handle yourself on a sailboat.

I’ll allow that you might even have my skills beat, where sails are involved,” he returned cheekily with a big guffaw before getting serious.

“No. What I’m really worried it about is your sleep, or lack thereof,” he ended thoughtfully.

“I’d hate to think you were in any way impaired, having been up all night. ”

Bobbie sighed. “I’m fine. Really. I’m always alert when I’m on the water. But hear this. Once I’m moored, all bets are off. I might crash, big-time, later on today, just so you’re prepared.”

Buck’s brain went quickly to holding a sleeping Bobbie in his arms, and his whole body twitched.

In his imagination, they were both naked, with her soft curves nestled warmly into his hard muscles. Clearly, in this fanciful storyline, they’d have been up to something before they were both worn out enough to doze.

A man could dream.

His cock stretched, as if seeking…

“Oh, I’m prepared alright,” he answered gruffly, putting one hand on his junk to keep it under control.

Right. That wasn’t happening.

Of course he wanted nothing more than to bury himself deep inside Bobbie, and if that’s how things played out, halle-fucking-lujah.

But if she was too tired, there’d be no pressure from him.

Not because he was necessarily nice, but because, in his head, they’d be meshing body-parts for years and years to come.

He just needed his dick to get the message that those offerings could be off the table for now. Which jogged his foggy brain into recalling his initial inquiry.

“That brings me back to what I asked before,” Buck reminded her. “How were you going to avoid having Drew and Jeff set eyes on you once you made your way into Searsport, and how would they miss my arrival? Considering what’s been happening, they’ll be watching, right?”

“I actually hadn’t thought about it,” she revealed with a huff. “Which is stupid. Because, yeah, of course they’re not going to give up. I’m sure of that. Not, at least, until they concoct something that will drive us apart like they did fifteen years ago.”

“My thoughts, exactly,” Buck concurred. “So… I had an idea. I was going to bring it up after you arrived tonight, but since you’ll be here in the morning, we should plan now. Hear me out, okay?”

“I’m listening,” Bobbie replied. She’d always had an open mind with Buck, up until she hadn’t. But she was making up for lost time and trust.

“You know Spence, Tabbi, and I are opening our office up in Hampden, right?”

“Uh, huh,” she immediately responded, her voice holding curiosity.

“And of course you heard ad nauseum from Spencer that Tabitha’s looking to purchase a sub.”

“Right.”

“Spencer also says we have a line on a speedboat with a high-powered motor that will get us down the Penobscot in quick fashion for emergencies.”

“Yeah…” she prompted.

She was being very patient for someone who was usually all inquisitiveness.

“Which means that yesterday,” Buck continued, “he put me on the task of securing both dock space and a mooring for our business.”

“And did you?” Bobbie’s voice grew excited. “Get spots, I mean?”

Buck knew why she was asking with such eagerness.

She’d know that both dock space and moorings in the area were highly coveted and in short supply.

Luckily, the Sothard family was well known in these parts, and pulling a few strings with old friends, Buck was able to procure those two things without too much of a fuss.

Although a berth at the pier wouldn’t be available until the following week.

“I got them.” He couldn’t help but gloat.

“Which means you could bypass your normal spot at Searsport and head up to Hampden, instead. That way your brothers won’t see you until you want them to.

” Maybe, because of weather, the pair would even assume she’d put in somewhere up north, then he and Bobbie could spend the entire day and night together.

“I like the sound of that,” Bobbie agreed heartily, and Buck had to almost pinch himself as a reminder that she hadn’t heard his inner thoughts and answered him.

He coughingly gave her the GPS coordinates of the future water home for Diver Downeast’s vessels, as well as the number she’d see on their new mooring buoy, then cleared his throat.

“I can meet you there, with Cooper of course, so he and Reyghan can play. Then we can spend the entire day on your boat. If that’s okay,” he hurriedly added.

Again, no pressure. He wanted to take things as slowly as Bobbie needed. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away.

“That sounds perfect,” she answered, sincerely.

Did he detect a huskiness in her voice when she said that, or was he optimistically hearing things over a sat line that had been progressively breaking up?

Breaking up …

“Is weather moving in faster than you expected?” he asked worriedly, when that thought finally settled in.

“Not at all,” she assured him. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the radar, and believe me, I’ll be moored long before it hits. I take it you’re worried right now because we’re losing signal?”

“A little,” Buck admitted.

“Don’t be. It’s just because the sky is starting to get really overcast. But it was good you reminded me of the incoming storm, though. This concern isn’t a huge one, but if you’re worried about riding the gale out on my boat in Hampden Harbor, we could make different plans.”

“Nope. Not on my account. Unless it looks like it’s going to get really bad. Then for safety’s sake, we could get a hotel room there that allows dogs, or even drive back to my place until it passes.”

“Mmm. I like both of those ideas,” she agreed.

Buck’s balls tightened up again at the innuendo he could clearly hear in her tone this time, and he reminded himself that Bobbie had pretty much given them the green light to move ahead last time they’d talked, at least in the physical sense.

Damn himself to hell. He’d take her up on it, too. He wasn’t strong enough to wait; deny going there with her until Bobbie could decide he was worthy of her love again.

Yup. He was an impatient asshole.

The minute she made a move, he’d be all over that.

Buck cleared his throat. “Do you, umm, have an ETA?”

“Entering the new coordinates you gave me into my computer, now,” she told him distractedly, then… “Bingo. I should be there by eight-thirty this morning. Just over seven hours from now.”

“I’ll be waiting.” In actuality, he’d be counting the minutes, and…

Buck would actually make sure he’d be there well before the time she’d mentioned, just in case she found more favorable winds. He didn’t want her to have to twiddle her fingers while looking out for him. And besides, being honest with himself? The anticipation was killing him.

“Bobbie?”

“Yeah, Buck?”

“Please be careful.”

“Always.”

Damn . He hated to end the call, but at nearly two bucks a minute, they’d already racked up at least a thirty-dollar bill. Bobbie, he knew, wouldn’t let him pay for it, and she was trying to be frugal, so…

“See you soon,” he managed.

“Yes. You will, indeed. All of me,” she added cheekily before the line went dead.

What the…?

Minx .

Of course she’d freaking done that on purpose.

Crap .

Now Buck was wide awake.

Cooper was making little whiny noises in her crate, so he figured, what the hell.

He didn’t think he’d be getting back to sleep anytime soon.

He might as well take the little bugger for a walk.

He could only hope this wouldn’t set a precedent for middle-of-the-night duty calls from his four-legged companion in the future.

Buck swung his legs out of bed, pulled on a pair of pajama pants—since he’d gone to bed nude—then stuck his feet into flip- flops.

There was no need to turn on the light. This trip would be a fast in and out, then hopefully he’d be able to lull his brain into catching a little shut-eye before morning.

“You want to go have a little night-time adventure?” Buck asked Cooper as he opened the crate and scooped up the little white furball.

Cooper yipped happily, but squirmed to get down.

Buck laughed.

“How about we wait before I let your paws hit the ground. I don’t feel like cleaning up any accidents in the middle of the night.” Not that Cooper had made many. He was a fast learner, and eager to please, so there’d only been some minor mistakes.

Walking silently to the front hallway, Buck grabbed Coooper’s leash from the rack in the hallway and clipped him in.

He opened the door to stand on the top step, and breathed deeply of the clean, fresh Maine air, filling his lungs.

Damn, he’d missed the pungent, pine smell he’d grown up with, having been at sea so long.