Page 2 of Meant for Me (Magnolia Bay #3)

Anyone else, he’d worry about the story sending them into a PTSD episode. Even his stomach twisted when he remembered the flames, the sweat pooling on his back as Zoey buried his face into his shoulder, hiding as her award-winning business burned to a crisp.

But to Zoey, it was apparently just one more obstacle to pole-jump over onto a sunbeam. One more silver lining to an already gloriously metallic cloud. Did anything ever bother the woman?

Though she did refuse to walk past the shop in its current shape—the shape on hold while she waited for the claims department to sort the whole mess out.

“Arrgh, it’s true. Cannon fire.” She wiggled her fingers again and this time, Freckles’s grin returned.

“What’s your new name?”

“Did you get a promotion to captain because you won the pirate war?”

“Did anything else burn down?”

“Where will you live next?”

The kids ignored Linc’s stay-seated command and jumped up and down, shooting rapid-fire questions, while the moms exchanged mildly concerned looks—as if they weren’t entirely sure how to reconcile the very real, burned building with Zoey’s story about very unreal pirates.

Anthony never gave him these kinds of problems.

Linc shook his head, gearing down to keep his distance from the jet skis still racing in a zig-zag. His fingers stuck to the lever, residue from Freckles, no doubt. Why were kids so sticky?

“Hang on, guys. You have to answer a question for me, first.” Zoey raised her arms for attention, wobbling as Linc turned the boat portside to avoid the worst of the jet skis’ wake. She planted her feet. “Why were the kids so restless in pirating class?”

Freckles blinked at her. Life Jacket Girl shrugged. Linc couldn’t look away, either, Zoey holding the entire boat captive as she rose on tiptoe, face light, eyes sparking with drama and life and sun.

Man, she was pretty.

“Because they were…over- bored !” Zoey lunged forward, arms splayed, as the kids jumped and shrieked. Then the wind slammed a wave into the wake of the second jet ski. Linc jerked his attention back to the wheel, two seconds too late. The boat launched. And Freckles went flying.

His mom screamed at the splash. Zoey caught herself, tripping over the younger girl who had fallen to the slippery boat floor.

She popped up like a wide-eyed gopher. Two dads jumped up, raced to the edge of the boat, slipping in their Crocs.

Every other gaping-mouthed, wide-eyed head on board turned accusingly to Linc.

He cut the boat to idle and sighed. So much for five stars.

* * *

Zoey Lakewood had never fancied herself a betting woman, but if Magnolia Bay ever lowered itself enough to host a wet T-shirt contest, she’d put her life savings on Linc.

Not that there’d be any left, the way she was currently plowing through her savings account after the fire.

Linc’s flip-flops squished as he unceremoniously deposited the freckled boy back into his mother’s arms. His shirt stretched taut against his broad back and biceps.

One of the men—the boy’s father?—reached to shake Linc’s hand, but Linc brushed it off, returning to his captain’s chair as his mane of wet man bun coursed rivers of water down his thick neck.

He was mad.

Zoey winced as the chaos meter in the boat escalated a notch, everyone swarming the kid with exclamations of concern.

Did anyone blame her? Maybe she shouldn’t have been so dramatic with her pirate vibes.

But how was she supposed to know the boat would lurch at the exact wrong moment?

Wasn’t that Linc’s job as captain to know?

She tried to catch Linc’s eye, but he only jammed the boat into gear and scowled as he flipped his dripping hair out of his face. “Tour’s over.”

Oh, dunkin’ donuts, he wouldn’t look at her.

So he was mad. Which wasn’t fair, but he’d get over it.

Not much had been fair lately, and she wasn’t complaining.

“Well, that over-bored joke sure was timely.” Zoey plastered on a bright smile for her damp audience, who didn’t smile back as the boat began puttering—slowly, to Linc’s credit—back toward the dock.

She quickly pulled off her eye patch, blinking against the sunset glinting off the bay.

“I guess I should have mentioned swimming was optional at the end of the tour only…”

Crickets. Make that soggy crickets. She gulped.

The boy’s parents continued fussing over him, while the young girl in a life jacket wrinkled her nose and tried to scoot as far from his spreading water puddle as possible.

Linc muttered stuff about “ told them to remain seated” as they neared the dock.

Which was valid. So maybe it was a little of everyone’s fault.

Still. She tried to think what else she had in her purse that could help save the tour, the bag her best friend Elisa often referred to as Mary Poppins’s. Personally, she’d rather think of it as Hermione Granger’s, but same concept—endless supplies.

She began digging. Eye patch, ChapStick, the keys to her tired but trusty Jeep, her Alice in Wonderland coin purse, tissues, a mini screw driver, phone charger, a folded jump rope, pepper spray, emergency stash of candy— aha . This sure qualified.

“Who wants Starburst?” She tugged the colored bag free and held it up. The kids cheered and more hair ties sprinkled to the floor like confetti. “Plenty for everyone. Parents too.” She handed the candy to the mom of the overboard boy. “Here, enjoy.” Maybe this would buy some time to fix this.

She scurried to Linc’s side as the others gathered around the Starbursts. Time to test the waters. Waters , ha. That was a good one. “Ahoy, Captain.”

“They’re going to want refunds.” A muscle ticked in his jaw, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. Probably calculating how much gas he’d already spent and wouldn’t get reimbursed for by the time he gave everyone their money back.

She shuffled her feet, frowned. She hated when he was upset. Ironic, maybe, as she seemed to upset him the most.

“Maybe offer refunds?” Zoey reached up to adjust the strap of her bag around her shoulder. “It’s only one tour, and hey, it got cut short, so now you can go home. Alone. To be, you know— alone .”

As he liked. Which was part of why she kept refusing his offer to stay in one of his guest rooms while she waited on her insurance payout. Linc didn’t really want her there—he just felt obligated since he had unused space.

“True.” Linc’s lower lip tugged to one side, as if fighting a smile. Ahh, a moment of humanity. “There’s not always a bright side, you know.”

“Oh sure there is. Just gotta look for it.” She pulled his sunglasses off his face and immediately regretted it.

His laser gaze slammed into hers without blinking. Linc. Always steady. Strong.

Annoyed, maybe. But there.

For her.

She’d never really figured out why. He’d certainly never made a move on her, so it wasn’t romantic intention. He’d been there when she was younger too. Like that one day back when she was in middle school and took baking lessons from his aunt, and he?—

“ Or maybe some people see things that aren’t there.” Linc snatched his glasses from her, returned them to his face.

Okay, then . Mr. Grumpy was back. Zoey stepped back as he secured the boat to the dock. The tourists stood, grumbling and shucking off life vests, one of them mumbling about one-star reviews.

Oh no. Linc needed good reviews. And everyone leaving the tour squishy and annoyed wasn’t going to get those. She had to salvage this for him, even if it wasn’t technically her fault. At least, not all her fault. Lord, a little help? Something happy?

And then, like the parting of the Red Sea—okay, slightly less dramatic—the sun glinted off a distant wave and revealed…

“Dolphin!” Zoey pointed. Her heart soared.

The kids squealed and the adults whipped around to look. “Where?” Everyone rushed portside, and the boat rocked precariously.

“There it is!”

“I see it!”

The grumbles turned to delighted murmurs. Everyone stood still, watching, as a second dolphin crested the water. The pair bobbed in the setting sun, cruising back out toward the gulf, slick backs shining like—well, like a silver lining. Zoey breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you.

Linc joined her, crossing his arms as several people began snapping pictures of the dolphins. His sunglasses were tucked into the collar of his wet shirt. But for once, his brow wasn’t furrowed, his jaw wasn’t tight. “Good save.”

“I prayed.”

“Figured.”

She shrugged. “Least I could do.”

“Was it?” Turning, Linc’s eyes lingered on hers, then dropped to her lips.

Um. Huh? Her mouth went dry. Her stomach dropped. “I?—”

“You forgot to shave.” He ripped the goatee off her chin like a Band-Aid.

“Ow!” She rubbed her jaw, more surprised than hurt. “I forgot it was there.”

Linc smirked. “Then I’ll amend my earlier statement to include that some people don’t see what is right there.”

“You’re right.” She ignored the flutter in her stomach, the slight shake in her hands, and forced her brightest smile. “They sure don’t.”

She rolled in her lower lip, trying not to watch as he meandered back to the captain’s chair.

And maybe they never would.