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Coulter’s lips spread in a wry smile. “You’re a pretty good detective.”

“I’d say we make a pretty good team.”

“I hope so. I’m gonna need you to be a spotter to find deep enough water to get us there.” He pressed the button on the throttle lever. I looked back at the whirring sound as the motor tilted upward, leaving the propellor barely in the water.

I grimaced. “That’s not my specialty. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“Would you rather drive while I spot?” Coulter grinned.

“Definitely not,” I conceded. “But don’t blame me if we run aground.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t get us into anything we can’t get out of. ”

At least one of us was confident. I clambered up to the bow and scanned the sea floor as we rounded the northern tip of the island.

Dozens of tiny fish darted in the water that was only a few inches deep for as far as I could see.

As my gaze followed the sand toward the mangrove roots, I saw that it dipped down.

“That’s weird. It looks like it’s deeper right by the island, but I don’t think it’s wide enough for us to pass, and I can’t see a break in the mangroves anywhere.” Tears formed in my eyes from squinting so hard. “If we’re supposed to go in there, I’m afraid there must be a mistake.”

“Not weird. The current carves out channels around the mangroves. And there’s no way my old man gave me the wrong coordinates after going to all the trouble to get us here.

” Coulter pointed the boat toward the mangroves and inched forward, expertly navigating the bow of the boat right up to the trees before making a hard turn into the narrow channel.

We putted along the edge of the island, and sure enough, halfway down the western side there was a break in the mangroves barely wider than the boat.

“Can we get in there?” I squinted back at him, shielding my eyes from the sun behind him.

Coulter looked up from the GPS. “Looks like that leads to the spot.”

I pushed off the mangroves as we inched into the opening. The branches from either side nearly touched each other just a few feet above my head. After passing through thirty feet or so of mangrove tunnel, the blue sky was visible overhead and we coasted into a vast shallow lake inside the island.

“Oh my gosh, this is incredible,” I said with a wistful lilt .

When I looked back Coulter was eyeing my ass. “What’s incredible is you in that bikini.”

“If you don’t pay attention, you’re going to get us stuck out here and no one will be able to rescue us.”

“Worse things could happen,” he chuckled, “but there’s plenty of depth in here, don’t worry.”

“Should we drop the anchor?”

Nah, we’re heading over there,” he pointed toward a clearing in the mangroves on the south edge of the lake. When we got closer, the weathered remnants of a wooden platform became evident. “Oh wow. It’s like a tree house in the middle of the ocean.”

Coulter laughed as the boat came to rest with a soft bump against the wooden edge. “I can’t believe they never brought us here.”

He grabbed a bow line and hopped up onto the plywood, grainy and gray from the elements.

I held my breath, hoping it would hold. Coulter glided confidently across the plywood barefoot and looped the rope around a mangrove branch, flipping it into a quick knot.

He was grinning from ear to ear when he came back to offer me his hand.

I stood up, unsteady on my feet and started to reach for his hand, but he wagged a finger at me before pointing to my picnic basket. “Pass me that first.”

“You sure this thing is secure?” I asked, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to test the old wood’s limits by adding another hundred and thirty pounds to it.

“It’s strong.” Coulter jumped, landing with a thud to prove his point .

“I trust you,” I smiled, handing him the basket.

“I know you do,” Coulter grinned while I stepped a foot up onto the dock and then pulled me up into his arms. “And I trust you again.”

The breath left my body in a sigh, and in that moment I understood what it was to swoon into a man’s arms. “I’m sorry, Coulter. I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know,” he said, stroking my hair. “I’m not stupid. If you hadn’t believed in me, I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened. You didn’t doubt me, Faith. But I doubted you. And for that, I am truly sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m the one who overstepped professional boundaries and let myself get involved in an inappropriate relationship.”

“Inappropriate, huh?” He reached for my breast, staring deep into my eyes while he slid his hand over my nipple and pinched it through the fabric.

Ignoring the dampness he created in my bikini bottom, I swatted his hand away. “Yes, it was inappropriate. I convinced myself that it was okay at the time because, in my mind, the DNA cleared you. But I should have known better.”

“Well I’m certainly glad you didn’t.” His thwarted hand reached into basket for the foil-covered neck of the bottle of Prosecco. “In fact, I think we should celebrate your poor judgment.”

While he twisted the wire cage off the top of the cork, I remembered. “I forgot to pack glasses.”

“Then from the bottle it is!” Coulter declared just as the cork popped. He handed me the bottle. “Ladies first. ”

“Such a gentleman,” I smiled.

As if to prove me right, he dutifully unpacked and arranged the picnic items in an attractive spread.

“Not bad at all for an impromptu picnic,” I said, grinning ear-to-ear.

“It’s amazing,” he said, “just like you.”

“You’re too kind,” I laughed before swigging from the bottle again.

“I’ve been told that before,” Coulter chuckled as he pulled out his pocket knife and cut off a piece of cheese, rolling it in a slice of prosciutto and teasing my lips with it. “But that's a character flaw you’re going to have to learn to live with if you're going to date me.”

“I’ll try to adapt,” I said, parting my smiling lips to take a bite.

“So what made you abandon your principles for me? I mean, aside from my dashing good looks and my charm?”

I finished chewing my food, smiling as I answered. “Your humility.”

Coulter laughed, reaching for my hand. “No, really.’

“The more I got to know you, the more I liked you. Then I started to fantasize about what would have happened if you weren’t a suspect and I just met you in a bar one night.”

“Rando dude in a bar isn’t nearly as exciting as murder suspect,” Coulter said before crunching on a cracker with cheese.

“You’re certainly exciting. Hopefully we can avoid suspect status from now on though,” I sighed. “I think we could both do without that stress again. ”

“No shit,” Coulter said. I hated that we had put him through so much.

We munched on the charcuterie spread, content in the silence that was broken only by the soft sound of water lapping on the hull of the skiff. An osprey squawked as it flew overhead, a fish in its talons. “It’s so incredibly peaceful here. I can see why it was your parents' escape.”

“I still can’t believe they never brought us here, though. We would have loved this place when we were kids.”

“It’s kind of sweet that they kept it just for them,” I mused, feeling suddenly sorry that my mom had been robbed of all the special moments she might have had with my dad.

“Dad would often say that he was taking mom for a date on the water. And it was almost always in this skiff. I never understood it when I was a kid. We had way nicer boats than this old thing. This must’ve been where they came.”

“It’s great that they managed to take time for themselves, even with 6 kids.”

“Maybe that was the secret to their great marriage.”

“It’s interesting that your youngest brother is the first to get married, after you all had the model of a happy marriage.”

“Well, to be fair, I was ready to get married long before Trouble was,” he chuckled. “Or at least I thought I was.”

“Oh right.” I felt like an idiot. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. Looking back, I think I was trying to emulate my parents, hoping to find with Kylie what they had. What I didn’t realize at the time was that neither of us really knew who we were back then. ”

“Do you now?” I asked, cutting off another piece of Havarti.

“More so every day. I definitely know what I want now,” Coulter said with a grin.

“What’s that?”

“You,” he said, lurching toward me to push me onto my back and landing squarely on top of me.

“That’s a relief,” I said, staring up into his eyes.

His mouth curled into a smile. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because I want you, too. I’m really sorry I hurt you, Coulter.”

“Stop apologizing,” he said with a piercing gaze that took my breath.

“I forgive you.” His lips lowered to mine, kissing me softly.

My heart pounded in my chest, pulsing between us under his weight.

Trailing his fingers up my thigh, my whole body lit up like fireworks.

I had never wanted a man like I wanted him.

His hands roamed my body as the kiss grew deeper. I was hoping he’d strip me down and kiss me all over, but his lips pulled away and he sat up, reaching for a strawberry.

I pushed up to sit beside him, rubbing his back. “You okay?”

He nodded, murmuring “Uh huh,” while plopping a strawberry into his mouth.

After washing the strawberry down with a swig of Prosecco, he said, “It’s kind of strange thinking of my parents making out here.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “I bet imagining them here brings up some interesting emotions. ”

“Makes me miss my mom, and feel sorry for my dad. He’s getting better now, but he was really a mess for months after she died.”

“I can only imagine. I was so young I barely remember when my father died. But my mom told me years later that it was all she could do to get herself out of bed to take care of me for over a year after he passed.” I shuddered at the thought.

“I’m happy she found love again. Only took twenty five years. ”

“I can’t see my dad ever dating. But what do I know?” His eyes turned sad as he shook his head. “I thought I knew everything about him, about both of them. But obviously I didn’t,” he said, motioning at our surroundings.

“You never know everything about someone,” I said, stroking his arm

“What if you want to?” he asked softly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, resting my hand on his arm.

“I mean, what if I want to know everything there is to know about you?”

“That could take a while…”

His long fingers cupped my chin before he planted a peck of a kiss on my lips. “I’m counting on it,” he said with a playful twinkle in his eyes. He stroked my cheek, his gaze intense. “What do you say we go back to your place?”

“I’d love that,” I said, while also wishing I hadn’t left my breakfast dishes in the sink.

“It’s time I get to know your world. ”

My world had changed the moment Coulter walked into it. I’d wanted to keep him in it ever since.