He Auctioned Our Week to My Best Friend, So I Took the Helm novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Night Watch

I couldn't sleep, so at two in the morning I went up to the cockpit in my socks.

Finnegan was on anchor watch, with a blanket over his knees and a thermos at his hip.

The black camera by the compass had gone dark at midnight.

He had put it on a timer for the donors, and I had never been so grateful for a timer.

"Sit," he said.

I sat down next to him on the starboard bench.

The cove was flat and black, with a few lobster buoys showing white in the starlight.

Below us, in the cabin, I could hear Tobias snore.

"You don't have to say anything," Finnegan said.

"I'm scared."

I hadn't meant to say it, but it was out, and the cold air took it.

"Of what?"

"Of everything. The baby. Tobias. Her." I pulled my knees up. "I picked Brynn for thirteen years, and I picked him for seven, and I was wrong about both. Why would I be right about you?"

"You wouldn't know yet."

"That's a terrible answer."

"It's an honest one." He turned his head. "I'm scared too. I've lost one person who was supposed to be safe. I'm not going to promise you I'm safe."

"What are you going to promise?"

"That I'll be on this bench when you come up at two in the morning."

I laughed, and it came out wet.

He lifted one side of the blanket.

I moved in under it, against his side, and his arm came around me.

"Terms say nothing is voided until the last night," he said into my hair.

"Terms are mine."

"They are."

"I'm overruling them."

His breath caught.

I turned my face up and kissed him.

It was slow, this time.

His mouth was warm and tasted of tea.

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