Veritas (28 page)

“Good,” Grey muttered.

Lauren hummed and leaned back against the counter, accepting Grey’s weight as she stroked a gentle hand up and down her back, more than content to lose herself in the quiet intimacy that wrapped itself comfortingly around them.

The moment eventually came to an end when Grey’s stomach growled loudly, and she smiled sheepishly as she pulled back just far enough to look Lauren in the eye. “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about.” Lauren smiled and dusted a soft kiss across Grey’s lips. “We had quite the workout this afternoon.”

“Mmm, we did,” Grey purred, rolling her eyes as her stomach once again made its presence known.

Lauren laughed and reluctantly released her hold on Grey. “It’s okay. I’m getting hungry too, to be honest.”

“Well, at least it’s not just my stomach ruining the mood, then.” Grey chuckled sardonically as she glanced over Lauren’s shoulder to the cutting board on the counter. “Ahi, huh?”

“Yeah, it sounded good,” Lauren replied with a shrug. “I was thinking of just doing some rice with it. Keep things simple for tonight?”

“Works for me.” Grey smiled and darted in to steal one last kiss. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“You can get the water going for the rice, if you want,” Lauren offered as she picked up her knife and turned her attention back to the fish on the cutting board. “I mean, there’s really not a lot to do here. I’m just going to make a quick ginger-wasabi rub for the tuna, and then sear the steaks right before the rice is done.”

“I think I can manage to boil some water,” Grey said as she reached for the measuring cup Lauren had already set out beside the sink. She poured two cups of water into a saucepan and set it on the range to boil. “How about some music?”

“Sure.”

“Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

Lauren shook her head and smiled at Grey. “Not really.” She laughed at the look of playful annoyance Grey shot her. “Really, Grey. Whatever you want is fine with me.”

“So…metal
?” Grey smirked over her shoulder at Lauren as she made her way over to the stereo tucked into the shelving behind the sofa.

“If that’s what you want,” Lauren replied serenely, knowing full-well from having looked through
Grey’s iPod that there was not any metal on it.

“Wait.” Grey snapped her fingers.
“I know…elevator music.”

Lauren laughed and nodded. “Go for it.”

“God, you’re really not going to make this easy for me, are you?” Grey grumbled as she scrolled through her playlists. She glanced up at Lauren, who was watching her with the most beguiling smile, and sighed. “Come on. Give me a little help?”

“Okay, fine. Not elevator music.”

“Big fucking help that is,” Grey muttered, looking back down at her iPod. She was not in the mood for classical, but did not particularly feel like listening to anything super up-tempo either. “How’s piano pop sound?”

“That’ll work,” Lauren agreed as she turned to pull a knob of ginger out of the fridge. Music began playing as she bumped the door closed with her shoulder, and she smiled as she immediately recognized the song. She bobbed her head with the opening vocals as she pulled a grater out of the cupboard below the peninsula where she had been working, and caught Grey’s eye across the salon when the chorus kicked in. “I’ve got my little black dress on…”

“That was a great dress.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Lauren winked at Grey and then she turned her attention back to their food.

Grey sat down at the barstool opposite where Lauren was standing and folded her arms on the counter as she contented herself with watching Lauren work. They chatted amiably as dinner cooked, conversation flowing from comments about whatever song was playing to whatever happened to cross their minds at that particular moment, and Grey marveled at the comfortable domesticity of it all. They had only known each other for a short time, but it felt like they had been doing this particular dance for years.

Once they had finished eating and everything was cleaned and put away, Grey grabbed two tumblers from the cupboard by the sink and the bottle of Auchentoshan from the liquor cabinet. She smiled at Lauren and waved the bottle of scotch at the back deck. “After you.”

Lauren tipped her head and wandered out onto the deck, calling over her shoulder, “Bridge, or tramps?”

“Whatever you want is fine with me,” Grey drawled with a smirk, throwing Lauren’s words from earlier back at her.

“Ooh, you sure got me there.” Lauren chuckled as she bypassed the stairs to the bridge and started down the side of the starboard hull. She smiled at the sound of Grey laughing behind her as she stepped onto the trampolines at the bow. “It really isn’t that funny, Wells,” she said as she dropped to the mat.

“Says you,” Grey retorted as she sat down beside Lauren. She arched a brow challengingly and handed Lauren the glasses she was carrying. “I thought it was pretty funny.”

“Yeah, well, whatever makes you giggle.” Lauren held the tumblers out for Grey to fill and gave them a wiggle.

Grey poured a generous serving of scotch into each glass, and gave Lauren her most smoldering look as she capped the bottle and set it onto the hull beside her. “You like it.”

There was really no point trying to deny it, and Lauren sighed as she nodded and leaned over to press a chaste kiss to Grey’s lips. “Yeah. I like it.”

Grey smiled and kissed Lauren again, tilting her head to the side and deepening the kiss as Lauren’s mouth opened invitingly under her own. She sighed under her breath when she eventually pulled away, and dropped a playful kiss to the tip of Lauren’s nose. “I like that.”

“Me too,” Lauren agreed softly, licking her lips as she looked out over the silhouette of the island in front of them. She took a sip of her drink and glanced back at Grey, and was not at all surprised to find that Grey was watching her. Her heart fluttered as she leaned back into Grey, unable to do anything but give in to the overwhelming desire that consumed her.

They kissed slowly, deeply, every clasping of lips and every sweep of their tongues speaking a truth neither of them felt comfortable admitting. Grey was the first to pull away, and she smiled as she leaned her forehead against Lauren’s. She reached up with her free hand to run her fingers over Lauren’s jaw, and her heart skipped a beat at the way Lauren’s eyes fluttered closed under the gentle touch. “So beautiful,” she murmured adoringly.

Lauren was glad for the shadows that hid her blush as she opened her eyes to look at Grey. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Thank you.” Grey cupped Lauren’s face in her hand and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. “I didn’t think I’d ever feel like this again.”

“Like what?”

“Whole.” Grey sucked in a deep breath and
held it for a moment before letting it go. “Like I can actually breathe again. I don’t know what it is about you that got behind my walls like you did, but I am so glad that it happened.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Lauren murmured, her gaze softening as she mirrored Grey’s pose and cu
pped the brunette’s face with her free hand. She smoothed her thumb over Grey’s cheek and shook her head. “You are an amazing woman. You know that, right?”

“I’m a mess.”

“No, you’re not,” Lauren argued in a gentle tone. “You are an amazing, smart, beautiful, funny, sexy as hell woman who deserves to be happy.”

The sincerity in Lauren’s tone took Grey’s breath away, and she looked away as she admitted softly, “I am.” She took another deep breath and forced herself to meet Lauren’s gaze. “Happy, I mean. You make me happy.”

“You make me happy too.” Lauren lifted her chin and brushed a tender kiss over Grey’s lips, and sighed as she pulled away, her eyes drifting to the stars overhead. The moment was becoming far too serious, and she wracked her brain for something to lighten the mood. “Do you see that star up there?”

Grey understood what Lauren was doing, and she was thankful for it as she leaned into
her to look along her arm that was stretched toward the heavens. “That’s Sirius.” She laughed at the surprised look Lauren shot her and pecked her lips affectionately. “I do sail for a living, you know. I spend a lot of time out here looking at the sky.”

“Should have known,” Lauren grumbled.

“Sorry.” Grey grinned and leaned her forehead on Lauren’s shoulder. “You can still teach me about the constellations if you want.”

“Now you’re just patronizing me.”

“Maybe.” Grey rolled away from the elbow Lauren aimed at her side and chuckled as she darted a hand out to tickle Lauren’s leg. “Is that all you got, Murphy?”

“Oh, don’t you wish you knew.” Lauren arched a brow challengingly and lifted her glass to her lips.

“You betcha,” Grey said in her best Minnesotan accent.

“Oh, yeah, doncha know.” Lauren laughed and shook her head. “Would you believe that I actually don’t know a lot of people under sixty who talk like that at home?”

“That is very disappointing.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” Lauren retorted dryly, smiling as she took another sip of her drink.

“It is!”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Just drink your scotch, Wells.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk because your ‘impress the girl with your knowledge of astronomy’ move failed so epically?” Grey asked, smirking as she held Lauren’s gaze and took a healthy swallow of her drink.

“It was not a move. It was a change of topic.”

Grey sighed and nodded. “I know.” She finished off the alcohol in her glass and lay back on the trampoline, watching Lauren out of the corner of her eye as the redhead did the same. Once Lauren was lying beside her, she reached out and threaded their fingers together.

“Smooth,” Lauren murmured, turning her head to look at Grey as she gave her hand a light squeeze.

“I try.” Grey sighed and looked back up at the stars, her lips quirking up in a small smile. “You see that bright light there?”

“I see lots of stars, Copernicus.”

“Well, that one there—” Grey lifted their joined hands and pointed at the glowing orb high in the eastern sky, “—is Jupiter.”

“Really?” Lauren asked, cocking her head to the side
as if that slight change in angle would help her tell if Grey was pulling her leg or not.

“Yup. And if you look really carefully, you can see Aries and Pisces on either side of it.”

Lauren sighed dramatically and looked over at Grey. “Fine. I’ll admit it, your star game is better than mine.”

Grey smiled and lifted their joined hands to her lips so she could press a lingering kiss to the back of Lauren’s knuckles. “You can always do the ol’ yawn and stretch maneuver next time, if you want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You do that.” Grey pointed their hands at a bright star near the horizon. “That’s Venus.”

“Now you’re just making shit up,” Lauren grumbled.

“I’m not!” Grey laughed. “But I can always stop, if you want.”

“No, that’s okay,” Lauren said, smiling as she scooted closer to Grey so that she could rest her head on Grey’s shoulder. “You may proceed to amaze me with your impressive knowledge of astronomy.”

“If I do, will I be ge
tting lucky later?” Grey smirked.

“Maybe.”

Grey kissed Lauren softly. “What if I just want to hold you as you fall asleep?”

Lauren’s heart fluttered at the tenderness shining in Grey’s eyes, and she smiled as she whispered, “You better have a killer star-game for that one.”

“Well then…” Grey cleared her throat softly and pointed their hands at a collection of stars high overhead. “You see that constellation there…”

The sun was reaching its apex the next day when Grey led Lauren out of the thinning trees and onto a crop of black, volcanic rock at the end of the path they had been following. She waved a hand at the vista in front of them and grinned as she looked back at Lauren. “See?”

Lauren nodded as she took it all in. A calm sea stretched between them and the
handful of small islands that dotted the horizon, and Lauren smiled as she crept closer to the edge. Grey had promised her a killer view, and she had to admit that Grey had certainly delivered. “It is pretty perfect.”

“Yeah,” Grey murmured as she sat down on the rocks. She stretched her legs out in front of her and crossed them at the ankles as she leaned back on her hands, making herself comfortable as she drank in the view. The rocky point at the southern edge of Hawksnest Bay was one of her secret spots, a haven of tranquility that let her feel both connected to the earth and apart from it at the same time.

“So, how did you find this place?” Lauren asked as she sat down beside Grey.

“You mean, besides the fact that I routinely sail by here?” Grey teased
as she bumped Lauren’s shoulder with her own.

Lauren chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I mean besides that.”