“Where are you going?” Marcus stares pointedly at my outfit.
“To the beach, of course. It’s a gorgeous day.”
He frowns. “I’d prefer to go to the Morne Fortune Museum and Art Gallery.”
I head over to the coffee pot and pour myself a cup, then snag a piece of toast. Taking a bite, I mumble around the mouthful of bread. “Off you go, then. Unless you need me to hold your hand?”
He sighs and stands, making his way over to the table. After refilling his own cup, he pops a raspberry in his mouth and pointedly chews and swallows before speaking. I stifle a laugh.I have manners, Mister. I just don’t respect you enough to use them.
“We should stick together in the event we are being observed.”
“Who is going to follow us all the way here to make sure we’re playing nice together?”
He ignores me and fiddles with his tablet, then slides it closer to me. I don’t believe what I’m seeing. The moment we grabbed our luggage from the carousel, two people began following us. It’s hard to see their faces, as they are wearing hoodies and sunglasses. I look up at Marcus. “Council members?”
“More than likely.”
“I guess you better put something more casual on, if we’re heading to the beach.”
“Very presumptuous of you to think we’re going to do what you want to do.”
I sigh. “Look at the beautiful weather. Why would you want to spend a day like this in a boring museum?”
“You’ve obviously never been, have you?”
I take a sip of my coffee. “Not my thing.”
“There’s plenty of opportunity to be in the sun with some of the features outside the museum.”
“Have you been?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would you want to see it again? Surely if you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen all you need to see.”
“I like the tranquility.” Marcus stares into his cup, his brow creasing, then straightens his shoulders and chugs his coffee, the moment of vulnerability now gone from his face. “I suppose one could say the same for the beach. You’ve seen it once…”
I put my cup down on the table, having lost my taste for the brew. It was cold anyway. “Fine. How about a compromise?” Damn it, I’m getting soft.
“What do you propose?”
“We’ll go to your boring museum for two hours, then head to the beach.”
“You know, you might enjoy introducing a little bit of culture into your life.”
Ignoring him, I turn on my heel. “I’m going to change.”
If given the choice, I’d rather set myself on fire than go to a museum, but that flash of vulnerability got me in the feels.
The two-hour compromiseturned into just over three hours, but I’ll admit I quite enjoyed the museum. Marcus explained each piece, and when he did, his entire expression changed. He looked relaxed and peaceful. And instead of being bored out of my mind, I found the morning interesting.
But now it’s time to hit the waves. We put our beach bag in a cabana, and Marcus pulls out his tablet to start reading. The beach isn’t all that busy. I guess since it’s a work week, folks arelocked away in their offices. There’s an older man throwing a ball to a gorgeous chocolate lab as he makes his way up the golden sand, a few surfers, and a woman painting. I waste no time as I pull off my shorts and T-shirt, revealing my swimsuit. I slather on some sunscreen and am tempted to ask Marcus to help me with my back, but when I glance over, he has his back to me and is taking off his shirt. I just about swallow my own tongue when I see the defined muscles of his back rippling as he shrugs the shirt off.
He turns around, and I quickly look away but not before I get a brief glimpse of his abs. Holy crap on a cracker. He is toned and ripped and…
Right, that’s enough of that. I make short work of covering my back. It’s not the first time I’ve had to do it myself, and now that I’m married to the enemy, it won’t be the last. Marcus stretches out on a lounger and reaches for his trusty tablet again.
I stifle a scoff. Lame.