In Over His Head

Chapter 16

Kevin hefted the case of wine up to Aggie from the back of the Corsair, the wake from another boat bobbing him up at the same time. Squinting into the mid-day sun, he hoped Sharla had come down to see them come in.

He was aching to touch her.

"She's in your office," Liza called out her own hands full of shopping bags that she'd rescued from the Corsair's hold.

He groaned and hung his head. Was he that obvious?

Kevin had left Sharla on the yacht to finish some paperwork while he went into Positano on their last morning. They had worked their asses off yesterday, several meetings on shore, two via videoconference firming up some partnerships, which had gone well. He'd fallen asleep on the long sectional in his dad's office, and when he woke up it was dark, a cold plate of food wrapped in cling film, a little note of "Eat, Dummy" on it in her handwriting. It had dashed any hope of a repeat of the night before.

They'd not had any time to even talk about what had happened, and for him to ask her why she'd left after. He'd hoped to wake up beside her, and she'd given no explanation when they'd breakfasted together the next morning. He decided not to ask when she was abnormally quiet, eyeing about the dining area, her movements worried and cautious.

It wasn't as if they were avoiding one another, or awkward, and he decided the lack of newfound intimacy between them was because they just had a lot to sew up before they hauled anchor and set off for Naples. He'd wanted to kiss her all day, but hadn't even been able to pull her to him. Half the crew were throwing saucy glances at them, and Nathalie looked extra grumpy.

Sharla might be uncomfortable advertising it overtly, and then they'd gotten busy. So he stuffed it all down to "git 'er done", as Sharla would sometimes say.

When Aggie and a couple of the crew wanted to go to shore for last minute provisions, he'd joined them and gone back to the little jewellery shop on a whim before he headed back to the docks. He picked up the earrings that James had purchased for him, deciding not to have them shipped to home. The velvet box was a hard lump in his pocket, and he was having second thoughts. If he gave them to her now, would it be appropriate?

He'd also brought back some fancy bottles of Lemoncello for the crew, and some flowers. No idea what they were, just beautiful red, fragrant flowers. They'd been expensive but he didn't care. He'd seen them and had to buy them, the scent of them overpowering in the small shop where the lemoncello bottles were lined up in a riot of citrus hues.

The red was also the same damned colour as the thong she'd been wearing. He was losing his damned mind because they were for Sharla, there was no denying that. As he thought it, Theresa handed him the bouquet with a knowing smile. "Here. She's—"

"In the office, I know. Thank you." he cut her off, and smiled back in thanks.

He bounded up the stairs and down the hallway. He stopped short when her voice floated through the door.

"No Ben, I'm fine. I just don't know what will happen now... I'm a big girl, I can handle it... Fine. I hear you..."

She was talking to her brother that was the only Benji he could think of, short for Benjamin. She had been trying to get him to come visit her in England, but he was somewhere in Eastern Europe, the last Sharla had mentioned.

"Listen... No, seriously... if you are going to needle me about this then I get to..."

She huffed out a breath impatiently, and Kevin could picture it, her shoulders squared, her nose wrinkled. He waited a moment more, debating on whether to go in or not when he heard that little frustrated growling noise she always made when she was trying to get her point across and he interrupted her. Sometimes he egged her on to hear it.