Treasured Heart

Chapter 10

A/N: Hello! I hope you all had a great weekend! Thanks so much for reading and/or reviewing the last chapter! As always, a huge thanks to my beta, Heather, for her amazing beta skills.

So, this chapter is a bit long, so off you go!

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"Welcome to Casablanca, Morocco," the pilot said as the plane landed on the runway. "The current time is 10:19 AM with a temperature of 73 degrees. Enjoy your stay."

God, I couldn't wait to get off the fucking plane. Fourteen hours on a plane was too long, and we were all ready to leave the confined space and get our feet on land.

As soon as we deboarded, the seven of us, Jasper, Alice, Rose, Dr. Tanner, Jessica, Emmett, and myself, caught a taxi van to the pier where the research vessel was docked.

Fifteen minutes later, we were walking up the gangplank of the Arrakis, and I was greeted by a wonderful sight. Edward stood on the deck, his bronze colored hair blowing in the breeze and his green eyes covered by a pair of sunglasses.

"Welcome aboard, guys!" he shouted over the wind, and we all shouted greetings back to him.

God, I wanted to run up the plank and toss my arms around him in a hug, but I restrained myself. Instead, I gave him a huge smile, and the smile I got back had me melting inside.

"Let me show you around," Edward said, and we all followed him below deck.

The staterooms were pretty big, but there weren't quite enough for everyone to have their own rooms when you counted the ship's crew and the rooms that were going to be used for various offices, so Dr. T and I agreed to bunk together for the meantime.

"When are we leaving?" Jessica asked him after he'd finished giving us the tour, her eyes raking over him, and I gritted my teeth.

"In a few hours," he responded, his eyes never leaving mine. "Get yourselves settled in, grab a bite to eat from the galley, and I'll let you know when we're about to take off."

As soon as he left, Rose whirled around and looked at me, a smirk on her face.

"Oooh, girl, you've got it bad!" she teased, and I felt my face flush as I shook my head and denied what she was saying.

"He's got it just as bad," Jessica said, and I gaped at her. "What? He does. He barely looked at me, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of you. There's a history there."

"You know the story," I told her. "We met when I was sixteen and he was twenty. He spent most of that trip, not talking to me or being a jerk when he did."

"And then he almost died," Rose interrupted, and I nodded my head.

"Yep. After that, I kept in contact with his parents, mainly his mom, but he and I hadn't seen nor spoken to each other until I saw him onboard the Brizo."

"Maybe so, but you guys sure are talking now," Rose said with a glint in her eye. "He texts you, calls you, Skype's with you, and emails you all the time. You're practically dating."

"Hardly," I snorted.

"Go on," Jess said with a nod of her head toward the doorway. "You know you want to go talk to him."

Oh, I tried to deny it, but Jess and Rose along with Dr. Tanner told me to scoot, so I did. I raced down the hall at a quickened pace until I reached the stairs going up to the deck. Not wanting to trip and hurt myself, I slowed down and did my best to act cool and nonchalant, but I was pretty sure I wasn't fooling anyone.