Carson must have seen the look of confusion. “You’ve probably got a lot of questions.”
“Yeah.” Katie’s voice was still high-pitched and squeaky, but at least she could get that much out.
“Well, let me explain, and that’ll probably answer most of them.” He took a deep breath. “When the ferry got close to that cargo ship, I couldn’t get in the wheelhouse, and I didn’t have time to run down to stop the engines. Seeing how big the other ship was, I knew the ferry was going to be destroyed, but I also saw that the top deck of the ferry was about as high as the lowest deck of the freighter. So I did my best and timed a jump over to the other ship just after they started scraping together.”
Katie shook her head, impressed but not terribly surprised. Not only was he just the kind of man to try that kind of crazy-ass stunt, he had just enough skill to pull it off. But…
“What about that explosion? I saw it. It had to have gone 500 feet in the air! How did you survive that?”
Carson shrugged in his self-deprecating way. “Luck was on my side, I guess. As soon as I landed on the deck, I just tried to scramble to get further from the collision so I didn’t get crushed. I only got a few feet before the explosion, but that was just enough so I didn’t get caught in the fireball. The shock wave, though, it threw me into one of the big containers about 20 feet away. It knocked me out cold and broke three of my ribs. When I woke up, it was almost dawn and there were crewmen and Coasties and what-have-you working on keeping the ship afloat. No one noticed me, and I was able – barely – to crawl down and hide below decks. The ferry was nowhere in sight.”
“It sank,” Katie told him. “It went down in less than 10 minutes.”
“I heard. So, I stayed hidden below decks until we limped back to Wilmington for repairs, and then I snuck off the ship. I’ve been staying hidden since then.”
“So why didn’t you come find me in all that time?” Katie’s question sounded angry, even to her. With all the worry she’d experienced in the last few months, she figured she was entitled to it.
“I tried,” Carson said, clearly unhappy. “I wanted to give you some kind of word, but there were cops and feds giving you 24/7 protection during the trial. I couldn’t get close. I didn’t like it, but I realized I’d just have to wait until they were done protecting you.”
Katie conceded the point with a nod.
“I know there’s a lot more I have to tell you, but I’d rather show you something before you ask anything else if you’ll let me.” His voice was full of anticipation, as if he was handing her a great present on Christmas morning, but his eyes belied the unease that lay just below the surface. He seemed so eager she had to accept his proposal.
“OK,” she replied.
He nodded, as if they had just passed some unseen hurdle, and offered his hand. She accepted it and rose, walking with him along one of the many paths leading into the palm trees. He said nothing. Katie delighted in his touch. She wanted so much more – to wrap her body around his, to taste his lips and feel him caress her with just the right amount of pressure in just the right places. She needed him, and soon, but right now she settled for walking in silence with him.
Katie noticed they were climbing a gentle but steady incline. Soft metallic tones – wind chimes? – reached her ears, and she detected the very faint scent of chlorine, both of which seemed out of place. The trail took a sharp left turn and opened up to display a magnificent view.
Perched on a bluff about 75 feet above the turquoise waters of the lagoon stood a massive beach house. Two stories tall, it was easily 10,000 square feet, it was surrounded by a beautiful patio that looked like it was taken directly from a luxury resort. It was big enough to easily accommodate an enormous swimming pool, a fire pit area, a hot tub, and an outdoor cooking area. And that was only what Katie could see.
She turned and smiled at Carson, who was watching carefully for her reaction. “Carson… wow, it’s absolutely beautiful.”
“There’s a little more,” he told her mysteriously.
“More?” she asked, but he was already pulling her towards the house and through a sliding-glass door.
The outside, as lavish as it was, couldn’t come close to the opulence of the interior. Even Katie, who had many of the finest things money could buy in her childhood Vermont home, was amazed by the absolute elegance on display. The open floor plan contained everything anyone could want, no matter how accustomed they might be to the best. Before she could come up with the words to describe it, Carson was pulling her up the stairs.
This keeps getting better. The entire second floor was the master bedroom, with a bathroom big enough to drive a car through and a closet that seemed to have no end. The far end of the room featured another sitting area, clearly to enable the occupants to wake up as gradually and gently as they wished. But the piece de resistance was not just the beautiful, four-poster bed. It was the way it faced floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the lagoon and the Caribbean and, further out with a marked delineation to deeper blue, the Atlantic Ocean that took her breath away.
“Carson, this is amazing,” she gushed.
He sat on the edge of the bed and she joined
