Page 46 of Big Stick Energy
It’s a beautiful, sunny afternoon at the beach house. The place Merritt found has five bedrooms, a hot tub, and tennis courts. I brought a car full of groceries, too, including steaks for dinner.
It should have been easy to get Darcy alone for a chat, but I keep hitting snags. When we all go outside to play some tennis,she partners with Zoe, which puts her on the wrong side of the net to talk much, but the right side to distract me.
In her bikini top and a pair of shorts, she and Zoe wallop DeLuca and me in straight sets.
“Captain,” DeLuca says afterward, when we’re drinking the first light beer of the day. “I say this with love, but how could you possibly miss so many serves?”
“Hello? Zoe was an Olympic athlete?”
He rolls his eyes.
“Fine. It was the bikini. As soon as they defeat Merritt and Petrov, I need to talk to her.”
Except it doesn’t work like that, because Darcy is very difficult to catch alone. She and Zoe take another long walk together, and then I get roped into running out to buy limes, because DeLuca has got himself a date somehow. A pretty woman with shiny hair has materialized out of the ether to hang off his arm.
So I do what a captain does, and I buy the damn limes.
But as the evening shapes up and I still can’t pull Darcy aside, I realize she’savoidingme. Every time I cross the room to speak to her, she seems to find somewhere else she needs to be—like on the opposite side of the patio during dinnertime, where I can only admire her through the warm glow of the fire pit.
She doesn’t even look in my direction. And I hate it so much.
(Why’s that?asks DeLuca’s voice in my head, and I tell him to shut up.)
Eventually, as the light fades, I see her gathering up empty glasses and heading for the kitchen. And I know an open net when I see it. So I grab some dirty plates and hustle in there at the same time.
“Darcy,” I say, coming up beside her at the sink. “Hey. You okay?”
“Just fine,” she says, turning on the sink. “Pass those over here. I’ve got it.”
But I’ve had enough of this, so I turn the faucet off instead.
She turns to me with a look of shocked irritation. “What the hell, Captain? I’m working here.”
“Not right now, you’re not. Come on. Take a walk with me.”
She frowns. “No. I don’t think so.”
Then her hand makes another trip toward the faucet, and I catch it in the air and hold on. “Darcy. Are you avoiding me?”
Her eyes flare. They turn pointedly down at our joined hands. “Maybe. But are yourestrainingme?”
“Do you want me to? ’Cause I could do that.”
She makes a hot gasp.
And whoops. That’s not what I came into the kitchen to say. So I drop her hand and take a half step away. “Listen, let’s back up. I just want to know why you’re ducking me. I’ve had an entire day to think of ideas, and some of them are doozies.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. The bikini has disappeared, but its replacement is a tiny little ruffled top that I’ve already memorized. “Like what?”
I sigh. “Well, maybe I said something stupid. But you’re going to have to tell me what it was. Because my other idea is worse. Did the cardiologist tell you something awful? And can you please put me out of my misery?”
Her mouth opens with surprise, and for the first time all day, she looks me right in the eye. “I haven’t been to the cardiologist yet. My appointment is next week.”
“Oh.” My shoulders drop in relief. “Thank fuck.”
She tilts her head and considers me. “Thank you again for sending me that info, though. That was considerate.”
“It was nothing.”
