Flukes (5 page)

“Meena, come here.” Ben waved her over and I fought a groan. Shoveling fish crap suddenly sounded appealing. At least then I wouldn’t be distracted or say something stupid.

“Hey, Dad. Did you already check on Mitch?” Meena stepped onto the little platform we were standing on and hooked her fingers into her back pockets.

“Not yet. Listen, Blake had some good ideas on how to get us into shape. The cruise-line people are going to be coming by in a few weeks, and I want us to have our best foot forward.”

Meena’s eyes darted to me as her father talked and I shrugged. It wasn’t like I’d suggested anything for the hell of it; he had asked me, but she was going to think I had ragged on her home again.

“So, I think you two should work on designing a new logo and maybe you can show him a little bit about how the sanctuary works. It might give him some more ideas.” Ben looked at me and cocked his head to the side. “That okay with you, Blake? I remember seeing your name on some of the pieces when the high school had their art showing last year. You could always come scrub tanks and help lay stepping stones instead.”

“No, I’d like to learn a little more about the sanctuary.” The man was sneaky. He had known I did graphic design and painted before even asking me. Ben smiled and I could see he was feeling a bit smug.

“All right! Get to it, then!” He clapped his hands and turned around, heading toward the toolshed.

I looked back at Meena, who was staring at me. Her face looked confused and nervous. My smile was immediate.

Chapter Four

- Meena -

As soon as his mischievous smile showed up, I knew I was in trouble. My heart was beating too quickly and my stomach did little flips.

“C’mon. I’ve got to feed Mitch and check on Jallia before we do anything else.” I walked past him and headed for the last pen. This enclosure was much larger and had running lines to the other pools. The sanctuary was set up so that the animals were kept in nature as much as possible. Instead of large tanks, our protected cove served as their home. Rope fences separated the different areas and the animals were actually living in the sea they were from.

“So you draw?” If I was going to have to work with him, I might as well try to be nice.

“A little.” He shrugged.

“I would have pegged you for the sports type.” My mind went over the muscles in his arms and delicious washboard abs.

“Why do you say that?” I could hear the smile in his voice. The cocky jerk knew exactly why I had thought that.

“Didn’t seem smart enough to do anything else.” I didn’t look back at him, just kept walking.

“Oh, burn.” He laughed. “I guess I had that coming. I’m sorry about what I said the other day. I can see you guys put a lot of love into this place.”

“Thanks.” I looked back at him and smiled. I liked that he had laughed instead of being offended. It was also nice to hear him finally apologize. “We spend the majority of our money directly on animal care, but we really do need to start putting more effort into the other stuff.”

“And that’s why you got the community-service team?” Blake asked.

“Yeah.” I jumped over a large hose. “We’re up for inspection with the shoreside excursion company. If we can land the contract, it would mean a lot more money for the animals.”

I turned down one of the small boardwalks meant for staff and grabbed some fish from the food building. Blake stayed right on my heels and I almost tripped trying to get a little further ahead. His warm hand caught my shoulder and steadied me. Hot waves rolled over my body, and I took a moment to catch my breath. It was the most unexpected reaction to an honest touch I had ever experienced. My eyes darted to where his fingers touched my bare skin and then to his face.

His mouth was opened slightly, and he looked a little confused. Maybe he was just constipated. I mentally shook myself. Surely he hadn’t felt what I had. I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. He looked almost as if he was in pain when he finally let go. The absence of his warm hand on my shoulder felt colder than it should have in the bright Caribbean sun.

“Thanks.” I turned away and headed back to Mitch and the others.

I whistled when I got closer, not that I needed to. Mitch always knew when I was nearby. I pushed open the gate, hopped down onto the floating platform, and dangled my legs in the water. The water felt wonderful against my skin, and I sighed happily. Mitch, Jallia, and Stormy quickly came for their breakfast. Blake climbed down the short ladder and sat next to me. His shoulders were relaxed and he seemed interested in the animals.

Mitch swam straight for him and shoved her nose onto his lap. I could feel her checking him out, trying to see if she liked him or not. It was the weirdest display she had put on with a stranger. She was a friendly dolphin, but she wasn’t one to crawl in their lap and give them the dolphin version of the third degree. When she let me know she approved, I felt confused. Approved of what exactly?

“He’s friendly.” Blake’s voice was amused and he automatically scratched under Mitch’s chin. She squee’d loudly and spit water at his face.

“Mitch is a girl.” He held his hands up to ward off her wet assault and I couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t seem irritated by Mitch’s antics, just amused and wet.

“My apologies, Mitch. I did think it was weird that you were so pretty if you were a boy.” Blake reached out a hand and scratched her chin again. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes. “Did you tell her to do that?”

“What? Oh, the splashing? No. She’s just sensitive.” Jallia came over and rolled onto her side. I traced my hands over her belly and cooed under my breath. The baby was healthy and happy. He was going to be a big boy. “Not long now, Jallia. You’re going to have your son out and playing in no time.”

Mitch nosed her mother for a minute, checking the baby as well. After a minute, Stormy started making noises about being hungry and I laughed. I set the fish bucket between Blake and Ime. “Here, feed them, but don’t let them knock the bucket over.” Mitch rose out of the water and flopped onto the decking between us. “Mitch! You got my clothes wet!” I yanked the bucket out of the way and pushed Mitch back into the water.

Stormy darted through the water and opened his mouth for Blake to deposit some fish. It didn’t take us long to empty the bucket and I enjoyed answering Blake’s questions. He was smarter than I had given him credit for.

“Are these markings from the other dolphins? They look like teeth scrapes.” Blake leaned close to Stormy and peered at the teeth rakings on his melon.

“Yeah. Some of them are from playing, roughhousing. Some of them are from being irritating. He is a nosy guy.” I ran my hand over Stormy’s head. “Most of them fade pretty quickly. They shed their skin every two hours.”

“Wow. Didn’t know that.” Blake looked down at the water and frowned. “So my legs are covered in dead dolphin skin. Nice.”

He was so engrossed at looking at his legs in disgust, I couldn’t help myself. It was the perfect chance to get payback for his insulting Flukes. I shoved his shoulder, pushing him into the water. “Now it’s all over you.”

Mitch laughed her dolphin laugh, but Jallia scolded me. When Blake came up sputtering, he glared at me. Mitch spit water at him, but he ignored her and swam to the platform. I thought he was going to sulk until he got closer. He looked up at the last minute and his mischievous smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. His brown eyes twinkled and I knew I was in trouble. I tried to get up and out of the way quickly, but he was faster than I thought. His strong hand closed around my ankle and dragged me into the water. Mitch darted down to me and I grabbed onto her dorsal fin. She surfaced quickly and scolded Blake with sharp whistles.

“She had it coming!” Blake held his hands out in front of him and laughed. He splashed water at me and I returned the favor. Mitch and Stormy joined in, but Jallia swam away, not in the mood for playing. His smile was infectious as he played with the dolphins, not minding when they dunked him or pushed him around. I found myself watching more than playing because I liked seeing him look so happy.

“You had it coming first. Calling Flukes a hellhole.” I laughed at his fake hurt look.

“I apologized! And it’s not like I didn’t notice that I was getting all the crap jobs last week.” He pretended to hold his heart. “I’ve paid my dues. What else can you want from me?”

“Fine. We’re even.” I rolled my eyes and shifted a little farther away from him. There was something compelling about him, something that made me want to be closer. He was dangerous.

“Looks like you lost something.” He tapped his head and I frowned.

“Ugh. My hat.” I looked around and saw it floating toward the sandy bottom. I took a deep breath that I didn’t need and dove after it. When I came back up, Blake was looking at me with wide eyes. “What? It’s my favorite.”

“How deep is this part of the cove?” He looked down and frowned. “What? Eighteen, twenty feet?”

“Something like that.” This part of the cove was twenty-eight feet. Mentally, I berated myself for being so stupid. I should have sent Mitch or Stormy after my hat, but I didn’t want teeth marks on it.

“Heh.” Blake looked at me, his eyebrows drawn together.

I hauled myself onto the platform and felt his eyes following me, making my heart jump in my chest. He pulled himself out of the enclosure and peeled his shirt off. The boy was gorgeous and he knew it. The exact kind of guy I should avoid at all costs. He twisted the shirt in his hands, wringing as much water out as he could.

“What next?” Blake slung the wet shirt over his shoulder.

The water droplets that ran down his chest drew my attention like a moth to flame. My fingers itched to touch him. I scrambled to my feet and backed away from him slowly while squeezing the edge of my shirt. Needing a distraction, I picked up the bucket and turned toward the ladder.

“The others should be here soon. I need to go help Dad with the assignments and then we can come up with a plan for the crews.” I didn’t look back at him after climbing the three short rungs, trying to shake the weird spell he seemed to have on me.

He stayed right behind me as I dropped off the bucket at the fish shack and headed for the toolshed. My heart was starting to pick up pace. No matter how much distance I tried to put between us, he seemed just as determined to stay close. When Dad and Violet came into view, I was so relieved I almost skipped down the last of the path. She turned to look at me and her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

“Did you fall in the pen?” Violet’s eyes trailed over Blake and back to me. A slow smile spread over her face and her eyes gleamed. I knew that look. I was in trouble now. She had been picking on me for giving Blake a hard time all week, and this just fit right into the scenario she would have imagined.

“Blake dragged me into the water.” I pulled at my shirt again and realized you could see my bathing suit through the wet material.

“She pushed me in first.” Blake held up his hands and looked from Violet to my dad with innocent eyes. I snorted. I should have held him under, not just gotten him wet.

“Payback, huh? That’s my girl.” Dad held his hand out for a high five and I reluctantly returned it. “How was Jallia?”

“Good. It shouldn’t be long now.” I looked anywhere but at Violet or Blake, worried they’d see through my nonchalance.

“Excellent. I wonder if we’ll have the new babe for the shoreside rep.” Dad looked at me expectantly for answers.

“I’m not sure.” Shrugging, I walked into the toolshed and pulled my shirt off, not wanting to give anyone a show. I snatched a towel off one of the hooks and dried off as best I could before grabbing one of the spare employee shirts.

“Got an extra towel?” Blake ducked his head in and my heart skipped. I wore bathing suits all year, usually with nothing else on, but for some reason, I felt too exposed under his eyes. I yanked the towel off the hook next to me and threw it to him without turning around. I needed to get out of here. Hastily, I slipped into the big T-shirt and took my towel to hang on the railing outside. I stared out at the water past the cove entrance and tried to calm my racing heart. Why was Blake Weathering making me so nervous? I didn’t have time for boys that made me nervous. Especially when I was supposed to work with them to get Flukes a big contract.

“So, did you make any progress?” Dad’s voice was hopeful and I looked up from my thoughts.

“Not really. You wanted him to get to know more about the area, so I introduced him to Mitch and the others.” The corners of my mouth twitched when I remembered how much Mitch had liked him, then silently berated myself.

Blake walked over and hung his towel next to mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Violet watching us and almost groaned. She had been trying to set me up with guys for years, but I didn’t have time for that stuff. More importantly, I couldn’t risk anyone finding out my secret.

“What did Mitch think?” Violet leaned back on the railing and smiled at me. That smile told me a million things, all of them bad. Bad, bad, bad.

“She was okay.” I shrugged.