help the small grin that echoed hers. Jersey’s comics were known across the globe, and the best known of them all was Viola the Jewel, the superhero who used beetle-like camouflage to become invisible in her surroundings. Jersey had taken some of the best of Vi, like her smarts and her love of bugs, and turned her into someone who saved the world with science and bravery, just like we knew our real-world Vi would do.
“You’re still going to save the world,” I told her.
She looked down and away, doubt filling her. I tipped her chin up, forcing her to look into my eyes.
“It may not be in the ways any of us thought, but it will be in your own, Violet way. A way none of us could see because you were a thousand levels above us.”
I kissed her, trying to reassure her that it was true and also because now that I’d started kissing her, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to not kiss her when we were standing this close together.
The door behind us opened, and the loud chatter of the restaurant burst into the quiet of the night as a body joined us.
“Demario desperately wants to make a toast and is whining about having to wait for you.” Dax grinned.
“How long do you think he’ll talk?” I asked with snark, not even turning to look at him, eyes still locked on Vi’s.
I dropped my hand to capture hers, kissing the knuckles before letting her go completely.
I had to.
If anyone even suspected the depths I felt for this woman, it would only continue to increase the danger for her. I turned away from her to Dax and the small crowd of people waiting for us inside.
“I’ll take odds on fifteen minutes,” Dax said.
I snorted. “Only fifteen? I’ll take sixteen plus.”
We walked into the restaurant Dax had rented for the evening. Twenty or so people filled the room. Demario and Angelica were there, along with the tiny team we used to keep the yachts running.
I stepped toward Demario and the glass of champagne he was holding out toward me. When I took it, the smell hit me, making me think of Violet even more. She tasted just like it, tantalizing and sparkly with a hint of sweetness that hid the sultry perfection. My eyes skated around the room, finding her as she joined Jada on a stool at the bar where Jada was handing her a flute as well.
“To the absent, but not missed Enzo, who was the first to insist we could break the record.” Demario lifted his glass to the windows and our missing Enzo who would not be making the race even after he’d bought one of the boats. “To Armaud for having the connections to secure our time and space in the shipyard.”
Glasses went in Dax’s direction.
“And to Langley for designing the most beautiful boat I’ve ever set eyes on.”
Violet’s eyes grew wide. More things I hadn’t told her.
“Dax and I designed them together,” I deflected.
Dax grinned. “I designed all the important parts—in other words, the décor.”
Laughter.
“Regardless of the winner of the race, and regardless of how I griped about buying one of the damn boats, it is nice to know we’re starting on equal footing,” Demario continued. “Here’s to taking a journey that took our ancestors months and turning it into a matter of hours. May the best team win.”
“Us,” Angelica coughed loudly into her hand, and everyone laughed.
“To knowing what you want and going after it,” I said, and damn if my eyes didn’t wander to Violet again.
♫ ♫ ♫
The sky was still a pale gray when I ran through a final check on the weather and the currents with Dax. We’d take turns at the helm, but even then, the next two and half days were going to be brutal. I should have gotten more rest over the last three nights.
Instead, I’d been haunted, yet again, the night before with the same things that had haunted me the prior two. But this time, champagne scents and Violet’s slim frame pressed into mine as she kissed me had been added to them. I’d been hard and uncomfortable, and even after forcing my own manual release, I’d still craved her. If anything, it had only made it worse because it wasn’t my moan or my release I wanted to experience. I wanted to have hers. I wanted it to belong to me.
I shook my head.
I needed to stay focused.
Proving the boats could