the man I barely knew, yet loved with all my heart, watching the fun island Christmas parade.
After the parade we went home and shared some hot drinks before getting into bed. Even though most of the house was put back together, we hadn't bothered to move Ryker’s bed from its position against the wall. I rather liked being able to roll into him, leaving him with nowhere to run. The corner also made a good place to brace myself during sex, which we had often. Hard and soft, lazy and chaotic, and wonderful every single time, although I was still getting used to his alpha knot.
The morning after the Christmas parade, he bundled me up, put a blindfold on me, and told him to told me to trust him…
And now here I was in a boat.
“I don't really like boats,” I said.
“Don't worry, it's a short ride.”
Ryker was right. It was only a couple of minutes before the motion of the boat changed a little. There was some odd sounds and a clang of metal. I felt his warm hand on mine.
“Ready?”
“I think so.”
He pulled my blindfold off and I blinked in the light, then looked around. We were… I frowned. “Where are we?”
“Come and see,” he laughed.
The boat was tied up to a small metal platform and I climbed out, stumbling a bit, as I realized the platform itself was floating. It led to a small set of stairs and a sturdier wooden dock. We climbed up it and I found myself staring at an extremely small building that looked like it was entirely surrounded by water. It had a wrap-around deck that looked almost as big as the building itself; I curiously circled it.
“What is this?” I asked again.
“It used to be for oystermen to watch their beds at night. Back when oyster piracy was a thing,” he chuckled, “now it's a little rental.”
“People rent this?” I asked, turning away from him to look at the tiny building again. I leaned over the railing and could see that it was up on large pilings in the water.
“As a matter of fact,” he laughed. “I rented it for the night. I know a guy.”
I smirked at him. “Let me guess, a shifter?”
“Carrick's brother,” he confirmed with a laugh. “He had to shuffle around a couple of reservations, but it's Christmas and I've met my true mate.”
“So, I'm still not sure…” I admitted carefully, wondering what we were doing here.
“Look around.”
I turned back to the building.
“No,” Ryker laughed. “Look around! At the view.”
As I slowly rounded the deck, I found myself staring in awe. There was something incredible in every direction. One side was a view of the towering pines of the nature preserve, all dusted with snow and ice. All around us were ice crusted cattails and reeds and rippling water. From another side I could see a good deal of Half Moon Island, including the town Christmas tree. On yet another side there were sand dunes that gave way to a distant, dark rolling water.
“Is that the ocean?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Ryker joined me at the railing.
“This is beautiful,” I said, slowly walking around the small building again.
“Go inside,” he teased.
The room inside was tiny. There was a single cabinet and countertop with a one-burner gas camp stove sitting on it. A small curtain was open enough that I could see a small toilet beyond it. Other than that, there was nothing but a bed that took up most of the room and a pair of small chairs and a table.
In the middle of it all was a very familiar pile of painting equipment – my easel, a whole pile of canvases, and all of my paints and brushes.
“What…” I murmured, going over to them.
Ryker broke into a wide smile. “You haven't gotten much painting done and I don't want to get in the way of your project. I'm hoping there's a lot of inspiration here for you. We're here through tomorrow, so you can see sunset and sunrise, as well as night and day... Whatever.”
I threw my arms around him. Ryker. “Thank you! Really, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“Really?” he grinned. “Get used to it. You're my true mate. It's my job to spoil you.”
I kissed him and he wrapped his arms around me. I shivered a little as a cold breeze blew in from the ocean and he tightened his grip and kissed me harder.