A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter Eleven <><

We sped back to Starfish as fast as the boat would take us.

The sun still shone brightly over us but the grumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

I dreaded to think what would happen if the storm were to reach us before we did Starfish. We were in this flimsy tin can of a boat and would never be able to contest with a storm.

I had a very long standing and mostly irrational fear of being struck by lightening. But out here at sea, we were the tallest point in our little boat, we may easily attract a bolt to us.

It was as though Llyr sensed my fear. He turned around.

"We're going to make it, don't worry," he shouted over the engine, and I felt a little reassurance.
"I know you still don't believe me," he shouted, jovially, "even though I brought you that fruit."

I wanted to talk back but I was too scared. I nervously scanned the sea. True to Llyr's words, the luscious mound of Starfish came into view.

It grew larger and larger as we neared, as did my relief. Detail began to fill in and I could soon see the fisher huts, steeple and houses.

Llyr zoomed towards my side of the Island, and I prayed that Mum and Dad wouldn't see us. As we neared my house, I could see Dad's red motor boat was bobbing about, meaning that they were more than likely at home.

When we were inches away Llyr grabbed one of the legs of the jetty and pulled us nearer. Big raindrops began to splatter on us.

He laughed, carefree.

I too laughed, but more so with relief.

"You want to come indoors?" I asked.

Mum and Dad were bound to be freaked out when I showed up with this rugged, tattooed older-looking man but I could hardly send him out to sea in this storm.

"Thank you but I need to get going," he said.

Rain now splattered all over us. I shuffled on my knees towards him as the boat rocked and the waves grew larger.

"Come on, please, I'll worry about you," I begged.

"Why?" he said calmly.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" I cried, my hand was now on his knee as I steadied myself.

He put his free hand on my waist to support me, whilst the other still hugged the boat to the jetty. Here we were again, inches apart yet moments of our togetherness remained.

The rain bucketed on us.

"I have to go!" I shouted, wishing so badly that the weather would ease so we could say goodbye properly.

He lifted my hand from his knee and brought it to his lips. I smiled through the rain. It was romantic.

"You promise me you'll be okay?" I said.

"I knew you still doubted me," he said.

"No, I don't," I said standing up. I had to acknowledge that everything he had told me so far turned out to be true.

I wanted to ask him when I'd see him again but the rain was now thundering on the deck and the boat looked like it was beginning to fill up with water. It was torrential.

He waited until I was safely on the jetty and then he pushed himself back out to sea. I watched as he started up the engine and then disappeared behind a thick wall of rain.

There was a flash of lightening and I screamed.

"Llyr!" I shouted into the storm.

The thunder clapped and I screamed again. I had no choice but to run up the stairs, through the garden and up to the house. I pulled open the back door.

Mum and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table.

"Crystal!" they exclaimed in unison as I slipped through the door, looking like a drowned rat.

"We just made it!" I said breathlessly.

"Let me get you a towel," said Mum rushing out of the room.

Dad looked me up and down. "Didn't you have shoes on?" he said.

Oh man. I hadn't bothered with shoes at all in my rush this morning.

"Erm, I left them in the boat," I said quickly. "They had holes in them."

"Hmm," he said, looking back at the paper and appearing to have accepted this. "Did you have a nice time?"

"Yeah, it was cool," I replied, taking a towel from mum and wrapping it around me.

My Mum appeared to do a double take at my chest, and I looked down and realized my front buttons were still undone.

I quickly covered myself with the towel.

Bugger.

"Why ever did you go so early?" asked Mum.

"Oh, erm... just because my friend's dad wanted to go to the market, get the best fish," I managed to blurt out.

"Ah yes, well, it's probably not that he wanted the best fish. I imagine that he wanted to gut them asap and get them in the fridge," Dad said wisely. "Much better gutted early."

"Yeah, yeah okay!" said Mum holding out her hand at dad.

"Well, Dad's the expert!" I said laughing nervously. "Anyway, I'm going to have a bath, I'm really cold."

I raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs, before they could say another word. I went straight to the bathroom and shut the door behind me, realising now that I hadn't just been making excuses. I was freezing. My hands shivered as I turned on the taps and I stripped off my wet clothes as quickly as I could. Once the bathtub was full, I climbed inside and let myself thaw, before reclining back into the water. 

I began to process everything that had happened to me today.

Of course, there were so many questions but I still couldn't really think straight. I was giddy with all the excitement.

All my mind really wanted to think about was quite simply, him. I lay there remembering his touch, his words, even his lips on my hand.

We had had all this chemistry but still hadn't even kissed. I started to think about what it would be like to kiss him. I imagined  it would be soft and gentle to start with and then the passion would build and build and he would grab me and pull me to him as close as possible.

The thought of it made me wish that it had never ended. What would have happened if the storm hadn't come, if I had gone into the water with him?

Throughout all the fantasizing, there was one question that was very much thrashing abound in my consciousness. Would I ever see him again?