Chapter 24

OLIVER

The boat bobbed on the water in the marina and I thought about slipping the rope and taking my baby out for a spin. Since leaving Mari in the library yesterday, though, I hadn’t had the energy to go for a sail. I didn’t want to do it alone.

It wasn’t like Mari called out for my cousin while we were in the throes of passion, but it didn’t do a man’s ego any good to have a woman wrapped up in his arms pull away and ask about another man.

And worse, I hadn’t stuck around for clarification. I left her there alone as I made my escape from the estate and found myself in the one area of the world I could always call my own even if I shared her with seven billion strangers.

The ocean.

The waves called to me, but I did not answer. It was the first time in my life I hadn’t taken to open water to deal with a conflict. Leaving now would take me away from my solar project.

And Mari.