Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 26

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 26
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

"Wake up, buttercup," Nick whispered, and I snuggled back into my pillow, trying to ignore him. He couldn't be serious. What time was it?

Chuckling, he pulled the covers away from me. "Get up, Rache. I promise, it'll be worth it."

"Is it something I have to get out of bed for?"

"Yes."

"Not worth it," I assured him, turning over, away from him. I opened my eyes halfway and then closed them again. It was barely light out.

He leaned down, running his hand along my body, his quiet voice making me shiver. "How often do you get to watch the sun rise over the Florida Keys?"

I sighed. Not very often, I guess. We were leaving the day after tomorrow. But that still left us tomorrow to see the sunrise and today to sleep in.

"I've got bagels on the boat. And we're going somewhere."

"Where?"

"It's a surprise."

I liked Nick surprises. This trip had been full of them.

"Florida bagels suck."

"These are okay, I promise. Come on, we need to get out of here before Aaron wakes up and has to come with us."

Rolling over, I smiled up at him. "Shouldn't we be doing other things in our Aaron-free time?"

"Oh, we can still do that, baby. We haven't had sex on the boat yet. All the more reason to leave now, right?"

Okay, now I was awake. Giggling, I jumped up, going into the bathroom to brush my teeth and change. No reason to shower. I was just going to get sweaty and sticky on the boat. Maybe the surprise involved somewhere with a beach, and we could swim. I loved that the ocean was warm here. At home, I knew the water was way too cold for frolicking.

Relatively clean, I walked naked back into the bedroom, and Nick sighed at me. "Alright, maybe we should just stay here."

"Now I want a bagel," I informed him, pulling on a bikini and tossing on a pair of shorts and a tank top. Stepping into my shoes, I found a jacket and turned back to Nick. "Do I need anything else? Is this a day trip?"

"Yeah, we'll be back this afternoon. I can't disappear all day, not when we're leaving soon."

Our plan was to leave tomorrow afternoon and drive back up to Miami for our flight to New York the next day. "We can leave later tomorrow," I offered. "Or should we bag this outing and have breakfast with everyone?"

Rolling off the bed, he came over to me, pulling me into his arms. "We have hours until anyone wakes up. And we're allowed some alone time, aren't we? Your family leaves us alone sometimes." Except for sleeping, we'd been with one or another member of his family since we got here. It was nice, but I'd found myself wanting to go to bed early last night. I missed being with just him.

I smiled up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck, playing with the hair on the back of his neck. "Alone time sounds great, bunny."

He kissed me, his strong arms holding me up as I leaned into him. This was nice. This was something we couldn't do in front of Aaron, or he'd throw things at us. It was good to just enjoy being with each other. Breaking apart, he held me tightly for a minute. "Let's go," he finally said, moving away from me only enough to take my hand and lead me out of the room.

I grabbed my sunglasses off the coffee table, and he got a hat, but we kept holding hands. He closed the door quietly and pulled me in the other direction when I headed for the golf cart. "Too noisy," he said. "Can we walk?"

"Dunno, bunny," I deadpanned. "It's really far."

He rolled his eyes, starting down the path. "Yeah, the New York girl who walks everywhere can't make it twenty feet."

"It's farther than that!" I protested. It was. I wasn't sure how far it was, but it was sorta amazing, how much land they owned. The Keys were only so big, and it seemed like the Carters owned half of Marathon. "It's early, and I'm tired," I whined, but he just shook his head.

"If we start the cart, then one of the dogs will wake up and start barking, then they all start barking, and then Aaron's out here, wondering what we're doing. Or someone else."

"I didn't realize this was such a covert operation," I giggled, trying to be quiet.

"It's not. It's just… I just want this to be special. Just you and me."

I smiled up at him, especially because he looked a little embarrassed. "That's sweet, bunny. Where are we going?"

"You'll see." I hoped. What if I couldn't find it?

If I couldn't find it, then I'd take her to one of the other Keys and she'd never know the difference, right?

Rachel would know. She always did. I wanted this to be a nice surprise. Just me and her, out on the boat for a while. I'd gotten one of the house caretakers to stock my boat kitchen with lots of food, so we could be out for a while and not need to see another person. Just me and Rachel, on an adventure.

Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pulled her closer to me as we walked towards the dock.

"Secret Keys places?" she asked, excited, and I nodded.

"There are lots of cool places in the Keys, Rache."

"Will there be swimming?"

"Maybe." I had no fucking idea. I hoped so. Well, if we couldn't swim there, I could drop anchor out in the gulf and we'd swim. Anything for my girl. I didn't have any real plans for today. We'd figure something out when we got there. And I thought she'd like to see the sun rise.

She wrapped her arm around my waist, leaning her head against my chest. "Cool. What did I do to deserve all these great surprises lately?"

"Have there been a lot of surprises?" I hadn't planned it that way. She was just so damn cute when she got all excited about things. I loved putting that look on her face.

"Yeah. Dinner when I first got to Tampa, and the Delano. Now this."

"This is more like dinner than the Delano," I informed her. "Don't get too excited."

She looked at me, smiling. "It doesn't have to be a big surprise. I don't care."

"That is one of the many reasons I love you, buttercup," I told her, stopping to kiss her. Kissing and walking was hard. Things got bitten that shouldn't be.

"I have to find some surprises for you in New York," she said when I finally let her breathe again.

"You could cook me dinner, then serve it to me naked."

Shaking her head, she started walking again. "Well, I was thinking that, but now it's not a surprise, is it?"

"It would be if I wasn't expecting it."

"Now you will. Guess it'll have to be a fully clothed dinner."

I pouted at her, making her giggle. "Are we going naked sailing?"

I felt my eyes widen. I had never thought about that. "That could be fun."

"Really sexy," she agreed. "Naked, except for sensible boat shoes with traction."

That made us both laugh, and we joked about naked sailing accidents the rest of the walk up to the dock. Mark was next to the boat, and Rachel smiled at him. "Does he pay you enough to get up this early?"

Mark laughed. "Hey, now I know he won't be bugging me all day. It's ready to go, Nick. Enjoy your day."

"Thanks, man," I told him, shaking his hand. When Mom had first hired caretakers for the compound, I thought she was crazy. But we were never here, and this way we never had to worry about who was taking care of stuff when we were gone. And with the number of pets my brother was collecting, that was a good thing. When we got back the other day, he'd taken Rachel over and shown them to her. She joked that the compound was really just a zoo.

I especially liked the caretakers because when we were here, they took care of stuff like this, so that I didn't have to get up at four in the morning to get the boat ready. It was sorta like having a butler. Only he wore shorts all the time and knew the best places to fish.

"Remember, look out for the sea grass when you go under the Bridge."

Butlers weren't allowed to make fun of their employers, were they? I just rolled my eyes and followed Rachel onto the boat. "I already fucked it up once. It probably hasn't grown back yet, right?"

"Good logic, sweetie," Rachel told me. "Let's just mow that shit down."

Mark laughed, untying the boat and then waving as he walked away. I headed up to the cockpit. "Want to get the bagels now or wait until we're out?" I asked her. She hesitated a second and then went over to the steps leading down to the kitchen.

"You go, and I'll get us breakfast. Then we can just settle back with bagels and watch the rest of the sunrise." The sun was mostly up by now, but it was still pretty.

Okay, he'd told me this was just a day trip, but the kitchen was stocked like we were going away for a week. Well, the beer and drinks had been here when we'd gone to Key West. They were probably always here. But now we had stuff for sandwiches and fruit and chips and… was that the shrimp bisque from the restaurant we went to the other day? Damn. That was yummy.

I found the bagels as I heard the engine cut on. They were a far cry from New York bagels, but maybe I could toast them… there had to be a toaster here, right?

Hell, there was a coffee maker. And the coffee was made. Dude, I needed a Mark. I needed a Mark and a Frank. And an AmEx Black. Nick knew how to live the good life.

We were out of the slip and into open water by the time I went up to join him, with coffee and bagels and good stuff to put on them. "Are you sure you're not kidnapping me?" I asked him, setting down the tray and sitting next to him.

"Pretty sure. Kidnapping involves taking you against your will, right?"

Grinning, I handed him a cup of coffee in a cool travel mug that had the name of the boat company on the side. I felt sure that it would fit perfectly in the cup holder on the instrument panel. "Good point. I would happily submit to kidnapping. Are there restraints down in the bedroom to keep me tied to the bed?"

He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "That's for later, baby."

"Should we get farther away from shore, so that no one will hear my screams?"

"Exactly," he told me, nodding seriously. "That's the surprise. We're not going back, and we're going to roam the world in this boat."

"But you told me I didn't need to pack!" I whined.

"Maybe I packed for you," he mused, reaching over for a bagel. I took it back from him.

"Cream cheese or butter? Would you like smoked salmon or whitefish? This is how I knew you were kidnapping me. The kitchen is stocked!"

"Mark rocks. Cream cheese, please."

Spreading cream cheese on his bagel, I sighed happily. "I think I need a Mark. Having a Mark makes cool surprises a lot easier."

"Mark and AmEx Black," Nick admitted, taking his bagel. Dude, that was weird. Had we been together so long he was starting to be able to read my mind? I swear when we were dating Jeremy could do that and it freaked me out… hell, he could still do that. Know what I was thinking before I said anything.

"Yeah, I need me one of those, too," I agreed, fixing my own bagel with cream cheese and whitefish, then settling back next to him to watch the sunrise. We were quiet for a little while, eating and enjoying the view, content with just the sound of the water and the boat. Nick leaned back next to me, just touching the wheel once in a while to keep us straight along the coast of Marathon.

"This is so pretty," I finally said, taking in the blue water and sky as the darkness lifted. When we'd started, it'd been that quiet gray before dawn with a slight chill in the air, but now I could see that it was going to be another perfect Florida day.

Florida rocked. Fuck rock music and conquering the world, I just wanted to stay here and do this every morning.

"I feel like I understand you so much more, now that I've been here," I told him, and he responded with a smile.

"We've only lived in the Keys for a few months, Rache."

"I've been to Tampa now. That's all laid back and warm and relaxed, too. But you like it here better, don't you?"

He nodded, looking around. "Does it get much better than this? I mean, I love being up at the Point house with you. I know why you love it. But this is fucking paradise. The weather is always like this. The worst thing that happens is that it gets too hot in the summer. Every day, I can just jump on my boat and be out here, in the middle of the ocean. And now I get to share it with you. What else could I possibly need?"

"Nothing," I agreed quietly. Right now, this minute, I couldn't think of anything better than just being with him out here on the water. Smiling, he leaned over to kiss me. Okay, maybe this made it a little better.

I checked our positioning again and then looked at the map on the console. I'd gotten Rachel to go down to the kitchen when I thought we were close, telling her I wanted a bottle of water. If the map was right, we were here. I hadn't even gotten us lost once.

Okay, it was an island not far from Marathon, so I could see it most of the trip, but I was still impressed with myself.

"Hey, bunny, what's that cool little island out there?" she asked, joining me again at the wheel.

"That's your surprise," I told her.

"Nick, you didn't buy me an island."

Laughing, I showed her the map. "No. Might be fun, though."

She looked at where I was pointing on the map and then at the tiny island again. "It's called Rachel Key?"

"That's what it says." I'd been looking at the map when we were coming back from Key West, and I knew we had to check it out.

"I wonder why."

"I imagine some guy a long time ago loved a girl named Rachel, just like I do. If I had an island, I'd name it after you." I told her, and she grinned at me.

"Our island can be Buttercup Key."

I kissed her, pleased by her smile. Buttercup… that was good. Maybe I'd rename this boat to Buttercup.

"Can we go on it? Or just sail around?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. I just saw it on the map and wanted to bring you here. It doesn't look like anyone lives here."

"I bet Mark knows. He knows everything."

"I didn't tell him where we were going." I wanted it to be just ours. We'd figure it out together.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at me. "Are you sure it's not a protected habitat? I don't want you racking up any more fines!"

Shaking my head, I steered the boat closer to the island. "There are no signs. I sorta ignored the sea grass signs. Let's drive around and see. If we can't get near it, whatever."

"It's an adventure," she said happily, and I smiled. Just what I was about to say. I liked that we had the same thoughts at the same time.

"Exactly."

We sailed around the island, checking it out. It looked like mostly trees, but there was a little beach, and she wanted to explore. I dropped anchor, and we were able to swim up, reaching the beach and looking around.

"It's like a deserted island."

"If we were on the other side, we could see Marathon, Rache," I had to remind her, and she poked me.

"We can pretend! From here, it's just the ocean."

"This is actually the gulf."

Sighing, she pushed her wet hair away from her face. "Fine. Are you playing Blue Lagoon with me or not?"

"That was the one where Brooke Shields had lots of sex on the beach, right?"

She nodded, smirking. "Exactly. Think we can?"

Laughing, I looked around the island. I didn't see any signs of people. But it was really close to Marathon. Who knew how many boats would come by? "Let's see if there are any hidden spots," I told her, taking her hand and leading her down the beach. There wasn't much beach, mostly trees, and the rest of it might be swampy…

We didn't get very far in the trees, because we didn't have shoes. It was sorta swampy and wet, so we went back to the beach, giggling the whole time. "Maybe I should have done some research," I admitted, but she just smiled, hugging me.

"No, this is fun. It's a good adventure. Next time, we'll bring shoes."

"We can take one of the smaller boats, and get closer to the shore." Maybe in the winter, if she ended up not touring, or with just a free weekend, we could come back.

Letting me go, she sat on the sand, stretching her legs out. "We'll bring provisions. And paper and a pencil, to draw a map."

I sat next to her, letting her lean against me. "Is that how maps get made?"

"I have no idea," she admitted. "They probably make maps from aerial photographs or something now, but we can do it the old fashioned way."

"Well, someone had to know this was here, to put it on the map. Should I ask Mark?"

She shook her head. "No. We can pretend it's just ours."

"Maybe I should buy it."

That made her laugh. "You don't have to buy everything I like."

I didn't? Why not? Why else have money? "Maybe it needs to be protected. Hey, maybe the fines I paid for the sea grass thing can go to save Rachel Key!"

She giggled at me. "What does it need to be saved from? It looks okay to me."

"Horrible people like us, who might destroy its fragile ecosystem."

"Is Aaron going to yell at us for being here? Are we destroying the balance of nature?"

"I'll ask him when we get back. Which might be next week."

Smiling, she let me kiss her. I never wanted to leave. I knew that Marathon wasn't far, but she was right. We could pretend to be stranded on a deserted island. There didn't need to be anyone else in the world but us. Laying her down on the sand, I kept kissing her, rewarded by her little sighs as our bodies touched. The sun was warm on my skin, and her lips were soft. What else did we need?

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