One Enchanted Summer

Chapter 11

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

Quinn

That date changed everything for me—for us. We talk and hang out any chance we get, and it still doesn’t feel like enough. I don’t think I will ever get tired of him. We text on our breaks and spend our evenings walking along the beach, or through the park, after work. He’s so easy to talk to and even easier to kiss.

It’s been hard for me to get to Grayson’s Pirate dinner show between our two schedules. I don’t like leaving Gertie at night after working all day. But Gertie is having a poker night tonight with some friends, so I asked Tatum if she wanted to join me at the show. Tatum has been my other unexpected surprise from Florida. I haven’t had a ton of close girlfriends, and I’ve been okay with that, but meeting her showed me just how nice it is to have a friend.

She’s probably more excited about this show than I am. She’s practically bouncing as we sit in our seats. Grayson knew we were coming, so he got us the best seats and ensured we were seated in his specific section. Besides the seating and our food orders, I don’t know what to expect from the show, he’s kept it pretty secretive. As the audience fills in, servers are bringing us drinks. The stage is a large pirate ship on the water with the audience in a circle around it. Our waiter reaches us with a big bowl of salad and dishes some onto Tatum’s plate. There are only scraps left, so he looks at the bowl and assures me he’ll be back for me.

“This is actually pretty good,” Tatum says with a bite full of salad in her mouth. “Usually, the dinner shows don’t have the best food.”

I spy a man dressed in black pants, a flowy white shirt and a purple vest. He makes his way to the purple section and they start cheering. Another guy comes out dressed in a long blue coat and a blue headwrap. He goes to the blue section and jumps up and down trying to pump up his crowd.

A girl in the row in front of us clutches her friend’s arm and exclaims, “Please let that one be ours!”

I follow their gazes and see Grayson sauntering towards us. He’s wearing brown pants and an orange vest…with no shirt underneath. His chiseled abs are on full display. I swallow hard and Tatum gasps.

“Holy six-pack,” she says in awe.

I’m speechless. I knew he had a good body, it was apparent, but I didn’t know exactly how good. I didn’t realize it would be on full display for me all night.

“How’s my orange crew doing tonight?” he calls out to us. A chorus of screams answer him and I’m suddenly aware that all the women in this crowd also get to enjoy the view.

“So here’s the thing, you see those other pirates? We don’t want to be cheering for them. You are officially a part of my crew and as your captain I’ll need you to cheer for me. Think you can do that?” he asks.

“Hell yes I can,” Tatum declares.

I roll my eyes at her, and she shrugs, “What?”

“You have a boyfriend,” I point out.

“So? He appreciates a good body when he sees one too.”

Grayson starts talking to some people in the front row and then he looks up and smiles directly at me. He quickly hops up a few steps and walks directly to us.

“Tatum,” he nods at her. “Hey, Q.”

“Hey,” it sounds breathy and weird as I say it. I don’t know why. It’s not like I haven’t been spending almost every day with him for the past week, but seeing him here feels different.

“You sound a little starstruck,” Tatum mumbles.

“What?” Grayson asks.

“Nothing!” I quickly say. I wish I could kiss him and declare loudly that this is my boyfriend. But I guess I don’t know if that’s true. We haven’t labeled anything. We text all the time and have spent almost every night together. Our nights always end with a kiss, or two, or ten minutes worth of kisses, but we’ve never said what any of that actually means.

Grayson looks around and then asks, “Where’s your salad?”

“He ran out, guess he’s not coming back,” I chuckle.

Without saying anything, he steps over to one of the other tables and grabs the salad bowl left there. Then he comes back and starts dishing some onto my plate. My heart pounds as I watch him. I’ve never wanted to kiss anyone more than at this moment. I have to physically hold myself back from launching across the table at him. I know he’s working, and I struggle to keep it professional. But knowing he noticed something as small as salad and went out of his way to serve me makes me feel absolutely weak in the knees.

The girls in front of us are staring and whispering, and I turn to see the people from the table he got the bowl also looking at us.

“Thank you,” I say as he finishes. He smiles back at me and then takes the bowl back to the other table and walks back to the front.

“Wow,” Tatum says quietly.

“You thought that was as sexy as I did?” I ask with a chuckle.

“100%, but also, you are smitten,” she grins at me.

“What?” I tear my eyes away from Grayson to look at her.

“You, my friend, are a little smitten kitten.”

“No,” I laugh. “No, I’m not. We’ve only been hanging out for a week.”

“Yeah, you’re doomed.”

The show is so fun to watch. The pirates swing on ropes above our heads when they enter the stage and I’m instantly entranced. It’s action filled with sword fights, explosions, and the quiet parts are filled with humor. I love it. At one point, a mermaid does an aerial dance with silks and it’s completely mesmerizing. Towards the end, Grayson and the purple pirate make their way to the back of the ship as they are fighting. They reach a ladder, and before I can even see what’s happening they are standing on opposite ends of the ladder and it’s flipping in a circle. Grayson is going up in the air and then upside down over and over again. My stomach plummets as I watch him. The ladder starts spinning faster and faster as the crowd cheers. I feel like I can’t breathe. This looks incredibly dangerous and I keep imagining all the ways this can go wrong.

“Hey, you okay?” Tatum suddenly asks.

“No,” I blurt out, not taking my eyes off of Grayson. After what feels like forever, the ladder slows down and he safely hops off. The crowd cheers and it finally feels like I can breathe again.

“That was terrifying,” I admit, my heart pounding.

“Told ya, you’re doomed,” Tatum replies with a knowing smile.

Grayson meets us after the show, still in his pirate uniform. It’s fulfilling every pirate fantasy I never knew I had. He grins at us and scoops me into a big hug. I try not to focus on his bare chest pressing against me.

“Did you enjoy the show?” he asks.

“Yeah, it was great!” I reply.

“Incredible,” Tatum agrees.

“I’m so glad you came,” he wraps his arm around me as we walk. I can't help but feel proud as I spot a couple girls watching us jealously. I’ve never been the object of someone’s envy before and it makes me feel oddly confident.

“Me too. But that ladder stunt? Terrifying!” I declare.

He laughs, “Yeah that one is a little scary. Next time, just close your eyes until it’s over.”

I smile at him saying next time. I always want there to be a next time.

The rest of May passes in a blur of Enchantment park days where we get to travel the world, pickleball tournaments, boardwalk bike rides, restaurant dates and lots of cooking together at his house. I learned he loves to cook and he’s good at it. I honestly don’t know if it’s more attractive watching him perform or watching him cook shirtless in the kitchen. Either way, it usually ends the same way: lots of kissing. And yet, I still can’t get enough.