Bermuda Burning
"Insurance investigator Diane travels to Bermuda to investigate a suspicious yacht fire, but finds the boat's captain, Marcus, ignites something in her that no policy could ever cover."
The yacht was a total loss. Marcus Baptiste's face showed no grief—which made Diane suspicious.
"You don't seem upset," she observed.
"Insurance will cover the boat. Can't insure what I really lost."
"Which is?"
"My belief that I'd ever feel anything again."
She put down her clipboard. "That's not a typical statement."
The investigation required days. The yacht. The circumstances. The captain.
Especially the captain.
"Yuh married?" he asked over documents.
"Divorced."
"Yuh look too smart to get divorced."
"Smart people make dumb choices in love."
"That mean yuh still making choices?"
"Depends who's offering."
The fire was accidental. Electrical fault. Her report was straightforward.
Her feelings were not.
"Case closed," she announced.
"Then yuh leaving?"
"My flight's tomorrow."
"Stay tonight." He moved closer. "Let mi show yuh Bermuda properly."
"Is that how yuh convince all the investigators?"
"Just the beautiful ones."
Bermuda proper meant his cottage overlooking pink sand. That thick body proper meant hers against his, all suspicion transformed to surrender.
"Yes! Marcus! Right there!"
The real fire between them. No insurance needed. No investigation required.
"Don't stop! Yuh burning mi up!"
Diane's report was professional. Her extension of stay was not.
"Yuh staying?" he asked.
"Yuh giving mi a reason to."
He gave her several. All night.
The insurance company lost an investigator.
Bermuda gained a resident.
Marcus gained everything.
"The fire was the best thing that happened to mi," he says.
"Because of the payout?"
"Because it brought yuh."
Bermuda burning.
And never going out.