Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
The whole time, I might add, her hand was still holding mine.
I wanted to stay up there with her forever.
But it was the expected ten or so minutes before John turned and made the winch start to slowly draw us back down.
We dropped down onto our butts on the sun deck, Rue letting out a laugh that had John looking back and trying to suppress a smile.
I reached out, removing my straps, then reached over to do hers. It probably look chivalrous. In reality, I just wanted an excuse to touch her again.
Fucking John and his terrible timing.
Standing outside the cabanas, I saw the interest in her eyes; I felt the way she’d trembled at the barely-there touch on her shoulder strap.
I knew if I’d reached for her, she would have melted into me. I could have pulled her back into a cabana, and we could have gone a few rounds until we were both panting and boneless.
Begrudgingly, I had to admit that it was probably for the best that John showed up when he did. Letting things get physical before I knew what her connection was with our rivals would be a bad idea. I couldn’t imagine Huck would be forgiving of it if he found out and she did turn out to be in bed with them.
“Give me your number, and I can send them to you,” I said as John slowly turned the boat around to head back to Teddy’s place. “Then you can send it to whoever is in charge of making sure I don’t kidnap you,” I said, getting a surprised bark of a laugh out of her.
“Traeger. My grandmother seems to think it would be a great idea for me to disappear for a day or two.” Something about the way her cheeks went pink made me think her grandmother assumed the two of us were going to hook up.
“He seems like a good friend.”
“He’s amazing. And makes the best coffee known to man.”
“His pottery is great too.”
“Right? I’m so proud of him. His parents aren’t exactly supportive, but he has done so much so quickly. I know I’m on borrowed time with him. So I’m just trying to enjoy it while I can.”
“Well, even if he leaves, you will still be friends,” I said. Her gaze moved away at that, like she didn’t think that was the case. When, clearly, the guy cared about her if he was keeping an eye on her while she was with me.
She couldn’t even see that the people she did have around genuinely wanted to be there, and weren’t just obligated to be.
I got the feeling that Rue was really fucking lonely. Whether she recognized it or not. Maybe that was why her grandmother was clearly worried about her.
“Thanks for being so calm,” she said as we neared the dock. “I, uh, get panic attacks sometimes. Well, more than sometimes. I’m working on it, but things like this are big triggers.”
“It’s nothing. I had a neighbor —who is now my friend’s wife—who had a lot of anxiety. I get it.”
“Are you afraid of anything?” she asked, watching my profile.
“Meat in a can,” I said, getting another huff of laughter out of her.
“Meat in a can?”
“How the fuck can something that goes bad even in the fridge be okay in a can?” I asked.
“I have eaten a lot of tinned meat,” Rue said. “I’m still here.”
“Better not to risk it,” I said, getting another smile out of her. “Thanks for this, John,” I said when he jumped off to tie down, then helped Rue off the boat.
“Anytime,” he said as I hopped out.
“Can you imagine living this close to the beach?” Rue asked after taking off her life jacket, then heading toward the sand.
“I’m gonna see if she wants to order some food. If not, she might want a lift back to the bike.”
“I’ll be in the staff room after I clean all this up. Pick up any of the tablets and you will find a button for staff. You can reach me through there.”
“Thanks again, man.” I pulled off my life vest and handed it to him.
“She’s sweet,” he said, nodding over toward where Rue was dipping her feet into the aqua water.
“She is,” I agreed, clapping him on the back, then following Rue toward the water’s edge.
“Would you want a waterside property?”
“Honestly, it sounds like a hell of a lot of stress during storm season. Guys like Teddy have staff to handle battening down the hatches. But if I had to do it myself, I think I’d rather be a little inland and just visit.”
“That’s true. And I like having more of a yard,” she agreed, moving a little further into the water. “But this is nice. Oh,” she said, whipping around. “Should I not be going in? Do we need to get going? I don’t want to get the car all wet.”