“You wish. I’m fully able to perform. Especially with baiting hooks.”
I put the worm on the hook and we both cast out into the water. We sat in the back of the boat, Jules leaning against my shoulder, both holding on to our fishing rods. I inhaled deeply, the scent of her vanilla lotion enticing me to explore every inch of skin. If this wasn’t heaven, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there.
“So, Granny, besides fishing, what else do you like to do?”
She smacked my chest again, her not-so-subtle way of flirting, kind of like how I used to draw on Payton’s hand in Sharpie in middle school. “I used to play softball. Had to quit for college. Ever since then, it’s been nonstop studying.”
“Any siblings?”
She stiffened. Okay, guess I’d hit on another sore subject. “I have a brother, Eric. I’m not really close with him.”
“I would kill for a brother. The closest thing I have to one is Blake. That’s why we were so close. We met in Boy Scouts. We were the only two without siblings. Guess the scoutmaster thought we could use one.” Why was I sharing this with her? I’d never told anyone this.
“Must be nice. All my friends, except Payton, are still in Seattle. Maybe I’ll go back after I graduate med school.”
I stared at the rod in my hand and chewed a hangnail on my thumb. Five years away, and I was already sweating her leaving. I wasn’t even going to be here, why did I want her to? I shook my head. I didn’t need to be thinking that far in the future when I couldn’t even see where I wanted to be next week.
“Any bites?”
“Not even a nibble. You?”
I bumped her with my elbow. “Just some love bites.”
She giggled, the glorious sound echoing over the quiet bay. “Hopefully those love bites don’t leave marks. Wouldn’t want the worms to have hickeys.”
“They leave marks in places no one else will see.”
A blush filled her cheeks and her breathing sped up. Getting her worked up was better than any foreplay. I’d love to trail my fingers along the path of her flushed skin, below the neckline of her jacket.
I placed the fishing rod on the side of the boat in the holder and did the same with Jules’s. I guided her down until she was lying flat on the bench, her hair fanned out across the seat.
My hand smoothed down the side of her cheek, and she leaned in to my touch. I threaded my fingers through her hair and bent down, grazing my teeth along her throat. “You drive me insane.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jules
His teeth raking across my neck sent shivers coursing through my body. I needed to stay one step ahead of him, though. He was getting all sentimental, like he was saying good-bye to this town, and I wanted to give him a reason to stay. Even if only for a few more weeks. Why? A self-centered part of me wanted to hold on to what we’d started, not letting the pending future plans suck away the happiness of our current arrangement. The other part? There was a slight possibility I was falling for this guy, even though every neuron in my messed up brain screamed No, girl. Don’t you dare do that! The same thing I always shouted when I watched horror flicks where the girl stupidly went down in the basement alone, right to the ax murderer. Hopefully my dating life wouldn’t end up like those girls—slashed and gutted. “Is all this fishing finally getting to you? A little rusty?”
“My fishing skills are far from rusty.”
“Caught a bigger fish than your rod can handle?”
“As you’ve already seen, my rod is more than capable.” To emphasize, he grinded his erection into my hip. Between the demonstration the other night and the massive bulge in his black athletic shorts, he wasn’t bluffing. The space between my thighs ached for him to show me exactly what he planned to do.
He unzipped my jacket, placing kisses along the skin exposed around my tank top. Goose bumps cascaded over my body, and I shuddered from his featherlight touch. His warm hands slid underneath my top, smoothing over my stomach, brushing my belly button ring. He stopped there and lifted my tank top to look at it.
“Cherries. How fitting.”
I shifted and fingered the piercing. “Yeah? How so?”
“Sweet and delicious. Just like you.” He ran his tongue along the perimeter of my belly button and a shudder wracked through me.
He climbed off me and fished something out of his pocket. I took full advantage of his cute butt as he bent over. I stretched my leg and used my toes to pull down his board shorts. Something multicolored peeked out the top of his shorts, and he quickly moved away and pulled up the fabric.
“What is that?”
“Nothing. A bruise,” he muttered
I lifted my brow. “Last time I checked, a bruise isn’t green and pink.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Then let me see.”