Page 68 of Conquered Obstacles

“Thanks.” And I meant it. I knew he wasn’t just saying what he thought I wanted to hear and was being objective. He wanted me to know the truth and he took the time to see all of the sides.

I leaned in and gave him a deeper kiss. I was shocked when he actually pulled away first and cleared his throat.

“If we start that, then we’ll never get out on the water for real,” he explained, giving me a wink to take the sting out of his pulling away.

But I was sort of fine with us just having fun time on his boat if I was honest. No, we should have a date and fun.

Jamie was spoiling me too much and making me hungry for naked time.

All of the time.

I shook off what I was thinking and nodded. He handled all of the preparation and then we were heading out onto the water. He showed me how the controls worked and then kicked up the motor. It was a combo boat that could sail or use the motor.

Or maybe they all really had that once it was a certain size? It made sense for safety at least. What if the wind died or was too crazy and you had to get back to shore?

We were going for a bit when Isiah cut the motor and lowered the sail for something gentle according to him. I nodded… And then about swallowed my tongue as he peeled off his shirt. He was only in cargo shorts and boat shoes and it was a good look on him.

Seriously, the man had a lot of muscle that one wouldn’t expect on his frame. It wasn’t gym sculpted like Colton but hard work and manual labor, so it wasn’t as much of a factor to Isiah. He didn’t even seem to notice how good he seriously looked and how any straight woman would seriously drool watching him move and his muscles work.

Until he must have caught something from me. He blinked at the line in his hand and then slowly looked at me. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” I drawled, gesturing to his body. “Seriously, you look like you just stepped off a manly man magazine cover there.”

“You did not just say that,” he whispered, staring at me with wide eyes.

“What? You say all kinds of nice things when I’m less clothed and will when I’m in a bikini.”

“I’m not sure.” He smirked at me. “I’d have to see you in a bikini to know for sure.”

“Cheeky brat,” I grumbled. I went down by our stuff and took off what I was wearing to reveal the swimsuit I’d picked out. It wasn’t a bikini, so I switched it to a modest one, but still... Maybe a two-piece? What was the line between two-piece and bikini?

My mind was a very scary place sometimes.

Most times.

“Holy fuck me dead,” he whispered as I rejoined him. “I don’t have a single functioning brain cell.”

“See, you say things like that. How come I can’t say nice things too?” I muttered, moving closer. “You deserve to be told you’re sexy too.”

“Thank you for making sure I’m not abused,” he teased, giving me a soft kiss. “So do you want to fish or just lounge in the sun and eat? What does your perfect relaxing day have on the agenda?”

“What about you? It’s your day off too,” I hedged.

“I just want to spend it with you.”

“I feel the same.” I ignored my cheeks flushing but then cleared my throat. “You fish for a living. Let’s not do it on your day off. Let’s be bums and eat what I brought.”

“Sounds nice. We haven’t had much of a chance to catch up, and I always feel like there’s so much to tell you,” he admitted.

“I want to hear it all.” I did. He always focused on helping me and fixing my issues—helping me through my issues and drama that I wanted to just be there for Isiah today. Or just pretend we were a normal couple having a day to be together and talk about everything going on.

That couldn’t be too hard, right?

No, no, it wasn’t. It was great.

He told me that the younger warlock in his coven who couldn’t find his homeless friends over the winter finally did. They even worked for me now, and I’d been so bogged down with so much I didn’t know that. Plus, I was still a bit tender when it came to talking about his coven after the misstep we’d had.

“Honestly, it was the descendants of my priests showing up,” I told him. “Please let them know that their misstep really—I’m over it. Those men showing up—that cult and then Colton and that whole mess was triggering for me. I feel like I took so many steps back just seeing them and all of it. They had this whole idea of what I would be for them, and it was…”

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