Page 38 of Hooked on a Feeling

His eyes were bright today. Dark blue lines zinged around his bright blue irises, and she was utterly lost in them. No man had ever touched her this deeply. Water sloshed around them, and she held on tight, trying not to make loud noises. The familiar feeling floated across her legs, up her spine, and to the base of her neck. “Fuck. John.”

“Let go. I’m going to come too.”

It was that confession that sent her over the edge, and she clung tightly to him while he, too, flew off the edge. She swallowed the words she desperately wanted to tell him and tried to convince herself this was just about the sex. Not because I actually love him.

“You know it’s a violation of Emerald Port law to fornicate in public?” someone asked.

* * *

John let out an expletive against Starr’s neck while they stayed in the water. He didn’t dare release her from his grip. No way in hell was he letting Officer Tyson Lowe see her naked. The guy was a prick. “Lowe. What brings you by?”

“Someone called it in. Suspected there was ‘funny business’ going on at Harold’s marina.” The officer nodded to Starr. “She okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said loudly then buried her head against John’s chest and whispered to him, “I can’t look at him. How embarrassing.”

“She’s embarrassed,” John said. “Can you have the decency to meet us up by the building where that ladder is? She can put some clothes on. We left them at the hose there.”

Lowe’s gaze swept back and forth between him and Starr, who still faced the opposite direction. Tyson hitched up his pants by his safety belt. “Hurry up. No funny business.”

John shook his head. “I went to high school with you. You really think I’m going to do something against the law?”

“You just did.” Lowe raised his eyebrows. “Does she do this a lot?”

John’s temper flared, but he ground his teeth together so he wouldn’t say something he would regret later. He wasn’t justifying that question with any fucking answer. John’s gaze didn’t waver from the officer, and finally Lowe turned around and stalked off toward the marina building. Typical. Tyson Lowe had been a runt in high school. He wasn’t ever one of the cool kids, and now that he was a cop, he liked to use his badge to intimidate people. But John sure as fuck wasn’t letting that happen where Starr was concerned. “Come on, you sexy mermaid. Let’s get your clothes on before we get a ticket.”

Once they’d walked up to the water hose, John shielded Starr as best as he could while she shimmied into her shorts. She took his shirt and threw it on over her head, and damn if that wasn’t the sexiest sight he’d ever seen. But the look on her face cleared his mind of any naughty thoughts.

“He won’t ticket us. Maybe he’ll just give us a warning,” John said, trying to reassure her.

“John, he already is.” Starr nodded to Lowe.

Sure enough, he was scribbling out something on his notepad. John and Starr walked up to the place where this whole episode had started.

“Are you really giving me a ticket?” John asked Lowe.

Dickhead.

“Sure am. But her too. What kind of lady are you? Having sex in the harbor like that. What’s your name?”

“Starr Young.”

Lowe stopped scribbling and glanced up from his pad. “Come again?”

“I’m Starr Young.”

John swallowed, knowing full well Lowe was already riding high on the gossip train. “She’s here to sell the marina.”

“Is that so? You know, funny thing, I was with my dad having coffee down at the Cable House the other morning, and your dad”—he pointed at John—“was there. Course, when someone brought up the fact that they saw some activity out here, your dad got a little bit of a temper in him.”

John folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t care.”

Lowe raised his eyebrows. “He went on and on about some family feud that had been around since—get this—1949. Anyway, I can tell by the wrinkles on your forehead that you know exactly where I’m going with this.”

“Spit it out, man.”

“Does your dad know you’re sleeping with the enemy?”

“That is none of your business.” Starr took a step toward Lowe, and John took a deep breath in and then let it out of his nose. “Do you always do this?” she asked. “Throw your weight around to the citizens of Emerald Port?”

---