Page 163 of Just This Once

But she didn’t care. “I still want to lay out on the deck and enjoy the stars for a while. And that’ll be much more comfortable in a sleeping bag.” Then she bounced her eyebrows at me seductively. “If you’re nice, I might share it with you.”

I laughed and decided not to question her purchases after that. Not until she wanted to pick out a two-piece swimsuit, anyway.

That’s when I felt compelled to say, “I really didn’t mind your skinny-dipping phase. You can keep going without a suit if you want. Just saying.”

She sent me a sly smile and murmured, “Good to know,” as she got the bikini anyway.

And now she had everything she’d bought earlier today tucked in her new suitcase, ready for a night out on the water.

“You rented a really nice boat for us, right?” she asked, nudging my arm curiously.

“Didn’t rent one,” was my answer.

“Parker!” she screeched. “Please tell me you didn’t buy a boat just for tonight.”

I glanced over at her and smirked. “I’m rich and live on the Gulf. I already had a boat, darlin’.”

She gasped. “No way. You did? When did you get a boat? Alec never mentioned you having a boat. Does he even know?”

“Not sure if you ever realized this about your brother,” I told her with lifted eyebrows. “But if a topic isn’t about movies, food, supernatural shit, or—most recently—Union’s cousin, Younger’s not exactly the best listener. Because I know I’ve mentioned it around him before.”

“Huh,” she murmured, only to jar to a halt when we approached my Crownline. “Oh my God, you named your boat Grumpy Buoy?”

I sighed. “Don’t make it a thing, Langston,” I ordered as I jumped on board and held my hand out to her.

She handed me her sleeping bag first. “Oh, I’m making it a thing.”

I took the suitcase from her next and tossed that onto the deck behind me before reaching for her hand.

She smirked as she took my fingers. “Thought you didn’t like being called Grumpy.”

“I don’t.” As soon as she was on board, I pulled her snugly against me and then shrugged. “But the boat doesn’t seem to mind.”

When she threw her head back and laughed, I growled hungrily and dipped my head to kiss her throat.

Her laugh turned into a sigh as I made my way up her jaw to her lips. By the time I captured her mouth for our first kiss on the water, she was practically vibrating with need. So it was really no wonder why I felt as if I should haul her down into the cabin and strip her naked seconds later.

Which is exactly what I did.

We didn’t leavethe dock for a couple of hours. But when we finally got around to it, Hope turned out to be a stellar first mate. She helped me untie us as I pulled up the anchor. Then she sat beside me as we motored into the bay, smiling with her eyes closed and face tipped toward the sun.

“This is amazing,” she murmured.

Once I got us out of the no-wake zone, I opened up the engine. She screamed out a surprised laugh and grabbed my arm to catch her balance.

I chuckled along with her, and we spent a good hour just cruising the bay.

Early in the afternoon, Hope spread her sleeping bag out on the deck, and we broke open the picnic basket.

We sat crisscross, facing each other, feasting on chicken and shrimp sandwiches and potato salad that I’d ordered from a nearby market.

And Hope couldn’t stop smiling. I’d never seen her look happier.

With a mouthful, she nodded her approval, and muffled, “Mmph. This is perfect. This is so perfect, Parker. It’s better than I ever imagined it could be.”

“Good.” I reached for my glass of bourbon, only for the wake from a passing pontoon to swell under us and cause me to spill half of it on my board shorts. “Shit.”

I lurched to my feet, as the alcohol soaked through the cloth.

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