Page 9 of Hot for the Jerk

“Thanks, Jagger.Hopefully we see you in the ferry line.”Then she was gone, with Raina behind her.Only that combustible ice queen made sure she glanced over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at me right before they turned the corner.

I smirked as I headed to the front desk.It was so easy to push her buttons and get under her skin.And the fact that her eyes grew a lighter, almost yellow shade of green when she got angry, and a sexy pink flush highlighted the freckles across her cheeks and nose, was just an added bonus.

After I dropped off the baskets, I piled into the cube truck and headed for the ferry terminal.Clint and Gabrielle both loaded.I could see them drive on.But the boat was full before I was able to board, and from the looks of things, Raina was stuck waiting for the next sailing as well.

Every heavy gust of wind off the water rattled the big cube truck, threatening to knock it over onto its side.Even with the breakwater, the boats in the marina next to the terminal bobbed and swayed heavily with the swells and, even though it was dark out, a few adrenaline-junky seabirds rode the gusts like pro-surfers.

I dug my novel out of my backpack, reclined my seat, and sipped the extra-large camomile tea I grabbed myself on the way here.I did this trip several times a month, bringing stock over to various pubs and liquor stores.I was no sailing-wait virgin.In fact, I kind of liked it.It gave me time to read.It gave me time to myself.Yes, I lived alone.But I was rarely actuallyalone.

I lived on a big chunk of property with my four older brothers and their children.I was the only childless one.Clint had Talia, who was eight; Bennett had Emme and Aya, who were ten and eight; Wyatt had Jake, who was nine, and Griffin, who was seven; and Dom had Silas, who was six.Up until this year, the five of us raised the kids all by ourselves.And we had been doing so since my brothers’ wives all passed five years ago in a tragic car accident.

Earlier this year, Clint found Brooke washed up on the beach.Then they fell in love.Bennett fell for one of our cabin guests, Justine.Wyatt married Vica to save her from deportation, then ultimately fell in love with her.Dom became slightly less grumpy and won the heart of Chloe, our newest bartender at the pub, and now they were having a baby together.

Our family was growing, and even though I now had to watch the kids less because there were more adults around, I still loved those little squirts and made a point of seeing all of them at least once a day.More often than not though, they were knocking on my door looking for me.

I must have dozed off because the honk of a horn behind me stirred me awake and my book fell from my chest into the footwell of the truck.

Shit.We were loading.I absolutely must have fallen asleep because the ferry had sailed to San Camanez, then back, and unloaded already.

The ferry employee in the bright orange vis-vest and the air traffic controller batons guided me forward and told me which lane to take.I gave him a friendly and apologetic nod as I turned the truck back on and pulled ahead, over the ramp and onto the swaying vessel.How they weren’t canceling sailings at this point was beyond me.The swells coming over the sides and front of the boat, even in the protected terminal, were terrifying.

I considered getting a hotel in Seattle and just heading home tomorrow.

The horn bellowed.

Welp.

Too late.I was sandwiched in with vehicles on every side of me now and we were getting ready to head off.

Hopefully, the beer gods were shining down upon us and would guide us back to the island safely.Otherwise …

I didn’t want to think too hard about an otherwise …

I tried to read, but I couldn’t.I wasn’t someone who got motion-sickness easily, but the rocking of the ferry was more than I’d ever experienced before, and not even my camomile tea was able to calm the nausea building in my stomach.

I wasn’t sure if being at the front of the boat would be better, because then I’d at least have a dark view of the water in front of us, or if I was better off behind the minivan.I think I was better off behind the minivan.

I hadn’t had much to eat today except for the random handful of nuts I’d toss back in between surges of beer enthusiasts.Oh, and the warm pretzel from the pretzel vender who traded me a knot of boiled dough with honey mustard for a pint.

My cheeks inflated at the mere thought of that pretzel and mustard now.

Oh shit.

I carefully, but hastily, flung open the door of the cube truck and leaped down, trying my best between the sprays of water and gusts of wind to make my way between the vehicles to the side.I was on the port side, and unfortunately, it looked like that side was being hit the hardest.

I made it just in time.I leaned over the edge and emptied the contents of my stomach out into the sea.

The brief sound of someone else doing the same pulled my attention, and that’s when I saw Raina, hanging over the ledge, though she was on her tiptoes.Unfortunately, just as she puked, another gust of wind came up, the boat was pitched in exactly the right way and her vomit came back toward her, smacking her in the face.

The look of utter shock, disgust, and terror on her green face was, by all accounts, hilarious.

And her mouth was open.

She let out a deafening screech that was immediately swallowed up by the wind.An enormous wave flew up over the side as the boat dipped low, drenching her—but also washing off the vomit.I’d managed to duck behind a pickup truck just in time to avoid being hit with the wave.

She screeched again, this time getting drown out by the vessel horn.

“Sir, you need to get back in your vehicle,” came the voice of a ferry employee.

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