Page 62 of Love Among Vines

“I’ve only known you for a handful of days. And in that time you’ve repeatedly shown up for me. You saved me from abject humiliation at the wedding. You drove me into the city, introduced me to someone who has the power to change my future. Supported my weird artistic journey of self-reclamation. I’m paying you back for those supplies, by the way.”

“No, you’re not. They were a gift.”

“Yeah, to your fake girlfriend. They definitely exceed the threshold for appropriate gifting.”

His grip on her tightened. “I’m just trying to set you up for success. Speaking of which, we really should set up a time to look at your budget.”

She shot him a dirty look. “You really want to talk budgets right now?”

His gaze drifted down. “Not particularly.”

His hands slid lower, gripping her thighs and lifting her from the rocky floor. He wrapped her legs around his waist and glided his hands over the curve of her ass, settling on her lower back.

“Would I be out of line if I suggested adding a skinny-dipping practice kiss to your calendar?” she asked. “We want tobe sure we’re comfortable with each other if we end up having to perform in public.”

“Let me pencil it in.”

His mouth claimed hers. Her back arched and she pressed herself even tighter against him.

She trembled under the brush of his fingers over her spine. His hands slipped between them, coming up to cup her breasts. He squeezed, and it stole the breath from her.

Holding on to his neck with one hand, she reached beneath her with the other and groped blindly under the water. His erection was rigid under her touch.

Rett gasped against her lips. She pumped and stroked, ran his head experimentally over her folds.

His hand slipped between her legs and was a second from exploring deeper when a speed boat roared into view.

“Rett!” someone called.

Jade gasped and relinquished her death grip on his waist. She fell into the water and dipped below the surface. When she surfaced, she ducked behind him.

“Hey, Shirley,” he called sheepishly. “What brings you over on this fine day?”

“Well, I was just about to drop a bag of apples on your dock and call it a day. I had no idea I would be…interrupting. You’re usually still at work.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, well. This one thinks I work too much.” He reached back and dragged Jade out from behind him. “Right, honey?”

“Hi,” Jade said, one hand strapped over her chest like a fleshy bra.

Shirley was a squat older woman, mid-60s, with kind brown eyes and a face filled with laugh lines. She was beautiful.

“You’ve got something green in your ear, dear,” Shirley said, moving her sun hat to gesture to the affected part.

“Must be paint,” Rett said affectionately. “Jade’s an amazing artist. She’s doing a mural for Margie’s Café, you know.”

Shirley whistled through her teeth. “I’ll have to come take a gander. You kids take care,” she said with a wave.

“Just checking,” Jade said after Shirley handed over a bag of apples and roared off in her boat. “Is this town populated entirely by some kind of cockblocking purity cult?”

“To be fair, we were naked in a public waterway.”

She sighed heavily. She was so close to finding out what it would be like to get him in bed. A lake bed maybe, but a bed nonetheless.

A phone buzzed from the pile of clothes on the dock, and Rett’s expression instantly changed. His eyebrows contracted, and he took a step toward the shore.

“I have to get back to work,” he said. “Let me grab you a towel.”

A protest was on her tongue, but she swallowed it. Clearly he wasn’t feeling it like she was. It figured.

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