Page 53 of Catch and Release Groom

“Like a damn bull in a china shop,” she muttered, daring him to come on in and break away. She’d worry about the pieces later.

It wasn’t until the captain cleared his throat that she remembered they were in the middle of a game and the spotlight was still on her.

Captain Johnson walked over to Easton. “Moment of truth. Did you put bull?”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t, and I gotta admit I like her answer better. I put…” He lifted his square of paper, revealing his answer. “Grizzly. I was sure she’d call me a big ol’ grumpy bear.”

The captain sucked in air past his teeth. “No match on the first part, but you’ve got another chance to score a point. Same question, asked the other way.”

For the first time all afternoon, Easton hesitated. He squirmed in his seat and rubbed a hand on the side of his neck, slightly self-consciously, it seemed, so perhaps he was human after all. “I reckon there’s not much chance of Imogen and I lining up on this one, so I wrote the first comparison that came to mind. A red snapper.”

A fish?

A freaking fish?

Suddenly Imogen worried that while she saw Easton as someone who could charge and conquer, body and soul, he was only in it for the sport of the catch. A fleeting snippet before he tossed her back and they went their separate ways.

“I know,” he continued. “Go ahead and roll your eyes—my gal is fighting her urge to do so right now.”

That wasn’t an impulse to roll, it was a panicked twitch.

“Besides having scales the same color as Imogen’s signature shade of lipstick, red snappers are notoriously hard to catch. Flighty and wily, and even after you do hook one, they still put up a hell of a fight.” He cranked up the wattage on his smile and aimed the beam of it directly at her. “But in the end, they’ll be coming home with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

As they neared the tail end of the competition, Imogen no longer cared about matching answers or even winning, only that she got her hands on the arrogant guy who’d managed to turn a game into foreplay—and soon.

Easton’s red snapper response had caught her off guard, sending her through a wide range of emotions before she’d landed at bizarrely turned on. Now she was ready to flap her fins on over to him.

Sure, she couldtryto prove him wrong, but it’d mean punishing herself as well. Despite having a long way to go on her self-discovery journey, she’d figured out several things about herself during her stay.

For instance, when she wasn’t so fixated on picking the most sensible option with the least risk but highest entertainment value, she was a lot more fun. It was also high time she learned how to be kinder to herself. If that meant letting the man currently posing as her husband worship her body, so be it.

The answers he’d given seemed innocent enough. But combined with his gravelly tone and the unabashed ogling, she kept having to squeeze her thighs to tamp her reaction.

His narrowing eyes suggested he’d noticed, and that made it impossible not to do a little more wiggling and jiggling.

Once his attention strayed to the bounce of her breasts, though, she gave as good as she got. Puckering the lips he was so captivated by, Imogen glided her hand down her neck and across her décolletage in a way she was pretty sure only Beyonce could pull off.

Judging from the bob of Easton’s throat, however, it was working.

Every last reservation—along with her fear over what might come after—faded, until excitement and anticipation was all that remained. No more second-guessing. The only doubt she experienced was whether anyone had ever wanted someone as much as she wanted Easton.

Over this past week, she’d learned plenty about him as well. He was stubborn but fair, blunt but quick to praise, and as loyal as the dog he doted on. He loved being out in nature and respected his environment, and he ran toward the type of danger most people fled. His ego not only played into that, but required it, and he was confident in a way that made it easier for her to be, too. He made her feel beautiful, inside and out.

Easton pointed at her, crooked his finger, and then canted his head toward the pathway that led to the cabins.

“What about the contest?” she mouthed. They’d have to get the last two questions right in order to have a chance at the prize, and the two couples in the lead would each have to miss one. Not that she cared about winning anymore, but she wasn’t sure she was bold enough to just stand up and stroll off into the sunset with him.

Easton nudged Constance and whispered something in her ear that led her to lean across their table and snag a marker from the tin where they’d been instructed to place them after the all-play round.

Using his teeth, he removed the cap, leaving it in his mouth as he scrawled something across the back of one of his previously discarded pieces of posterboard.

Then he lifted it, with no care to who else might see.I already won.

“Imogen?”

She was so preoccupied with Easton’s message that it took her a moment to realize the captain had gotten her name right. Weird emphasis on theOin the middle, but still. “Um, yes?”

---