Page 16 of Colby
“I want to rent you for a day.”He said that he could do that for him.“I want you to charge me, too.I’ll give you a good review, but I want to go out and see the ocean from where you are daily.I don’t care if I fish or not, but a day on the ocean with Taylor.”
“I can do that too.And since that’s all you want to do, I can book you guys in for next week.I have a spot open that I was saving for the day off, but this will be so much better.Maybe I’ll be able to bring Emma, and we can make a whole day of it.”His brother loved the idea.“I’ll have gear in the event you want to try your hand at fishing.But it’s not a big deal if you only want to see the sights.They’re too wonderful to put into words.And I’m not charging you, idiot.You’ve helped us way more than a trip will cost us.”
“I don’t want you to think that’s the reason we did this.It really has made Taylor feel better about the money that came to her.And next Monday, an attorney is coming to town to read the will from her grandparents that she’s named in.”Colby asked if she was going to be all right with that.“I think so.She doesn’t know them and sort of dislikes them for what they did about her mother and dad.But she’s willing to forgive them if they tell her that they’re sorry for how they unloaded Gilda Jane off on her dad without telling him about her oddities.”
“Oddities?Is that what you’re calling it?”Again, they both laughed, and he felt better about the whole thing with her grandparents and their deaths.“Have you heard anything about how GildaJane is doing in prison?I’m betting she’s not having a good time about it.I know that if I were her my cellmate, I might have to knock her around a bit.”
“She’s been in solitary confinement most of the time she’s been there.She causes situations where they have to get her off the floor for one reason or another.There isn’t any way that she’s supposed to be allowed to call here, but she does bitch about what Taylor isn’t doing for her when she should be.”Colby said that the one time he’d had anything to do with her, he couldn’t believe how selfish she’d been.“Tell me about it.The one time I had to deal with her on my own, she had slapped a little boy for telling her she wasn’t invited to his birthday party.It was at the complex where she lived.She just sat there with them like she’d been invited and was getting in their way.Stupid woman.I’m glad that she’s gone out of our lives.The whole thing about her telling us that she was going to live with us to keep us from having children still scares me a bit.”
“I don’t blame you.You heard about my caller and his wanting to use my boat to rid himself of a couple of bodies.Every time my phone rings, I still get a little tensed up about it.”Jack told him that he’d never be able to do what he does without a great deal of fear.“I’m all right now.I have Cup with me, and she makes sure that all my trips are good ones.”
“That’s good to know.”Handing him a bottle of water when he asked for it had them leaning back on the chairs.His brother asked him if he’d gotten what he needed from Taylor about staffing.“I’ve noticed around here, since I talked to you both, how many people actually work for our house.There must be twenty or so people doing things around here to make me think that this house is perfectly ran.I hope she suggested a butler.They are the ones who make sure that the house is in good working order.And if I need an answer to something, even something that’s not house-related, he can steer me in the right direction.”
“I’ve noticed them around here, too.They do their job quietly and without any kind of trouble or drama.It’s like they might have a link to each other to get things finished up.”Jack told him that’s what he thought too, but there aren’t that many shifters that work for the house.“Our new cook is a tiger.She reminds me of Grandma behind the sink in the kitchen.I won’t mess with her at all.She scares me a bit.”
He’d forgotten what it was like to have family around all the time.He missed just being able to sit and talk to his family when there was nothing going on.They were all taking turns going out to the grandparents’ house, and his turn was coming up soon.He’d heard that the rose garden was put in and looked beautiful around the house, and that Grandma could be seen out there picking blooms several times a week.There were plans in the works about getting all together with them and making a day of it.Jack was going to be providing the food, and they’d grill out all day to feed everyone.He was looking forward to it as well.Just like tonight, just to hang out with someone from the family.
At ten, they were headed back to the house.The beds were all made up, and he was looking forward to sleeping in his own room with Emma.He didn’t know if they’d have sex or not; she’d been complaining about her sore muscles all evening and couldn’t believe how just moving around a few boxes had done her in.He pointed out that she’d been moving things around at the house, too, and that could be a large part of it.
“I guess so.But it’s my shoulders that hurt the most.”He took her hand into his much larger one and kissed the back of it.“That’s very nice of you.I could really get used to having you around all the time.You make me feel special.”
“You are special to me.”She kissed his hand, and they parted at the car to get in.“How about we don’t do anything at the house tonight but gather up our clothing so we can stay there all the time now?I have to go out in the morning to do paperwork, and I know that you have stuff to do in the courthouse tomorrow.I didn’t know that you had to renew your license at the courthouse around here.”
“I don’t have to, but it’s one of the perks of living in a smaller town.I can get it all done in one place.I have to register my rig too tomorrow, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone.”He said he understood getting things done.“I’m to understand that you might be getting a second boat soon.Will that take you away from home more?”
“No, I’ll run it like a second location, very few for the start.My business has really taken off, and I’m thinking that I need the second boat now rather than later.”She said she was proud of him.“Thank you.I never thought this was going to happen, and I can’t believe that it’s happening now that I need to expand.It’s a thrill to know that I’m going to be a bigger business soon.”
He hated to drop her off at her mom’s home.He’d been wanting to sleep with her for weeks now.But he knew he was right in doing things this way.If they made love tonight, neither of them would be getting up early enough to get to their appointments, nor would they be fit to work the day after, with being sore.He knew for a fact that they’d be sore, too.It was something that his brothers had complained about after spending the night with their mates.He wasn’t going to allow himself to be not just sore while working, but too tired to function throughout the day, too.He thought he was a good deal smarter than his brothers in that respect.At least he hoped so.
“It should only take me about an hour to pack my clothing up.Then a couple of more to get the rest of the things out of the condo.There isn’t that much there I’m going to be bringing over to our home, but—don’t you just love the sound of that?Our home.Anyway, I will need to have it cleaned up so it can be rented again.Did I tell you that Taylor owns all the condos in that area?”Emma told him that she’d known that but had forgotten.“What will your mom say about you moving out so soon?I’m betting that she’ll be lonely again.”
“I think that she’ll be happy for us.She’s enjoying her time alone in the house now that she has a job that she can go to.Also, she wants to get herself a dog, someone that she can talk to while I’m gone.”He asked if it was going to be a puppy so that it could get used to him while it’s still little.“Oh.I never thought of that.I’ll tell her about you being a big bad cat and him being a little doggie.That way, it can be like you said, it’ll get used to you being around.”
When he dropped her off, he went to the condo to pack up his things.There really wasn’t all that much, and he didn’t even fill a box with his clothing.Putting his toothbrush in another box with his toiletries, he was finished but for the three pieces of furniture that were still there.He was going to donate it all to some charity and be done with it.Since they had the money, they were starting over with all new things at their house.
Getting into bed, he had to calm himself down several times before he could get his body to relax enough to welcome sleep.He was mentally revved up but physically exhausted.He was kind of looking forward to being on the boat so he could rest a bit.Tomorrow, he was just a crew hand while his buddy ran the trip.He was both excited and disappointed in that going on.He wanted it all to himself but knew that if he wanted to expand fully, he couldn’t run two or three boats without help.He did wonder just as he was drifting off if he’d be able to have more than just the three that he was counting on to run the sea for fishmen.
Tomorrow would tell if he could leave someone in charge of the other boat while he was working too.It would be great to know if he could do it and sit back too, without trying to take over.That part made him very nervous about the trips, but he had all the confidence in the world in his partner.Well, not all the confidence, but most of it.He was very nervous about letting the reins go.
~*~
It took Emma most of the morning to get her things done.She’d been standing in line for nearly thirty minutes when she was told that she couldn’t get her rig registered here, that she had to go to the bursar’s office to get it done.Standing in line for another twenty minutes had her in a crappy mood, but she kept telling herself that she was getting things done that needed to be done, and she didn’t have anything more to worry about after this.Not until next year at least.
Stretching her neck muscles, she was glad that her shoulders were better today.She’d been told that her grandma wouldn’t have the aches and pains of someone her age, and Emma thought that she was getting them all.But she did feel better today, and that was something she’d been hoping for.
Not that she’d admit to anyone that she was happy that they’d not spent the night together last night, but she was happier about it than she thought she might be.With her having to get up early this morning, she was able to get going quickly without having to want to stay in bed with Colby.Whenthe two of them came together, she was going to make sure that she had all night and into the next day with him.She was so in love with the man that it boggled her mind that it had even happened.
She didn’t want him to be around at first.But his kindness and calmness won her over.He’d never pushed her into anything, but was a calming force for her, and she loved him for that.She’d had a feeling that he was only out for one thing, and that was sex with her, but he’d proven himself to be a gentleman by waiting until she was ready for him.And boy oh boy was she ready for him to take her.But things about their busy life kept getting in the way.
Tonight, she had plans for his body.She was going to strip him down and make sure he knew what it was like to have a naked woman in his bed.Laughing, she wondered what he would think when she was naked in his bed.She didn’t think she was all that much to look at.
Her breasts were too small, and her hips flared kind of widely from the waist down.She knew that she had strong legs; it helped that she was forever loading and unloading her trailer every day and hooking up and unhooking at the docks.She kept herself in pretty good shape, but it was her body that disappointed her as a whole.
She hoped that he was so needy that he’d not notice.But of course he would, simply because it would be hard to hide a body when it was downed in nothing but a layer of skin.Laughing to herself, she thought about what she’d seen in the mirror when she’d taken a shower this morning.There were all kinds of small and large bruises on her body from moving things around at the new house that she’d not realized that she had.Especially the one that was on her shoulder.She must have banged it good on something to make the dollar-sized bruise there on the top of her arm.
Deciding that she needed to start running again, she thought about doing it on the beach.Her mom had a nice beachfront property that was long and wide.Wondering if she could convince Colby to run with her, she thought that he was in good enough shape as it was from working on the trips that he was on.She didn’t know how it worked, but she had to figure that he was getting a lot of exercise on the boat, which kept him in good shape.
By the time she was on her only run today, she was ready for a nap.She’d slept well last night and the night before, so she didn’t understand why she was so exhausted.Then there was the fact that she’d been getting up earlier, too.Stretching her muscles to make sure she didn’t get any sorer, she drove to the shop to get unloaded so that she could go back home and finish up packing.Since most of her things were in the rig, as she’d been living full-time in it for the last five years, she didn’t have much in the way of clothing or other things at her mom’s house that she thought that she’d need at the new house.
