Page 54 of Priceless
“Jess has invited us to go fishing with them tomorrow. She said something about the North Sea.”
He looked up then. “Aye? And how does that sound to ye?”
I shrugged. “I’m available.”
He suddenly stood and leaned over the table, grabbed my head and gave me an herb butter infused kiss before looking in my eyes. “Available for fishin’, aye. But not available.” He finally smiled at his own cleverness, then sat down and started eating again. While I was just sitting over here wondering if, after he was done eating, he planned to throw me over his shoulder and take me upstairs.
What the hell did this widow look like anyway? Was all this alpha male stuff just fallout from the men walking her home?
It was hard to believe that I had that effect on Jacob. But then I remembered that hot and heavy kiss on the shore and I thought…maybe.
I decided to prod a little. “How is the Widow Woodbrey?”
He kept chewing but gave a little snort. “She’ll recover.”
I had been upat five in the morning plenty of times when I was young and started working at Spiro’s Farms. Picking strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries had to happen in the early morning for lots of reasons. Besides the obvious, like cooler temperatures and firmer fruit that was easier to handle, the berries could lose moisture and sweetness in later hours. They also had a longer shelf life if picked in the early morning.
Maybe those early mornings had something to do with my dislike of strawberries to this day. The mere fact that I was getting up that early again was pretty telling about how I felt about Jacob. Just the chance to be with him again brought me wide awake when the alarm went off. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and willing to do something that scared the crap right out of me.
I was going to go out on the ocean, in a boat, in water filled with sharks and killer whales. Something I swore I would never do. If Raina knew my plans, she’d find a way to fly to Inverness and save me. That’s what a good sister she was. She knew how terrified I would be, every minute, until I was safely back on land.
But two things were going to get me on that boat, on that water—the chance to spend the day with Jacob, and the fact that Jess had promised me the boat was big.
Obviously, my fear comes from the fact that I sawJaws, the movie, at an impressionable age. It didn’t matter how big a boat was, it would never be big enough to make me feel safe. But a big boat with Jacob there to keep me safe? When would I have a better time to face my fear?
Of course, I didn’t intend to let anyone in Scotland know how terrified I was. If I kept my imagination from wandering below the surface of the water, I would be fine. Surely, I could find something else to look at, instead of the North Sea. Something that could hold my attention for an entire day. Something like…a Scotsman who liked me a little too.
He picked me up at twenty minutes to five. In the dark. Waiting on the doorstep of Bluebell House to greet me with a quick kiss. Thankfully, even in my zombie state, I’d remembered to brush my teeth. He tasted like toothpaste too.
“Mornin’.”
“Morning.”
“Hungry?”
“Too soon.”
“Aye. For me as well.” He opened the door for me and closed it carefully, and I wondered if he had a hangover. If he’d had anything stronger than a pint at the pub, I hadn’t seen it. We’d decided not to stay up late, so we could get some sleep. But after he’d dropped me off, I couldn’t say what he’d done.
As I’d told Jocko, the kiss goodnight was a lot more tame than the one at the shore.
Disappointed? Of course. But it was also sweet of him. Another hot kiss would have made it impossible to get to sleep.
Aye. Ye’ll need sleep. I can’t wait to hear about the fishing trip.
Goodnight.
Sweet dreams.
When Jacob climbed behind the wheel and again, closed his door carefully, I had to ask, “Hangover?”
“Nay. But I wouldnae want to wake the neighborhood at this ungodly hour.”
“Oh. Right. I don’t think I’m alert enough to have thought of that.”
“All I can promise is that I can drive a straight line.”
“Just remember to stay on the wrong side of the road.”
