Page 69 of Love and Other Trials
She reached over one-handed to grab the red hat she’d tucked into the pack she’d brought and plopped it on her head. “Ooh… Sexy side bet or regular bet?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his aviator glasses, the sight of which had her belly tightening with need. “Why in the world would I choose a regular one now that I know sexy is in the offing? Any thoughts on what you’d like?”
She felt a tug on her line and cried out, knowing she’d hooked something. “There’s a place on Market Street that sells homemade fudge sauce. I want to cover you in it and lick.”
“Good Lord, woman! I’m fishing here. That kind of image will have me falling out of the boat.”
“Maybe the fish would like your big old pole?” she quipped, reeling her fish in capably.
Sherlock gave a loud ruff as she brought the fish in. Dax moved the net closer to her body. “Only one person I want to enjoy my big old pole. Look at you, girl. That’s a nice-sized fish.”
She reeled it close enough to grab the net and then maintained her balance as she tried to snare him one-handed. “Yeah, it’s a flounder.” She had it on the second pass through the water and hauled it in, wiggling hard.
Making sure to secure her reel—she’d lost one to the water when she’d first gone fishing as a girl—she unhooked the fish and then set it on the fish mat and ruler to check if he met the South Carolina size limits. He did. “Twenty-one inches, baby!”
“Nice one, babe!” Dax called out brightly. “If you want, I’ll bleed him for you and put him on ice. Davey said it wasn’t your favorite thing. Makes sense to me. You save people for a living.”
Her eyes widened at his insight. “Yeah, I… Seems hypocritical to catch it and then balk at killing it, but no, I’ll happily hand that task over to you.”
To her surprise, she found herself watching him as he adeptly bled the fish and handled the rest before laying it with near reverence in the ice chest. His whole demeanor was the calmest she’d seen since they’d met, outside of sex. He seemed looser. Yeah, she’d been right to bring him.
“You’re up next for a big catch,” she called, flashing a goofy smile.
He only picked up his reel and cast off, turning his body toward the main waters. They fished in silence, and she savored the rush of warm air over her body and the easy rocking of the boat under her. Sherlock would give an odd bark to tell her if a fish was near. Not that she hustled for it. She brought in a slimy seventeen-inch trout she was only too glad to hand over to Dax, who really did seem to enjoy the entire process. That was fine with her.
“I’m up on you, Captain Hotpants.” She reached into her pack, grabbed the sunscreen, and tossed it to him. “Put some on. You’re burning without a hat on. And then think about me, smearing the warmest fudge sauce all over that hot body of yours.”
“Elizabeth…I love this naughty side of you.” His voice was a deep, sexy rumble filled with promise. “I never knew fishing could be so sexy.”
Her laughter rippled out easily like the water around them. “When I was an adult, Grandma told me she and Davey used to have all sorts of fun when they went fishing. Her eyes would sparkle, and she’d cackle a little, talking about skinny-dipping and the like. No real details. Only the kind of fun stuff that made me happy for her. They were good together.”
“Can I ask why they didn’t marry?” he asked as he cast again.
“Grandma said after two unpleasant divorces, she was going to stay single and have fun. While she and Davey were exclusive for the last five years of her life, they didn’t live together, and honestly, she said she liked being by herself. Keeping her own schedule. Not having to keep house for a man.”
She could still hear her grandma humming softly as she puttered around her house or her little flower garden. The thought of the house had her diaphragm tightening. Surely with the wedding on, Tiffany was going to give it to her. It was getting harder not to think about it. She wanted to putter in that house and plant flowers in that side garden so badly it made her teeth ache. She brought up a positive image to keep her spirits up. Maybe she’d try her hand at growing heirloom tomatoes. They would make good salsa.
“She sounds like a woman who knew her own mind.” Dax shifted his long legs in the boat. “I like that in a woman.”
She sent him a flirtatious smile as if to sayyou’d better.He laughed. “I think Davey wanted to get married but when Grandma turned him down and told him why, he wasn’t willing to let her go. He accepted her on her own terms.”
“Acceptance seems to be one of the main drivers in a successful relationship.” Dax straightened when he had a tug on his line. “I’ve got one. Ariel, you’d better get ready for some healthy competition.”
He started reeling in like a pro, and Sherlock went over to his side, his tail raised in its comma-like position.
“What’s going to beyourpleasure if you win, Captain Hotpants?”
He grabbed the net and hauled in a sizeable redfish, which he unhooked and measured at twenty inches. “You on your knees in red lace. How about that?”
She gulped, and it wasn’t because he’d started cleaning the fish. “But I don’t have any red lace, Captain Hotpants,” she said in a playfully breathy voice.
“Honey.”
The heated way he said that endearment had her thighs clenching. “Yes, baby?”
He was grinning as he put the fish in the cooler with the rest. “That can be remedied.”
Suddenly, fudge sauce and her on her knees was all she could think about. He hauled two more fish in—a nice trout and another flounder—while she reeled in another slimy trout.
