I eye him, half amused, half in awe that he can be so blatantly rude and still have them fawning over him. Must be the hot-asshole effect.
“On your stomach,” he instructs.
The easy command shoots straight past those flimsy professional boundaries into the deranged part of my mind. The part that won’t forget the low words he’d rumbled on the sand.
Feeling a little shaky, I comply, waiting for his next instruction. “Roll up your sleeve.”
He’s crouched beside me, and I’m too aware of how his body hovers over mine.
You’re scooping oysters, for heaven’s sake.
But “oysters” aren’t a safe, neutral item anymore, not when he used that shell the way he did.
Never in my life did I think shellfish could be sexual, but here we are, still learning things at twenty-six.
I fumble with my cap sleeve, trying to shove it up.
“Here, let me.” Grayson’s hands bat mine away and roll the fabric, my bodybuzzingat how his fingertips drag along my skin.
My gosh, get it together.
But when Grayson delivers his next instruction, I swear there’s a gritty note to his voice. Like his mind has wandered down the same horny gutter as mine, despite us being in the middle of a tour.
In public.
Doing something he’s done with volunteers before.
“Go for it. Nice and slow.” His body shifts back, and I feel the warm weight of his hand on my—thigh?
It’s supposed to be the ankle. It’salwaysthe ankle. But his fingers are wrapped around my thigh instead, and I think we’ve stumbled across another one of those holes in the stupid wall between us.
I shove my arm into the water, needing a distraction, and come up with a handful of baby oysters.
“That’s deeper than expected,” I comment, because I need to ground myself back in reality. Seven pairs of eager eyes are on me, and with how much they’re paying, we need to give them a valuable experience on the farm.
ButHot Mamahas to ruin my good-faith efforts by commenting, “You’ll never hear me complain about that.”
And I spend the rest of that tour recounting all the reasons I can’t be attracted to Grayson, as if that’ll condition my body and my mind into agreement.
Suzanne: Updates for this week - we should hear from last week’s phone interview tomorrow. No rejection yet is a good sign. And a contact at one of the marketing agencies told me your resume is standing out. We’re on standby.
The message comesas another violent stroke of thunder roars outside the boat’s cabin. The squall is moving in quickly, a fierce-looking band of red on the radar fast-tracking to Garnet Shores, a swath of dark green right behind it, ready to ruin everyone’s Sunday night.
I’ve taken the necessary precautions. Added two extra fenders to the side of the boat. Threw on an extra line, after watching a quick tutorial of how to tie to a cleat. Pulled all the cushions, my cooler, and my shoes inside, just like the renter’s manual told me to do. Still, I can’t shake the worry settling into my chest, even with Suzanne’s good news splayed across my phone screen.
The sky cracks again in warning, and a mighty band of wind whips against the boat. I curl tighter into my sheets, reminding myself that boats weather storms all the time, and this one’s been doing it for decades. Just last week, the sky rumbled with distant thunder allnight.
I’mfine.
Determined to make that true, I grab a bag of chips and throw my favorite guilty pleasure show on my laptop—a cheesy, soap-opera-esque teenage drama that brings back high school nostalgia. Tucking the blankets up around my chest, I settle in.
Not long after, the rain starts.
Though “rain” seems too passive a word for it.
Lightning flashes outside the tiny port windows as a deluge hits, so loud and heavy, it nearly drowns out the show. Wind lashes rain against the windows, like it’s trying to break in, and angry thunder splits the air. The boat rocks beneath me, wobbling violently as the lines battle the storm.
I lean forward and turn on the show’s captions, telling myself it’ll be over soon. Fast-moving storms like this don’t last long. Heck, people out West who deal with tornadoes would probably go out and dance in this weather.
