Page 26 of More Than My Hometown

“Pretty sure only you can make that dirty, Maisey.”

Although right about now I’d like to make her dirty. Find out what those soft little moans she made last night when I kissed her turn into as I make my way down her body. As I explore other parts of her. Discover if the rest of her tastes as good as her mouth.

No—stop. I need to stop.

We’ll get there. I know we will. But I’m not going to rush it. I’m not going to make this about something it’s not. This is about forever. I’m going to act accordingly.

Taking the nightcrawler from her pinched grip, I slide it onto the hook, piercing the barb through the little pinkish brown blob. Maisey recoils, her features still scrunched, but her eyes never leave my hands.

“Dirty or otherwise, I’m happy to do it.”

“I know…” she whispers, leaning forward and winking conspiratorially. “And I’ll let you.”

Fuuuuuuck me…so much for keeping this aboveboard…

I need to think of something else to talk about. Something that isn’t going to get me in trouble thinking about all the things I want to do to her. Something that will get us on the track we’re supposed to be on.

Only, I don’t know what track that is.

I know exactly what I would have done in high school with best friend Maisey. The one I had a crush on, but didn’t have the balls to do anything about. But that’s not who is sitting here with me now.

This Maisey is something else entirely. Just as beautiful—maybe even more so. But this Maisey knows my feelings. This Maisey ran out into the pouring rain to tell me she feels the same.

And suddenly, I don’t know what to do with that.

“I can hear you thinking,” she teases, nudging me with her shoulder.

“Oh yeah? And what am I thinking?”

“That I already tangled my line and you don’t know what you’re going to do with me?”

Holding up her rod, she smiles sheepishly. Sure enough, there’s a small tangle in the translucent filament. Nothing that she couldn’t work out herself, but it gives me a good excuse to busy my hands, distracting me from my thoughts.

“What am I going to do with you?” I mutter teasingly, as I take the rod from her. “Can’t take you anywhere.”

“Oh, you can take me anywhere,” she quips, hands flying over her mouth almost instantly.

We both freeze, the prettiest shade of pink creeping up her cheeks in the dim light of the boat. My dick twitches, the semi I was already sporting from brushing up against her earlier now a full-blown erection, my imagination trying to fight for top billing with a list of ideas.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, it’s what I meant, but…” She stops herself, yanking the rod out of my hand.

“Careful how you handle my rod there. Don’t want to be too rough.”

Eyes going wide, Maisey gasps, right before bursting into laughter. It’s enough to send us both into hysterics, breaking the weird tension between us. At least some of it.

Plopping down onto the bench seat, Maisey rests her reel in the holder, still laughing.

“So, you bought Knox County Bait and Tackle and named it after a strip club,” she prompts, changing the subject. “Tell me, who lost their shit first, Aunt Hattie, Mrs. Chamberlain, or Reverend Terry’s wife?”

I park myself next to her, adjust her reel so that it’s positioned properly to actually have a chance at catching something, then tighten mine so it doesn’t cross with hers in the water.

“Actually, Miss Belle,” I answer, waiting for her surprise.

Maisey sits up straight, my response catching her as off guard as I expected. Nodding, I give her a minute to process that one.

Mama wasn’t on the trip down to south Florida with Maisey, Hux, Dolly, and me where we encountered the establishment—complete with a building that had these two spherical shapes with nubs on the domes—but she’s heard the story. She’d laughed initially, going along with the clever idea, shaking her head every time I brought it up but never truly believing I’d go through with it. Until the purchase went through and I started to work on the branding.

“It wasn’t so much that she disliked the name,” I continue. “She one hundred percent agreed with you that The Booby Trap was a better name for a hunting and fishing store, but she also knew how certain people in town would react, and she was not havin’ it. Auggie had to talk her down.”