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“You’re sleeping in the chair,” I remind him.
“I am, and I would be a complete gentleman if you happened to be sleeping naked. I promise I’d sleep with one eye closed,” he replies with a smirk. That damn smirk.
“I just bet you would,” I grumble.
He continues to use his long legs to rock us back and forth, my own much-shorter ones barely touching the ground at this point. “I thought we could pull anchor around ten. We can sail for a while, swim in the ocean, and catch a few rays.”
“Why don’t you guys use your little…dingy thingy…” I say, stumbling on the words and causing my entire face to erupt in flames. “I mean your…boat…the little one…” Rhenn laughs. “Stop laughing. I was going to offer you breakfast, but now I’m changing my mind.”
Rhenn stops the swing and turns to face me. “You were going to make breakfast? Those pancakes you were talking about? The lemon blueberry ones?”
“Maybe? But not if you’re laughing at me.”
“I’m not laughing,” he replies very seriously, fighting the grin that threatens to spread across his handsome face. “My dingy is small, but mighty, Angel. Just promise me you’ll make me pancakes.”
I fight my own smile. “Come ashore around eight. We can eat and then head out,” I tell him, finally giving in to the smile.
“I’ll bring an extra appetite with me.”
“And your friends. Bring them too. I’ll make plenty.”
“Hell no, I’m leaving them on the boat to starve,” he says, leaning in once again. “More for me.”
Something in the way he says it sounds dirty and completely naughty, and suddenly, I find my panties completely useless. I can’t breathe.
“You okay, Angel? You’re a little…breathless.”
“Fine.” It’s a squeak, but I manage to speak, even though my blood is pumping and my entire body charged with electricity.
“So, eight tomorrow morning?” he asks, his eyes turning as dark as the ocean under the midnight night sky.
“Yes,” I confirm, and am rewarded with a genuine smile. His smirk makes him sexy, but this smile? One that’s real and natural against bright white, straight teeth? This smile is my kryptonite.
We all hang out for another hour before Max turns into a cranky little monster and baby Nolan spits up his food all over his last outfit. After that, the party quickly breaks up. Jensen and Max head back to their place, a quick bath in my nephew’s future before he heads off to bed. Samuel leaves with Brian, Cindy, Emma, and Orval behind him. Mom drives Harper back to her place, as I suspected, with AJ, Sawyer, and Nolan hot on their heels. And Rhenn gets ready to walk back to the dock with Meghan and Nick.
But not before they walk around the yard and gather up the chairs and help stack them on the deck at the back of the house. I make sure the garbage is cleared away so we don’t get raccoons coming up and tearing apart the trash, while Rhenn makes sure the coals in the firepit are spread out. Just to be safe, he grabs the hose and sprays them down with water. I instantly start to relax, letting go of an anxiety I never had before.
Not before the fire.
When the backyard is put back together, I head over to the walking path. Meghan and Nick are holding hands, walking a few feet ahead of me, and talking about sailing tomorrow. They both seem really excited to spend the next day and a half on the water. Well, at least they are…
Rhenn comes up beside me and takes my hand. My heart pounds like a snare drum in my chest, a heavy beat I’m sure everyone in town can hear. He doesn’t say a word, just runs his thumb along the tender flesh between my thumb and index finger. I try to keep my composure, my cool, but with every graze of his finger, I lose myself a little more into the brush of his finger, his touch.
Harper’s words from earlier flash back. Could I engage in a little fun, a bit of no-strings sex? With Rhenn? I’m pretty sure he’d be on board. He screams late-night-booty-call, and something tells me he’d make it completely worth my while.
“You okay?” he whispers as we approach the clearing to the beach.
“Yeah. Just…thinking.” We stop when we reach the sand. It’s the first time I’ve seen his sailboat, and even though it’s dark, it practically glows under the full moon. “Wow.”
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” he replies, pride in every word.
“She is.”
“Wait until you see her in the light of day,” he adds. I stop at the edge of the dock, watching as Nick helps Meghan down into the small boat that’s tied there. “I should walk you back.”
“What? Oh, no, there’s no need for that. I’ve managed out here just fine by myself for a while now.”
He watches me, those deep blue eyes boring into me. “I don’t like it,” he says, almost absently.
