No.
No getting sidetracked. I was trying to give him a piece of my mind, not get the coordinates to his sea cave and start picking curtains.
After a long beat, he spoke, the gravel in his voice harsher this time. “I assumed you were okay when you tackled me. It took hours to knot this net.” He ran his fingers through the twine, testing the cord.
I scowled. Was he more worried about his net than my safety? I hadn’t tackled him—I’d fallen. And last time I checked, boats were required to carry life jackets. There wasn’t an inch of orange plastic in sight. This vessel was a deathtrap.
My chest burned, and I stifled my words, but as usual, it was a losing battle. Instead, I let rip. “That’s a net? It looks more like a shoddy attempt at knitting.” And I wasn’t wrong. I had a lot of experience with poor attempts at knitting.
He didn’t see my humour. Instead, he drew his dark eyebrows even tighter and held up the lattice to show me. “This took days to make.” He spread out the knots on his thighs. “Each weave is …”
My attention drifted. Apparently, he noticed.
“I don’t know why I’m even bothering,” he glowered. “Why were you so deep in the water, anyway?”
I nibbled on the inside of my cheek. I didn’t want to tell him about my diving for sea glass. It sounded silly and even though this man was infuriatingly rude; I didn’t want him to think I was childish.
“I was cooling off. It’s a hot day. And as far as I’m aware, the water is free for everyone to use.” I glared at the wooden boat. “Equipment or not.”
He huffed, wagging his head. “Then you should be more careful. There’re currents deep in this cove. Still water can be deceptive.”
I swallowed. How about men with fishing boats and pretty eyes? Could they be deceptive, too? He looked like heaven, but so far, only hell had come out of his mouth. And the scowl on his forehead wasn’t doing anything to increase his charm. Even the sparkling flint behind his lashes couldn’t rescue his allure.
“Thank goodness I’m a strong swimmer, then.” I stood up, careful this time. The boat barely rocked beneath me.
“Where are you going?” he asked, his jaw set tight.
“Back to shore. I wasn’t planning on a long swim. And I certainly wasn’t planning on havingthisdelightful conversation.”
He sighed. “Let me row you back.”
I scoffed, folding my arms across my chest. “And have you accuse me of obliterating your oars? Ruining your rollocks along with your net? No thanks.”
One corner of his lips trembled. “Rollocks?”
A slow smile tugged at my lips. Even as a boat owner, he didn’t know what rollocks were. My inner devil chalked a big fat “1” on my side of the scoreboard.
“Those,” I said, pointing at the round things holding the oars in place. I didn’t know what hidey-hole of my brain the word had sprung from, but I’d take the win.
I drew myself to my full height, inching to the side of the boat. “Next time, watch where you’re hurling your net. I hate to think what would’ve happened if I’d been a dolphin. There are laws against catching those.”
And with that, I pulled down my goggles, raised my arms into the air, sucked in a breath and dove into the water.
Was it a graceful dive? I doubted it.
Did I care? Not at all.
The sooner I was off this grump’s boat, the better—flawless execution be damned.
As I powered towards the shore, I made a solemn vow not to give him another second’s thought. I had more important battles to wage. Bigger fish to fry. I had to find my new boss’s house, make friends with his childandimpress him. It was a tall order, and no amount of boat-part knowledge would help me.
Finally, I reached beach and clambered out of the water, slipping on the pebbles. Did I look over my shoulder to see if the nasty fisherman was still there? I may have.
And when I found the cove empty, did my heart sink a little? Yes.
The fisherman had been all kinds of gorgeous, but those deep hazel eyes came with a net and a bad attitude.
It turned out, Jaws hadn’t shown up. But if he had, the six feet wall of glower and muscle I’d encountered might’ve given him a run for his money.
