Especially not a woman like Evie.
Firefly buffets over the waves, but the ride is pretty tame compared to some days. Spray shoots up and falls like rain over her. She squeals, rolling onto her hands and knees before she crawls toward the cabin. I chuckle at her yelp, but when she tilts her head up, her soaked hair hanging around her shoulders, her deep browns meeting mine, it dies out in my throat.
Air lodges, stuck solid for the second that her lips part. She stills, realizing she’s crawling toward me. I white-knuckle the steering wheel. Every inch of my deprived being zaps to life. I can’t take my eyes off her. Still, the boat rocks over the water, pushing forward.
Shaking her head, she dips her face and climbs to her feet, having made it to the railing. I set my gaze on the horizon. Where it should have been all along. Where it shouldstay. The engine whines, and I check the gauges. Plenty of fuel. Everything looks normal. I throttle back a little way as a precaution. Don’t want to overheat the old girl. I tap the radio and the screen blinks.
Good.
Evie makes her way into the cabin, wringing her hair between her hands. Her face is bare. And god, it’s like the first time seeing her. Those big brown eyes that held me captive moments ago are stunning. Her face, with plump ruby lips curled in a smile, is perfect symmetry.
Her glasses sit on the boat’s console dash. She plucks them up, sliding them on.
Eyes on the horizon, McCreary.
She leans against the cabin wall, turning her head to one side to look ahead. The smooth, delicate angles of her neck and jaw fill my periphery. Her scent shrouds the small place, rising with the tang of the briny water she’s doused in. Her pale-blue V-neck shirt clings to her body. And it takes every bit of propriety this man has to cement my focus on the horizon.
Where it damn belongs.
“Are we there yet?” Evie says.
I pay her a cautionary glance, and mirth lights up her eyes.Fucking brat.
“Nope,” I grunt out.
But she doesn’t respond, only sighing as she studies the same horizon I am fixated on. The boat lurches with a larger wave.
“Ah!” Evie yelps, her hands snapping around my biceps. They barely wrap around it.
I raise an eyebrow at her, and she worries her bottom lip through her teeth.
Christ’s sake.
After a beat, she releases me and reaffirms her grip on the console, stepping into it to face forward. Doesn’t like surprises, I guess. I double-check the gauges, and we travel in some sort of silence. I wouldn’t call it comfortable. Maybe more like pleasant silence with an undercurrent of lust, at least on my part.
Fucking hell, maybe I should stay over this trip. Sort this needy shit out. I’m sure I could find a willing participant at the local tavern. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a one-night stand. Only, the potential aftermath of Iris’s wrath when the gossip mill gets back to her stops me from taking that particular little plan any further. I’ve never been this town’s favorite son.After everything that happened back then, there will always be some folks that will never come around.
Serves me right.
The engine splutters. With a loud clunk and grind, we slow to a halt. The water slaps into Firefly, shunting her side to side.
“What was that?” Evie says softly, worry creasing her face.
“Hell.” I squat with a grunt and fling open the console panel. Nothing amiss with the fuse panel. “Stay here.”
A strained giggle slips through her lips. “Where would I go?”
She has a point. I stalk from the cabin and pull up the deck trapdoor to the boat’s engine. The acrid tang of electrical burning wafts up, spilling out over the deck.
“Fuck.”
I hold the back of my hand to my nose as I wave the fumes and smoke away. Dammit, this will be an Emmett job. And we are stuck halfway to the mainland. I slam the trapdoor shut.
“Can we fix it?” Evie comes to my side, peering at the floor, like she can see right through the wooden deck.
“Nope.” I move back into the cabin, and she’s hot on my heels. I grab the radio and turn the knob up a little. “Bay Shore Harbor, this is Firefly. Over.”
The VHF crackles, and I turn it up.
