The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [177]
“My stuff is there.” She pointed to the shore where a large colorful beach towel, a floppy brimmed hat and a pair of round, blue-lens sunglasses had been tossed. Next to the pile was her infamous notepad, which made him frown.
Gabe had his towel slung around his neck, his mirrored glasses already in place and his hat on backward. He carried a stocked cooler in his free hand. “Let’s go.”
He led her to a small metal fishing boat, then despite her efforts to step around him, helped her inside. The boat swayed, and she nearly lost her balance. She would have fallen overboard if he hadn’t held on to her.
He managed not to smirk.
He tossed her stuff in to her, then said, “Take a seat up front and put on a belt. If you fall in, it’ll keep you from drowning until I can fish you out.”
“Like you did the carp?”
Her teasing smile made his stomach tighten. “Naw, I kissed the fish and threw him back in for luck.” He glanced at her, then added, “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Her owl-eyed expression showed her confusion. Let her wonder if he meant he wouldn’t kiss her or he wouldn’t throw her back. Maybe keeping her guessing would take some of the edge off her cockiness. He hid his satisfaction as he stepped into the boat and tilted the motor into the water. He braced his feet apart, gave the rip cord a tug, and the small trolling motor hummed to life.
After seating himself comfortably, he said, “We won’t break any speed records, but the ride’ll be smooth.”
“Is this your boat?”
“Naw. Belongs to Rosemary. But she lets me use it whenever I want.”
“Because you do work around the dock for her?”
Tendrils of hair escaped her long thick braid and whipped into her face. She held them back with one hand while she watched him. The dress she wore was made like a tent—no shape at all. From what he could see, it pulled on over her head, without a button or zipper or tie anywhere to be found. The neck was rounded and edged with lace, and the sleeves were barely there. But at least it was a softer material, something kind of like a T-shirt, and a pale yellow that complemented her red hair and bright blue eyes.
Gabe pulled himself away from that distraction and reminded himself that lust had nothing to do with his motivation today. He smiled at her. “Is that your question?”
“What?”
“Your one allotted question. You want to know about me working at the boat dock?”
Her frown was fierce. “Just making conversation.”
“Uh-huh. You know what I think? I think you figured you’d sneak a whole bunch of questions in on me and I wouldn’t notice.”
She bit her lips and looked away. Gabe couldn’t help but laugh out loud, it was so obvious she’d been caught. Damn, but she was a surprise. She sat there with her little feet pressed primly together—those damn lacy ankle socks somehow looking kind of sexy all of a sudden—while her snowy white sneakers got damp with the water in the bottom of the boat. Her hands were clasped together in her lap, holding onto her big floppy hat, her eyes squinted against the wind and sun. Her freckles were even more noticeable out here on the lake. She wasn’t exactly what you’d call a pretty woman, certainly not a bombshell like Sawyer’s Honey or Morgan’s Misty. But there was definitely something about her….
“Where are we going?”
She sat facing him in the boat, so he pointed behind her to where the land stretched out and the only living things in sight were a few cows grazing along the shoreline. The man-made lake was long and narrow, shaped a lot like a river with vacation cabins squeezed into tight rows along both sides. Several little fingers of water stretched out to form small coves here and there, only a few of which were still owned by farmers and hadn’t been taken over by developers. The land Gabe lived on with his brothers had a cove like that, a narrow extension of the main lake, almost entirely cut off from the boating traffic since it was so shallow. But it made for great swimming and fishing, which was what the brothers used