Tempted Page 3

  “Guess you’re not resting after all?” Beth croons as Jolie walks down the short path and joins us. “Fine by me, you can go with Jameson today. Nina says you’ll be fishing, is that right?”

  I nod, reluctantly. The ocean waters here are not easy to navigate, the last thing I need is an injury in the boat. The money, I remind myself. Giving Beth a curt nod, I look at Jolie. She’s just a face bundled in a coat… and her dark black pants, which I’m sure must still be a little damp. Why does she have the pinkest fullest lips I’ve ever seen?

  “Boat’s down there. Can you make it?” I ask, raising a speculative eye to her foot which appears to be bundled in a towel and covered with a trash bag. She’s crafty, I’ll give her that.

  Beth hands Jolie a heavy-looking camera, which Jolie places under her free arm. “Definitely,” she says with a firm nod. I may have just met a woman more stubborn than me.

  “All right then. See y’all for supper,” I say as I bound down the trail to the docks.

  I beat her down by a long shot and look back up. She’s a damn trooper, hobbling down the steep trail, camera securely in hand. She makes it to the small vessel just as I’m ready to push back.

  “Hey there, stranger. Long time no see,” I tease. I’m not sure why, but she reminds me of those tough marine chicks. Some of them loved to be treated like one of the guys, so that’s my mode for today. Jolie is one of the guys. She’s definitely not a hot-as-hell babe sent from the heavens to keep me warm at night. Definitely not.

  Jolie takes the nearest seat on the skiff, folding her bad leg up and using her thigh as a prop to support the camera. The red light flicks on and I guess that means we’re filming.

  “Just ignore me,” she instructs, training her eyes down at the digital viewfinder.

  “No problem,” I lie with a shrug, as if it’s easy to ignore the sweet scent of her in my boat, dark hair peeking out from her hood, framing her face, and blowing in the breeze. She’s distracting as all-hell. The kind of distraction that will have me jumping into the sea later today just to get my body under control.

  A few minutes later, we’re in deep-enough water, with no tree stumps, so I can open up the engine and really fly. We need to get to the deeper spots if I’m going to catch anything worth a buck.

  It’s a bumpy ride, and I feel bad for her. She looks like she’s working hard to brace herself against the waves. But I can’t afford to slow down. Finally, we reach my lucky spot. Cutting the engine, the look of relief on her face is palpable. I set to work to drop the lines.

  “What are you fishing for? What’s your strategy here?” she asks suddenly.

  I look at her, having forgotten for a second she is there. “Uh, king salmon. I have a special license for them. They sell for about four thousand to eight thousand a fish. If I can catch a few a week, it goes a long way to helping the town coffers.”

  Her eyes go wide at the numbers, as do most people’s.

  “Wooo,” she whistles. “That’s a pretty penny. So, the town pools its money? How does that work?”

  “Yeah. There’s a hard rule here. We all help each other to survive. Period. We’d each die if it wasn’t for our neighbors. No one can survive alone up here.”

  “Not even Bear Grylls?” she asks.

  Ugh. I hope she’s joking.

  “Oh god. Haven’t heard that name in years. We watched that guy back in my boot camp days. But yeah, not even him. Not for long anyway. This here is untamed land.”

  “So why do you all do it then? How did you come to live here?”

  Her voice is all business, which I’d do well to remember is the case right now. I’m not chatting up some hot girl in the bar, like I did at the bars on leave back in my twenties. Nope. I’m talking to a camera person who’s going to put whatever they want on national TV.

  “I was a marine. Came home after I got out and then my squadron joined me. It made sense for us.”

  “And why is that?” she prods.

  I pull in a line that’s clearly got a snag, or a fish. Thankfully, it’s a king salmon. I reel it in slowly so as not to snap the line. “When you’re in a war, every day you live in sixth gear. Then, you get home and life happens in first gear…” I pause, chuckling softly to myself. “…or maybe reverse. Anyway, it didn’t suit them.”

  “How many are here from your squadron?”

  “Five out of eight. Colt and Ridge come and go. They work on commercial fishing boats most of the year, but they hang here when they can.”

  “And where’s number eight?”

  I swallow the lump in my throat and will my eyes not to well up. “Teddie didn’t make it.” It feels like I’m choking on the words, but I manage them. Shit. I shouldn’t have even said that.

  “Wh—”

  “No more questions about him, please,” I cut her off.

  “Roger that. What about wives, girlfriends, kids?”

  If my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me right now, I might believe she was flirting. But I doubt that’s the case. Her job is to keep me talking and get good footage. That’s all this is.

  “Henry had a wife. I’ll let him tell you all about that. I had a girlfriend from Port Providence. She moved here as a teenager and stayed with her dad for a few years. We didn’t last once I was deployed. Everyone else has been single since we got here.”

  She doesn’t respond. She just looks at me through the camera with its blinking red light. I ignore her for a bit, pretending to check the remaining lines while we troll the water.

  Eventually, she puts down the camera and folds her arms over her knee, looking out at the distance. “It’s beautiful here.”

  I look out, trying to see it how she must be seeing it. There’s a misty fog rising from the evergreens up on the cliff in the distance, endless bright water that matches her eyes, lush greenery that will die back in a few weeks.

  The rumbling in my stomach brings me back to task. I have two salmon in the boat and the sun is setting. It’s time to go home. “I need to use the facilities,” I tell her. “Might want to look away.”

  I move around to the bow, where there’s a modicum of privacy, and pull myself free. I’m fucking half hard already, knowing she’s back there. Damnit. It’ll take twice as long to piss like this. I take a breath and steady myself. As my stream hits the water, I realize just how loud this is. That’s comfortable.

  When I return, I look at her with one eyebrow cocked.

  “Yes?” she draws out the word.

  “I have a bucket if you need it,” I offer.

  “Is it a long ride back?” she twists in her seat. She definitely has to pee.

  “About an hour.”

  A smile stretches across her face. “Why thank you, a bucket would be great.”

  I bring her the now-empty chum bucket and walk back to the bow. When I hear a splash in the water, I turn around. She’s already seated again, as if nothing happened. Like, she’s actually twiddling her thumbs with a fake look of innocence on her face. I fix my face to avoid smiling like a dope.

  “You missed a real cute look on me. Bucket squatting, who knew,” she laughs.

  “You’re not like most girls,” I say, a tone of admiration clear in my voice.

  “Oh, I’m sure I am. What’s your dataset anyway, Nina and Opal?” she teases. She only met Opal this morning at the greenhouse meeting, so now she’s met half the women in Port Providence.

  I shrug. “You might be right. I’ve lived here all my life, except the part where I was serving.”

  “How long have you been, um, without the company of women?” she asks, batting her long black lashes at me.

  That’s when I fully catch the meaning of her words. At least, what I think she’s asking. The camera is resting next to her, so I can’t be sure. “Uh… a long time.”

  “Months?” she questions.

  I nod.

  “Years?” she follows up.

  I nod again.

  “Huh,” she concludes, then grabs h
er stomach. “How do you go all day without eating?”

  “We’ve got salmon…” I grab the tail of a still-wiggling fish and pluck it from the ice bucket.

  She looks with wide eyes for a beat before she shrugs. “Fresh sushi. I’m in.”

  My brow creases. Is she for real? I half expected her to freak out about that idea. Cara would have never. Even though she grew up here most her life like me, she wasn’t that adventurous. I haven’t thought about Cara in years, to be honest. Weird that she’s popping up now. Although, is it weird? Faced with a woman, who maybe is single, for the first time in years… I’m definitely coming out of hibernation. Not that it’s a good thing.

  I kick the cooler lid closed and slap the fish on the table, cutting into it. I probably shouldn’t, every bite is worth a lot of money, but fuck it. Something in me needs to make a show for this woman. I clean off the scales and skin a small piece of the cold pink fish from as near the tail as I can. The butcher that stops by our port once a week to collect fish to bring to the mainland will buy it for more if it’s smoked and cut from us anyway. Handing her a slice, I wait in anticipation.

  She grabs it and pops it in her mouth. Closing her eyes, she moans. “Oh my god that’s fresh.”

  “You really like it?” I ask in wonder. Is this how women are nowadays? I seem to remember girls who hung around the base, they were not into eating meat off the bone. The fish is still breathing on the cutting board for fuck’s sake.

  “It’s so good,” she says through a full mouth that does something to fiercely tighten my pants. I make my way to the bow abruptly to calm myself. I am not a caveman. I do not need to procreate. Keep telling yourself that, dude.

  Remembering back to the time I ended up with a hook through my arm on my second-ever fishing trip, my dick softens, slightly.

  I return back to Jolie where she cuts a new piece of fish and happily pops it in her mouth. Stop looking at her mouth, I chastise myself. “Hope that’s okay,” she smiles. “I can pay you for the meal.”

  Shaking my head, I take the piece she’s holding out to me, our fingers brushing slightly. The feeling is electric, and not at all helping my situation. I step back from her and carefully eat the slice of fish. “I think for the rescue last night, lodging, laundry, and the fish, you owe me about a thousand dollars,” I muse.

  “Done,” she nods.

  “I was joking.”

  “You make jokes?” she says with a gasp, slapping her knee. “Well, hot damn. I’d never have guessed it. We got a mountain man comedian over here, folks,” she says to no one, gesturing at me with her thumb.

  It’s ridiculous enough to make me laugh.

  “He smiles, too. This is too much. Hold on, let me get the camera back up to capture this,” she holds the camera up on her shoulder, but I know the red light is off now, so I decide to ham it up.

  I push a hand to my hip bone. “Yeah, see, we got these five girlies here, see, and we’re gonna decide who mates with each one. I got me a broken one though…”

  “Wait, mate?” she pulls the camera down to her lap, giving me a weary look.

  “Oh shit. B-bad joke…” I stutter. Why the fuck did I think it’d be funny to call back to what she overheard earlier. Fuck. Me. Running.

  Then her angry face breaks and she holds her stomach, bellowing out. “Just fucking with you. Man, you should see the look on your face. I got you there, big guy.”

  I give an uneasy laugh, reminding myself to be more guarded in the future. “Yup. You got me.”

  Returning to the wheel, I press the shifter into gear and haul us home. We move so fast, the wind whips us, and we rock over the tiny waves. It makes for another long and cold bumpy ride, but at least I don’t need to talk and embarrass myself anymore. Years of solitude means I’m out of practice at small talk and especially flirting—no shocker there.

  When I dock us, she hops up with a groan. “Welp. Good times were had by all. I think I have enough fishing footage to last a lifetime.”

  I nod. “Day in the life…”

  The girl called Evie, who looks a lot like Jolie, both with dark hair and aqua eyes, meets us at the dock.

  “How was it, sis?” she asks. It makes sense if they are related. They even have the same striking bone structure.

  “It was great. We snagged a few fish. Had a nice sushi lunch. How about you?”

  “JP and Tucker showed me around town, and surprised me with a picnic,” she says with a blush that Jolie seems to catch as well.

  Jolie gives Evie a side eye glance. “If either of them touched you—”

  “No! God,” Evie protests a little too harshly and I instantly get their drift. And knowing JP and Tucker, I wouldn’t be shocked if they had some kind of threesome with a woman. I’ve always had my suspicions about their relationship.

  “Is it still okay if I come by a little later to stay? You can totally change your mind,” Jolie gives me a half smile.

  “You’re welcome to, it’s your call.”

  Jolie gives me a wave in reply as she hobbles away with her sister. I finish tying off the boat and unloading my haul onto the dock, then it’s off to cleaning the fish for Henry to smoke. I don’t like Jolie staying in a tent, not when her ankle is in pain. I could see the way she rubbed that ankle when she thought I wasn’t looking. But with Jolie, I’m always looking. How could I look away? The woman is mesmerizing.

  Not that she’d look my way. Just as well though. She’ll be back in the real world soon enough, enjoying her life, and I’ll be back to making my peace with the higher powers and nature.

  When I finish for the day, I head home and take a long shower, one in which I definitely do not masturbate a second time to thoughts of Jolie. When I finish, there is a knock at my door. I run downstairs as I towel off my long black hair. When did my hair get this long?

  I pull open the door, revealing Nina. After all these years, she’s still beautiful. She came here with her family when she was fourteen and her half-sister was eleven. I was twelve at the time, and her arrival occurred at an important time in my um… sexual development.

  “Hey,” I say, instantly suspicious of her presence.

  “Hey, buddy.” She punches my shoulder. “We’re having a little shin-dig in honor of our new guests. You coming down?”

  I pat Nina’s chestnut-brown braided head like a dog. “You’re manipulative.”

  “Why aren’t you down there already?” she questions. “Avoiding a certain aqua-eyed woman with a limp?”

  I make a show of rolling my eyes. “They’re here for just over two weeks. No need to blow this into something it’s not.”

  “Buddy, you can have sex with a girl for two weeks, in case you forgot. That’s how hookups work.” She’s blunt, I used to appreciate that quality about her. Right now? It’s just annoying.

  “Why are you trying to get me laid?” I say, a little edge to my voice.

  She barks a laugh. “You need it, and that girl likes you.”

  “She does not,” I argue.

  “Does so,” Nina fires back and snaps her hands to her hips.

  I take a step back, adjusting the towel around my shoulders. There’s just no way. Beautiful angels that can hold their own don’t just show up on your doorstep and bang you. Nina’s living in a dreamworld. She hasn’t been able to play matchmaker since she set me up with her half-sister, Cara, when we turned seventeen. Cara broke my heart into pieces though, so Nina’s zero for one, but it’s easier if I don’t argue with her.

  “Fine. I’ll be down in a few hours.” It’s not like I won’t see Jolie later. She already said she’ll stay at my place, I think.

  “Fifteen minutes,” she corrects.

  “An hour,” I counter.

  “Thirty minutes,” she challenges me.

  I scrub a hand over my face. “If I agree, will you please, please, leave me alone?”

  She shrugs. “Possibly. For tonight at least.”

  “See. You. Later.” I give her a h
earty wave and grab the door to close it behind her.

  “Later,” she relents.

  Back upstairs, I look at myself in the mirror. Memories of my younger days are swirling in my mind. I run my fingers through my black beard. I didn’t used to keep a beard, but out here it makes sense. And yet… how desperate is it to shave the thing? Would Jolie like that? I don’t care whether she would or wouldn’t. I just need to feel different right now. And I want a shave. A man can shave if he damn well pleases. I grab the cream from the back of the cabinet and scrounge up a razor.

  How long has it been since I even trimmed? I pull open my waistband and peek down. Jesus. Yeah, not really manscaped. More like the rugged Alaskan wild down there. All right then. I park myself in the bathroom with a pair of scissors and go to work, finishing off by hopping back in the shower to rinse away the strays. Then, I shave my face for the first time in years… and instantly regret it. I look weird. The guys are going to rip into me. Might as well just not go…

  There’s another knock at my door. It’s Nina, again. She waves me out and I follow. When I step outside she gives a loud whistle.

  “Nice.”

  “Fuck off,” I grumble.

  We walk in silence. Well, I’m silent. Nina on the other hand snickers the whole way to the big fire ring in the clearing just outside the greenhouse.

  I see everyone has already gathered. Thankfully it’s getting dark out, so less focus will be on my beard.

  The fire crackles in the distance and I smell the squirrels on the spit roast before I see them.

  “Blackbeard, why?” JP laments the second I near the crowd.

  “Oh no, what happened? Are you okay? Is this a midlife crisis?” Tucker shouts amid the snickering.

  Assholes.

  My eyes connect with Jolie’s like a homing beacon. I divert my gaze and find a seat next to her, which is better than sitting across from her where she can look right at me.

  “You get some lice in your beard, bro?” West smirks.

  “More like crabs,” JP says under his breath and all the squad chuckles.

  I shouldn’t have shaved. I shouldn’t have come down here, or gotten my hopes up. I’m better off alone. I’ve always known that.