Shattered (The Protectors 11)

I laughed. “So what exactly can you do?”

He waggled his eyebrows at me. It was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean, what can you do when it comes to fishing?”

“Not a damn thing.”

“So is this you cashing in your chips?”

I’d meant the comment as a joke, but the humor slipped from Jace’s face and something flashed in his eyes. His voice was sultry as he said, “No, I’m gonna save that for a bit.”

My dick responded to both his words and the way he’d said them. Not to mention how he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me.

Or I him.

A boat overloaded with several twenty-somethings flew past us, breaking the moment. Jace jerked back, as if remembering where we were. He recovered quickly and stood as he said, “So, what do you say?”

“I say I should probably get moving because if I don’t, we’re surely going to starve to death on this trip.”

Jace let out one of his growly little chuckles that I felt in my bones as he reached his hand down to help me up. The first wave from the passing boat hit our boat at the exact moment I got to my feet, pitching me into Jace’s arms. My entire body lit up with expectation as Jace steadied me. I could barely breathe as my eyes met his. Then his gaze was dropping to my mouth.

Despite everything he’d said about sex earlier, I wanted his kiss more than anything in the world. I’d tried to be mature by not kissing him like I’d wanted when I’d had the chance, but now I was thinking I’d squandered the opportunity.

God, it was all just so complicated.

But as he held me there in his arms, all I could think was, Fuck complicated – I want to know what it’s like to have a man’s mouth moving over mine. This man’s mouth.

So much for my promise to myself to keep my distance from him. I couldn’t afford to need him like I had for so very long. But just because it wasn’t good for me didn’t mean I didn’t crave it just the same.

“Is this a good spot?” Jace asked.

“What?” I asked. I didn’t give a shit where we were when he kissed me. I was pretty certain the second his lips touched mine, the rest of the world would cease to exist.

“Maybe something closer to the bridge? Or one of the inlets?”

God, he was talking about fishing.

“Oh, um, yeah, an inlet might be better. It’s quieter.”

Jace released me and stepped aside so I could walk ahead of him. It took a few minutes to get the boat in position and go through all of Dalton’s fishing gear.

“I think he left some bait for us in the fridge,” Jace said. He disappeared below deck and returned a few minutes later with a plastic container.

“Clams… nice,” I said as I took it from him. “We’ll start by just casting and see how it goes. If we don’t get any bites, we can try trolling.”

Jace looked at me blankly, and I couldn’t help but laugh. He hadn’t been kidding. The man was completely clueless when it came to fishing.

“I’ll take care of you,” I said with another laugh.

Jace’s eyes held mine for a moment and we once again got lost in that place where it seemed like only the two of us existed.

“I have no doubt you will,” he finally said.

I wanted to say a lot of things to him in that moment, but then I remembered who I was and who he was, and that was enough to have me turning away from him so I could focus on the task at hand.

Anything to keep from reaching for Jace and begging him not to leave me again.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Again?” I said in disbelief as I turned to look over my shoulder at Jace. I stifled a laugh at the sight of Jace caught in the awkward position of holding his rod over his head, the line stuck behind him somewhere. I quickly put my own rod in the holder and then hurried to his side.

“God, you weren’t kidding,” I said as I eyed the hook that had gotten caught on one of the loops of Jace’s jeans. Fortunately, the sharp tip hadn’t penetrated the material and reached his skin. “You really do suck.”

“You going to help me out?” Jace growled, though there was no true anger behind his words.

I dropped to my knees so I could get a better look at the hook and work it free of the thick denim. “Okay, got it,” I said after a minute of working it loose. Jace carefully maneuvered the rod and then turned to face me.

That was when I realized I was still on my knees.

In front of him.