The Naked Fisherman (Fisherman 1)

“Stay.” He put his hands into prayer position. “Please.”

“I have to take them home. But I had fun. Thank you so much.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “Goodnight, hot girl.”

Just as I started to laugh, he grabbed my face and kissed me. It was hard, but rather still. Not a lot of movement.

“Goddamn … you taste good.” He opened his door and stumbled inside.

As soon as the door shut, I wiped my mouth and descended the walk to his Escalade. When I climbed into the driver’s seat, I could feel Fisher’s gaze on me from the back seat with Angie draped across his lap sleeping.

“What’s Angie’s address?”

“Just go home,” Fisher said.

“It’s no problem. I can take—”

“She’s staying with me tonight, and we’ll get her vehicle tomorrow. Just go.”

I think I would have preferred an actual kick to my gut than to hear his anger. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it wasn’t. Either way, I couldn’t talk past the lump in my throat all the way home.

“Let’s go. Can you walk?” Fisher asked Angie.

“Carry me, babe,” she said in a sleepy voice.

As I shut the driver’s door, he lifted her from the back seat and kicked the door shut, wobbling a bit as if being reminded that he, too, had plenty to drink.

“Ninety-three-eleven is my garage code,” Fisher said.

I typed it in and led the way to open the door to the house, wondering who this woman really was in his life. How did she come and go like they were still together?

Touching him.

Calling him “babe.”

Batting her eyelashes.

I didn’t get it.

“Can you find your feet?” he asked her as he eased her from his arms.

Angie wobbled a bit on her heels before stepping out of them and wobbling a bit more as she made her way down the short hallway to his bedroom. “Don’t make me wait,” she said, unzipping her dress and letting it fall to the floor a few feet from his door.

I lost sight of her as she reached to unhook her bra.

Fisher rubbed his temples, closing his eyes. “Thanks for driving.”

A naked woman awaited him in his bedroom just hours after he sucked my breasts while pinning me to his front door, and “Thanks for driving” was his response?

“I’m going to church in the morning, so someone else will have to get Arnie’s vehicle back to him.” My emotions teetered on the edge of a complete breakdown. I knew Fisher would deal with Arnie and his vehicle, but I felt the need to act as unaffected as possible by what he was likely getting ready to do with his childhood sweetheart. And talking about the Escalade was better than screaming at him because that’s what I really wanted to do.

“Of course.” He moseyed to the kitchen sink to get a glass of water, taking it down just as quickly as he did earlier that day when I brought him water while he was mowing the lawn.

I opened my mouth to say goodnight, but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want him to have a good night. So I opened the basement door and just as quickly closed it behind me before the tears released.

Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, the door opened. My fingers made swift moves to wipe my cheeks.

One step.

Two steps.

“What do you need?” I asked.

Three steps.

Four steps.

“There’s a naked woman in your bedroom. Better not keep her waiting.” I turned on the light in the family room and slipped off my sandals, keeping my back to him as I used the back of the sectional to steady myself while balancing on one foot and then the other.

“If it’s not you, then I don’t give a fuck who’s naked in my bed.” He slid his hand around my waist and pulled my back to his chest.

Gripping his arm with my hands, I drew in a slow breath.

Angie was upstairs.

“You’re drunk,” I whispered.

He chuckled, burying his nose in my hair. “I’m over the legal limit; I’m not drunk. There’s a difference.”

“Well, babe …” I peeled his arms away from me and put a few feet between us. “Why are you not married to that woman upstairs? Your family adores her. I mean adores her. And she obviously thinks the two of you are in some never-ending relationship. Why is that? Are you? Is she your endgame, but for now you’re screwing around with other women until you’re ready to commit? Because you guys are not broken up. She doesn’t just show up out of nowhere and fall back into your bed.”

Twisting his lips, he cocked his head a fraction. I made him think. Really think.

“You have the best tits. Not too small, but not too big. And I could suck on your nipples all day. They are nothing short of perfect.”

Never mind. I didn’t make him think at all. I ignored my blush. He brought it out of me with a look, and when he talked dirty to me, it took over my whole body.