“Two paddleboards, please,” Jake said.
She let go of his arm and walked near the water’s edge. He pulled the cash from his pocket and paid the guy, who could barely tear his gaze away from the TV, even as he handed over two life vests and directed them to the launch place.
Jake called over to Jenny and gestured for her to follow. Her stride was confident, comfortable in her own skin, and extremely sensual, graceful with a nice breast bounce. He reminded himself he was a gentleman today and focused on her unpainted toes. Even those looked good enough to suck. Geez. He felt like a perv. He didn’t have a toe fetish and, after his previous nightmare dealings with gold-digging women these past two years, he was much slower to warm up to someone new. But there was something different about Jenny. He’d passed warmed-up and went straight to blazing lust just standing next to her. If they ever got skin on skin—
A gentleman wouldn’t do that. Josh wouldn’t do that.
Jake would.
Damn, this switcheroo date just got a lot more complicated.
Her sexy toes reached him, and he lifted his head to meet her eyes. He saw only his reflection in her large shades. He wished he could see those green eyes again. They were amazing.
“I take it this one is mine?” she asked in her husky phone-sex operator voice. She took the smaller life vest from his hand while he was still lost in lust land. “Of course I won’t be needing it, seeing as how you promised I wouldn’t get wet.”
“That’s right. Just a legal safety requirement.” He put on his life vest. “Have you ever done a blind date before?”
Her lips played at a smile. “No.”
He headed toward the paddleboards. “What made you agree to go?”
“Oh, you know.” She waved a hand in the air. “Same old story. Burnt by love, slowly making my way back to the dating scene. And you know Hailey.”
He scrambled for an appropriate response because he didn’t know Hailey. “She’s a piece of work,” he said just like Josh would. “But she means well.”
A moment passed where he feared he’d screwed up because Jenny was just staring at him, but then she said, “Exactly. Plus you’re Mad’s brother, so you must be okay. She cracks me up.”
He started at the mention of his sister and quickly covered by grabbing a couple of paddles. She knew Mad? His sister didn’t have women friends. She’d always been one of the guys. “Mad Campbell?” he asked just to be sure.
She studied him. “You are Josh Campbell?”
“Yeah, yeah. Mad’s in your book club?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
He shook his head.
She laughed, that throaty, husky sound that made him want to do dirty, dirty things. “Probably embarrassed to admit to her brother she’s in a romance book club.”
“Romance?” he asked incredulously. “Mad Campbell?”
She grinned. “I’m sensing some brotherly payback.”
He handed her a paddle. “Oh yeah.”
“My turn. Why did you go on this blind date? I heard you do these regularly.”
He lifted one shoulder up and down. “Chance to take out a sweet girl. Treat her right and show her not all men are slime.” He figured that sounded very gentlemanly and Josh had said that. Though Josh’s real reasons screamed Mr. Ulterior Motive.
She tilted her head. “Seriously? That’s all you got?”
He scrambled for an even more Josh-like answer. “I treat women the way I’d want my sister to be treated. It’s kinda my thing.” This was actually true. Josh was weird like that. He’d taken on a put out into the world what you want to see philosophy when he’d gotten out of the army. Obviously there was zero correlation between the way he treated his dates and the way some Joe Shmoe treated their sister. Jake treated women well, but he put zero thought into the little sister angle. Besides, Mad could hold her own. She was a black belt and skilled with weapons. Honestly, she scared most men away with her don’t-mess-with-me attitude.
“That’s nice,” Jenny said softly. “A protective older brother thing. I get that. I have an older brother too.”
“He good to you?”
“Yeah. He’s a good big brother.”
“That’s the best kind. I’m the oldest and I’m sure my siblings would agree I’m awesome.” He grinned, and she laughed. He’d beat Josh out of the womb by two minutes. He kicked off his sandals. “The guy said we could leave our shoes here. No one will take them.” She slipped out of her flip-flops, and he tucked their shoes behind the paddleboard stand.