Page 52 of Hot for the Jerk

Heat definitely shouldn’t have prickled along my arms, but it did.

Gus approached again and dropped a big board from the edge of the boat to the dock, so the passengers on the boat had an easier time unloading.The current captain of the boat, a tall, thin man with curly, gray hair poking out from under his ratty, denim ball cap was the last to climb off.He nodded at Caleb and Gus before heading toward the floating house that made up the harbormaster’s office—or so I assumed.

“Gerry’s dealing with kidney stones,” Caleb said, his gaze following the bean-pole of a man whose pace seemed to pick up the closer to the building he got.“Not fun.Gus has been doing most of the runs, but because he had to deal with something, Gerry did one run.”

Jagger simply nodded, which prompted Caleb to get back to work.He and Gus helped all of us board the boat, and of course, it was a tight fit, which meant I was squeezed in against the window by Jagger’s enormous, hard, radiator of a body.

“How long of a crossing is it in this thing?”I asked, staring down at my purse in my lap.

Jagger, who had the decency not to man-spread his legs at least, checked his watch.“Depending on the conditions of the water, and the tides, maybe forty-five minutes?”

Forty-five freaking minutes?

He glanced at me.“You okay, Elsa?”

I swallowed past the taste of bile on the back of my tongue and closed my eyes.“I’m fine.”

Leaning over so his mouth was next to my ear, his minty breath cool and way too inviting, he whispered, “Hopefully we don’t get seasick again, hmm?”

I shot him a glare.“Don’t even joke about that.”

“Damn, you’re prickly,” he said with amusement.“I would have thought those two org—”

My hand covered his mouth before I even knew what was happening.“Don’t you dare,” I said, practically sitting on his lap, I reared up and pivoted so fast.

Even more amusement glimmered back at me behind his glasses, and I could feel him smile against my palm.I intensified my warning glare, making sure he knew I wasn’t joking around.“Don’t,” I said again, giving him my best mom-tone.

Then, just for good measure, I tugged hard on some of his mustache whiskers as I removed my hand, making him go, “Ouch!”and rub at his top lip.“So prickly,” he murmured shaking his head and smiling.

“I just want to get home,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Me too.And we’re going to.”

I avoided looking at him by staring out the window.Once Gus and Caleb confirmed that everyone who wanted a ride back to San Camanez was on the boat, Caleb untied us from the dock, Gus started the engine, and we were off.

While the water wasn’t as choppy as two nights ago, it also wasn’t smooth sailing.My stomach grew queasy as we hit the open water.So I fixed my gaze forward on the blinking light of the lighthouse on San Camanez.While it was daylight out, so the light wasn’t overly bright, it was good to have a focal point.Something to stare at, rather than the tumultuous, rolling, gray-green sea out the window—or the bearded irritation on the other side of me.

We hit a big swell and everyone on board gasped as the bow of the boat pitched high, throwing us all backward into our seats.My stomach rolled and my cheeks inflated as I did my best to keep my breakfast sandwich down.

“Give me your hand,” Jagger said softly.

I faced him, narrowing my gaze.“What?Why?No.”

He rolled his eyes.“Just give me your hand, Raina.I’m not going to bite it.”

Still glaring at him, and with my body skeptical and nauseous, I held out my right hand.He took it and turned it in his, palm up.He placed three fingers on my wrist, tucking them in against the crease, as if measuring something.Then he removed them and with his thumb, he pressed down hard, but not painfully, right where his index finger had been furthest from the crease.Locating the spot between my tendons.

“What’s this supposed to do?”I asked, distracted from the pitching and rolling of the boat by his soft, attentive touch.

“It’s an acupressure point.P6, located on the inner wrist, roughly three finger-widths below the wrist crease and between the two large tendons.It’s supposed to help relieve or reduce nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness.”

I swallowed, still staring at his thumb on my skin.“You believe in this voodoo stuff?”

I didn’t have to see his face to know he was rolling his eyes.“It’s not voodoo.It’s TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine.It’s real, and it works.”

I glanced up at him and his raised brows.

“I started getting acupuncture and acupressure after my ACL injury in college.It helped a lot.I go see Suvi at Unger Wellness on the island at least once a month just to get my chakras realigned and keep that good chi flowing.”

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