Page 29 of Embraced at Seaside
“You. You have this look of pain on your face, like you can’t stand the idea of any woman getting to you, but then your voice is all dreamy like a girl’s.”
Hunter cocked an arm to punch Grayson, and Grayson sidestepped, laughing louder.
“Moron.” Hunter chased him around the table and grabbed him around the neck, wrestling him into a headlock. “Shut up.”
Grayson continued laughing. Hunter ground his teeth together, trying to stifle his own laugh. Grayson elbowed him in the ribs and spun away with his arms up in surrender.
“Okay, okay. I’ll shut up,” Grayson said, barely stifling his laughter. “But she’s definitely gotten to you. What’s so bad about that?”
Hunter grabbed his leather apron and gloves and put them on. “Nothing is bad about it. I just don’t need to be given grief about dating her.”
Grayson’s eyes widened. “Wait, so now you’redatingJana? As in, going out in public together on a real date, not just to meet with friends and leave together for the night?”
Hunter slid him an annoyed look and put on his safety goggles. “Yes. We’re going to dinner tomorrow. On a real date. My first one in, what? A decade?” He picked up a piece of metal with tongs and headed for the forge.
“You know, she’s actually perfect for you.” Grayson followed him over.
“Yeah? Why’s that? Because she’s smart as a whip, sexy as all get out, and a big pain in the butt sometimes?” Even as he said the words, he smiled. He loved when she was a pain. That’s what made herJana.
“Those things, sure. But she calls you on your crap every time we’re out, just like you call her on hers. You two are like male and female versions of each other. You’re both stubborn as mules.”
Hunter turned the metal over as it reddened above the hot coals. “We’re both sexy, too,” he teased.
Grayson grabbed a hammer and handed it to Hunter as Hunter rested the red-hot metal on an anvil. “So where are you taking her?”
“I was thinking about going to Undercover, because I know she loves to dance and she’s comfortable there.” He’d already nixed the idea of Undercover, because he wanted Jana all to himself, but he wanted to get Grayson’s take on the idea. He began hammering the metal into shape.
“You mean you want to stake your claim where she works.”
His brother knew him so well.
“Is that a jerk move?” Hunter asked, already knowing the answer.
“Depends. Are you seriously going to date her? Do you even know if you want to? Because I’m pretty sure she’ll know exactly what you’re doing if you take her there.”
Hunter smiled. “Yeah, I definitely want to date her. And claim her. But I’m not taking her to Undercover. I just wanted you to weigh in on the idea to see if I was off base.”
“Trust yourself, Hunter. Even if you haven’t dated in a long time, you know how to treat a woman right. It’s who you are, man. You and me both. We know what to do; we just choose not to. We fight it.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m done fighting it.” He turned the metal over and hammered it flat, then set it aside and picked up another piece with the tongs. “Well, we’ll see. I’m taking her to the Wicked Oyster.”
“Wow, you’re pulling out all the stops. That place should be called Wicked Expensive.”
“She’s worth it.” The answer came without thought and, he realized, laced with pride. He was taking Jana Garner out on a date, and that made him feel good all over. “By the way. Shaving? Turns out she totally digs it.”And it turns out that I like making her smile rather than seethe.
Chapter Twelve
JANA STOOD AT her kitchen counter the next evening with her cell phone pressed to her ear while she looked over the notes she’d been jotting down since her meeting with Theresa.
“I am so sorry I missed the breakfast when all this went down,” Sky said. “Bella said you had her get the answers you needed for the insurance company, so what happens next?”
Jana glanced at the notebook. “I’m compiling a list of things I’ll need for the studio, and Amy called earlier. She needed the class descriptions and details about what should be on the registration forms. Jamie hooked me up with sites where I could get templates for the other legal waivers I’ll need, too. She said Jamie has the framework for the website almost done, even though we haven’t nailed down the location. Those girls, and Jamie, are incredible. They move at lightning speed. How could Jamie possibly do it that fast? All he did was ask me what I wanted on it, and I showed him a few examples.”
“Jamie’s incredibly smart and talented. Think about it. He invented OneClick, Google’s rival search engine. Who does that? The man’s a genius. A website for him is probably as easy as me tattooing a straight line.” Last year Sky had opened her own tattoo parlor, Inky Skies, in Provincetown.
“I guess you’re right.” She flipped the page and saw where she’d scribbled,Give notice to Marco?and underlined it about fifty times. “If this really comes through, I’m not looking forward to giving my notice to Marco. He’ll go ballistic.”
“Good. He deserves it,” Sky said. “I don’t understand why you put up with his aggravation anyway.”
