Page 30 of Forbidden Kisses
Jack pointed to a screen on his dash. “This is a fish finder. Looks like the fish aren’t really here right now. None that we want to catch, anyway.”
Grace observed the screen of neon-green lines. “Isn’t that cheating?”
“It’s only cheating if the other guys don’t have it,” Noah chimed in. “And believe me, they all do.”
Grace nodded. “Okay. So no fishing at your favorite spot today.” She placed her hands on her hips and stared at the water for a long moment. “That’s it? This is what you guys do all day?”
Jack laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“So I work harder than you two, then? That’s it. I should get a raise,” she joked. The pay she got at Sawyer Seafood was better than anywhere she’d ever worked.
“Keep doing a great job in the office and we’ll talk to Dad,” Noah told her. He pulled off his shirt, revealing a taut, tanned chest. She could appreciate that Noah had a great body, but it didn’t do anything for her. It was kind of gross actually, because she felt like a sister toward him. “I’m going for a swim, you two,” he said.
Grace’s lips parted. “What about sharks?”
Noah and Jack shared another look. She was starting to hate that. Then Noah walked to the front of the boat and dove off with a huge splash.
Leaving Grace alone with Jack.
“We’ve been in the water since the day we were born. We’re not scared of sharks,” Jack said, his voice lowering to one that curled her toes inside her flip-flops.
She wished he’d take off those sunglasses. She wanted to see his eyes. She wanted to know if the desire that she’d seen before the other night was still there. Or if she’d squashed it when she’d pulled away. She wasn’t sure which outcome she was hoping for. “About the other night…” she began, pretty sure that Jack would stop her. He didn’t. Instead, he just watched her. Andcrap. She didn’t know what else to say after that. She didn’t have anything to say about that night. She didn’t even know how to feel about it.
She stepped forward and lifted Jack’s sunglasses, setting them on the top of his head. “There. I can’t talk to someone if I can’t see their eyes.”
His blue eyes sharpened, and her heart rode up in her throat. The desire was definitely still lit in their depths. Surprising her, he took a step closer. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. And despite her fear of starting something with him, there was nothing in the world she wanted more than to feel his lips brushing against hers. Especially with that new growth of hair that he’d neglected to shave this morning and probably yesterday, too. Instead of a kiss, though, he mimicked her actions and lifted her sunglasses off her face, perching them on the crown of her head. “Fair is fair,” he said, his stare unwavering. “You were saying,” he said in a low voice—the kind that belonged in the bedroom.Herbedroom.
She swallowed and decided to go with wholehearted honesty. “You were supposed to cut me off and say you don’t want to talk about the other night. That we should just forget it. Then I would agree and things would go back to normal between us.”
The corner of Jack’s mouth quirked on one side. “I missed the memo on that one, I guess.” He was standing so close to her. The space between them was nothing, and everything. “For the record, I think we should definitelynotforget the other night. I happen to like remembering it.”
She swallowed hard. “You do?”
“Definitely.”
Her gaze slid into the distance where Noah was swimming, oblivious to the two of them.
The voices in her head were suddenly so loud. Her own voice, scared and afraid of another rejection down the road. Her mother’s voice telling her to find a man. Jack’s voice the other night telling her she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. “I still don’t want to ruin this new chance with your family and Noah.” The space between them was disappearing as they drew closer together, like magnets unable to avoid the attraction. “And this tournament is important to me. I don’t want to risk this opportunity.”
“So we keep things quiet between us for now. My family doesn’t have to know anything until after we win this thing.” Both sides of his mouth were curving up now, poking dimples in his boyish cheeks. Those dimples were the only boyish part of Jack Sawyer.
God, she really wanted to kiss him right now.“What if we mess things up between us?” she asked, standing skin close.
“The only way we do that is if we don’t take the chance. If it doesn’t work, we can pretend it never happened then. We can go back to being friends.”
“Nothing lost,” Grace said, staring shamelessly at his lips. She wanted to believe everything he was saying—even though in her heart she knew that this was her last chance with Jack, and if it didn’t work, they’d probably never talk again.
“Nothing lost.” One of Jack’s hands anchored on her waist, reeling in her body flush against his. She was caught, hooked, and not even trying to slip away this time.
“Okay,” she said, suddenly dizzy from the rush of blood flowing away from her brain and down to other areas.
A splash caught both of their attention. Jack’s hand retreated and he took a step backward. “How about I come by tonight?” he asked, sliding his gaze to her.
She nodded, aware that Noah was swimming back toward the boat. “I’ll make dinner.” She took another step backward as the boat rocked under Noah’s weight.
“You two are standing in the exact same place I left you,” Noah noted, grabbing a towel and rubbing it over his face.
“We’re strategizing,” Jack said, eyes locked on Grace.
