Night with Sole Regret

TELL ME XX

“What’s the most important part?”

“Sitting quietly and letting your mind wander.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her upper arm a squeeze. The scenery was breathtaking, but she only lasted about three minutes before she felt compelled to break the silence.

“Have you been fishing a lot?” she asked.

“Mmm hmm, now quiet. You’ll scare the fish away.”

“They can’t possibly hear me all the way underwater,” she whispered.

“You’d be surprised.”

Determined to be quiet, she stared at her orange and yellow bobber, watching it jerk underwater, rise to the surface, and disappear underwater again.

“Why is it doing that?” She whispered so she wouldn’t scare the fish.

“Probably because you have a bite,” Gabe said calmly.

She leaped for her pole, jerking it out of the holder and reeling as fast as she could. The tip of the pole bent in arc and the faster she reeled, the harder the fish pulled in the opposite direction. Her heart pounded with excitement, which didn’t make a lick of sense to her—she had a fish at the end of a string, not a shark launching itself into their boat.

When the small greenish fish rose from the surface of the water, she turned toward Gabe.

“Nice bass,” he said and nodded toward her butt.

“What do I do with it?” Melanie cringed and held one hand in front of her face to prevent the flailing fish from flicking slimy water in her eyes as it struggled for freedom.

A scraping of claws came from the rear of the boat. Before Melanie could comprehend that Lady was after her fish, a pair of paws landed on her chest, sending her staggering backward. The backs of her calves hit something solid. Unbalanced, she toppled over the side of the boat and landed in the lake with a stupendous splash.

Heart in his throat, Gabe rushed to the bow and was poised to leap into the water to rescue Melanie when she surfaced. She treaded water with one hand and pushed her mass of curls from her face with her other.

“Can you swim?” he yelled, still prepared to jump in after her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She focused her attention on Lady, who was at Gabe’s side barking excitedly and wagging her tail as if trying to kick up a wind storm. “Bad dog,” she said and then she laughed.

“Very bad dog,” Gabe agreed. “Go lie down.”

He pointed to the back of the boat where Beau was still sleeping.

Lady refused to be chastised. She bounced around on the front seat and then leaped over the side to join Melanie’s fun.

“I lost your pole,” Melanie said as she paddled around to the back of the boat where there was a ledge and a ladder.

“I don’t care about the goddamned pole. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a good swimmer,” she called from the water. “My parents made sure of it.”

He remembered that her little brother had drowned, so it made sense that her parents had made sure she could swim. He silently praised them for their overprotectiveness. He felt a bit of it himself. Even though she sucked at fishing, this woman was precious to him. If something happened to her… He shook off the thought, not wanting to even think about the possibility.

Lady swam beside Melanie, obviously thinking they were having some sort of race. Lady showed off her impressive water-dog breeding by swimming laps around the human. Crazy dog. Gabe was going to have to keep her on a leash if she refused to behave.

After Melanie reached the back of the boat and hefted herself onto the diving platform, Gabe grabbed her by her upper arms and hauled her on board. He probably should have teased her about being graceless and a poor fisherman, but all he could do was wrap her in both arms and hold her dripping body securely against his.

He rubbed his lips against her forehead, “You scared me,” he murmured. “Don’t ever fall off my boat again.”

“I think you need to take that up with your dog.”

He looked down at the beast in question, now sitting in the seat next to Beau and making a huge puddle. Tongue flopping in and out of her wide mouth as she panted, Lady met his eyes, her head c****d to one side as if to say, Well, that was fun, what next? It was really hard to stay mad at the damned dog.

“Do you have a towel?” Melanie asked. She pulled away from him and twisted the hem of her tank top, splattering his bare feet with cool water.

“Yeah.”

He released her, begrudgingly, and pulled a towel from a compartment under one of the bench seats.

“I lost one of my shoes,” Melanie said, peering down at one bare foot.

He wrapped her in the huge beach towel and then hugged her against him again. He heard his line take off as a fish took his bait, but he ignored it. His need to hold Melanie far outweighed his desire to catch fish. There was another splash, and Gabe sighed when he caught sight of a length of black fur swimming in the water again.

“I think you have a bite,” Melanie said.

“Mmm hmm.” He drew her closer.

“And Lady is in the water again.”

“Yep.” He rubbed her back through the towel, wishing they were alone and naked, entwined in each other’s arms.

“I’m okay, Gabe,” she said. “Honest.”

He kissed her deeply just to make sure.

A very wet dog interrupted their kiss by dropping something cold and soggy on Gabe’s foot. Startled—because there was no telling what Lady had fished out of the water—he jerked away and looked down at Melanie’s lost shoe.

“You found my shoe!” Melanie cried out, dropping to her knees to give Lady an appreciative scratch behind the ears. “Good girl.” Lady licked Melanie’s face before she could escape the dog’s wide tongue. Melanie only laughed and rubbed Lady’s head some more.

Lady was so pleased with herself that she picked up the shoe, carried it to the back of the boat, and commenced chewing. In less than half a minute, Melanie’s cute canvas shoe was in shreds.

Gabe slapped himself in the forehead. “s**t, Mel, I’m sorry. Bad dog!”

Melanie just laughed. “Finders keepers, losers weepers. I’ll just have to gnaw on one of her chew toys when we get back to your house.”

He was glad his woman was so laid back and, well, nice. Not to mention nice to look at. When she lifted the towel to dry her hair, he couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering to the wet tank top clinging distractingly to her round breasts.

“You should probably get your fish,” she said, apparently oblivious to the turn his thoughts had taken. Or maybe she thought he needed a distraction to keep him from tackling her to the deck and having his way with her.

While she worked at getting herself partially dried, Gabe reeled in his line, glad that the fish had stolen his bait and escaped. He didn’t feel much like fishing anymore. He felt like getting lost in Melanie. Maybe it was time to head home.

Something damp smacked him in the back of the head. He peeled Melanie’s wet tank top off his neck and spun to look at her. She was wrapped in the towel, but knowing that she was half naked beneath it did tent-like things to the front of his shorts.

She wriggled beneath the towel, squatted down, and then sent her wet shorts sailing in his direction. He caught them in one hand.

“Would you mind spreading those out to dry?” she asked.

He dropped her wet clothes in a small heap on the deck and took two steps in her direction.

“Gabe,” she said, one hand extended, “don’t look at me like that.”

Like what? Like he wanted to devour her whole? Like he was about to shove her down on the deck and f**k her until she screamed his name? How was he looking at her exactly? She couldn’t expect him to behave when his emotions were on high and she was in nothing but her bra and panties beneath a towel. Especially when they were in this secluded cove that happened to be void of all humans except for the two of them.