Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

JAY

It’s the weekend and I couldn’t be happier to have the time to myself right now. We’ve been working hard all week, and I was on emergency call for three of the five nights, but my dad and uncle covered the weekend, allowing us guys to spend some time on the boat without a care in the world.

The first thing I bought myself after working for almost a year out of high school was this boat. It’s nothing spectacular but it gets us to the middle of the lake where we pretend we’re in another world.

I’ve made a great life for myself here, I doubt I could be happier anywhere else. I have my family and friends; the only thing I’m missing is a good woman. My friends all think it comes down to one thing - my love for romance novels. They tell me I’m worse than a woman, thinking that the fairy tales are true and the reason I can't find a good girl is because my standards are too high.

That's fine. I’ll take that any day. I’d rather wait for the perfect girl than get my heart broken by someone who's just a passing dream. And by perfect, I mean perfect for me. I'm far from it, but I know there’s someone out there I can make happy. And who can make me happy.

“This is the life. Beer, sun and being a passenger princess.” Wes kicks his feet up and takes a drink from his beer.

I scoff. “You’re only the passenger princes because you have no idea how to handle a boat.”

“I don’t need to know. I got you,” he says with a wink, and I roll my eyes.

“So, tell me, Wes,” Maverick interjects. “I saw Hazel out yesterday. Where were you?”

I see Wes’s body lock up before he begins to speak. “Where was she?”

Maverick laughs. “You’re so easy. She was at Thats a Wrap with some girl I didn't recognize.”

He shrugs and I see his tension disappear likely because he’s happy that Maverick said she was with a girl and not a guy.

“What's with you two anyway? You’re on, then you’re off. What's wrong? Can’t seal the deal?”

I’m provoking him right now. I know why he won't commit but he also has a lot of time invested in this girl. If it was me? I’d go for it. Make it work, but I’m ready for that kind of commitment, and even though we’re family, he’s completely different from me. I’ve always looked for and have been ready to settle down here, however, Wes is more the eternal bachelor. I think he’s afraid to have to take care of someone other than himself. Failing another would be the worst thing he could do, and that fear holds him back from ever getting serious.

“Sealing the deal is the only thing we do well,” Wes replies flippantly.

I shake my head at him, and he digs around the cooler for another beer, pulling one out for me and handing it to me as I reply, “Let me park up here on the sandbar and we can hang here for the day.”

As I get close to the shoreline I see someone waving to us. “Yo, who’s that?” I ask with a nod toward the beach and both guys turn their heads to gawk.

“It’s Hazel,” Wes says happily.

“Who’s that chick with her?”

“Dibs!” Maverick interrupts loudly.

I narrow my eyes trying to see who it is from afar. She’s got long hair up in a ponytail that seems to glow with red highlights, sunglasses and a one-piece suit on. Hazel on the other hand is in a barely there two piece and the difference in appearance makes me sit up and take notice of this girl.

“No fucking way,” I growl quietly.

“What? You know her?”

“No,” I say firmly. “But you don’t have dibs. I do.”

I hear Maverick’s voice but I couldn’t tell you what he said. Just the sight of her is like an instant hit of tequila to my bloodstream, and I’m suddenly drunk over this girl already. With just one glance her way, I can already tell there’s something special about her.

I’m sure I’ve read that in a book somewhere, and though I always believe it could happen, it’s never happened to me.

Until now.

Who is she?