Chapter 14

Dec

Harley: I'm surprised you didn't pee in a circle around her and mark your territory, tiger.

Me: Shut the fuck up, Mr. Flirty.

Harley: If you could only hear me roar with laughter right now.

Me: A simple lol would do.

Harley: I don't do that abbreviation shit the kids do. In all seriousness, you two are good together.

Me: We're not together.

Harley: But you could be if you just pulled your head out of your ass.

Me: STFU

Harley: Share the freaking umbrella? Dude. It's not even raining.

I rolled my eyes and tucked the phone back in my pocket. I had fish to catch that were smarter than my best friend. But as the endless sea undulated before me, twinkling diamonds of light bouncing everywhere the sun hit the surface, I couldn't help but agree with the man. Kenna and I could be together. If I at least entertained the idea long enough to give us a shot. She had kissed me back the other night, after all. This attraction wasn't entirely one-sided.

There was a tug on the line and I fumbled the rod, my brain elsewhere. The fish was gone by the time I reeled in the line a bit, testing the tension. Fuck. I needed to get my head together. Why was I kissing Kenna when I'd managed to avoid kissing any female in Sunshine Key for ten years? It was foolish of me to open that door.

And yet I didn't regret it one bit.

The memory of her lips, the way they'd remained frozen for a split second, like she was stunned to be kissed. And then the yielding, the way she'd softened, letting me in and clinging to me like I was a lifeline. It was a heady sensation that had gone straight to my ego, obliterating every reason for not touching her. What kind of asshole had her soon-to-be ex-husband been to not kiss the hell out of this woman every single day? What had he done to turn her into the angry, lifeless woman who had arrived in Sunshine Key?

Kissing Kenna felt like getting the privilege of watching a discarded, damaged rose learn to bloom again. She was doing what I'd never had the courage to try. When things had gone south, I ran away and hid. I'd been hiding for ten years, not brave enough to let the world see my mess or the fact that I just wallowed in it instead of trying to overcome it. But there was Kenna, a hot mess who carried on anyway.

I reeled in my line and headed back for the dock. Fishing held no interest for me this morning. I'd rather see Kenna. I needed to see Kenna, to make sure the kiss hadn't ruined things between us. She'd been gone all day yesterday with Char, and then the moment she returned home after sunset, she'd gone up to her room, the bedroom light flickering out only moments later.

When I got to the slip, the gator boys weren't there to greet me with their asinine questions. They were clustered around the boat club's pier, a commotion happening. I quickly tied up the boat and hustled over to the cluster of people without going through all the necessary steps to leave the Afishinado overnight. Irene immediately moved back for me to join the tight circle, but then pasted her thin body against me with a smile that made my blood run cold. There was red lipstick on her nicotine-stained teeth. Kenna quickly caught my attention when she raised her hand and shushed the crowd.

"I'm not changing the sign. I'm just going to refresh it."

Bob clucked. "Refresh it, my ass."

I immediately moved to Kenna's side, forcing the small crowd to back up a step. Kenna had her hand on the weathered sign pointing the way to the club's pier in broken sea shells, words completely illegible. The sign had been there since before I moved to the key.

"Your ass could use some refreshing too, Bob," I snapped, folding my arms across my chest. "Care to explain why you're harassing the new owner?"

"Ah, come on, Dec. We're not harassing," Sam whined. "We're just asking what her plans are for our club."

I could feel Kenna bristle next to me, and even though I didn't want the upgrades and marketing upheaval that Kenna certainly had planned, I didn't want these people harassing her either. Before I could assure them that repainting the letters on a sign wasn't something to be worried about—and that this boat club wasn't actually theirs—Kenna beat me to it.

"I'm merely making this sign legible again, something you should have done eons ago if you cared about your boat club. Or did you expect my ailing aunt to do all the work?"

Carl whistled through his dentures while Irene cackled. "Well, hell, Kenna. We didn't mean any harm."

Kenna surprised me, reaching out to touch Carl's arm. "How about this? If you want a say in how this sign gets refreshed, how about we work on the project together? Tomorrow afternoon, say two o'clock? I'll bring the paint, glue, and shells. You bring the donuts."

Sam grinned, elbowing his fellow geriatric thugs. "Sounds like a plan, Kenna."

Crisis averted, the boys shuffled off, probably searching for someone else they could harass. Irene regretfully peeled herself off me and returned to the club office, not to work, but to place her chair outside and sun herself into an even darker tan. Kenna shook her head.

"You'd think I took a bulldozer to it," she drawled.

I shrugged, just happy they hadn't made her cry. Then again, she hadn't cried in awhile, so maybe she was getting a sturdier backbone. "People don't like change around here."

Kenna gave me a slow once-over that had me wishing we were alone so I could kiss her again. "I'm starting to see that."

I stared back, enjoying the way her eyes sparkled with ideas. The twin spots of color in her pale cheeks that gave away her excitement to work on her plans for the club. It was a stark difference to the day she'd arrived in town. I quite liked this new side of Kenna, but sadly, her succeeding with this club meant me losing my quiet town. If it was crawling with tourists, I couldn't exactly hide out any longer. And I wasn't sure I was ready to be as brave as Kenna.

"No rain showers expected this afternoon," I said quietly, wanting to bury my head in the sand and keep Kenna all to myself.

"Thank God for small miracles, eh?" Kenna swiped a lock of hair out of her face, a faint sheen of sweat on her brow already.

"You got a swimsuit on?"

Kenna wrinkled her nose. The freckles there had begun to multiply, and with each new one that appeared, she looked happier. "No. I don't dress for the office any longer, but waltzing into the boat club in a swimsuit is taking casual dress a little too far, don't you think?"

I chuckled under my breath. "Agreed. How about we head home. You change and I'll pack a lunch."

Kenna tilted her head, squinting up at me. "Are you suggesting we play hooky, Mr. Boggs?"

I stepped closer, blocking the sun for her with my body and pushing hair behind her ear just so I had an excuse to touch her. "As owners, I say we call it an owners' lunch meeting. Definitely not playing hooky."

Kenna's lips quirked up but she sighed. "Well, that kind of takes the fun out of it."

There was something magical about seeing Kenna be playful. "Where is Ms. Ryan and her ballet flats and sour mood?"

Kenna was most definitely smiling now. "I think I divorced all that too."

The small spoil was deserted as I knew it would be. There were reported to be over seventeen hundred islands that made up the Florida Keys, and quite a few of them were as small as this uninhabited spoil a good half-hour boat ride from Sunshine Key. This was my favorite island, the one Harley and I had been to countless times before.

Kenna squealed as she went down the ladder at the back of the boat, hurrying through the thigh-high water to the island with two towels held over her head. I tried to keep my gaze off of her ass in that emerald-green two-piece swimsuit. Kenna's curves were in all the right places and I mightily approved.

"No sharks, right?" she shouted over her shoulder.

I'd already scanned the water as I anchored the boat before the sandbar leading to the spoil. "No sharks playing hooky today, don't worry!" We'd spotted sharks here before but they usually stayed further out. Not that I'd be mentioning that fact to Kenna.

She had the towels spread out by the time I made it onto the sand with the cooler holding our lunch. We sat together and dug in, enjoying the cold grapes, hastily made turkey sandwiches, and a bag of chips. Kenna was already turning pink by the time we finished our lunch. She squirted gobs of sunblock on her legs and arms, rubbing in the white goo until she took on a faint ghostly quality.

"Let me get your back," I said, gesturing for the bottle of sunblock.

She passed it to me, spinning on the towel to give me her back side. I squirted the lotion on my hands, rubbing them together and then touching her right by the shoulder blades, between the straps of her swimsuit. Her skin was so soft and warm I could have spent an hour massaging in the sunblock. The skin on her arms pebbled into goose bumps at my touch. It could have been my imagination, but she seemed to sway back toward me.

Eventually, there was no more white goo to massage into her skin, so I sat back, wrapping an arm around her waist and positioned her between my legs where I could shade her from most of the sun. She let me, a squeak the only sound before she settled in my arms. The ocean sprawled out before us in all directions. Small waves lapped at the shoreline, creating a hypnotic rhythm that instantly made me feel relaxed. Kenna finally lay back against my chest, her auburn hair flicking against my neck in the breeze.

"This is gorgeous," she breathed, a reverent whisper to her tone.

I nodded. "Harley and I like to come here whenever one of us is stressed out. It's an instant way to let go of all the details in life that don't matter." I nuzzled her ear, planting a kiss on her temple. "Where did you go in California to destress?"

Kenna laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "I didn't know how to destress, salty. I certainly didn't have a place like this."

"Salty?"

Kenna grinned, quite proud of herself. "Between the Salt Life shirts and how you taste…" She shrugged.

I turned to address her comment, hoping for another one of those tastes, but she gasped. I followed her outstretched arm to see two dolphins frolicking in the water just past my boat. I felt like I was seeing Florida for the first time again through her eyes. Beyond the stifling humidity, the terrible drivers, and the scary wildlife, this place also held magic.

Kenna leaned back against me, snuggling into my arms. "Thank you for bringing me here. I know you like to be alone, but…"

I tightened my arms around her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She swiveled her head on my chest to look up at me, her eyes covered by reflective sunglasses. "You know what I mean. You're a loner, Dec, and I like that about you."

That was a new one. Harley gave me shit all the time for being an old man at barely forty, turning down social invites to either be floating on my boat or tucked away at home. "Really? Pretty sure you didn't like me at first."

Kenna snorted. "Who said I like you now?"

I poked her in the ribs and she squeaked again before laughing. "I'm kidding. You do grow on a person."

I shook my head. "You make me sound like a fungus. Why do you like that, you little weirdo?"

Kenna was grinning and the sight made my heart feel like it was pressing against my ribs. Why did this woman make me feel like being less of a loner? Like maybe I didn't have to hide out any longer. Like maybe I could rebuild my life too?

"Well, not that I want to bring up he-who-shall-not-be-named, but my ex was Mr. Popular." I waited her out, letting her decide if she wanted to tell me more. "As you know, Justin was president of his fraternity in college. He loved all the attention. Thrived on it actually. I think that's one of the reasons he was unfaithful. He needed the adoration of more than just one woman, and I'd quit adoring him years before if I'm honest with myself."

Her explanation was like a splash of cold ocean water to the face. I vowed right then and there never to tell her about my secret. She'd hate who I used to be. Who I would be again if my secret ever got out. This thing between us was temporary and I'd do well to remember that. A flirtation to pass the time. A way to get Kenna back on her feet in the dating world. A fun distraction at best.

Eventually, Kenna's exposed skin started turning red and I got her back on the boat where the canopy could keep her shaded. Instead of heading back to the dock, we decided it was five o'clock somewhere and cracked open the beer I brought in the cooler. The speakers on my boat were connected to my phone, so I turned on some country music and pulled Kenna to her feet, still anchored off the spoil.

"Dancing? The loner knows how to dance?" Kenna squealed, clearly happy I had her hand in mine, a suggestive wiggle of my eyebrows directed her way.

I pulled her in close, my hand cupping her hip and pressing her against me. We swayed to the music, our hips locked together as one. It took exactly one and a half songs before she pulled her cheek from my chest and tipped her head back to stare up at me. She was beautiful, the wisps of hair around her face turning curly in the humid, salty air. Gone was the stuffy office worker in blouses and skirts. In her place was a freckled, wild-haired beauty who was starting to trust herself again.

"Ever made out on a boat, salty?" she asked, soft voice just audible above the music. Her body stiffened, as if embarrassed for asking the question, but her eyes sparkled as brightly as the ocean.

It was impossible to resist her. Impossible to resist being part of her awakening.

I lifted a brow. "You really want to know?"

Kenna groaned and the vibration of it made my hips grind against her as we danced. She bit her bottom lip at the obvious feel of me. I wanted her.

"I've missed out on so much," she pouted.

The grin was inevitable. "We can't have that."

My lips were on hers in a heartbeat, our tongues tangling together a heartbeat after that. She groaned again, and this time, I positioned my leg between hers, giving her the friction I knew she wanted with my thigh. Her little noises were intoxicating. They were little sparks of fire that threatened to burn out of control. Hands roamed and I knew the exact weight of her ass cheek in my palm. When she reached a hand between us and stroked me outside my board shorts, I knew I had to slow things down before I embarrassed myself.

I spun us, pushing her down into the captain's chair. At her mewl of disappointment, I followed her down, kneeling between her legs and trailing my hands up her bare thighs. She gasped as I reached higher, her cheeks pink from the sun or simply excitement, I wasn't sure.

"Tell me no right now if you want me to stop." The raspy voice didn't even sound like me. There was a desperation to my tone that I'd never heard before.

Kenna licked her lips and even that had me hanging by a thin thread of control. When she simply nodded, I held tight to that thread, pulling aside her swimsuit with my thumb and burying my head between her soft thighs. The first taste of her went to my head, a mix of sweet and salty and coconut sunblock. I knew in an instant I'd never forget that combination.

Her hips bucked against the leather and I had to hold her down with one hand while I flicked that neglected bundle of nerves with the tip of my tongue. I'd barely gotten started when her moans came in quick gasps. Her fingers found my hair, knocking off my hat and gripping the strands tight. The bracelet she always wore chimed by my ear. Her body trembled, and on a loud keen, she shattered on my tongue. I looked up to see her toss her head back, breasts quivering in her swimsuit top. Long whimpers of pleasure kept time with the song playing through the speakers.

I'd never heard a better song in my fucking life.

I'd never seen a more beautiful woman turn to putty on my tongue.