As he walked away, Kai realized his friend was right. From the first day on his boat, he had been territorial about her, and that wasn’t something he did. Even with Keisha, he hadn’t been like this. There was something about Jocelyn that made him want to protect her. It wasn’t because she was weak, or the fact that she had been through a rough patch. No, there was something primitive beating through his blood that urged him to conquer.
She smiled at him as he hopped off the boat.
Mine.
It was the only word that came to mind when he saw her smiling at him, with the sunshine on her and the fresh scent of the ocean surrounding them.
“Hey,” he said. Yeah, he was a Don Juan with the words.
“Hey.”
“I didn’t expect to see you today.”
She made a face. “I came to apologize.”
He wanted to laugh because she sounded so non-apologetic it was funny. But he didn’t.
“For what, pray tell?” he asked innocently.
“I brought you cookies,” she said abruptly.
“Jocelyn.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry I yelled. I guess I am still adjusting to life without meds.”
He nodded. “So those for me?” he asked.
She gave him a small container. “I just wanted you to know I wasn’t really mad at you. I just…I hate the way people tip-toe around me. If you were just taking me out to be nice, I would rather you would be up front.”
“No. I want you. I thought we had established that already.”
She took off her sunglasses. “Then when you think you can handle it, you come to me. I’m not going to chase after a man. I pretty much let you know I wanted you.”
Damn, she was blunt, and if that didn’t make him like her even more. And he wanted to take her back to her place, make slow love, fast crazy love, whatever until they wore themselves out. But he knew that he needed space, they both did.
He leaned forward and he hated the wary look in her eyes. He would do his best to fix that, but he thought a few days might be best.
He gave her a simple kiss, just barely brushing his mouth over hers. When he pulled back, he said, “I will definitely be calling you. Just…I need a few days.”
She nodded. “Maybe we both do. Bye, Kai.”
He watched her walk down the pier to the parking lot to her car. His heart was beating fast, his hands sweating. Shit, all he had done was give her a little kiss. Not much of one.
But it had his body begging to follow her. And that more than anything else scared the hell out of him.
“If you can’t do your job right, then maybe you need to find another one,” Kai said, his irritation with his skipper overriding any better sense.
His crew looked at him like he had grown a second head and Kai knew why. He didn’t threaten to fire people, especially in front of the rest of the crew. He felt, rather than saw the crew drift away as Vince walked toward him.
“Boy, you need to go after that girl.”
“I’m not your boy.”
“Yeah, I thought you were a full-grown man myself. Hard to tell by the way you’ve been behaving the last few days. But I told you a few days ago to go after her. Sitting on your ass isn’t going to get you anywhere.”
Kai looked over the expense reports for the last month and the numbers bled together. “Get off my back.”
“I will if you start running your ship right again. I don’t want you on this ship until you fix your temper.”
Kai tossed an evil smile over his shoulder at Vince. “You’re ordering me off my ship? Are you forgetting I’m the boss?”
“No. But I don’t want to unleash you on the public right now.”
It irritated him. Damn woman. He had told her they needed a few days, and he had given her that. He had never been a man who liked to deal with high-maintenance women, but he had a feeling that Jocelyn was just that. Besides the fact that she liked things her way, she had been through a rough patch. That added to the baggage he wasn’t equipped to handle. In the end, there was a very good chance both of them would end up being hurt.
It didn’t mean he could keep himself from wanting her, and it didn’t mean he liked waiting to make sure it was the right time.
“Listen, if the woman doesn’t want you, then find someone else. Do something, but don’t come back until you get out of the mood you’re in. It has gotten worse every day this week.”
“Okay.”
He turned back to the paperwork and he felt Vince’s gaze on his back. “What?”
“Just want to be sure you won’t show up at the dock in a few minutes.”
“No. Going to finish the paperwork.”
“Well, then…”