ROYAL ROCK(106)

“No, not at all,” I said quickly.

Too quickly, clearly, because Nate’s face lit up in a huge grin.

“Defensive?”

“No,” I muttered.

“Seems like you’re a little embarrassed to be caught getting hit on.”

“Its not my fault my dad wants me to marry some proper investment banker just like him.”

“It’s weird he’s doing that. Isn’t that usually a mom’s job?”

“Yeah, well, ever since my mom died, my dad took up the slack.”

“Shit. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay.”

“If it helps, my mom gave up trying to set me up a long time ago.”

“Why’s that?”

“Apparently proper ladies are intimidated by me.” He stood up and moved close to me. “Truth is, though, they usually ended up throwing their panties at me and begging for it. But Mom doesn’t know that.”

“I’m sure you obliged.”

“I’m a gentleman, after all.”

The day went like that for another few hours. Nate and I went around helping people and serving lunch while Tommy answered questions about the area. Finally, our time was up, and we helped everyone pack away their rods and their catches, though nobody got much of anything.

Back up in the pilot’s room, Nate began to sail the boat back toward the harbor. I felt relieved to be hidden up away from everyone. Joshua and his associate, Al, kept giving me looks all afternoon, but whenever Nate got too close they would instantly look away.

Part of me was thrilled to see that. Part of me loved that Nate could scare other men away simply by being near me. I loved that he was powerful and masculine enough that he didn’t even have to try. And yet part of me was afraid of him and how easily he could posses me.

I knew I was skating on thin ice. There was a razor-thin margin between us, and one tiny slip up would leave me reeling and in the palm of his hands.

Once there, I knew I’d never get away.

“Almost back,” Nate grunted.

“Yeah.” I looked out the window and down at Tommy giving the customers his last little speech. “Listen, Nate.” I bit my lower lip, not sure what I wanted to say. “We shouldn’t do this.”

“Drive the boat back?”

“No. I mean, you shouldn’t scare guys away.”

“Scare who away?”

“Those guys. Joshua and Al.”

“Seems to me they needed scaring.”

“We’re stepsiblings now. My dad is going to be throwing guys at me all the time.”

“And you’re going to want to date one of them.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Not at all, not even slightly. But whatever I needed to say to make that tiny margin wider would be good.

“Whatever you want to do is fine with me, princess,” he grunted at me, “but don’t act like that pussy doesn’t ache every time I’m around you.”

“Nothing aches,” I snapped back.

“Whatever you say.”

We lapsed into silence, and I inwardly kicked myself for opening my stupid mouth. He didn’t seem to mind, but I felt like a total idiot.

I quickly got up and went down to help Tommy finish up packing everything away. I decided chores were better than sitting up with Nate, where the tension between us was thick as hell and ready to snap at any moment. I couldn’t promise myself that I wasn’t going to let myself get swept up into Nate’s powerful gaze.

Once we were docked, I tied the boat off and got out of there as fast as I could. I needed to get home and think about things.

As I walked up the driveway, I could have sworn I heard Nate laughing. I looked back but didn’t see a thing.





NATHAN

Storm clouds were gathering in the south as Claire and I pulled into the marina parking lot.

“Not promising,” I said to her.

“It’s just rain. My weather app says it won’t be bad.”

“Still,” I grunted. “Not the best idea to take tourists out on the water in a rain storm.”

“Scared?” she asked teasingly.

I gave her a look. “I’m never scared.”

We parked and I climbed out, walking down toward the dock. Claire followed, hurrying to catch up. It was our second day of work and I was already bored of the job, but the money was fine, and, plus, I had nothing else to do.

“You don’t have to be such a hard ass all the time,” she said.

“I’m not a hard ass.”

“Sure you are. You pretend to be this badass Navy SEAL, but you’re really just a lazy jerk.”

“It’s not pretend, babe. It’s who I am.” I smirked at her.

“Yeah, see, exactly. That’s what I’m talking about.”