I swallow the drool pooling in my mouth. “You’re right.” I run my thumb along his bottom lip, taking a deep breath and trying to overcome the commotion he’s caused within my hungry body. “I guess you couldn’t meet my expectations then.” He’d exceed them. Shit, he’d demolish them. “Luckily, though,” I drag his bottom lip downward with my thumb, “this isn’t a date.”
“Lucky for you.” He licks the lip that I just released from my touch. “And after all,” he smiles, “I’d hate to disappoint you and your expectations.”
CHAPTER TEN
I breathe in the warm summer night air as we slowly move through the canal. For today’s sightseeing excursion, Zeke borrowed a friend’s canoe, and we’re going night fishing. With each stroke of the paddle, I watch the calm water break. It took me a few minutes, but once I got a handle on this whole rowing thing, I fell into sync with Zeke.
Caught up in the moment, I barely notice that he has stopped. I still my paddle and, not concentrating on rowing, take in the surroundings. It’s beautiful. Green and white lights twinkle over the canal. I spot a few other boats in the near distance. I glance over the edge of the canoe, awed by the glowing bright green water. I place the paddle in the canoe and lean to the side, catching sight of a couple of fish as they swim by. “Oh!” I point. “Did you see that?” I look up at Zeke who peers at me from over his shoulder. He lets out a light chuckle and maneuvers himself around until he’s facing me.
I look back at the water. “Oh!” I squeal. “There’s another one!”
“Shhhh ...” He leans toward me. “You’ll scare them away,” he whispers. “Not to mention the other people fishing will get pissed.”
“Sorry.” My cheeks flush and I turn back to the water. Aware of my surroundings now—Zeke, the darkness, and the quiet—I wait for another fish. I excitedly point when I see one.
“Yeah.” I hear him laugh at the expense of my excitement. “That’s a speckled trout. Here, give me that pole.” He nudges my left thigh. “I’ll bait it for you.”
I reach down, finding the fishing rod. “There’s only one.” I pick it up. “Do you want to use it first?”
“No.” He stretches out his hand. “I don’t fish for sport.” I stare at him for a second, holding the pole. He drops his hand. “I don’t hunt anything unless I plan on eating it. And I’m not really in the mood for fish tonight.” He smiles. “Besides, to keep a fish you catch, it has to meet requirements, and in this area, well, it’s hard to hook a trout that size.”
I lower the rod. “Why?”
“Don’t know.” He shrugs. “My guess is there’s too much fishing out here. The lights in the canal are a big tourist attraction. The fish that you see, they’re the innocent ones, haven’t been yanked from their home by a sharp hook and then tossed back in the water yet. I think the bigger trout that have gone through that and survived are deeper in the water. The bait doesn’t work on them anymore. They probably just don’t want to fight that fight again.” A small smile turns up his lips as he lightly chuckles.
I sense that he’s trying to cover up the sincerity in his words. What guy doesn’t enjoy the hunt? I search his eyes, and I’m getting all kinds of weird vibes—vulnerable ones. When Rayna assigned me to break the best damn lay in the Bayou, I didn’t expect him to be ... like this. He’s more different than I ever imagined. The more time I spend with him, the more I like him as a person. Sure, he’s sexy, he’s cute, and he makes my heart and my thighs quiver, but he’s also smart, caring, and he’s comfortable with himself.
He was until now.
I lower the pole back into the canoe. “Why do you fight?”
His eyes narrow. “I like it.”
“From what I hear, you’ve always liked it. Rayna and Emmie told me that you fought a lot in school.”
“I’m sure you have your policies where you work for bullies.” He grins. “Well, I had mine.”
“Are you saying you only picked fights with bullies?”
“The bigger the better.” His grin widens. “Take down the biggest bully and most of the others will back off.”
“And that’s not bullying? Isn’t that justifying a fight due to a certain stereotype?”
“No. It’s not. See, I got no tolerance for people who purposely try to hurt others just because they’re smaller, weaker, or unable to stand up for themselves. A bully isn’t a stereotype. A bully is a monster who needs to be put down.”