Chapter 6

Jack safely avoided the subject of the East Coast fishing tournament at lunch. Instead, he and Grace talked about everything and nothing under the sun. It almost reminded him of when they were teenagers. They used to be able to spend hours just talking.

He placed some money on the table and pushed his chair back. “Is this your first time in Southport?”

“Yeah.” Grace turned to look out of the restaurant’s window. “It’s a lot like Blushing Bay.”

“There’s nowhere on earth like Blushing Bay,” Jack argued. “But Southport is worth seeing if you’ve never been here. What do you say we go for a walk before we take the two-hour drive back home?”

Grace smiled. “I’d like that.”

They left the diner and walked quietly side by side for a while, navigating the touristy streets.

Jack stopped in front of one of the storefront windows. “As a kid I always begged Dad to take me in there.”

The Bumble Bee Toy store had several old-fashioned toys on display in the window.

“Let’s go in,” Grace suggested.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “You want to go in a toy store?”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door, but his feet froze. His hand wrapped around hers, hanging on to the touch she’d given him. The touch that part of him, a large part, had been longing for since he’d first seen her at the Blushing Bay Café a couple weeks ago.

She looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just glad you’re giving me the time of day again. I’ve missed you over the years.” He let go of her hand. Grace had come into his life when he was a hormone-driven teen boy. She’d been more than just a pretty face or a stepsister to him, though. There’d always been something about her that had pulled him in, hooked him like a senseless fish going after something he knew deep down he couldn’t have.

“I know.” Grace swiped at a lock of hair that was tangling in the wind. “I’m glad we’re friends again, too.”

“Friends. That’s an upgrade. I just thought you were tolerating me. I like friends, though.” If he were honest, he’d like another upgrade—friends with more.

“So, the toy store?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, I’d rather just walk off lunch. My toys these days are my carpenter tools.”

Grace shrugged and fell in stride beside him. “What are you making?”

“Aside from the new launch and pier, I’m building a small boat in my garage.”

Her squeal made him stiffen. “I guess you’re excited about that.”

“Yeah, I’m excited. That’s awesome, Jack. If you make a big enough boat, we can enter it in the tournament.”

A low growl erupted from him that made her burst into giggles.

“Just kidding. That would take forever.” She winked at him as he offered up his broodiest stare-down. He wasn’t upset, though. Not really. More relieved that she felt comfortable enough to tease him. And comfortable enough to ask him for something, even if it was something he absolutely did not want to do. He knew that Grace didn’t like to depend on others. She liked to be self-sufficient. And if he had to guess, she probably would try her darnedest to enter the tournament. The big question was why.

They circled through a few scenic blocks and then climbed back into his truck and made the long haul home. Grace fell asleep midway, which left Jack to his own thoughts and frequent stolen glances at her.

It was just after five o’clock when they pulled into the parking lot of Sawyer Seafood. Grace yawned and stretched her arms overhead. Then she smiled sleepily at him. A sudden image of her doing the same next to him in bed popped into his mind.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking concerned. “A strange expression just came over your face.”

He laughed nervously, averting his gaze. “Tired, I guess. Long drive. Thanks for coming along this afternoon. Looks like your workday is over.”

“Yeah. I better get home to check on my mom.”

“Right.”

“Not that she needs it. She’s doing great. You really can’t even see the Parkinson’s some days.”

“You should take care of yourself, too,” Jack said. “I was glad to hear that you’d hung out with Abby and Krista the other night. It’s good to keep friends.”

Grace looked over at him, and he had to remind himself that he and Grace were just friends.

“Good night, Jack,” she said softly.

“Night.” He watched her get out and walk away, a little part of him wanting to jump out of the truck and pull her back toward him. He wanted to press her against his truck and kiss her senseless.

But they were only friends. And that’s all they could ever be.

The next morning, Jack met Tristan at the pier early and they worked steadily through lunch until midafternoon. Between the two of them, they’d completed 75 percent of the job in a week’s time. Both grabbed a water bottle from the back of Jack’s truck and drank half the bottle before pulling it away and looking at each other. It’d been an eight-hour day where they’d done ten hours’ worth of work.

“Come on,” Jack said, walking toward the front of his truck. He grabbed his checkbook and wrote out a payment to Tristan.

“What’s this?”

“Told you I’d start paying you. You earned it.”

Tristan wasn’t wearing his dark sunglasses today. Just the ball cap pulled over his head. Sweaty strands of hair stuck to his forehead. “That’s a lot.”

“It’s what I’d pay any man on a construction crew.”

Tristan looked up and nodded. “Thank you.”

“Have you made any new living arrangements yet?”

“My friend has a place just south of here. He said I could move in if I could pay rent.”

“Friend?”

Tristan twisted the cap back on his bottle of water. “A guy I went to school with. He goes to college now.”

“Oh yeah?”

Tristan nodded. “I was thinking that I might go to college on the side, too, while I work for you. Maybe online.”

“Not a bad idea. Might take longer to get the degree, but as long as you keep at it. Well, good job today. Another day like this and we’ll have this job finished.”

Tristan looked worried.

“Word has traveled about our work here. Someone wants us to build a boathouse. Can’t do that on my own. Would you be interested?”

“Yeah. That’d be cool,” Tristan said, smiling again.

“Great. See you later, Tristan.”

The kid, who wasn’t such a kid, waved and headed toward his truck. Jack finished off his water and tossed the plastic bottle into the recycling container under his truck’s toolbox. Then he drove home, got cleaned up, and headed to meet the rest of the Sawyer clan and Grace for their monthly business meeting at Castaways.

Grace had been with the company little more than a week, and Noah had been avoiding her the entire time. Jack pretended not to notice because he had no idea what to do about it. He couldn’t make his younger brother forgive and forget. It wasn’t that easy. Although Grace’s reentering Jack’s life had been pretty damn easy so far.

The five of them sat around a table at Castaways and sipped their beers.

“Grace, you’ve done a good job,” Pete said. “It’s good to have you with us.”

Sam and Jack nodded their heads. Noah, on the other hand, stared into the crowd and drank his beer.

“Thank you.” Grace looked between them. “It’s good to be at the company…So, getting straight to business, you have three guys interested in joining a fall crew for the Summerly, after the high schoolers return to classes.”

Noah didn’t look at her. “Or Jack could return to the boat and we could move on with our lives and catch some fish.”

Jack frowned.

“Um, I’ll post another ad,” Grace continued. “I would handle the interviews, too, but—”

“But you don’t know anything about fishing,” Jack said, cutting her off. “You could end up hiring someone with, I don’t know, as much experience as you to work on the Summerly.”

Grace lifted her chin and turned to him. “I still think I could do it.”

Sam put his beer down. “Wait. You want to work the boats now?” he asked Grace. “I thought you were our office manager.”

“I am. I just…I want to enter the East Coast fishing tournament.”

Everyone, including Noah, turned to look at her.

“You’re kidding, right?” Sam asked.

“You’re a woman,” Pete said.

“That’s sexist, Dad,” Jack said, running a hand through his hair. Even though he didn’t like the idea of Grace out on the water, either.

“I can take care of myself, Mr. Sawyer. You taught me everything I need to know. I just need a boat and a crew. We could do this.”

Sam’s jaw dropped. “We?”

Grace shrugged. “I thought you guys were fishermen. You should be jumping at opportunities like this.”

“I mentioned it to Jack earlier,” Pete said. “It’s good for the company to have a representative out there. I think it’d be good for you, too, son,” he told Jack.

“I told you I’d think about it,” Jack snapped. He’d thought about it, though, and there was no part of him that wanted to do the tournament.

“We understand if you can’t hack it this year,” Sam said, sparking anger inside Jack.

“I can hack it. I just don’t want to, all right?”

“No offense,” Sam said, turning to Grace, “but—”

“If you call me a woman I’m going to knock you senseless.” Grace folded her arms over her chest.

Jack couldn’t help but laugh. Grace was determined, and he had no doubt that she wasn’t going to let this drop. She’d get herself killed if she went out there without someone who knew what they were doing, though. Concern for her safety trumped everything. He groaned into his beer and then set it down. “Fine. I’ll do it,” he said, knowing he’d regret this right along with his next several beers in the morning.

Grace smiled. “Good, because I’ve already entered you as my crew member.”

Jack frowned. “What?”

“I entered you as my crew. I put myself down as the captain.”

“Of the Summerly?” Jack asked through an increasingly tighter jaw. “My dad may have taught you a lot of things, but you know nothing about being a captain. And that’s my boat.”

“That you’re going to let some stranger operate for the company,” she pointed out, raising her voice across the table.

Jack raised his to match hers. “A stranger with a résumé.”

“Get a room, you two,” the waitress said, stepping up to the table. She winked and put a plate of chips in the center of the table. She’d been working at Castaways for years, but not long enough to know that Grace had been part of the family once.

Jack noted the blush filling Grace’s cheeks as she retreated back into her chair. Awkward to say the least. And yeah, this tension between them could totally be handled by getting a room.

“I paid the registration fee. I’m part of the crew,” Grace said when the waitress was gone. “And I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Jack sighed. She’d just be filling up space that he could use for someone who could actually help him reel in the fish. It’d always been just him and Chris for the tournament. Two guys drinking beer and baiting hooks, back when life was simpler. “Fine. But I’ll need one more man to help.”

His father was too old for heavy lifting now. Sam would do, but fishing for sport was never his thing. Noah, on the other hand, would be perfect. He loved competition. He was young and strong.

Jack turned to Noah.

“Why are you eying me? I can’t be on the same crew as—”

“As me?” Hurt shone in Grace’s eyes. She pushed away from the table. “If you guys will excuse me, it’s late. I need to get home to my mom.” She kept her gaze down as she stood, grabbed her purse, and waved goodbye.

“All right, jackass,” Jack barked, knocking Noah’s hat from his head.

“Well, it’s true. I can’t be on a boat with her.”

“What her mother did is not her fault,” Jack said for what felt like the millionth time. He had a good mind to slug his brother right about now.

Noah stared into his beer. “It’s just hard being around her, all right? I never had a mom. Tammy was the closest thing to one I’ve ever known. And Grace was my sister. Losing them sucked…I can’t be around her.”

Jack’s fists uncurled under the table. “She lost us, too, Noah. It sucked just as bad for her.” Jack was only talking about Grace. He could care less how bad it’d hurt Tammy. She was the one who’d caused all this pain that was still going on today. He stood. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Grace didn’t mean to slam the door to her apartment, but she was like a shaken bottle of soda ready to explode. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before her mother shuffled down the hall to see what was going on. Grace didn’t want to talk about this with her. Her mom had enough on her plate without adding more guilt and regret over the Sawyer family.

Tossing her purse onto a chair in the living room, Grace went to pour herself a glass of water. It was odd that her mother wasn’t coming out of her back bedroom already. “Mom?” Grace called, lifting a glass and turning on the facet. Her anger toward Jack and his brothers shifted to concern. Without taking a sip, she set the glass down and walked down the dark hallway toward her mother’s bedroom and flipped the light. The room was empty. Her mother wasn’t anywhere in sight, and neither were her things. Panic hiccupped through Grace as she stepped inside the room and lifted the handwritten note lying on the bed.

Grace, I’m tired of watching you give up your life for me. I’m fine. I’ve found a place with Mrs. Smith. She needs someone to keep her company now that Lynn has passed. It’s a good arrangement. Now, it’s your turn to go get a life.

I love you. Mom.

Grace sat on the bed and stared at the shaky print. What was her mother thinking? And why of all nights did she have to leave tonight? Grace couldn’t deal with anything else right now.

Someone knocked on the door. Grace lifted her head and realized her vision was blurry from the tears collected in her eyes. On a deep inhale, she got up and started walking. Maybe her mother had changed her mind. Or maybe it was her sleazy landlord—ick. If she had to deal with Jimmy tonight, she just might get herself kicked out on the street. Then she’d be moving in with Mrs. Smith, too.

Grace sniffled and blew out a breath to dry her eyes, then opened the door to neither her mother nor Jimmy. Instead, Jack stood just across the threshold, his blue eyes slanted in concern. He was wearing a T-shirt that hugged his chest perfectly. Everything about the man was pretty much perfect.

Without words, he stepped forward, which prompted her to take a step back. Then he shut the door behind him, keeping his eyes locked on hers. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She nodded, suddenly ready to crumble. But she didn’t allow herself to fall to pieces in front of anyone. She tried to keep her feelings locked up tight. “I just needed to clear my head. I wanted to be on your crew for this tournament, but that was apparently a crazy idea and—”

“You’re the captain, right? Of course you’re on the crew.” He took a step closer.

She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Captain?”

Jack nodded. “You said you filled out the paperwork already, and that you were down as captain.”

“Right. I did, but—”

“So it’s settled.” He glanced around. “Is your mom sleeping?”

Grace pressed her lips together, really trying not to cry right now, but there were so many emotions swimming inside her and the dam couldn’t stay strong forever. “She moved out.” Her voice cracked. Crap. “It’s for the best, really. She’s helping Mrs. Smith, who is newly widowed. And Mrs. Smith is willing to help her.” Grace offered up a smile, which fell flat. “It’ll give my mother some purpose other than waiting for the afternoon talk shows to come on. And she really hates depending on me so much.”

“I see.” Jack leaned a fraction closer.

Grace held her breath and her tears at bay. His cologne lingered in the space between them. She wanted him to touch her almost as badly as she wanted him to move away.

He lifted his hand and wiped one tear off her cheek. She hadn’t even realized it’d slipped away. Embarrassment swept over, but it couldn’t compete with the strong desire heating her body. Jack’s gaze flicked to her mouth and everything inside her buzzed with dangerous need for the man in front of her.

“Jack,” she whispered.

“Grace,” he said, reminding her of the morning they’d kissed in her bedroom as teens. That’s where their budding relationship had left off. His hand swept a lock of hair behind her ear and then slid behind her neck, reeling her toward him at the same time that she melted into his arms. She had no walls or defenses tonight. She was too tired for that, and too consumed by her sudden desire.

She lifted her mouth to his, meeting him halfway. A little whimper left her as their lips touched ever so slightly. Then his arms tightened around her and her mouth opened. The kiss erased everything except this moment between them. Nothing else mattered—not the tournament or her mother’s move—only this kiss that she’d been waiting to happen again since she was fifteen years old.

She pressed into his hard body, sliding her arms up around his neck. Stumbling around, they finally landed on the couch with her straddling him.

“Okay, Captain. Where are we going with this?” Jack asked, pulling his mouth from hers and trailing his mouth down her neck. Grace could hardly think as she pressed her body against him. His hand traveled up from her waist and disappeared under the hem of her shirt. He caressed her skin, his hand awakening every cell in its path. It had been so long since she’d been with a man, and now her body remembered why she needed one. And not just any man. She needed this one.

“My bedroom,” she whispered.

Jack’s eyes heated as he pulled back and looked at her. “Are you sure?”

“Very,” she said, breaking into a laugh.

He caught her laugh with a kiss and then sat up with her still straddling him. Planting his hands on her backside, he stood with her legs wrapped around his waist, kissing her all the way as he carried her to her room. He laid her down and climbed over her. And, oh God! The heavy weight of his body on hers felt bone-achingly good.

I could turn back now, her mind reminded her. It was a distant voice that she could barely hear over her screaming hormones. She didn’t want to turn back, though. Her mother had told her to “get a life,” so that’s exactly what she was doing. Either that or she was screwing up her life royally for one night of pleasure.