Page 71 of Only Between Us

“As in Captain Pippen, at least for today. I got certified a couple of years ago, thinking that maybe I could…” She loses steam, smile slipping. “Anyway.”

She claps her laptop closed and rounds the counter, peeking down a couple of aisles before calling, “Aidan, I’m heading out. You sure you have this under control?”

“All good, Cee.”

The little shithead comes out of a door near the counter. I know there’s nothing going on between them—I believe Siena when she says she ended their arrangement.

But as far as I’m concerned, anyone who’s seen Siena Pippen naked is at the top of my shit list until approximately the end of time.

“Just remember to—”

“Remember to call Brian about the glitch in the POS system. I’m on it as soon as I finish restocking the reels. Don’t you have to get down to the docks?”

“Yes, but the shipment of bait arrives at—”

Aidan actually has the balls to look me in the eye, which… good for him. “Get your girl on that ship before I jump off the pier and forget how to swim.”

I don’t know whether I respect him more for rightfully calling her my girl, or for offering to rid me of himself.

Either way, I take the rare opportunity to put my hands on Siena and toss her over my shoulder, sweeping her bag off the counter along with our phones, which I tuck into my back pocket.

She gasps. “Attwood, I swear to God. If you don’t put me down right fucking now—”

I march out of the shop, nodding at a customer who pauses just outside the door to watch us in alarm. “Morning.”

“Attwood.”

“This is probably a bad time to tell you what a turn-on it is whenyou’re stern with me. And I’m already half hard from watching you decimate limp-dicked frat boys, so you’re really playing with fire.”

She smacks my ass as we move down the boardwalk. “Stern is the least of your concerns.”

There she is. My playful girl right back at it, the moment that vitamin D hits her skin.

I whistle. “Do that again and I might drop ’em and bend over for you right here. I’ve never been spanked, but I think I might like it.” I wink at a passing couple, who startle at my words. “We’ve been dating nine months. Good to shake things up, you know?”

Siena huffs a laugh up on my shoulder. “You’re scaring people.”

“Nah, did you see that guy’s face? Pretty sure he was ready to bend over, too. We’re sexual trendsetters. He’ll be jacking it in a coat closet in no time.”

I find the entrance to the marina along the boardwalk and carry her down the wide dock lined with boats of all sizes. “Which one’s your ride?”

Siena grips my hips to steady herself as she cranes her neck around me. “The sixty-five-footer with the black trim down at the end.”

“This is the boat you supposedly fished on?”

She sighs dreamily. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Seeing as I know next to nothing about boats, I’ll have to take her word for it. I set her down at the mouth of a narrower dock leading to the sailboat and reach to smooth the hair off her face.

She mixes her hands with mine, trying to get me to relent. “I’ve got it.”

My arms drop to my sides.Can’t even fix her hair for her.

I take her phone out of my pocket and tuck it into hers. “What time do you dock tonight?”

“Six thirty, but I need to get a couple things done at the shop before heading home. If it’s too late for you to pick me up, then don’t worry about—”

I sigh, probably louder than I have in my whole life. What is this fucking nonsense?