Page 90 of Only Between Us

“Would you ever consider shutting it down?”

“The shop?” Siena widen her eyes, as though sickened by the idea. “I could never, not with something so important to my dad. Besides, Mom needs the income. Second mortgage and all that.”

“And what if you didn’t run it yourself? What if someone ran it for you?”

“I’m the one Dad left it to, trusted with it. And I don’t trust anyone to put that same kind of care into it. To anyone else it would be just another job. And to me, it’s…”

“An obligation?” I say, before I can stop myself.

“Brooks.”

Shit. “I’m sorry. I know it means a lot to you.”

“It means a lot to me not to let my dad down.” Siena helps herself to a brownie square from the container behind us. “These are amazing, by the way. Another one of your mom’s recipes?”

“Everything but the pretzel bits. I was feeling adventurous.”

Siena hikes up one knee as she turns to face me. “Speaking of adventurous, what are we doing on a boat when you’re terrified of open water?”

“Who says I’m terrified of open water?”

“I’ve worked along the bay for a long time, Brooks. I know thalassophobia when I see it, and I’m staring it right in the face.”

I force my eyes wide. “Please tell me there’s a cream for that.”

Siena bursts out laughing, shoulders shaking so hard the anchor charm bounces off her chest. She’s already sprouted a handful of new freckles from our time in the sun. There’s a really sweet one under her right eye I can’t stop staring at.

This is what it’s come to.

There’s an absolute bombshell sitting next to me, perfect body from head to toe, and all I want to do is smile like a fucking fool at that freckle.

“We’ve been on this boat for hours, and you haven’t dipped your feet in once. You’re not evenlookingat the water.”

“Okay, the looking part is your fault, because, I mean…” I run my gaze over her again. The wet hair tickling her arms, the little bows holding up her swimsuit bottoms digging into her curvy hips. That damn freckle. “There’s only so much you can ask of me as a man, and keeping my eyes off you isn’t one of them.”

“What a line.” Siena attempts a whistle, laughs when the sound comes out sad and wet.

She’s so fucking cute. I want to devour her. Lick and nip every single damn part of her.

“As for the dipping-my-feet thing, you can go ahead and blame the water itself.” I peek over the edge of the platform. “Why is it sodark? How do you know what’s down there?”

“You freaked out when a weed brushed against your foot once, didn’t you?”

I release a very real gag. “That’s just it, isn’t it? It’s so dark down there it could have been anything. A weed. A shark.”

She laughs quietly. “You’re so…” She stares as though searching for the end of that sentence on my body. “You’re really nothing like I expected.”

In a good way, or…?

But she doesn’t elaborate. Siena reaches for another brownie in the container behind us. I hook a finger in the chain of her necklace, making her come to me instead. She doesn’t even fight it. Lets me bring her close, until I’m lying back on the platform and she’s hovering with her arms on either side of me, her body across mine.

The anchor charm swings back and forth between us with every wave crashing against the side of the boat. Her tits are damn nearbursting out of that blue top and grazing my chest. And that freckle is close enough to lick now.

It’s such an immaculate view. I’m fairly certain I just shot out of a cannon aimed straight at heaven.

“I’m suddenly understanding the boat’s appeal.”

My fingertips skim her spine, along the trail of star tattoos I’ve thought about since I found them at the gala. Her eyelids drop a fraction, lips part, and she’s close enough that I can hear the soft breath come out of her. If she ever opened the door to it, to us, our bodies writhing together, I’d take her up on it without hesitation.