Cass, I hope you find that guy, I really do. But I’ll give you some unsolicited advice from a male point of view: Don’t tell the guys you’re dating that they have to live up to some list. Nothing’ll scare a guy away faster than a set of ideals he has to live up to.”
“What do you have against my compatibility list?”
“Maybe it’s just me. Maybe the next guy you meet will be jumping through hoops to put check marks on that list.”
She lifted her chin. “He will, and he’ll do it happily.”
“Sounds like a dog trick to me.” Sammy barked. “See, even he agrees.”
She picked up the dog. “He’s agreeing with me. He knows I’m on the verge of meeting the man of my dreams.”
Sammy barked and ran across the bench next to Dan. Dan lifted a triumphant eyebrow. “What do you think he’s trying to tell you?”
“It’s more than obvious. He has to visit the potty.”
5
“GIVE ME A NICE, SMOOTH stroke, Cassie. Oh, yes, perfect. Mmm-hmm. Doesn’t that feel good? Not too fast now.” An hour later Dan’s voice coaxed from behind her ear, sending chills down her neck even though it had to be eighty degrees out. His body was pressed up behind hers, pelvis moving back and forth against her. “Don’t slow down. Keep up that pace, smooth and steady. Oh, yes.”
She turned and gave him a pointed look.
“What?” He actually looked innocent, as though he had no idea what he was doing to her.
Maybe she was reading more into his instructions for reeling the lure than she should. Maybe abstinence was playing tricks on her, like when one was deprived of light and started seeing things.
“At least I’m not experiencing premature ejaculation anymore,” she said, trying to find anything to cover her look. Well, it was better than the hair ball comment, anyway.
“That’s always something to celebrate.”
She cast again, a nice, smooth one that landed with a satisfying plop. “I think I’m getting the hang of this.”
“You’re not bad. You gave up too early the time I tried to teach you to fish.”
“Gave up? Your friends gave me such a hard time, I was miserable.”
“They were just having fun on you.” He leaned against the side of the boat. “I didn’t realize it was that bad. I figured you were making a token effort to learn to fish and didn’t like it.”
“Maybe I was overly sensitive. I could tell they didn’t want me around, and to be honest, I didn’t enjoy their company either. I was learning to fish so I could spend time with you. Alone.” She reeled in the lure again. “But this is fun.” She turned to meet his gaze, held there by hazel eyes filled with something she couldn’t define.
“Maybe we should have gone alone.”
“That would have been nice.” She broke away from his eyes, waving her hand. “But it doesn’t matter now. What’s past is past.”
He paused for a second before nodding. “Let bygones be bygones.”
“Water under the bridge.”
“Yesterday’s catch of the day.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “Something like that.”
DAN LET SILENCE REIGN as he ran those words through his head time and again. But he kept getting distracted by the throbbing pain in his rear. And another throbbing pain, this one in the vicinity of his heart. Cassie still had the ability to drive him crazy. They’d been together, what, less than four hours, and he’d been accused of fearing the demise of his masculinity, been dumped over the side of his boat and even at the cost of his pride, couldn’t help but grin at the thought of being hooked in the rear, and then her efforts at bandaging him.
The woman was an enigma to be sure. At least he’d kept her from reading that magazine. If she’d read the article about the young upstart who’d founded a tackle company, it’d be all over. He was sure honesty was (a), (b) or even (b-1) on that damn list of hers and he wasn’t ready to be honest yet.
She was sitting on the bench along the back, her legs tucked beneath her, going over her notes and lists. So, she’d become Miss Organization. She reached over and primped Sammy’s hair, and he caught himself smiling. There was a part of her, though, that defied logic, scoffed at sensibility and went with her impulses. That was the part he’d fallen in love with, the part that affected his impulses as well as getting them into marital bliss before they’d had time to pick the china pattern.
Hurricane Cassie was back, sweeping through his insides and flooding his cautions. Even if she was trying to be something she wasn’t: sensible. She still had feminine willies, that was for sure. He stretched, catching her glance up at the movement with a glint of appreciation in her eyes. Geez, when had he last felt so alive? Standing half-naked in the cabin with her, he’d been more than tempted to take her in his arms.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her glance at him again. He shifted so she couldn’t see his traitorous organ standing to get her attention. The damned thing would have jumped up and down waving if it could.
After she had swept back out of his life, he’d been devastated not only by her loss, but by his failure at keeping her. For a long time he sought ways to prove to himself he wasn’t a failure, including winning every fishing tournament he entered, then starting his own business. He didn’t consider his current love life a failure; he dated whom he wanted and broke it off when he wanted. But the damned of it was, none of those women left behind the gut-wrenching feeling of loss Cassie had.
Here they were again, and it felt the same as when they’d first met. The chemistry was still there, and so, for him, was the desire to make her his. Was the old Cassie really gone? He’d never get this new Cassie-with-her-lists to fall for him again.
“Aw, isn’t he cute?” she said.
“Oh, no, now what do you have Sammy doing?”
She giggled. “It’s not Sammy.”
Thor was snuggled into Cassie’s big tote bag, his head the only part of him sticking out. He perked one of his floppy ears at Dan’s frown, then looked at Cassie.
“You’ve corrupted my dog! Thor, come here, boy!”
Thor reluctantly pulled himself from the bag—and jumped right into Cassie’s lap.
Dan slapped his forehead. “Oh, no.” In less than five seconds, Thor was on his back, legs skyward as Cassie rubbed his tummy. For a moment, Dan was jealous of his dog. “Thor! Stop being a wuss!”
Thor’s big brown eyes shifted to Dan, then back to Cassie. He wasn’t going anywhere. Another Mc-Dermott male falling prey to Cassie’s feminine willies.
DAN NUDGED THE BOAT a few feet closer to the island a while later. He had put on a white
