said, his voice rough from under-use.
Avery blinked, followed the line of his arm, and saw. A croc. Its long brown body floating below the water snout, beady eyes, and a few bumpy scales cutting through the surface.
She stood taller, her fingers gripping the console till her nail beds turned bright pink. “It’s huge.”
“Twelve feet. Fourteen maybe.”
She tipped back her hat—which had left a red mark slicing across her forehead. “It’s looking right at me. No doubt thinking ‘there’s lunch.’”
“Don’t blame him.”
She flicked Jonah a glance, then licked her lips to cover a grin that made itself felt right in the groin. Then she turned, leant her backside against the dash, her long legs crossed at the ankles. “If, heaven forbid, I fell in right now you’d save me, right?”
“From a croc? Not on your life, princess. If he took you under that’d be it. They don’t call it a death roll for nothing.”
Her laughter was shocked, but the gleam in her eye was not. “How do the ladies resist you, Jonah North?”
“Resist me? Why do you think I let Hull skulk at my heels? Without him I’d be beating them away with a stick.”
Her eyes narrowed a fraction, as if the idea of hordes of women coming after him was not one of her happier thoughts. “Ye-ea-a-ah,” she said. “I actually half believe you. It’s counterproductive, though, you know. Only adds to the tragic Heathcliffian mien you have going on.”
“The what?”
“Nothing,” she deadpanned.
Laughing under his breath, he ran a thumb along the red line on her forehead left by the hat. When her eyes flared at the touch, her breath hitching, her cheeks filling with blood, he tucked his hand back around the wheel.
His parents hadn’t been demonstrative. Till then he’d figured he’d inherited the same. But the urge to touch Avery was strong. Too strong. So he did something he understood, reaching and slipping a hand around her waist, pulling her into the cradle between his legs.
His voice was rough as he said, “I notice Hull didn’t scare you away.”
“I notice you didn’t beat me away with a stick.”
The noticing beat between them like a pulse, until he pulled her in for a kiss. Her hand dived into the back of his hair, tugging till his skin thrummed with the sweet pleasure of her touch.
It took him longer than was smart to remember he was navigating croc-infested waters. He pulled away, thoughts all crooked. The intimacy part of this thing with Avery was so fresh, after keeping off every touch like an electric shock.
And yet he already found himself thinking towards the day her summer ended, while his simply kept on keeping on. Which was all he’d ever wanted. To belong here. In this paradise on earth. Where too much of a good thing was daily life.
The boat finally bumped against the riverbank back where they’d started, and Avery stretched away from him, yawning, leaving him to tie off. And get some space. Not that it seemed to help any. Her imprint lingered. Would do so for some time.
“Well, that was way more fun than I’d expected.”
“Can I quote you for the website?”
The yawn turned into a grin. “Your slogan can be Satisfaction Guaranteed.”
The tour operator called out a cheery welcome back, which stopped Jonah from giving her any kind of comeback. Leaving him to watch her head to the back of the boat to collect her stuff, her short shorts giving him a view of a hell of a length of leg.
She might have felt satisfied, but he felt as if his balls were in a vice.
The taste of her, the scent of her, the feel of her stamped on his senses like a brand. So much so he couldn’t remember what any other woman of his experience felt like. Eyes on Avery, it was as if the rest had never existed.
But they did exist. And had taught him valuable life lessons. That things like this always ended. That advance bruise he felt behind his ribs was a good thing. Because this time he knew what was coming. This time it was in his control.
“Hull?” Avery said.
Yanked from his trance by the hitch in Avery’s voice, Jonah looked past her to find Hull, not at the Jeep, but at the edge of the river, pacing back and forth so close to the edge his paws kept slipping into the water.
“Hey, boy,” he called out. “No panic. We’re back safe and sound.” But Hull’s whimpers only increased.
Jonah leapt off the boat the second he had it tied off. But instead of coming to sniff his hand Hull bolted to the Jeep, big paws clawing at the doors.
Flummoxed, Jonah looked to Avery, who hopped off the boat behind him and shrugged. He didn’t know anything about dogs. He’d never had one as a kid—his father had never been home enough for it to be possible.
Jonah eased up to the dog, asked him to sit, which he did, which crazily made his heart squeeze. Then he ran gentle hands down Hull’s legs, over his flanks, under his belly, checking to see if he might be hurt. Red-bellied black snakes liked water. Hull was tough. He’d survived being dumped. Survived where his brothers and sisters hadn’t. He’d be fine.
“He doesn’t look hurt to me,” said Avery behind him. “He looks like he’s pining.”
“What?”
Avery’s mouth twisted, then her eyes brightened. “Do you think he’s found a lady friend?”
Jonah spun on his haunches, ready to shoot her theory down in flames. “He’s three. A little over.”
“That’s twenty-one in dog years.”
Jonah thought of himself at twenty-one and rocked back on his heels. “Aww hell.”
“Unless of course he’s neutered.”
Jonah winced. “Hell, no!”
“Well, then, if your dog has knocked up some poor poodle, it’s as much your responsibility as it is theirs.”
“He’s not my dog.” But even as he said it he remembered the way he’d run after Hull into the forest the night before, panic like a fox trap around his chest. Thoughts catching on the burr of how blank his life would be without Hull in it. “You really think that’s all it is?”
Avery snorted. “When the impulse can no longer be denied...”
Jonah’s eyes swung back to the woman behind him. Her eyes liquid from the bright sun. Her clothes askew. Her skin pink from his stubble rash. Living proof of impulse no longer denied.
He looked back to his furry friend. “Hull.” The dog looked up as he heard his name; all gentle eyes, wolfish profile, wildly speckled fur. “You missing your girl? Is that the problem?”
Hull
