Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Cassius pulled the fish up by bending low over the dock’s railing, then hoisted a twenty-five-pound fish up over the railing as if it weighed nothing more than a feather.
A snapper.
Wow.
I leaned my back against the pole next to the diesel pump—a smell that was so familiar to me at this point that I found it pleasant—and watched him grin like a loon.
What was it like to not have the ability to do what you wanted anymore?
“Ms. Paradis? I’m back. You can go back inside now,” Coran, the sixteen-year-old boy my dad had hired to help after school, said.
“Oh, thanks, Coran.” I smiled at him, startled by his presence. “Everything going okay out here?”
He looked at me with those stars in his eyes.
Gee whiz, the kid was a bit intense.
I stepped back, putting distance between us, and he tried to step forward again.
However, sensing his movement toward me impending, I twisted, put the diesel pump between us, and practically kept the piece of equipment between us as I said, “I’m just gonna go down there and say hi.”
Then I was gone, racing toward the end of the pier where there was a fish flopping on the ground, and Cassius was rebaiting his hook.
I picked the fish up and stared at it.
“This is a good size,” I said, surprised to find it so close to shore.
Normally, you had to go out a few miles to find them.
Snapper weren’t usually just hanging around the dock at The Marina.
“You drop that fish over the edge, and I’ll kill you. That’ll feed me for two days,” he grumbled.
I rolled my eyes and placed it back on the dock.
Then I leaned over and looked at the fish basket he had in the water down below.
I didn’t bother pulling it up. I wouldn’t be able to budge it based on how hard he struggled to get it up when he pulled it up last—yes, I’d been watching him that long.
I had a long list of things that I needed to do today, and the very last thing on that list was watch Cassius Costas fish for three hours.
“I think that’s a little harsh,” I pointed out to him.
He looked over at me in confusion. “You’ve been watching me for three hours now and haven’t come over once. Why are you over here now?”
He knew I’d been watching him?
Surely it was just a lucky guess.
“You are directly in line of our huge plate glass window, which happens to be directly outside of my new office area.” I grimaced. “There’s nothing else to look at.”
He shot me a look that said he didn’t believe me, then glanced behind him. “Your new pump kid is a creep.”
I blew out a long breath.
“I know. Dad had to tell him he wasn’t allowed in the office. He had to use the outside bathroom if he needed to go. And there are drinks in the fridge outside for him so he won’t come in and ‘chat’ every five seconds.” I paused. “I didn’t hire him, or I would’ve fired him.”
He glanced behind him again, then scoffed. “You didn’t hire your sister.”
He had a point.
“I can’t fire him for being creepy.” I sighed. “He’s good at his job, shows up on time, and does something that I don’t want to do anymore. I think it would be rather crass of me.”
He grunted in thought, cast his line into the water, then turned to me.
“Hold this,” he instructed.
I did, taking it from his hands while I watched him hoist the fish basket back up.
My god.
I’d done nothing but stare at Cassius since I was sixteen years old. Was it horrible to say that prison was good for him? He’d gone from holy smokes hot to if you look at me your panties will melt and you’ll be ruined for all other men hot.
His hands.
God. Even they were hot. All rough and sexy. I’d bet they felt like heaven when they ran over your ski… I felt the bite on my line.
Resisting the urge to yank since I’d seen the circle hook in Cassius’s fist before he’d cast it out, I started reeling.
And nearly went sailing right over the railing.
The fish basket in Cassius’s hands went sailing back down before he could get it up all the way.
I was ass over tea kettle, about to go straight into the water—but goddammit, I wasn’t letting go of that pole!—when I felt hands on my hips hauling me backward.
I squeaked in surprise, shocked to find myself in the predicament that I did, and stared in awe at Cassius who was staring at me in surprise.
“What the fuck?” I breathed shakily once I was fully back on my feet.
He grunted out a reply, and I went careening hard into the railing again.
I grunted out a pained groan but tried to reel the line in any way, with no luck whatsoever.