“Not too shabby.”
“Are you kidding me? This baby has to weigh seven or eight pounds!”
“It’s a great catch, Jared.” There was no way that fish weighed eight pounds, but there was also no way I was going to ruin his big moment. “You should have her mounted.”
“Maybe next time.” He tossed the fish back into the pond, then stepped over to me with a sexy smirk. “I’m sorry I had to subject you to that, but I did try to warn ya.”
“That you did.” I couldn’t help but giggle as I slipped my arms around his waist. “But I think I’ll survive.”
“You sure about that?” He motioned his head behind us as he goaded, “We’ve got the house all to ourselves.”
“Well, when you put it that way...”
“Now we’re talking.”
Without wasting another moment, Jared leaned down and slipped his arm under my knees, lifting then carrying me back up the pier and to the house. As soon as we walked through the front door, Jared kissed me, and that was all it took. We didn’t make it anywhere near the bedroom before we started ripping each other’s clothes off. It seemed we couldn’t get enough of each other and made love all through the house. By the time we finally collapsed on the bed, we were both completely spent and staring up at the ceiling while trying to catch our breath when a rumble of thunder shook the entire house. Jared closed his eyes as he muttered, “Sounds like rain.”
“Mm-hmm... I love it when it rains. It’s so—” I shot up in the bed when I remembered the fishing poles and the tackle box were still out on the pier. “Crap!”
I rushed over to the dresser and grabbed a pair of sweats. As I started putting them on, Jared looked at me like I had three heads. “What the hell are you doing?”
“It’s about to rain!”
“Yeah, and—?”
“Billy’s fishing gear is still out on the pier!”
“Oh shit!” Jared jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, throwing on his strewn clothes as he found them around the house. “I forgot all about it.”
“Me too!”
We both raced out of the house and down towards the pier. We hadn’t made it far when I felt a couple of big rain drops plop against my skin. Not a minute later, the bottom fell out of the clouds and rain came barreling down on us both. As we hurried to collect all of Billy’s things, Jared looked over to me and ordered, “Get back to the house.”
“I will once we get this stuff back to the shed.”
“I’ll get it,” he fussed. “Get out of the rain.”
“Why?” I squinted through the rain as I joked. “A little water never hurt anyone.”
I’d barely gotten the words out of my mouth when a huge bolt of lightning flashed across the night sky. Clearly worried that I might get hurt, Jared took the fishing poles from my hand and repeated, “Get back to the house, Parker. Now!”
“Fine!”
I turned and ran back up to the porch but didn’t go inside. Instead, I waited there while he finished putting everything back in the shed. By the time Jared reached me, he was completely drenched. I started to go inside and told him, “I’ll go grab us a couple of towels.”
“Don’t bother.” Before I could stop him, Jared picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me into the house like a sack of potatoes. He reached up and gave my ass a hard slap and said, “Next time I tell you to do something, you best damn well do it.”
“Jared!” I started trying to wiggle myself free as I shouted, “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“I did it, and I’ll do it again if I need to.” He didn’t put me down until we reached the bathroom. After he removed his soaking wet t-shirt, he leaned over to the whirlpool tub and turned on the water. “Get out of those wet clothes.”
I didn’t see the point in arguing. I was freezing, and the tub looked so very tempting. I’d barely gotten my t-shirt off when there was another loud rumble of thunder, and the lights started blinking. Jared was down to his wet boxers when the room went black. My eyes were still trying to adjust when I heard him say, “I’ll be right back.”
I took off my remaining clothes but waited a while for the water to fill up before getting into the tub. Moments later, the room flickered in a soft glow as Jared returned with two lit candles. “Where’d you find those?”
“I can’t reveal all my secrets.” He placed them down on the counter, then removed his boxers and climbed into the tub behind me. I leaned back against his chest with a contented sigh. It felt amazing to be surrounded by the warmth of the water and him. He slipped his arms around me as he kissed the back of my neck. “You good?”
“Yes, very good.” I thought back to our day, and even though it had a rocky start, it ended up being wonderful. I loved fishing with Jared. He was so much fun to be with, and just like the times before, the sex was incredible. I was thinking about how we’d christened almost every room in Billy’s house when I remembered us being momentarily interrupted by an unexpected phone call. I tilted my head back as I looked up at him and said, “I heard you on the phone earlier. Was everything okay?”
“Yeah, it was just Viper calling to check in.”
“Viper’s the president of the club, right?”
“He is.”
I’d seen Viper several times, but I’d never actually spoken to him—mainly because I never got close enough for him to speak to me. I reached for the washcloth and asked him, “Is it just me, or is he scary?”
“What?”
“He scares me a little. Actually, he scares me a lot.”
“I won’t lie. I felt that way when I first met him, but now he’s more like a father to me than a president.”
“Hmph, that’s all well and good for you, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s still pretty scary. And he’s not the only one.” Jared didn’t respond, so I continued, “Widow seems pretty scary, and Hawk does, too, but Delilah’s pretty cool, and Frankie is, too, so they can’t be that bad, right?”
“Right. So, who else do you find ‘scary’?”
“Well, I’m still trying to figure out Rafe.” Since the day I’d started at Stilettos, Rafe had been watching me like a hawk, like he was waiting for me to mess up or something. I’d tried to be polite and talk to him, but he never had much to say in return. I gave Jared a slight shrug as I told him, “He’s not exactly scary, but I’m pretty sure he hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Parker. He was and is concerned about everything going on with you. Now he knows, and like the rest of the brothers, he wants to do what he can to help you get through all this.”
I glanced back up at him. “And what about Lynch?”
“What about him?”
“I saw pictures in Peter and Sally’s house. I know he was their grandson. What is he going to think when he finds out I was responsible for their deaths?”
“You weren’t responsible for their deaths, babe. That was all Rossi.” Jared placed his hand on my chin, forcing me to look at him. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again...You’re not to blame for any of this, Parker. Anyone can see that, including Lynch.”