He tipped his head to the side as though sizing her up. “I’ll be interested to hear what that might be.” He didn’t sound pissed, but then she didn’t know him. Maybe he was one of those guys who seethed silently. All she knew was that nobody liked rent increases.
“And I’d like to come out on your next cruise, if that’s okay?” she added. “Just to learn a little more about what you do.”
“If you come out on my boat, I’ll put you to work. We don’t take any freeloaders on the Explorer.”
She bit down a smile. “I’m not afraid of work.”
Griff nodded. “We leave at eight on Saturdays. But the crew starts at six. That’s when I’ll expect you.” He gave her a nod, and turned to walk away, not waiting for her reply.
It was only when he was halfway up the pier that he turned around and called out to her.
“And Miss Paxton?”
“It’s Autumn.”
The hint of a smile crossed his lips. “Autumn, then. As delightful as those shoes are, I suggest you wear flats tomorrow. Unless you want to end up as shark bait.”
4
“So there’s a new woman in town and neither of you thought to give her my number?” Jackson asked as Lucas slid a tray of beers on the table. “At least I know where she lives.” Griff and his two friends were at the local bar for a rare guys’ night out. He watched, amused, as Jackson swallowed a mouthful of cold beer.
“Don’t harass my tenants.” Lucas shot Jackson a warning glance. “And anyway, I thought you were seeing that programmer from White City.”
Jackson shrugged. “We ended things last month. So I’m free and single. And we all know that Griff would never date somebody he works with. Not after the Carla fiasco.” He grinned at Griff. “I bet you were delighted to see she’s back.”
“Over the moon,” Griff said, deadpan.
“That’ll teach you to date so close to home.”
“Griff never dates anybody all out,” Lucas pointed out. “He just breaks hearts all around town.”
“Guys, I’m sitting right here.” Griff took a sip of beer and glanced at Jack. “And leave Autumn alone. She’s too nice for you.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh yeah. How nice?”
Lucas leaned back in his chair, glancing with amusement at the two of them. “Ember says she’s pretty. And that she has great shoes, whatever that means.”
“What kind of shoes?” Jackson leaned in. “I need details here.”
Lucas’s phone rang and he grimaced as he glanced at the screen. “Gimme a sec. It’s Ember. I gotta take this.”
Jackson looked at him with amusement. “You only just left her. What the hell could you two have to talk about?”
Lucas shrugged and took the call. “Hey, baby.” There was a pause. “Are you sure? I’m at the bar.” Another pause. “Okay.” He sighed, glancing at Jackson and Griff. “I need to sing to Arthur.”
Griff coughed out a laugh.
“Hey. Any more of that and we’re doing a duet,” Lucas warned him.
Griff held his hands up. “I did my duties the other night. This one’s all on you.”
“Well, I’m not doing it with an audience. I’m heading outside.” Lucas sighed and exited through the door, leaving Jackson and Griff.
It wasn’t often that the three of them got together. With Lucas’s family and Jack’s thriving business, the two of them were hard to pin down. And on the occasional time that they did manage to meet, they were often joined by their friend Breck, as well as Nate and Aiden, partners of Ember’s friends.
Griff never minded who joined them. But it was nice catching up with his two oldest friends.
Even if one of them was singing “Baby Shark” in the floodlights outside the bar right now.
“Seriously, though. This Autumn. She’s single, right?” Jackson asked as the door closed behind Lucas.
Griff shrugged. “I’ve got no idea. I didn’t ask about her marital status when she was telling me about raising my rent.”
Jackson laughed. “Did she have a ring on her finger?”
“What am I? Some kind of stalker?” Griff shook his head. “She’s from New York, she’s pretty, smart, and successful. That’s all I got, except she’s too smart to date a loser like you.” He grinned at Jackson’s outraged expression.
“Takes one to know one.”
“Yup.” Griff took another mouthful of beer.
“So what else do you know?”
“About Autumn?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop asking. I know nothing.” Apart from the fact he couldn’t stop thinking about those heels. Nor about the way his skin heated up when she slid her delicate hand into his.
Or the way he’d spent last night thinking about her after seeing her on the pier, and how most of those thoughts carried an R rating.
“Well tomorrow’s the perfect chance to find out,” Jackson told him. “A whole day at sea with the woman who has sexy shoes. I’m almost jealous.”
Griff sighed loudly. “I told her not to wear the shoes.”
The early morning sun was beating down on the vivid blue ocean as Autumn made her way along Paxton’s Pier toward the large boat moored at the end. Everything she was wearing she’d picked up from Lorne’s Surf Shop yesterday. White tennis shoes and cut-off shorts, along with a tight grey tank beneath a cropped navy hoodie. Nothing she’d ever think of wearing in New York, not even in the blistering heat.
She hadn’t bothered to straighten her long, dark hair, either, figuring it would get blown into a frizzy mess anyway. Instead, she’d pulled it into a messy bun, with tendrils trailing down her slender neck.
Her dad would have a fit if he saw her like this. Lydia, on the other hand, would be jumping for joy.
There was already activity at the boat when she reached the metal gangplank that led from the pier to the boat deck. A young guy was carrying boxes of supplies onboard, and a teenage girl was scrubbing the wooden planks of the deck with a thick brush. Griff was nowhere to be seen. Autumn rolled her shoulders back and pinned a smile on her face before she stepped onto the mesh of the gangplank, trying not to feel completely out of place.
It was just for one day. To learn more about the whale watching business. Maybe she’d even be able to help.
“You okay there?” the guy asked as she stepped onto the deck. He was walking out of what looked like a cabin on the far end, his head tipped to the side as he took her in. “You’re a little early for the excursion. We don’t set off for a while yet.”
“I’m looking for Griff,” she told him. “I’m Autumn Paxton, I’m helping out today.”
The guy nodded his head. “Oh sure. He’s in the wheelhouse.”
The last time she’d stepped foot on a boat was for her friend’s wedding reception in Manhattan. That had been more of a cruiser, complete with waiters in white jackets and glasses of champagne as soon as she was onboard.
She hadn’t been wearing cut-offs and tennis shoes then, either. But she still had no idea where the wheelhouse was.