My fingertip tingled as I tapped the button. It didn’t depress. I had to give it an actual push. A thrill zipped through me as a horn blared almost immediately afterward. I jumped at the noise, even though I’d pushed the stupid button and had known it was coming, and he chuckled.
“Go ahead. Do it again.” Casey rested his hand on my back, low and just above my ass, and my insides went lightning hot. I had trouble concentrating. “Go on. Do it.”
So I did. I pushed the button three more times, laughing like an idiot with every blare of the horn. Shouting from outside brought Casey to his feet. He guided me aside so he could move past and go out the door toward the yelling, and I followed him outside into the cold.
“What the hell, Uhlig?” The man who stood on deck near the ladder wasn’t much older than me and beefy—about half Casey’s size—wearing a blue security uniform and an irritated sneer. My heart about stopped as he glared my way. Casey stepped in front of me, and I was able to breathe again.
“Just having fun, McAffee. No issues.”
The man in the uniform huffed. I peeked around Casey but didn’t come out because the guy had a hard, mean face and the way he held onto the flashlight tucked in the loop of his belt made it seem like he might want to hit me with it. “I thought someone was trying to steal your boat.”
“Last I checked there aren’t any boat alarms for a rig this size,” Casey grumbled, and then he laughed again, and just like when he was angry earlier, his humor took him over entirely. Casey’s shoulders shook and he held his middle and pointed at the security guard, which only made the other man scowl harder. It was odd to watch Casey, who I knew was capable of being terrible, become the exact opposite.
My heart tried to crawl into the back of my throat as I forced myself to stop hiding and shuffle around to stand beside Casey. The man in the uniform looked me over and then smirked. I didn’t like the way a condescending smile settled onto his mouth. “I’ll leave you to it, Mr. Uhlig.Have a good time, sir.” He climbed down the ladder and off the boat with his back arrow straight.
“Sorry about that,” I said quietly, once we were alone again. Snow drifted down fast and shrank the world down to just us.
Casey turned to me, eyes twinkling. “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t worry about it.”
“That man came to yell at us. Me.” My gut twisted.
Casey’s eyes narrowed and he frowned. “McAffee is employed by the marina. I pay his salary, not the other way around. If I want to sit out here, drink, and lay on that horn all damned night, I will. He can’t say shit about it.”
For a moment I opened my mouth to say something else and then snapped it shut. Casey cocked his head, with a furrow between his brows, and I got the feeling that as confused as he made me, I did the same to him. “I’ve never been able to think like that. Like… like I have a right to things.”
“When you’re with me, you do what you want. It’s fine. I promise.”
It was difficult to make myself look him in the eye, but I made it happen—barely. First I stared at his mouth until his lips curved up in the corners, and then I finally met his gaze and my toes wiggled in my shoes.
“Do you want to go back in?” He straightened and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
I shrugged. “What if the security guy comes back?”
He frowned. “I told you. He can’t do anything to us.”
“Right. I’m sorry that I’m…. extra freaky. Things worry me.”
He smiled, but it seemed wary. “Stop apologizing.”
I nodded and fought down the need to say I was sorry again.
“I’ll show you around. Come on.”
He took me on a tour of his super-ultra-mega boat, which was beyond impressive. There was an observation deck on the back that let us look out at the gray sky and the far gates of the marina, where they were closed against surges from the lake, and I shivered as a strong breeze blew in and sliced through my hoodie like it wasn’t there. I used the tip of my tongue to fidget with my lip piercing and wrapped my arms around myself. We both stood looking at the small gray caps on the waves.
“Oh, where’d my coat go?” he asked and brushed his hand over my shoulder.
Glancing around, I felt stupid and then immediately worried he’d be pissed off. “I dropped it when we were in the room with the horn. I’m sorry.”
He stepped closer to me and leaned down. His body heat was nice, and I wanted to press against him. “Stop apologizing for everything. Is this because I yelled at you?”
“No… I guess I do it a lot. I never noticed before.”
He ducked down and stared far too intently at my face. His eyes were super blue. I’d had a colored pencil set that I’d loved before it got ruined because I’d left it sitting around on a table and beer had ended up spilled all over it, and that shade had been called Absolute Zero. Butterflies set up shop in my stomach and had a party.
“Wait here.” He left, taking all of his nice body heat with him, and the wind blew harder. My cheeks burned with the cold and even though this quiet atmosphere was nice, I thought about maybe calling it a night. Before I could decide I was done with this, he came back faster than I would have imagined he could and draped his warm coat around my shoulders again. I tugged the fabric close and a strange tickle of warmth slid through me that had nothing to do with the bulky material draped around my body. I stared out over the iron water with the crisp smell of his woodsy cologne tickling my nose.
“Thank you for giving me a chance. I didn’t deserve it.”
