She nodded and slid off the tall seat. Misjudging the distance to the floor, she stumbled and fell against his side. Instinctively, his hand latched onto her tiny bicep, and he steadied her.
“Sorry.”
Her cheeks reddened.
“It’s okay. Are you good?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He released her arm.
“Hold tight to the rungs on your way down.”
“Will do.”
He watched her as she climbed down the ladder, and when she sat on the bench seat next to Hailey, he looked forward and sped up.
Cap fought the urge to glance over his shoulder and look at Emma. She was pretty, and the tantalizing scent that she left in the wheelhouse was pleasant. It reminded him of the aroma after a fresh spring rain. Clean and refreshing.
He looked over his shoulder and caught her gaze. She immediately looked away.
* * *
Emma ran her hands over the gooseflesh on her arms. It was eighty degrees outside, yet she shivered. It was probably colder out here on the lake versus in the city; even so, goosebumps? She glanced at the captain and shivered again at the thought of the intensity of the gaze they’d just shared. When they left the dock, she had been mad as hell for the comment he’d made about Jonathan being an unlucky soul since he would soon be married, or so he’d thought.
In Cap’s defense, he couldn’t have known what had happened, but to make a comment like that was uncalled for.
What was his story? Why was he so bitter about marriage? Divorced? Left at the altar? Dumped right before the wedding like she’d been?
Those warm chestnut irises of Caps made her feel comfortable and safe on this voyage. Having never been on Lake Michigan in a boat, she was apprehensive about this charter, but the man looked like he knew what he was doing. The slight peek into his soul through their shared gaze told her he was a good person, just maybe misguided, hence the mean comment about marriage and commitment.
Emma stared out over the back of the boat. The wake they created mesmerized her. She thought about Jonathan. How could he dump her two weeks before their wedding? And without a proper explanation. Just some bullshit about not being ready for this kind of commitment and the timing being off. Why didn’t he think of that before he proposed? It wasn’t like she pressured him into the proposal. In fact, it surprised her how early it came in their relationship. Six months in, he popped the question. That was all on him.
Her eyes watered. She was utterly humiliated. Thank goodness her mom offered to contact their three hundred guests to let them know the wedding was off. She wouldn’t have had it in her to say the words out loud to everyone. Many of the guests were business associates of her father, whom she’d never even met. In the social circle her parents were in, the one she grew up in, weddings were an event in which you invited the elite, no matter how well you knew them.
Recalling part of the reason she took this trip, she glanced at Jonathan’s black duffel bag full of fishing equipment. She looked for Preston, who a moment ago had ducked into the cabin. As if Morgan read her mind, her friend stood, grabbed the bag, and handed it to her.
“Do it!”
Emma stood, took the heavy bag from her friend, and tossed it overboard.
“There. Now the jerk will have to buy all new stuff.”
Her friends clapped.
She’d just hurt Jonathan where it counted. His pocketbook. He was obsessed with money. Why, she wasn’t sure. He had a good job as a commercial real estate lender and was building a great portfolio with her dad’s help.
Preston returned to the deck.
“What’s so exciting?” he asked.
They all stopped clapping.
“Nothing really. We’re just cheering for the awesome fishing to come,” Morgan said.
The young guy shrugged. “I’ll do my best for you.”
The boat slowed to a near stop, and Cap and Preston grabbed poles from their holders and went to the back of the boat, letting out line and hooking lines to small, red boards. She didn’t know what that was all about, but figured they knew what they were doing, so she wouldn’t move until they told her what to do.
