“
As Jack spoke, Carrington caught sight of me in the doorway, and she threw me a grin. “Are you gonna take Miss Ella fishing?” she asked Jack, who had picked up a Japanese saw and was cutting off the protruding end of the gunnel at an angle.
“If she wants to,” he said.
“Is she gonna catch you, Uncle Jack?” Carrington asked slyly.
“She already did, darlin’.”
At the sound of her titter, Jack paused in his sawing, followed her gaze and saw me standing there.
A slow smile spread across his face, and his gaze turned dark and hot as he glanced over my pink swimsuit and bare legs.
Dropping the saw, he muttered to the other two, “’ Scuse me, I’ve got to talk to Miss Ella about something.”
“No, you don’t,” I protested. “I just wanted a peek at the skiff. It’s beautiful, Carrington. What color are you going to paint it?”
“Pink like your bathing suit,” she said cheerfully.
Jack was coming toward me. I retreated a few steps.
“Don’t take him away for good, Ella,” Gage said. “We still need to fasten the gunnel on the other side.”
“I’m not taking him away at all, I . . . Jack, get back to work.”
But he headed for me without pausing, and I giggled and retreated into the kitchen. “Leave me alone, you’re all sweaty!”
In a few seconds, I found myself pinned against a countertop, his hands gripping the beveled granite edge on either side of me. “You like me sweaty,” he murmured, his denim-clad legs corralling mine.
I leaned backward to avoid contact with his damp chest.
“If I have caught you,” I told him, still giggling, “I’m going to throw you back.”
“You only throw the little ones back, darlin’. The big ones you keep. Now give me a kiss.”
I tried to stop smiling long enough to comply. His lips were warm as they moved over mine, the kiss erotic in its careful lightness.
”
”