by Laura Drewry
He didn’t try to kiss her, he just held on to her, so tight.
“I love you so fuckin’ much,” he growled. “I can’t even see straight most of the time.”
Tears streaming down her face, Jessie snort-laughed against his shoulder. “I know.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head against hers. “You don’t. You don’t have any idea what this feels like.”
She loosened her grip around his neck so she could hold his beautiful stubble-covered face in her hands. A storm of blue and green stared back her, silently pleading with her to do something, to save him from everything he was feeling but didn’t know how to describe.
“Yes,” she said quietly, softly. “I do know what it feels like.”
Then, before he could argue, she leaned in and kissed him: slow, deep, and oh-so-freakin’ perfect. God, how she’d missed him. It had only been a couple of days since she’d last kissed him, but it might as well have been a year.
She didn’t care if guests were watching; she didn’t even care if Sam fired her half a day into the job. All she cared about was having Finn smooth his hands up her back, down her sides, and across her butt, while his kisses pulled sounds out of her that made him smile.
And feeling him smile against her lips was the best thing in the world.
“You don’t have to do this, Jess.”
“Yes, I do. The Buoys was there when I needed it, and I need to be there when it needs me.”
“Just come home,” he said, his voice a low plea. “We’ll figure something out. I can’t leave you here.”
“You’re not leaving me here, Finn. I’m coming home in a couple weeks.”
“Home.” His chest expanded slowly against hers before he released a long breath. “Promise me you’ll always come home.”
Nodding, she kissed him—his mouth, his eyes, and the side of his neck—before tightening her hold on him again. Maybe if she held him tight enough right now, it would last her until she got home.
“Hey,” he murmured. “There’s something I want to show you.”
“And I’d love to see it,” Jessie said, laughing against his mouth, “but I don’t think—”
“God’s sake, woman, get your mind out of the gutter.” With a quick wink, he unhooked her ankles from around his back and set her down on her feet.
She didn’t like that at all; she wanted to be in his arms, with his lips on hers and his tongue doing that slow mind-drugging dance with hers.
“I didn’t have time to find a bucket,” he said, “so I had to use a glass, but I think it turned out okay.”
He took a step to the side and tipped his head down a little, just enough to direct her attention. Frowning, Jessie peered around him and beyond the sand-filled Guinness glass lying on the beach.
Her breath caught in her throat as she stumbled back a step, and then she was crying again, harder and uglier.
“You built me a castle.”
Epilogue
“I fish therefore I am.”
As promised, every other weekend, Sam flew Jessie straight back to the Buoys. At first Finn insisted they should fly her home on the alternate weekends, too, but Jessie refused, and Liam was clearly thankful for that.
It was damn expensive to fly in and out, and it’d easily be a couple of hundred bucks in fuel to boat her back and forth, so Jessie taught Finn how to use video chat on the computer. It wasn’t even close to being the same, but it would have to do.
Every night, when she sat curled up in a chair, reading, she missed him more. Every time she crawled into her huge bed, with its fancy quilt-topped mattress and down pillows, she wished he were there to snore her to sleep. And every time she video-chatted with him, she ran her fingers across the screen, wishing she could somehow magically feel his face.
Nothing made her happier than jumping out of the Helijet and having him there waiting for her, and now that it was the off-season, and everyone, including Olivia, had left the island, there was plenty of privacy at the Buoys.
Kate and Liam had their cabin out back, and Jessie and Finn had their room downstairs.
It was almost perfect.
The four of them were in the great room, watching the Blue Jays’ chances of making the World Series slip away, when Finn, who was stretched out behind Jessie on the couch, cleared his throat.
“So, uh, Ashley called.”
Jessie shifted around so she could see his face, but instead of the disappointment she’d half-expected, his mouth was twisted a little to the side, as if he wasn’t quite sure about something.
“And?”
“And, uh…” His gaze flicked toward Liam, then back to Jessie, but still he hesitated.
“They want the fish whisperer to be their new host,” Liam chuckled. “Can you believe that shit? And not only that, but they want to make the Buoys their base.”
“Oh my God!” Jessie sat straight up and moved over so she was sitting sideways on the cushion, her eyes fixed on Finn.
“They’ll pay him a butt-load of money,” Liam said. “And on top of that they’ll pay to put their crew up here on the days they’re shooting.”
“Are you serious?” she croaked. “So what did you say?”
“Nothing yet.” Finn shrugged slowly. “We needed to talk it over with you first.”
“Me? I mean, that’s sweet and all, but you know I’ll go along with whatever you three decide. It’s your place, after all.”
“Well…” Stretching his arm toward the side table, he pushed the worn Linden MacIntyre paperback aside and slid out a folded piece of paper from beneath it. “There’s more to it, but this’ll give you the gist.”
With tentative fingers, Jessie took the paper from him and unfolded it slowly. Frowning, she skimmed the first paragraph then stopped.
No. That couldn’t be right. Back to the top she went again and reread it, slower, word for word.
“But…” Jessie blinked up at Finn, who shot her a quick wink.
“Figured if we had your name on the deed, it’d be more incentive for you to stick around.”
She knew he was kidding, but just in case there was even a flicker of doubt in his mind, she leaned over and kissed him, keeping her lips against his as she spoke.
“I’m not going anywhere, Finn. You don’t need to do this.”
“I know,” he murmured, skimming his finger down her cheek. “But we couldn’t have done any of this without you and Kate, so…”
He stretched out again, this time for the pen sitting next to the book. Jessie didn’t hesitate. She scrawled her signature on the paper, right next to Kate’s recent signature, tossed it all to the floor, then threw her arms around Finn’s neck awkwardly, since he was still lying on his side.
“Uh, Jessie?” Liam cleared his throat quietly. “We told Ashley we’d have an answer for her by tomorrow morning, so…”
“Yes!” she cried, sitting up again. “Of course! If Finn’s up for it, that is.”
“I’m not,” he grumped. “Hosting a fishing show’s not the kind of shit we do, but apparently you’ve got us all believing we need to put this place first, so I guess it’s my turn to take one for the team.”
“You’ll be great,” Jessie laughed, giving him a gentle shove. “But if you’re going to be hosting the show, we’re going to need someone else here.”
“Yeah.” Finn grinned. “I’ve been thinking about that, too.”
“Oh God,” Liam groaned. “I hate it when he starts thinking.”
Careful not to kick Jessie, Finn swung his legs around and sat up.
“The money Jess is making will see us through the off-season, and if I sign on with Hooked, we’ll have that to work with next season, which leaves the rest of Liam’s money sitting in the bank.”
They all nodded.
“So I was thinking—and I know I’ll regret this a thousand times over, but—what if we give Liam’s money to Ronan?”
Stunned silence fell over the rest of them until his words
finally registered in Jessie’s brain.
“Oh my God,” she squeaked, covering her mouth with both hands. “Yes!”
“He can use it to finish paying off Mandy’s tuition—this is her last year, right?—and then she’ll have her degree, so that’ll be done with.”
“Right.” Liam’s nod slowed, but his grin widened. “And the rest he can use to pay off the house so he’s not tied to that mortgage payment anymore.”
“He can come home,” Jessie breathed. “Finally.”
“He can come home.” Finn lifted his hands slowly, as if to ask them what they thought, but he needn’t have bothered.
“God help us all.” Liam’s groan made them all laugh.
“But what about his house?” Kate asked. “He can’t pay it off and then just hand it over to Mandy free and clear.”
“Not a fuckin’ chance,” Liam snorted. “He’ll still need to convince her to sell it, but he can do that from here just as well as he can from there.”
Finn and Liam sat there nodding at each other for a couple of seconds before they both settled in to watch the game.
“Well, aren’t you going to call him?” Jessie cried, clicking her tongue.
“After the game.” Finn stretched his body out along the length of couch again and laughed as he opened his arms for her to join him. “I mean, let’s not go crazy—we don’t want him getting here too soon, do we?”
“Hell no,” Liam said, chuckling softly. “After all the shit he did to us growing up, I think he deserves to wallow in the Mandy-misery for at least another couple of hours.”
“Never mind.” Laughing, Jessie pushed off the couch and headed into the office to get the phone, which wasn’t there. “Where’s the phone?”
There were a few seconds of mumbling before Liam called out, “I might have left it on the bar.”
Sure enough, that was exactly where he’d left it, but as she grabbed it, something on the wall caught her eye and distracted her from dialing.
“What the—”
It was a picture of her and Finn down at the fire pit the last time she’d come home. They’d sat there for hours with an old gray blanket wrapped around them, whispering and laughing, and only moving when they had to stoke the fire.
“Kate took it with her phone.” Finn’s voice, so close to her neck, made her shiver until she snuggled back against him and pulled his arms around her.
They didn’t move for a long while, just stood there wrapped up in each other, looking over all the pictures of family and friends as the last tiny hole inside Jessie filled to overflowing. Pulling Finn’s arms around her tighter, she rested her head against his collarbone and smiled.
“All three O’Donnells back at the Buoys permanently.” Jessie sighed contentedly as Finn leaned down and breathed a soft kiss against the side of her neck. “This oughta be interesting.”
To Laini—it’s all about cooking the KD for seven minutes, am I right?
Acknowledgments
There are so many people who make it possible for me to do this, and I truly appreciate each and every one of you!
Thank you so very much to my agent, Holly Root, and my editor, Junessa Viloria, for always seeing the positive and for helping me see it, too. To the whole team at Loveswept—Ashleigh, Erika, Evan, Gina, Lynn, Diane, Matt, and everyone else who helps make up our team—you guys rock!
To Maggie McGinnis for giving me the line that brought it all together, to Sidney Halston for making me laugh when I’m about to lose my mind, and to Ann Christopher, Kristi Cook, Lori Devoti, Caroline Linden, Sally MacKenzie, and Eve Silver, who’ve been with me from the start and who are now stuck with me forever—like it or not.
To my sister Sue, who forces me to get up from my computer and go outside once in a while, and to Captain Ron and our boys, Thomas, Michael, and John, for…well…everything. Not even kidding. Everything.
And to my readers. It means the world to me that you not only read my books, but that you also take the time to review them, blog about them, and connect with me online. From the bottom of my heart, thank you thank you thank you!
BY LAURA DREWRY
Friends First
Plain Jayne
Prima Donna
Accidentally in Love
How Forever Feels
Fishing for Trouble
Off the Hook
Lured In
USA Today bestselling author LAURA DREWRY started out writing poetry—unbelievably bad poetry—which hopefully will never again see the light of day. With that behind her, she now writes contemporary and historical romance novels with characters who aren’t perfect, who aren’t always nice, and who tend to be a little (or a lot) on the sarcastic side. Born and raised in British Columbia, Laura spent eight years in the Canadian north, where she learned important life lessons like how to get your bananas from the grocery store to your car without them freezing and turning black in the –40°C temperatures. She now lives back home in southwestern British Columbia with her husband, three sons, a turtle, two crazy dogs, a handful of chickens, and about thirty thousand bees. She loves old tattered books, movies, music, the New York Yankees, and cheesecake. Lots of cheesecake.
lauradrewry.com
Facebook.com/LauraDrewryAuthor
@lauradrewry
Read on for a sneak peek of the next book in Laura Drewry’s Fishing for Trouble series
Catch and Release
Available from Loveswept
Chapter 1
“Did you know there’s a town in Saskatchewan called Climax?” Hope Seaver pulled a Wet-Nap out of her oversized tote bag and handed it to her camera guy, Kevin, as the small float plane banked a little to the right.
Having spent most of the flight bent over his barf bag, Kevin’s already pale complexion seemed almost transparent as he sat up slowly, dragging the damp cloth over his mouth.
“It’s true.” Hope smirked, quirking her left eyebrow. “And as you drive out of town, their sign says Come Again.”
Instead of laughing—or even smiling—Kevin leaned his head back against the velvet-covered rest and groaned.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “That’s funny.”
He barely managed to roll his gaze her way before closing his eyes again.
“It’s better than the other stupid shit you’ve been spouting the whole flight,” he muttered. “I’ll give you that.”
“It’s not stupid shit,” she said, her laugh brittle and a little forced. “It’s quality bits of knowledge that help to enhance and enrich your life.”
Okay, the bit about Climax, Saskatchewan, might not have been all that enriching, but who didn’t like trivia? It was interesting, helped start conversations, and was a great distraction when she was worried or nervous.
And holy crap on a cracker, she was plenty of both just then. Thankfully, neither Kevin nor the other cameraman, Chuck, seemed to notice, Kevin because he’d been too sick and Chuck because the second he’d buckled into his seat he’d stuck his earbuds in, closed his eyes and started to snore. The pilot hadn’t so much as acknowledged any of them since takeoff, so sick or not, Kevin was the only one Hope had to talk to on the flight, and, honestly, it had been more of a running monologue than an actual conversation.
“If this is what you’re like even after you’re medicated,” she said, “how are you going to manage out on the boats? Should I call Luka and tell her to send someone else?”
“Relax, Blondie, it only happens when I fly.” Kevin dragged his eyes opened, inhaled a long, slow breath, and then blew it out again—right in Hope’s direction. “Feeling better already.”
“Sweet Jesus.” Clamping one hand over her mouth and nose—too late to do any good—Hope reached the other hand deep into her bag again. “Here.”
The first thing she shoved at him were the rest of her wipes, then a pocket sized package of tissues, a lunch container filled with plain crackers, a couple of Advil caplets, a bottle of Pepto, and the rest of her water. Somewhe
re in there…oh, come on…she was sure she’d packed some…Yup, there it was: a travel-sized mouthwash.
Kevin stared down at the heap on his lap, then blinked hard and grunted. “Are you for real?”
Still grimacing, Hope flicked her fingers toward the mouthwash. “Don’t be shy with that stuff. If a little’s good, a lot’s a whole lot better.”
Bypassing the mouthwash, he popped the lid off the cracker container and stuffed a couple of them into his mouth, leaving a trail of crumbs falling behind.
“Got any ginger ale in that drug store you carry around?” he asked. “Spare toothbrush, maybe?”
“No. And if you know this is what happens when you fly, why don’t you come prepared?”
“I did.” He swallowed hard and shoved in two more crackers before pulling an unopened pack of gum out of his pocket. “See? Ready for anything.”
“Yeah, that’s hilarious,” she said, her voice dry and unamused. “The O’Donnells aren’t exactly keen on us being here to start with, so the last thing we need is for you to be smelling like…that…the first time we meet them face to face.”
Kevin dropped his gum on top of the pile on his lap and took a long swig of water. “I can’t wait to meet these guys, especially that one from the conference call—the one who told the network to go fuck itself. Ronan, right? Pretty sure that dude’s my spirit animal.”
“Yeah,” Hope muttered. “Ronan.”
Hope had been sitting in on that call, staring down at a picture of the O’Donnell men, and had actually jumped in her chair when Ronan’s roar blasted through the speaker on Luka’s desk. It wasn’t just the shock of him yelling that made her jump, it was that she never would have guessed the man in the picture could yell like that.
The photo was nothing more than a candid closeup shot of the three brothers sitting around the fire pit in front of their lodge, Ronan in the middle, his arms curled around his brothers’ shoulders. And while they all looked happy enough, with big smiles and glasses of beer lifted in the air, there was something else in Ronan’s expression; something soft and tender, almost vulnerable.