The Fisherman Series : Special Edition

by Jewel E. Ann

  After I dressed, I lifted my teary gaze to him. “I’m volunteering to go on a mission trip to Thailand for six months. And then …” I lifted one shoulder, drawing in a shaky breath that elicited more tears. “I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. I’ll figure me out.” Turning, I took several steps and turned, giving him a sad smile. “There’s more to life than crossword puzzles, right?”

  His jaw stiffened as he swallowed hard and nodded, his eyes a little red. “I hope so.”

  To be continued …

  Book One Bonus Content

  Select Chapters from Fisher’s Point of View

  Fisher

  Chapter Three

  “Fisher?” Rory called.

  I finished drying off, tied my towel around my waist, and headed toward the kitchen. Ten bucks said she couldn’t get her car started. The battery needed to be replaced.

  The woman near the back door wasn’t Rory, but she had the same dark brown hair, just longer.

  “Hey,” I said.

  She turned. Big blue eyes, just like Rory’s, widened quickly. “Oh my gosh!” She whipped around, giving me her back. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why? Did you break in? Or are you Rory’s daughter?” I knew the answer. She was the spitting image of her mother.

  She cleared her throat. “That … um … yeah … Rory’s daughter.”

  “Ah, Reese Capshaw. It’s nice to finally meet you. Rory talks about you nonstop.” I stepped closer, and she angled her body again to keep me at her back.

  She nodded over and over again.

  “Where’s your mom?” I brushed past her, touching her arm with mine like poking a little bird just to watch it jump. Her nerves were palpable. It was almost laughable. She may have looked like Rory, but she was a bundle of nerves compared to Rory’s calm confidence. I glanced back at her just before opening the door to the garage. She didn’t blink, and her hands were tightly woven together at her waist. She had legs for days, and I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of Rory reading my mind. Reese was a girl in a woman’s body. I’d be good. Well, good enough. “You look like your mom. Lucky girl.”

  Just as her lips parted, the door opened.

  “There you are!” Rory said.

  “Sorry. I was in the shower.” I adjusted my towel, lowering it a smidge to see what Reese would do. To see if she blinked. I hadn’t seen her blink yet.

  “So you met Reese. Isn’t she beautiful? Even more stunning than her pictures. Don’t you think?”

  Fucking Rory.

  When she said her daughter was coming for the summer, I imagined … Well, I’m not sure what I imagined, but I agreed. Her pictures were deceiving; I thought they were from years ago.

  Rory is my friend. I will behave. Rory is my friend. I will behave.

  I had a new mantra. Wetting my lips, because I couldn’t look at those legs, that silky hair, and those perfect little tits without running my tongue across my lips. “She’s perfect, Rory. Almost angelic.” I nodded.

  Reese narrowed her eyes at me like something in her pretty little head didn’t make sense. Her eyes started to relax as she let her gaze wander down my body. She was one hundred percent imagining what was behind my towel. Fuck … I really, really needed to behave, but it was too easy. Too tempting. Too much fun.

  “I told Reese you might have a job for her.” Rory eyed me just as Reese grimaced like something bit her in the ass.

  “Sure. I can keep her busy with lots of odds and ends. Some days you could work in the office with my secretary Hailey. Other days you might come with me to job sites. Drop off lunches. Grab supplies.”

  Reese didn’t respond. I thought she was secretly hoping my towel would fall from my body. I could barely keep a straight face. It wasn’t funny. I needed to treat her like a child. She was Rory’s child. Not a toy for me.

  “Reese?” Rory said.

  “Huh?” She hummed before wetting her lips.

  I bent to the side to put my face into her line of sight. “Hello?”

  She ripped her gaze away from my abs and folded her arms over her chest and those peekaboo nipples while staring at her feet and rocking back and forth on them several times. “A job. That would be great. Thanks.”

  “Everything okay?” Rory asked.

  “Yeah. It’s been a long day of traveling. That’s all.” She glanced around my kitchen.

  “We’ll let you get dressed before your towel falls off, and you show Reese more than she wants to see. I haven’t had the sex talk with her yet.”

  “Oh my gosh …” Reese’s face turned bright red as her hands covered it. “Thanks for embarrassing me.” She dropped her hands but refused to look at me. “I’m an adult now, ya know.”

  I was a little conflicted. Did I want to think of Rory’s daughter as an adult?

  Fisher

  Chapter Eleven

  I’d been given a one way ticket to Hell, and her name was Reese Capshaw.

  I suspected it the day I dropped Rory off at the airport. But seeing her daughter naked in my bathtub pretty much confirmed it.

  I didn’t see her the rest of the weekend, and that was probably for the best because I saw all I needed to see.

  Around five-thirty Monday morning, I texted her.

  Fisher: You’re with me today. We’ll leave in twenty minutes.

  At the last possible second, she opened the door to my truck and climbed inside, stuffing her backpack between her feet but not looking at me. Not one single glance.

  “Morning,” I said.

  “Morning,” she mumbled, keeping her head down.

  “Listen, there’s no need to drag your weekend to work with you on Monday. What happened, happened. No big deal,” I said with a shrug.

  Her head snapped up, jaw unhinged, blue eyes unblinking. “No big deal? You molested me with your eyes! I wouldn’t call that no big deal.”

  What the fuck?

  Eyeing her quickly, as if I didn’t hear her correctly, I shook my head and blew out a slow breath. “You know what your problem is?”

  She tipped her chin up but said nothing.

  “You need to get laid. And so help me, if you even think of telling Rory I said that, I will tell her everything.”

  “I …” Her mouth moved more but nothing came out. “That … you …” Her head repeatedly moved side to side. “I do not need to get laid. You need to stop being so crude. Some people take sex seriously, not like a game to play with anyone willing to have it with them. It’s supposed to be something beautiful between two people who love each other.”

  “You’ve clearly never had an orgasm.” She was going to die a virgin, but I didn’t go that far. It was best she figure that out on her own.

  “I have too.”

  No fucking way. “Liar.” I smirked.

  “You can’t call me a liar about this when you’ve known me for a few weeks. You don’t know anything about me and my past.”

  “Did you give it to yourself or did someone else give it to you?” I can’t help myself. She teed it up every single time. It was just too easy.

  “This … this is a stupid topic and really inappropriate. You’re my boss, driving me to work.”

  “I’m your boss when we get there.”

  “Then let’s go.” She faced forward and ignored me the rest of the way.

  I managed to focus on work the remainder of the day, despite those big blue eyes watching my every move, despite her either not wearing a bra or wearing one so thin it really made no sense to even wear it. I made a mental note to give Rory a hint to go buy her daughter better bras. Our last job was a staircase I’d been working on for a client who was out of town that week.

  “Did you buy these?” Reese asked, running her finger over the spindle curves.

  “Nope. I made them.” I put on my tool belt.

  “Are you serious?”

  I glanced up, collecting the spindles to haul into the house. “Why are you constantly doubting my skills?”

  �
�I’m just used to seeing you walk around staring at other people’s work or barking orders. I have yet to see you in action.”

  “Well, grab the rest of those spindles, and I’ll show you some action.” Just saying the words made my dick hard. It had been hard since the bathtub incident, and no amount of jerking off made a difference.

  While I worked on the staircase, Reese proved to be a good helper, handing me things, running to get things, answering my phone. When I wiped the sweat from my brow, she enjoyed gazing at my abs while wetting her lips. And because I was a glutton for punishment, I kept doing it because I had my own fantasies about those lips she kept licking.

  “I’m going to start deducting pay from your check if you keep stealing free peeks at my body.” The only thing more satisfying than staring at her mouth was eliciting a deep crimson blush along her face and down her neck.

  She cleared her throat and stared at my phone in her hand. “Hailey just texted you. She said Brad’s crew is done She wants to know if you’re coming by the office before you go home?”

  “No,” I said.

  She glanced up at me. “You want me to just say no?”

  Tucking a pencil behind my ear, I nodded. “To Hailey, yes, I want you to say no.”

  Reese’s innocence fed something inside of me. Those deer-in-the-headlights looks. I had no intention of ever taking her innocence, at least not all of it, but I enjoyed toying with it, testing it, testing her.

  “Who else would I say no to?”

  I shrugged. “I’m hoping that’s your last no of the day.”

  After several slow blinks, she glanced at my phone and typed a reply.

  When I finished for the day, I had her vac the area around the drop cloths.

  “Are you done?” she asked, handing me the vac after things were clean.

  “Almost. I’ll finish up tomorrow afternoon.” I closed my trailer and locked it.

  “Think you can teach me something?” She slid her hands into her pockets as my mind wandered into dangerous territory.

  I walked to the passenger’s door, letting very little space exist between us. My gaze affixed to her lips for several seconds before meeting her eyes. “Oh, Reese … I think I can teach you a lot.”

  She swallowed hard. “A-about construction? Can you teach me how to cut and nail things?”

  I was painfully hard by that point. And my grin swelled to the point of pain as well. “We might wait on the cutting, but I think I can show you how I nail things.”

  Again she swallowed hard. “I’d … um … I’d like that.”

  “Oh … I have no doubt you’d like it.”

  I could feel the heat radiating from her pink cheeks.

  “Well…” she lifted her shoulder and pushed her hands farther into her pockets “…time to call it a day?”

  Digging my teeth into my lower lip, I nodded slowly. “Definitely.”

  On the way home, I played all of my favorite music, which happened to be the songs that made Reese fidget and blush. Again, I knew Hell was my final destination.

  Before I got the truck into Park, she flew out with a quick, “Goodnight. See you tomorrow.”

  I parked and followed her around the side of the house, where I heard her begging the door to open.

  “Are you running from me?” I asked.

  “Nope.” She jumped inside the house and locked the door.

  I chuckled to myself, retrieving my key. Was it wrong to invade her space? Absolutely? Did I care? Not so much.

  Click.

  I unlocked the door and stepped inside

  “Whatcha need? she asked with a shaky voice, tossing her shoes into her bedroom.

  “Why are you running from me?” I stood right behind her.

  She turned slowly and drew in a long breath.

  I took another step. She took another one backward. We did this until her back bumped the wall. I pressed my hands to it just above her head, caging her like a scared animal. I could hear her quick breaths, but as I parted my lips, I realized my breathing had accelerated as well.

  “You can’t have my virginity,” she whispered.

  Game over. That should have been it. The end. Turn around and walk away.

  It wasn’t over. It was just beginning, and I couldn’t have stopped it had I wanted to because I needed to know … I needed to know how her lips tasted. If God existed, they needed to taste like fruit picked too soon. Sour. Young. Immature. An aftertaste that would make me walk away and do the right thing.

  “What can I have?” I whispered back.

  She stared at my mouth so long I nearly died. I knew if I pressed my body a little closer to hers that I’d feel her chest rub against mine, feel those hard nipples I fucking dreamed of biting and licking.

  Cupping her jaw, my thumb grazed her trembling lower lip. I should have walked away. She was in over her head because I was pushing her under the water.

  But then she whispered, “A-are you g-going to kiss me?”

  I couldn’t help but grin. “I was thinking about it.”

  Rory would kill me. Unless … it was just a kiss. Maybe a bad kiss. I made myself think it would be a bad kiss. My morbidly curious mind would be settled, and I’d send her to church to find a better man.

  “Will you be done thinking about it anytime soo—”

  I kissed her, and fuck me if she didn’t taste like the ripest fruit on the tree, picked at the perfect time. Sweet. Juicy. And addictive. Releasing her lips, I pulled back just enough to gauge her reaction. She sucked in a slow breath, which made her chest brush against mine, and so I kissed her again. I had to tell myself to take it slow. Control myself.

  Forcing myself to pull back again, I grinned, but so did she.

  “I’m going to shower and grab dinner.” A cold shower. “I’ll see you in the morning. Five-forty-five?”

  She nodded, grinning like I just gave her the secret to life. Before she tempted me to do something that would cause Rory to remove my testicles, I ascended the stairs and headed straight to the shower.

  Fisher

  Chapter Sixteen

  In my defense … I didn’t get sick. I was a freak of nature that way. My family never would have believed we were leaving because I was sick. However, it was a dick move to tell them that Reese had gastrointestinal issues. I just said the first thing that came to mind because I wanted out … I wanted to be alone with her.

  Fisher: I’m sorry.

  Fisher: Are you going to stay mad at me forever?

  Fisher: I’ll call my family and tell them it was a lie. That I just wanted to be alone with you.

  Reese didn’t respond to my texts. I didn’t see her until I mowed the lawn the following day. When I glanced up, she was staring at me with an unreadable expression. I kept mowing. Ran the weed eater. And pulled weeds in the landscaping.

  “You should hydrate. You’re pretty sweaty.” She stood beside me, holding a glass of water.

  I lifted onto my knees and sat back on my heels, sweat and dirt covering my torso. “Thank you.” I pulled off my work gloves and took the glass of water, guzzling it down all at once before handing the glass back to her.

  “I … uh … I forgive you. I just wasn’t ready to say it last night when you messaged me.”

  Wiping my forehead with my arm, I said, “I figured.”

  “My friend called me last night. She’s in Denver for the weekend with her boyfriend. Her sister’s getting married in Colorado Springs next weekend. Anyway … she wanted to get together, so I suggested Arnie’s concert. Do you think he can get us two extra seats?”

  “I didn’t figure you’d want to go.” I didn’t want to go. The last thing I needed was a night out with my ex while my brother tried to get into Reese’s pants. And I knew that was rich coming from me, but Rory asked me to look out for her daughter, so I felt like I was in charge of who did and didn’t get into her pants.

  “I didn’t. But I want to see my friend and she’s really excited about it, so …�
��

  Glancing up at her, I squinted against the sun and nodded. “I’m sure Arnie can make it happen.”

  “Are you taking a … date?”

  I shook my head and chuckled, glancing out at the yard. “You mean, am I taking Angie?”

  Reese rocked back and forth on her heels like she always did when she was nervous.

  “Arnie invited her. It’s virtually impossible for me to not take her at this point.”

  She shrugged. “It’s fine. I was just asking. Should I uh … drive? Or are we all going together?”

  “She messaged me last night. She’ll pick us up at six. I said I needed to verify that you were going, but now that you are … I’ll let her know.”

  “You’re not driving?”

  I shook my head. “I have a work truck and a motorcycle. You’ve seen all the shit in my truck, and I don’t think all of us can fit on my motorcycle.”

  “Yeah. Of course. Well …” She took a few steps backward. “I’ll be ready at six.” She disappeared into the house, only to zoom past me a bit later to hop into Rory’s Outback and speed off.

  Hours later, Angie texted me to let me know she was running a few minutes late. Reese, however, was on time. Standing on my front porch, staring at the street. I opened the door. “She’s running a few minutes late. You can wait inside.”

  She turned and I swallowed back my knee-jerk reaction to cancel the whole night. What the fuck was she doing to me? Those legs. That hair. Makeup that made her look ten years older.

  “O-okay …” she swallowed and stepped inside the house.

  “I have a feeling someone will get beat up or arrested tonight,” I said.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because you’re eighteen going on thirty.”

  “Don’t talk like a parent, Fisher.”

  I shut the door and leaned against it, crossing my arms over my chest. Parent? I wasn’t looking at her like a parent. Far from it. “Fine,” I said. “Every guy that sees you is going to get a hard-on. And I promised Rory I’d keep an eye on you.” Rory was my altruistic excuse. Let’s be honest … she would have removed my testicles had she known what I had done to her daughter, not to mention all the things I still wanted to do.