Chapter 3
Don’t be fooled by the fake smile and professional body language. I’d punch you in the throat if I knew I wouldn’t go to jail.
— Maven’s secret thoughts
MAVEN
“ I can’t believe we’re going fishing,” I muttered mostly to myself as we walked into the gas station to buy bait.
Well , I wasn’t buying bait. Auden and Atlas were buying bait.
But since it was hella hot outside—ninety-nine degrees at eight-thirty in the morning— I wasn’t interested in staying in the truck if I didn’t have to. Plus , I could use a good Dr . Pepper . That and a bag of Takis might be the only two things to turn this morning around for me.
And since I was there, I might as well use the facilities.
When we walked in, Atlas was there, heading toward the back room. I stopped at the counter and smiled at the haggard looking old lady.
“ Hey , good morning.” I smiled, putting on my best nice face. “ Where is your restroom?”
She pointed in the same direction the two men had disappeared.
Apparently , it just so happened that both the restroom and the fish bait were in the same large room at this particular establishment.
I walked around the corner and stared at the two men who were waiting beside a curtained off area toward the corner of the room. There were feet facing outward from behind the curtain. And in the middle of the large room was a massive black container filled with water.
And bait fish.
I walked to the line and stood behind the tallest guy I’d ever seen before in my life.
He had to be at least seven feet tall, if not more.
Pepper , who fell into place behind me, gave me wide eyes as she mouthed, ‘holy shit!’
I agreed.
I came up to the middle of the man’s spine.
At five-foot-six, I didn’t think that I was small, per se.
But wow, compared to the man in front of me, I was.
A toilet flushed, and the line moved forward.
I glanced beside me when a large, muscular body appeared in my peripheral vision.
Auden came up with a net in one hand, and a bucket in the other.
He leaned both of his arms on the side of the water trough, then glanced over at me with a sparkle in his eyes.
“ I bet fifty bucks you won’t touch it.” Auden’s eyes gleamed, jerking his head toward the fish in his net.
I rolled my eyes. “ You think that just because I am a girly girl, I won’t touch a fish?”
“ I know you won’t,” he taunted me.
He was right.
I hated fish.
Well , I didn’t so much hate them as I hated how they felt.
The line moved again, and Pepper side-stepped me to take my spot in line.
I allowed this because my heart was beating a mile a minute at the nearness of the hottest man alive.
“ Okay , so I don’t like fish.” I scrunched up my nose.
“ Are you going to put that fish in the bucket and get some more, or do you need me to do it?” Atlas asked as he came up on my other side.
I’d never been a huge fan of why choose in the romance world.
I could never see how a man could share the love of his wife with another man.
However , with two dead sexy men on either side of me, I could see the appeal.
“ Here ,” Auden reached over me to hand Atlas the net. The bucket came next. “ I’m gonna go grab us some drinks.” He leaned forward so that his mouth was near my ear when he said, “ Want anything?”
I shivered as I said, “ Um , yeah. Takis . Dr . Pepper .”
He hummed something low and deep, and then was gone.
The toilet flushed again just as Atlas finished up his fish gathering.
I looked up as the curtain swung open, revealing Pepper who was drying her hands on her shorts.
“ No towels.” She grimaced. “ I hate wet hands.”
Agreed .
I stepped behind the curtain and had to shake my head at the lack of privacy.
“ We’ll be outside, Maven !” I heard Pepper call.
“ Okay ,” I called right back, thankful that they wouldn’t be right outside the thin curtained door and hear me.
I mean, I was only peeing, but still. When a man as hot as Auden or Atlas was right outside the curtain, you tended to not want to do anything embarrassing. And apparently, peeing was embarrassing now.
It was as I finished up with the bathroom and had to walk back through the room with the fish again, I acted impulsively.
I reached down, tried not to think about what I was doing, and caught up the dead fish.
I mean, it wasn’t like they were going to do anything with the dead one, right?
I walked out of the store, trying not to think about how slimy the fish felt in my hand.
When I got to the open truck window where Auden was taking up the front passenger seat, I tossed the fish at him.
It hit his lap with a soft plop.
He’d paused mid-drink, pulled the Dr . Pepper away from his mouth, and then looked down at his lap where the dead fish was now lying.
“ Um ,” Atlas said. “ Get that fish out of my new truck.”
“ You have a bucket full of fish between the seats,” Pepper helpfully pointed out.
Auden looked over his shoulder at me and glared.
“ You owe me fifty bucks,” I said as I took my seat behind him.
He snorted, caught the fish, and tossed it out the window.
The first thing we did when we got to the lake was head to a house that was the size of my first four houses combined.
“ Wow ,” I said as I took in the large home. “ This is massive.”
“ It’s my mom and dad’s dream retirement home,” Auden said as he got out and reached for my door.
I got out, sliding down in such a way that not one part of my body touched Auden’s .
He waited for me to hit the ground, also not waiting for me to get out of the way, before he leaned forward, pinning me between the truck and his perfect body. He caught up the fish, then pulled them out.
A splash of cold water spilling on my toes made me squeak.
“ Sorry ,” he said.
“ You don’t look very sorry,” I pointed out.
With the bucket in his hand, he moved down the side of the truck and reached over into the bed, producing what looked to be a brand new fishing pole.
“ You like pink?” I teased.
He shrugged. “ If it’s a good reel, I could care less whether it’s pink or black. As long as it casts good, I’m happy.”
I followed him up to the house, surprised to find Pepper and Atlas already disappearing inside.
“ Why so big for a retirement home?” I questioned the man in front of me.
He bypassed the front door for the side gate, which he held open for me.
“ It’s big enough that all the kids, and grandkids, can be here at once. At least for now.” He paused. “ If my siblings crank out any more kids, though, they’re gonna have to add an addition.”
“ How many nieces and nephews do you have?” I asked as I took in my surroundings.
It wasn’t often that I had yard envy seeing as mine was pretty freakin’ fantastic, but seeing the Carter parents’ yard? It was everything that I would one day hope mine to be.
The amount of upkeep this place would take, though… it was daunting to think about.
Huge Elephant Ears , Delphiniums , and even wildflowers took up just a small amount of the flower beds.
What had my attention the most, though, was the huge greenhouse.
“ Who’s the gardener?” I asked curiously.
“ Me and my mom,” he answered. “ I’m more of a lawn person than the flower bed person, but I’m no stranger to getting my hands dirty.”
Oh , my.
I didn’t think the man could get any sexier, but him telling me that he liked to get outside and get his hands dirty? I could put him to work in so many ways…
He kept walking down the path, winding through flowers, bushes, and all kinds of spectacular outdoor things, until we wound up at the dock at the end of the path.
He walked right out to the end and said, “ What kind of fishing do you want to do?”
I shrugged. “ There’s more than one kind?”
His eyes crinkled at the sides with his amusement at my remark. “ Yeah , sweet thing. There is more than one kind.”
I tapped my lip before saying, “ Which one is going to allow me to eat my Takis , read a book, and drink my Dr . Pepper without requiring me to do too much work?”
He answered without hesitation. “ Catfishing .”
“ Then let’s do that,” I agreed, because the thought of doing any more work than necessary right now sounded abysmal.
He placed his pole and the bucket down on the deck, then walked to a small closet looking area where he came back with a fold-out chair.
He placed it on the dock, then gestured to it. “ Have a seat.”
I tucked my Dr . Pepper in the cup holder, plopped my happy ass in the chair, and opened my Takis .
Then he set the pole up for me, told me what to do, and handed me his brand new pink pole.
“ When you see the bobber go down, give it a good yank,” he instructed as he picked up a different fishing pole.
Pepper and Atlas took what felt like forever to join us, and when they did, I was reeling in the smallest fish I’d ever seen.
“ Is it a keeper?” Pepper asked as she came to my side.
I had no idea.
“ There’s no size limit on catfish in Texas ,” Atlas answered her as he reached forward and pulled the tiny fish off my hook. “ But there’s a limit size to what we’ll clean. And it has to be at least sixteen inches to make it worth our while.”
And that’s how the day went.
The men caught quite a bit. I lost more than I caught because apparently, you had to pay attention to catch a fish. And Pepper sat to the side, as far away from Atlas as she could, and let her toes dangle in the water as she looked out into the distance.
Eventually , Atlas went inside and came back out with food for us all, and we made sandwiches on the dock. Auden went and caught up all the food we hadn’t donated to the police department.
When he came back, he was laughing at something on his phone.
My eyes automatically went to him, and he twisted his phone so that I could see what was making him grin.
In the photo, all the food that was made to sell this morning was gone. In its place were a bunch of empty boxes.
And in front of those empty boxes, glaring incredibly hard at them, was my father.
He had his hands on his hips, his eyes narrowed, and I could practically see the steam coming out of his ears.
Good .
Served him right.