Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The tall, model-grade blonde smiled flirtatiously when Cap boarded the vessel.
What she didn’t know was that her effort was wasted on him.
She totally wasn’t his type. Not at all.
In fact, he wasn’t remotely interested in a relationship right now.
He cringed. Not since Blythe. The woman who’d captured his heart five years ago and then stomped all over it.
His gaze drifted to the jilted bride. He didn’t know her story, nor did he care to, but he felt bad for her and could relate, he supposed.
“Alright, ladies, are you ready?”
“You bet. I’m Carly,” the tall blonde said as she batted her eyelids at him while flipping her long strands over her shoulder.
Judging from the length and thickness of her eyelashes, they had to be fake.
“I’m Hailey,” the woman with short wispy hair said.
“I’m Morgan, and you already know Emma,” the third lady said.
Emma’s gaze hit the deck.
Guilt pricked him again. He couldn’t take back the crack about Jonathan being unlucky.
“How about a quick tour?” he said.
The four of them nodded and followed him into the cabin through the narrow door.
“Here’s the cabin. Come in here whenever you want or if you need to get out of the sun for a bit.”
“Okay,” Hailey said.
“The head, I mean bathroom, is through that door.”
He pointed to the small galley refrigerator. “There’s room in there if you have anything that needs refrigeration.”
Cap motioned for them to follow him back out of the cabin.
“Oh, and the life vests are stored in that bench seat,” he said.
“I hope we don’t need those. But, with my luck lately…” Emma’s voice trailed off.
No kidding. That was the last thing he wanted to use during this charter.
“We’ll get going then. I’ll need to pull into the marina and fuel up, then we’ll be on our way to the lake.”
Cap climbed up into the wheelhouse and throttled up.
It only took a couple of minutes to get to the fuel dock, which was less time than it took to fuel the boat.
He’d just passed under the Bayview Bridge when his cell phone buzzed.
The city dockmaster’s face popped up on the screen.
“Hello.”
“Hey. We’ve got a problem,” Tom said.
“What?”
“There’s a guy here saying he has a charter scheduled with you right now. I told him you just took off with some ladies, and he’s insisting you come back for him.”
Cap pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He knew this charter was going to be trouble.
“Is his name Jonathan?”
“Yep.”
“For chrissake. I’ve got his jilted bride and her bridesmaids on board.”
“He knows that. He says this trip was for him, not them, so he’s insisting you come back.”
“Not happening. It was her credit card that paid for the charter.”
The last thing he needed was a domestic dispute on his hands, so there was no way in hell he’d return to the dock now.
“I’ve told him five times already you wouldn’t come back, but he insisted I call you.”
“Where is he now?” Cap asked.
“Standing at the dock wall waiting for you. He’s already tried to get a couple of the other charter captains to give him a lift to your boat. They’ve refused and don’t want to be part of this drama.”
“Tell him again that I’m not coming back. Call the cops if he gets out of hand.”
“Will do, and I foresee a call to the cop shop in my near future.”
Cap disconnected the call, then glanced over his shoulder to look at the dock wall even though it was practically out of sight. His gaze moved to Emma, who’d climbed up the ladder to the wheelhouse.
“I’m sorry for that,” she said.
“What?”
“I’m sorry Jonathan’s causing a ruckus. I told him I had canceled the trip. He must not have believed me.”
Cap wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t need this kind of drama surrounding him. As a charter captain, he dealt mostly with men who just wanted to catch fish. Easy peasy.
Having been a police officer and drug investigator earlier in his working life, he now realized how much he liked his drama-free life as a charter captain.
He’d known from the time he was a teenager, guiding fishing trips for his Uncle Lee in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, that he belonged in the outdoors, not in a squad car or in the investigation office of the City of Sturgeon Bay Police Department.
But he was good at it, and there were parts of that job he liked.
Busting drug dealers and getting them off the street gave him satisfaction, and he honestly didn’t mind the danger aspect of the job.
Truth be told, the danger gave him a little thrill.
It was the lying assholes and mind games he encountered every day that took a toll on him.
That, and the fact the justice system went so easy on these drug-dealing pricks.
He worked hard to bust them, and then they’d only get a slap on the wrist.
Emma cleared her throat, drawing his attention back to her.
“I am really sorry,” she repeated as if needing him to acknowledge everything was okay.
But she was just another liar, having lied to her ex about canceling the trip.
Her pleading dark eyes tugged at him, making him want to tell her what she needed to hear. After all, she couldn’t help the fact that her ex was a prick.
“It’s fine. It’ll all be fine. We’ll be on the lake in no time and away from him.”
Emma closed her eyes and drew in a long breath.
“Did you need something?” he asked.
Her eyes popped open. “Huh?”
“Why are you up here? Do you need something?”
“Preston said I could come up here,” she stuttered nervously.
He arched a brow. “For?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to watch from up here. Is that okay?”
No, it wasn’t. He wanted peace and quiet. But he couldn’t tell his client that.
“Sure.”
He gestured to the seat next to where he stood.
She hopped up onto it, leaned back, and crossed her slim, slightly tanned legs. The hot-pink shorts she wore rose, giving him a better view of her shapely legs. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like what he saw.
He hit a small wave, and the boat jostled, causing her to uncross her legs and readjust herself in the seat. Now she left her legs uncrossed and placed her feet on the footrail to stabilize herself.
“Is it going to be bumpy today?” she asked, with a hint of concern in her tone.
“It shouldn’t be. Weatherwise, it should be a great day to be on the water. No wind. No waves. No problems.”
“Super.”
“Once we’re through the canal, we’ll go faster and get to the start of our fishing spot.”
“Start?”
“Yeah. We’ll get to our spot, set lines, and troll.”
“Set lines?”
“Yes, get the rods ready for you ladies to reel in some monster salmon. That’s what we do.”
She smiled, and he followed suit.
Emma leaned back in the seat and stared forward. When they got to the canal, she leaned forward and looked from side to side.
“I see people up there,” she commented as she pointed to the right side of the canal.
“Yeah. Some people fish from the dock wall. There’s also a Door County Land Trust trail that goes along part of the wall.”
“Land Trust?”
“Yes. The organization has acquired substantial property over the years. They preserve the property for public use, creating a lot of nice hiking trails. If you and your friends have time while you are up here, you may want to check them out.”
“We’re just day tripping it today, but maybe we’ll come back soon. I’ve visited Door County a lot, but it never crossed my mind to hike.”
“What do you do when you are here?”
“I’m sure you’ll think this is stupid, but we shop and go to the wineries.”
“That’s not stupid if it’s what you enjoy doing.”
Shopping and wineries were not his thing, but he understood what those two things meant to the local economy, so far be it from him to diss it.
He pointed forward. “There’s the Coast Guard station.”
“Cool.”
“Once we’re past the piers, we’ll travel faster. If you want to go back down with your friends, now would be the time to do that. It will take us twenty minutes to get to our spot.”
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.