“Hmm?”
“Your pole.”
I smirked. “You can take care of it when we get back.”
“Your fishing pole!”
I spun around and grabbed it, just before it was tugged out from between the rocks by whatever I’d hooked. I quickly tried to reel it in, but the tension gave and whatever I’d had got away. I finished reeling in my line.
Trixie patted my arm. “Better luck next time.”
“I’m already feeling pretty lucky.”
Her lips twitched. “So, you don’t know this about me, but I’m an excellent swimmer.” She slid her hand down the front of her shirt, popping open the buttons. “If we hadn’t traveled around so much when I was growing up, I would’ve been on a swim team without a doubt.” She unknotted the shirt and let it slide to the sand at her feet.
“What are you doing?” I couldn’t look away as she shoved down the shorts I’d just had my hand inside.
“I’m going to give you a demonstration.”
The shorts hit the beach. She was wearing tiny yellow panties and a matching yellow bra, they both had little white daisies all over them.
“Did you ever go skinny-dipping down here?” she asked, sounding breathless.
I shook my head, unable to look away from her. She was wild and carefree, and she made my heart race so fucking fast just being with her.
“I’m surprised.”
I’d seen her naked just that morning, but I couldn’t make myself speak, not with how beautiful she looked standing there.
“Maybe we can remedy that sometime soon?” Then she winked, ran into the water in her pretty bra and panties, and dove under.
Jimmy jumped in as well, and I stood on the lake’s edge, watching them play, Trixie beaming, listening to her laugh. Fuck me, I wanted a piece of that—of her happiness. Had I ever been that way? Maybe before…before I married and moved away from Rocktown.
Guilt slammed into me even thinking it. I’d loved Janie. I’d moved because I wanted to be with her—or I thought I had.
Fuck, how could I have gotten it so wrong? How could Janie and I both have gotten it so wrong?
“Didn’t expect to see you down here.”
Bull.
I turned, kicking Trixie’s clothes to the side, trying to get them under the blanket I’d brought down with me. There was no missing her, especially when she laughed, followed by a bark from Jimmy, but Bull didn’t need to know she’d just stripped in front of me.
Bull glanced at Trixie, then back at me with a raised eyebrow.
“I wanted to fish, she tagged along with the dog. You been working on the boat?”
“Just giving it a clean.” Bull tilted his head toward Trixie. “How’s that going? You guys got off to a bit of a rocky start.”
I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of seeing Bull down here. Stupid, since his boat was docked farther up the beach. I’d shown him this place when we were in high school, and he often came down here to kick back and muck around with his boat when he needed to destress after a busy week.
“Yeah, fine. I apologized, we moved on.”
“Trix is good like that,” Bull said. “Doesn’t take shit, and forgives easily.” His jaw worked. “Look, about the other night, what I said—”
“I acted like a dick.” I’d planned to go see him to clear the air last night, instead I’d seen Trixie with that Rambler and got the fuck out of there.
“Yeah, brother, you were, but I still overreacted.”
I shoved my fingers through my hair. “I needed to hear it.”
“You doing okay?”
“I’m doing a lot better than I was. Be even better if Janie would stop calling.”
“What? Why the hell is she calling you? Isn’t she still with what’s-his-face?”
“Yeah, she is, and this isn’t an excuse for the way I acted at your place, but the shit she’s been saying—”
“What the hell does she want?”
“She suggested that hey, maybe down the line, we could get back together? Brother, she hasn’t even filed the divorce papers yet. We’re still married.”
“What the fuck?”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Yeah.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I need to call Janie, talk it through with her…”
Bull glanced over my shoulder.
“Hey, Bull,” Trixie said from behind me.
“How’s the water?” he said, offering her a grin.
I spun around. She was standing there in her underwear, that could thankfully pass as a bikini, and she was pulling the blanket around herself.
“Freaking freezing. Jimmy loves it though, and loves it best when I get in with him.”
Bull’s phone beeped and he grinned wider when he checked it. “My wife needs more tuna, I better get going.”
I chuckled. “Catch you later.”
Bull gave me a chin lift. “We’ll talk, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He threw Trixie a wave, then headed up the path. When I turned back, she already had her shorts on and was flicking out her shirt.
“Sorry, I didn’t even think about Bull coming down here.” Trixie didn’t look at me. “Trixie?”
She tugged on her shirt. “What did you tell him?”
“That I came to fish and you tagged along.”
She smiled, it didn’t reach her eyes. “There you go, nothing to worry about.” She scooped up her flip-flops. “Right, I better get back…”
“Why are you pissed at me?” There was no missing that something was bothering her.
“I’m not.”
She still wouldn’t look at me. I caught her arm before she could walk past. “I’m sorry, okay. I’ll be more careful in future.”
She chewed her lip. “Okay.”
I bent my knees, so I could see her eyes. She looked kind of freaked out. “Are you worried he’ll say something to Quinn?”
“You know what she’s like, she can sniff out a secret from a mile away.”
“Bull probably won’t even think to tell her he saw us, and my explanation was simple and believable. Don’t leave, not yet.”
“Someone else might see us.”
“The only people who use this track are me and Bull, occasionally Cal and Dane, who are both working. Bull won’t be back this way tonight, no one else will see us together.”
She nodded slowly, then looked up at me. “Okay, fine, I’ll stay.”
I grabbed
