Sea Breeze 03 While It Lasts (5 page)

             
“Thanks,” I replied
,
smiling down at her.

             
“Here comes Jeremy and Eva. You can talk to them while I’m gone,” she beamed then turned to hurry toward the large coolers full of ice sitting as far away from the fire as possible.
Of course, Eva had shown up with the boyfriend that didn’t suit her at all. She needed someone who could show her how to loosen up. Good ‘ole Jeremy wasn’t that guy.

             
“Hey man,
Becca
dragged you out h
ere tonight, huh?
” Jeremy said in an amused tone as he stopped beside me.

             
“Yeah. I thought I’d check out t
he night life around this place,
” I replied
,
shifting my eyes from Jeremy to Eva. She wasn’t looking at me but I could tell she was trying real hard not to. Her stiff posture told me she was very aware that I was watching her.
Dammit why’d that make me fucking happy?

             
“Thanks for sending out the cold ice rags today. Those sure were nice,” I said
,
knowing she wouldn’t be able to ignore me now.

She took a deep breath that she tried to hide but I was watching her too closely. Then she turned her eyes my way and it was like a damn kick in the stomach when the light from the fire
illuminated
her face
.
I’d been with a lot of gorgeous women but never had I been so affected by their looks before.  There was something in her eyes that drew me in. I wanted to make the sadness she tried to hide go away. Eva Brooks was haunted and my protective tendencies were being tugged on.

“You’re welcome,” s
he replied in a clipped tone.

             
“I realize that those were probably meant for Jeremy but he shared and it was much appreciated.”

             
A small frown puckered her brow. “I sent two out there
,
didn’t I? One for each of you.”

             
Ah, so she was admitting to thinking about me too. I liked
that
.

             
“Really. Well
,
thank you. I was under the impression you wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire.”

             
Jeremy’s amused response was a low chuckle that was beginning to get on my nerves. He did that a lot.

             
“As long as you do the work that Daddy has for you and you work hard then I will
be
more than happy to supply you water and cold towels.”

             
H
er responses were all so matter-of -f
act. Did she ever get passionate or emotional about anything? It would be a damn shame if she
was
that cool and controlled during sex. Something in her eyes told me she was holding back. There was something I was missing.

             
She lifted her hand to tuck a stray lock behind her ear and I saw
the
twinkle of a small diamond that sat securely on her left hand.
I stared at it as understanding slowly began to sink in.

Eva
was engaged
. 

Words left me.  The world tilted a little off center. I jerked my gaze off the ring to Jeremy who was watching me closely.
Jeremy
was her
fucking
fiancé?

             
“Here
ya
go,”
Becca
Lynn said as she held
ou
t a can of Bud l
ight to me
. I took it fr
om her outstretched hand and opened it taking a very long swallow. I had to get my head on straight. I hadn’t been expecting this. Jeremy and Eva
dating
was
crazy enough but
engaged
?
How the hell did that happen?

             
“Want to go swimming?”
Becca
asked sweetly. I needed to remember I was here with her. I needed to focus on anything other than that diamond ring on Eva’s hand.

             
“Sure,” I managed to reply.

             
“
Becca
, don’t do that.
” Eva’s obvious disapproval surprised me. What the hell was wrong with swimming? Was she against that too?

“Why not?”
she chirped as she began pulling
her tank top over her head. WHOA
.

             
“Then at least go strip in the shadows and not right here in front of everyone. Especially Jeremy
. You’
ll make him uncomfortable.”

             
Strip? Were we going skinny-
dipping?

             
“It
ain’t
like Jere
my hasn’t seen
me naked, Eva.”

             
What?

             
“Ugh, just go undress away from us,” Eva replied.

             
“I wasn’t exactly complaining.
Be
cca
Lynn has some nice knockers,
” Jeremy piped in.

             
It came out of nowhere. I suddenly saw red. 

             
I reached over
to grab
Jeremy by the collar and lifted him off his feet. “
Apologize,
now
you stupid fucker.
”

             
Jeremy’s wide-
eyed expression told me I’d scared the shit out of him but I didn’t care. He was engaged.
To Eva
.
What the hell was he looking at other girls’ tits for and talking about how
nice they were in front of her?
Asshole.

             
“I’m sorry
Becca
,” he croa
ked out.

             
“Not her you idiot! Eva! Apologize. To. Eva.”

             
Why the hell did he look confused? Was he a moron?

             
“Uh, sorry Eva. I
didn’t mean to uh, say that,” h
e stammered nervously.

             
I felt a hand on my arm tugging at me but the blood pounding in my ears wa
s drowning out everything else.
I turned my angry glare off Jeremy to see Eva’s horrified expression as she screamed and pulled on my arm.

             
Focusing on her words I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down

             
“STOP IT! STOP IT NOW! CAGE.”

             
Slowly
,
I let Jeremy down and watched as Eva shoved me back and went to fuss over Jeremy like she was his damn mo
mma
.

             
“Are you okay? He’s insane. What was Uncle Mack thinking
sending him here
? I’m so sorry, Jer.”

             
Jeremy shook his head and gently pushed her hands away.  “Eva
,
I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me. He was just offended by my comment and apparently thought you would be too.”

             
Well
,
hell yeah. Low would have killed Marcus with her bare hands had he said something like that about another woman. Eva was not reacting properly. She was mad at me. Me. Not Jeremy.

             
“Because he’s insane. He’s a drunk and he’s had too much to drink.”

             
That was it, “Excuse me Mother Teresa but this is my first damn beer in three days
and I’ve only had half of it.
This is not what constitutes a drunk. “

             
She opened her mouth to respon
d
and snapped it closed again. Then she turned to Jeremy, “Let’s go. I’ve had all the fun I can handle for a night.”

             
Unable to control my mouth any longer I had to comment. “You don’t know what fun is Eva Brooks
,
but baby
,
I could show you a world of fun if you’d loosen up just a little bit.”

             
Her cheeks flushed bright pink and she stiffened her back before turning and stalking off into the dark. Jeremy shook his head and then followed her.

             
How was I the bad guy in this?

Eva

             
“Can you believe him?  Is he crazy? I mean
,
he just snatched you up and you let him. Take up for
yourself
,
Jer
,” I was furious and just maybe a little turned on.
Cage’s arms had some serious bulging muscles.

             
“He thinks we’re engaged,” Jeremy replied.

I froze.

             
“What?”
Where did he get the idea that Jeremy and I were engaged?

             
Jeremy took my left
hand and held it up. “You wear
an engagement ring and the only guy you are seen with is me. It’s an honest mistake, Eva. He was taking up for you. Which I
gotta
say I didn’t get that at first.
Then
it dawned on me that he wasn’t going all
caveman
possessive over
Becca
Lynn but
he was pissed that your
fiancé
had just made a suggestive comment about another
woman
. He was defending you.”

             
Me?

             
I replayed
in my head
everything
that had just happened
.
Becca
had been
about
to strip right there in front of us. I didn’t want to watch Cage’s appreciative gaze take in her very naked body. It bothered me. A lot. Then Jeremy had made the comment about her nice boobs. Which I kn
e
w he really liked. He had mentioned them more than once. Then…
then… Cage had lost it.

             
Because he thought I was engaged to Jeremy. In a weird scary way he was defending my honor. It was… sweet. Well
,
crap. I didn’t need him doing sweet things for me.
Especially weird
,
scary
,
sweet things.
He could have hurt Jeremy.

             
“You get it now?” Jeremy asked
,
reminding me that he was standing there in the dark with me.

             
“Yeah. I get it.
Although
I don’t want him hurting you if he sees you with another girl.
I need to straighten this out.”

             
Jeremy nodded, “I’d appreciate that.
‘Cause that dude is tough. He
ain’t
some spoiled pretty boy. He’d mess me up good if he thought I deserved it.”

             
“Okay. I’ll go back. You can stay or go. I’m just going to take the truck home after I talk to him.”

             
“You sure? I mean, he might opt out of skinny dipping with
Becca
and want to hang out with you.”

             
No. Cage might not be
totally bad but he was still in no way
good enough. Josh would never approve.

             
“I’ll just talk to him a few minutes then leave.”

             
Jeremy sighed, “Yeah, okay.”

             
I knew he didn’t completely get it. I walked over and gave him a quick hug before turning and heading back to the lake. The glow of the
fire made it easy to get back
.  The crowd around the fire had dwindled and I didn’t see Cage anywhere. That meant he was at the lake.
Maybe
…
naked.

             
Cage may not be good enough for me
compared to
what I had with Josh but I could still appreciate the beauty of his naked body. I’d never really seen Josh completely naked. I had never seen any guy completely naked.