Page 17 of On the Line

His fingers tighten around mine. “What’s Monday?”

“I go home.”

He’s quiet for a second. “That’s two days away.”

“I know.”

“So we’ll worry about Monday on Monday.”

I smile. “Deal.”

He kisses my forehead, and I close my eyes and tell myself this is simple. It’s a weekend with a gorgeous man and a fake relationship that got a little less fake than we planned. That’s all it is.

I’m not sure I believe me.

Chapter Five

Liam

Sunday morning, while Delaney sits on the end of my dock trying to tie a lure onto her line, I figure out that I’m falling for her.

Who am I kidding? I’ve fallen for her. Hook, line, and sinker.

This is very inconvenient.

She’s been working on that knot for three full minutes and won’t let me help.

“You’re doing it wrong,” I tell her.

“I am not.” She squints her eyes in concentration. “Stop watching me.”

I chuckle. “You’re going to lose that lure. That’s my favorite lure.”

“You said that about the last one.”

“I have a few favorites.”

She glances over. “That’s not how favorites work.”

“It is in fishing.”

She sticks her tongue out at me and goes back to the knot, frowning at it with the tip of her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth, and I realize I’d like to watch her do this every weekend for the foreseeable future.

I want her back here next Saturday, and the Saturday after that. I want to teach her to tie a decent knot and find her coffee mug next to mine in the sink. I want to know what she’s like when she’s cranky and tired and has a head cold. I want the boring stuff. Especially the boring stuff.

Well, shit.

She holds up the lure. “Done.”

I check it. “That’ll hold for about twelve seconds.”

“You’re jealous of my natural fishing talent.”

“You have no natural fishing talent.”

She gasps, and I kiss her, mostly to shut her up. Partly because I found out last night that I’m allowed to, and I plan to keep doing it as long as she lets me.

She smiles against my mouth. “This was supposed to be a fishing lesson while the others sleep in.”