Love Untamed

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jared tossed a salmon toward the cooler.

“Dammit, Jared! How about you actually look next time you throw a fish?” Nathan exclaimed.

Jared turned to look and burst out laughing. Nathan was seated on the bench beside the cooler in question with a salmon on his lap.

Nathan shook his head and chuckled. “You’re lucky I’m a good sport. Getting a slimy fish on my lap means I’ll stink the rest of the day.”

Jared shrugged. “Sorry ‘bout that. Didn’t realize you were right there. Should I point out it’s kinda hard not to smell like fish when you’re fishing?”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “For you of all people to say that when you make it seem like fishing isn’t even messy. If I threw a fish on your lap, you’d be pissed, so you might as well appreciate my good attitude. You’re the master of tidy. You manage to avoid the slime. Don’t pretend like you don’t either. I don’t know how you pull it off.”

Jared merely shrugged again. No need for him to agree with Nathan when it was obvious. He took good care of his gear and if any fish slime got on him, he hosed it off as soon as he could.

“You wanna grab a bite at Sally’s when we get in with the crew?” Jared asked, moving on from the errant salmon throw.

“Sure. Tess’ll probably want to meet us there. That okay?”

Jared nodded. “Of course.”

He looked away, moving to step behind the steering wheel. They were coming in from a two-week commercial fishing run for sockeye salmon. He and his brothers ran a commercial and sport fishing business, The One that Didn’t Get Away. They usually took the crew out for dinner when they got back to harbor after the longer runs. Jared looked ahead at the shores of Diamond Creek. Otter Cove Harbor was visible now. The town’s boat harbor was tucked into a small cove. Wooded hillsides rose up around the cove, spruce trees marching up the mountains behind. Diamond Creek was built into the hillside and looked out over Kachemak Bay. He glanced behind him. Mount Augustine, a volcano, sat in the distance, silent and majestic.

A few hours later, he pushed through the swinging door into Sally’s, which was bustling tonight. He’d called ahead and reserved a big table for the crew. He was halfway through his hamburger when he saw Tess making a beeline for Nathan. Susie walked behind Tess. All he had to do was see Susie, and it was as if someone flicked a match in the air around them—it crackled and sizzled. Heat crept through his body, and his pulse shifted gears. His body had all kinds of ideas about Susie, no matter how many times he tried to talk his body down.

Relationships were messy. He liked his world to be sensible and predictable. The mix of someone else’s emotions in his daily life invited mayhem. He’d tried it before, and it had been…discombobulating. He’d even come close to getting engaged, an experience that illuminated how confusing emotions could be. Trying to make sense of it made him tired and feel half-crazy. He found being single to be much simpler. He could live life on his terms and not worry about how someone else felt.

And Susie. Well, she’d take messy to a whole new level. She was brash, funny, assertive and so damn sexy he could hardly stand it. About a year ago, he’d lost his mind and given in to what he’d wanted to do for too damn long. He’d kissed her like his life depended on it. And not a day passed since then that he didn’t think about it.

“Hey there,” Susie said.

Her brown eyes were wide and bright, always with a glint of knowing, like she could see right through him. Her brown curls were just…wild. They tumbled every which way, bouncing around her shoulders. She swiped one out of her eyes, looking at him expectantly.

He bought some time by taking a swallow of beer. He needed a minute to try to get his mind off how damn sexy she was. “Hey there. How’s it going?” he finally asked.

Susie shrugged. “Fine. Just fine. Did you get the spreadsheet I sent over?”

Jared had to force himself not to stare at her breasts. She was all curves. The night he’d kissed her, before he could stop himself, her luscious breasts were in his hands. And even now, a year later, all she had to do was get anywhere near him and his hands practically itched to touch her. Get a grip. This is Susie. You do not want to get tangled up with her. About that point, he realized he’d yet to answer Susie’s question.

“Just got in from fishing today. I’ll check my email tonight and catch up. What did you send over?” he asked, trying to tamp down the irritation he felt. He was irritated with himself for constantly feeling off kilter with her, which in turn made him irritated with her. It was as if she held the secret key to make him lose his cool.

Susie’s eyes searched his for a moment, a flicker of confusion in them. “It’s the quarterly report you asked me to send,” she said pointedly. “You wanted me to change the spreadsheet layout, so I did.” She shook her head, releasing her breath in a huff.

He was fairly certain his blood pressure literally rose. As usual, he wanted to do one of two things: swear and walk away from her, or grab her, drag her out of here and finish what he started that night. But because Susie was who she was, his sister-in-law’s best friend and a good friend of practically everyone he knew, including himself, he couldn’t do either one of those things. He took a few swallows of beer and a deep breath instead.

“That I did. Forgot for a minute there. All I’ve been thinking about is fish,” he finally replied. When he looked into her eyes, his heart pounded, and he was damn glad he was sitting down so no one would notice that he was hard as a rock.

Susie nodded and gave him a bright smile that looked a tad forced. “Of course. Fish, fish, fish. Anyway, when you get a chance, let me know if the spreadsheet is set up the way you wanted.” She glanced down the table. She started to move to the other end. “Call me about it if you need any other changes,” she said, not bothering to look his way again.

Jared breathed a sigh of relief when she moved out of his immediate vicinity. When he and his brothers first moved to Diamond Creek, they’d gotten to know Susie pretty early on. Jared had thought she was cute because she was. Those wild curls, laughing brown eyes and curves were cute…and sexy as hell, but he tried not to think about it. She’d become a friend over time and ran an accounting business, By the Numbers. She was a bang up accountant—detail oriented, a math whiz, computer savvy and ruthlessly efficient. Not to mention that she beat him at his own game half the time. Whenever he asked for something, such as the spreadsheet in question, she’d have it to him sooner than he asked and better than what he wanted. Somewhere along the way, his unwanted attraction to her bloomed before he noticed it.

Luke sat across from him, chowing down fast. He looked up and chuckled.

“What?” Jared asked.

“Whenever Susie gets anywhere near you, you get irritated about nothing. And then she walks away and you can’t stop looking at her,” Luke said with a sly grin. “Like now.”

Jared realized he was staring in Susie’s direction and whipped his head back to face Luke. “Seriously, dude? Don’t you have anything better to do other than watch me?”

Luke kept on grinning. “Not when watching you get all twisted up over Susie is more fun.”

Jared had to force himself to take a deep breath and not take the bait. He took another bite of his hamburger.

Luke’s eyes sobered. “Just joking around. But seriously, Hannah thinks Susie’s got a thing for you. Maybe you won’t admit it, but she’s pretty awesome. About the only woman who doesn’t drool over you around here.”

Jared rolled his eyes. “Women don’t drool over me.”

Luke shook his head. “You choose to ignore it, but it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Come on, man. You’re like candy because you’re so unavailable. I’ve told you for years that your rule about no relationships is stupid.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve pointed that out. I’m not like you and Nathan. Relationships are messy. I’m fine by myself.”

Luke gave him a long look. “You know, I was as committed to staying single as you are. And for similar reasons, so I get it. Maybe the details were different, but you weren’t like this until you got burned by Jen. Seeing as you’re only two years shy of forty, you might want to move on one of these days.”

Jared swallowed and stared at Luke. “What the hell? Do we have to have a deep conversation right now? My age has nothing to do with this. Jen is old news. I got over her years ago. What makes you think she has anything to do with anything now?”

Jared shoved his annoyance with Luke down. He wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but that wouldn’t help matters. Jen was his ex from back when they lived in Seattle. He’d been set to ask her to marry him when she’d broken it off, offering the contradiction that he was ‘too intense and held too much back’. She also claimed she wasn’t ready for commitment. Jared didn’t like to talk about it, but it had hurt like hell. He meant it when he said he was over her. But a few years of avoiding serious relationships made him see how much easier it was. His mother had finally stopped dropping hints and seemed to have accepted that he planned to stay single and be the favorite uncle to their grandkids.

Luke eyed him and shrugged. “I’m not saying you’re pining after Jen. Just that after she broke it off, you changed. You’d never been into the casual thing before and since then, it’s the only thing you’ll consider and barely. I think maybe you think it’s easier. That’s all.”

“It is easier,” Jared said flatly.

Luke chuckled. “In some ways, maybe. Look, I didn’t mean to turn this into much. Just thought maybe…nothing,” he said with a shrug.

Conversation moved on. A bit later, Jared realized his eyes were following Susie as she left. He’d never admit it, but Luke was right. He couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of her, even when he tried. And damn if that didn’t annoy him. He prided himself on being in control. Susie tested that simply by existing.

* * *

The following morning, Jared stood by the windows in his small cabin and looked out over the bay. He’d moved out of the home he used to share with his brothers when Tess moved up here. Nathan had tried to talk him out of it, but it didn’t make sense for Nathan to move when the last thing Jared needed was that big house all to himself. He’d rented a cabin down the road. It was small, practical and came with an astounding view of Kachemak Bay. The back of the house faced the view and was floor to ceiling with windows. The cabin was a small gambrel style home. It consisted of a basic kitchen and living room area with a bathroom downstairs and an expansive loft upstairs that served as the bedroom. It was open, airy and bright with more than enough space for him.

The wind was up this morning, white caps dotting the water. Clouds scuttled across the sky, coasting in front of the mountains across the bay. His yard was a small patch of grass surrounded with fireweed that would bloom in late summer. He sat down at the kitchen table and flipped open his laptop. He plowed through some email and opened the spreadsheet Susie had asked him about last night. It was precisely as he’d requested.

And for some reason, that annoyed the hell out of him. Luke had gotten under his skin last night. Between his irrational attraction to Susie and Luke noticing it, Jared wanted to do something to shake it off. So he was annoyed at Susie over a spreadsheet. Now that’s irrational. Get a grip.

He stalked into the kitchen and poured a fresh cup of coffee. A few sips later, he talked himself out of asking her to make more changes. To a spreadsheet. His mind went from spreadsheets to Susie’s curls and curves. He swore, set his coffee down and went to change to go for a run.

A solid hour later, he slowed his pace as he approached his cabin. He’d taken off on one of the longer loops he ran through a few local trails and connecting roads. He waved when he saw his friend Travis drive by and walked onto the back deck. The run had barely started to burn off his restless energy. What he couldn’t figure out was why his mind jumped on the hamster wheel of Susie so much these days. He didn’t like to admit it, but he’d wanted to kiss her for quite some time before he’d given in last year. He didn’t think he would have were it not for the circumstances. Hours of holding it together in the driving rain out on rough seas had worn his defenses down.

By the end of the long afternoon and evening, when Susie drove him home, he wasn’t thinking straight. So he’d let his impulses get the best of him. Susie had been so damn tempting, he couldn’t resist the urge to lose himself in her heat and lush body. Oddly enough, the first few times he saw her afterwards were a little awkward, but he managed to play it cool and not dwell on it. But lately, his attraction to her had burrowed under his skin. He couldn’t shake it off. He grabbed his gym clothes and took off. If a run couldn’t turn his mind off, maybe lifting weights would.