“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 Jeremy hasn’t seen me naked, Eva.”
What?
“Ugh, just go undress away from us,” Eva replied.
“I wasn’t exactly complaining. Becca 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 f**ker.”
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 croaked 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,” he stammered nervously.
I felt a hand on my arm tugging at me but the blood pounding in my ears was 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 momma.
“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 respond 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 knew 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.
I headed down to the lake staying just out of the light from the bonfire so no one saw me going down there. I didn’t want people making a big deal out of the fact Eva Brooks was going to the lake to skinny dip because I wasn’t. Not even close.
Turning the corner around the old oak tree, I stopped and slowly peeked around the corner. Splashing and giggling was growing louder from the water only a few feet away. Was Cage out there with Becca Lynn?
“You coming, Cage?” Becca Lynn’s voice was close and I backed up further into the shadows.
I worked hard to focus my eyes in the dark. Cage stepped out of the darkness. He reached up and threw his jeans over a low branch. The moonlight hit the backside of his body and I covered my mouth to keep from making a sound. Because DEAR GOD! His butt was unbelievable. The muscles in his back moved as he walked toward the water. He had muscles in his back!
“I’ll come in if you come out and get me,” he drawled. His completely naked front side faced the lake for Becca and anyone else who cared to look. He wasn’t ashamed at all. He knew they were looking and he didn’t care. Then again, when your body looked like that you wouldn’t mind who saw it.
Becca Lynn walked toward him, the water droplets rolled down her bare chest and stomach. I refused to let my gaze drop any lower. Cage’s hands slipped around her bare waist and he lowered his mouth to hers. That was all I could handle. My chest had a strange new ache and my stomach felt sick. I just wanted to go back home. I’d clear things up with Cage York another time.