“Do you go fishing often?”
“First time,” he says with a laugh. “I looked up how to do all that online.” He shoots me a sexy wink and my insides tighten, the air knocking out of me.
“I’m not usually one to sit around,” he adds. “But your dad told me I should spend some time doing nothing.”
“Wow, my parents are just full of advice.” I laugh humorlessly.
“They mean well.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “So, what do we do now?”
“We wait.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, and then, all of a sudden, the pole he placed in front of me starts to bow. “Oh! I think something is happening!”
We both hop up from our chairs. Ryan grabs my pole and reels in whatever it is that’s been hooked. When he brings it over the railing, I spot the fish. A real fish. A cute, innocent, silver fish. And it hits me… We’re fishing… for fish! It’s wiggling in fear—its tiny mouth open, practically begging to be saved.
“Oh my God!” I shriek. “Help it!”
Ryan’s eyes go wide. “What?”
“The hook is in its mouth!” I rush over to the poor little fish who’s squirming, most likely in pain. “It’s hurt, Ryan! We have to help him.” Ryan stares at me like I’ve lost my mind, but I ignore him, my entire focus on saving this poor little fish. Carefully, I unhook the hook from his mouth. “It’s okay, little guy. I got you. You’re going to be okay.” I quickly toss him back into the water and watch as he lands with a tiny splash, disappearing into the abyss.
I grab the pole that’s still in the water and reel it in. “No more fishing.” I hand the pole to Ryan, who’s looking at me like I’m crazy. “Those poor fish don’t deserve to be hooked and reeled in for our entertainment.”
A slow smile creeps up on Ryan’s face, making his dimples pop out.
“What?” I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head, his amused grin widening. “You’re just… kind of fucking adorable.”
Great, he thinks I’m adorable… like a damn child.
“What did you think we were doing when I mentioned fishing?” he asks.
“I don’t know.” I shrug a shoulder. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, until you reeled in that poor, helpless fish.”
Ryan laughs, and his strong shoulders shake. “Okay. So, no fishing…”
“No fishing. It’s not nice.” I glance around, eyeing all the people who are fishing on the pier. Those poles aren’t just poles, they’re weapons, threatening to hurt and kill all of the sea life.
“You can’t stop all these people from fishing, so don’t even think about it,” he says as if reading my mind. “Why don’t we go for a walk and sit on the beach.”
I shoot the people fishing a stink eye. “Fine, okay.”
Ryan takes the chairs and poles, and I grab the cooler. We find a secluded spot, but instead of sitting in the chairs, we opt for sitting in the sand.
After a few minutes of watching the waves come in, I say, “My major was marine biology.”
“Was?”
“I had a semester left to get my AS… my associate’s in science,” I explain.
“I know what that is. I have an engineering degree.”
I whip my head around, looking at him with new eyes. “Really?”
“What? I can’t have a degree because I’m in the military?”
“No, I just didn’t know you went to college. Ian…” At the mention of his name, I stop for a second, but then force myself to continue. “Ian enlisted.” He bypassed going to college to enlist directly into the Navy SEALs.
“I did too. But I took online classes. I wanted a degree I could use one day, as well as in the field. I’m a combat engineer.” He takes two bottles of water out of the cooler and hands me one. “So, you were majoring in marine biology?”
“Yeah, the plan was for me to apply to the University of San Diego and to Scripps for an internship. I want to study marine life. I find it fascinating.”
“What made you want to do that?” He twists the top of the bottle and brings it to his lips. As he swallows the water, his Adam’s apple bobs, and I find myself squeezing my thighs together. Why does everything he does have to be so damn masculine and sexy?
“Micaela,” he prompts with a smirk, telling me he totally caught me staring at him.
“Umm…” I shake my head slightly to clear the hormones clogging my brain. “We went on a cruise when I was thirteen. We went snorkeling and I was drawn to the marine life. A few years ago, my dad and I got our scuba license and went scuba diving. I became obsessed with learning about everything. I would love to be able to research the mammals, maybe work to help save those that are endangered.” I shrug. “I haven’t really given a lot of thought to the logistics. The first two years are just the prerequisites. I figured I have plenty of time to figure out exactly what I want to do.” Time, something I’ve learned the hard way we never really have enough of.