The One You're With by Lauren K. Denton

Author:Lauren K. Denton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2021-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Mac

Summer 2000

Mac was working a late shift, helping to haul boats out of the water and cleaning them before loading them onto the lift to be taken back to dry storage. He actually preferred the late shifts—the temps were a little cooler, plus it was always fun to see the big boats idling back into the pass, their holds full of red snapper, grouper, and amberjack they’d caught during their day on the Gulf.

The real reason he liked working late shifts, though, was that he got to see Kat. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone else—he barely even let himself think it—but as the boats came in soon after sunset, his gaze flitted around the marina, searching for that windswept shock of blonde hair, the white sunglasses perched up top, the mile of tanned legs and sculpted arms.

One evening, not long after the Fourth of July, he was driving the lift back toward the boat barn from the marina when he saw her. She stood at the fish cleaning station with her back to the boats, wearing her trademark cutoff shorts and a white T-shirt knotted on the side. Her hair was swept into a ponytail, exposing the scoop of soft skin along the side of her neck. His heartbeat quickened as he parked the lift, tossed the keys to Jeff, and hopped down onto the hot asphalt. He hurried toward her, his mind scrambling for just the right thing to say—something funny but not childish, something to give her some relief at the end of what was probably an exhausting day.

Just as he thought of a perfectly witty comment, a man approached her from the parking lot. His build was slight and he wore a tight black tank top, a silver chain snaking out of one pocket of his jeans and into another. Black boots, dark sunglasses despite the dusk. With everyone else in the vicinity wearing brightly colored fishing shirts, sunglasses on Croakies around their necks, flip-flops, and baseball caps, this guy more than stood out—he loomed.

Mac was still fixated on the stranger’s appearance. Why would someone like him be hanging around a marina when it seemed like fishing would be the last thing on his priority list?

The guy grabbed Kat roughly and pulled her in for a kiss.

A low growl, a sound more animal-like than anything he’d ever uttered, escaped from Mac’s throat. He broke into a run, determined to get her away from this punk who was clearly trying to hurt her and force her against her will.

Unsurprisingly, Kat took care of herself. She yanked her arms out of his grasp and swatted his arm. Then she lifted her hair off the back of her neck and said something to him that made him smile. When she took a step toward him, he casually leaned in and kissed her cheek. And she let him do it.

Something in Mac’s chest clenched, and dread filled his arms and legs, making him slow to a stop in the middle of the walkway.

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