Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 283 - 21

Chapter 283: Chapter 21

Liam found a parking space near the far end of the wharf where the boat he had chartered to take them to the island town was tied up, its young captain standing on the bow, smoking a cigarette.

"I hope Eric is as willing to follow you onto a boat as he was to follow you into a car," he said, opening Rayne’s door and helping her out. Leaning into the backseat, he picked up the end of the dog’s makeshift leash. "He’s shaking all over."

"He’s nervous," Rayne said sympathetically.

Patting the side of her leg, she called, "Come here, Eric, let’s—" The big dog erupted from the backseat in a panicked leap that nearly knocked her over. Laughing, she staggered backward, recovered her balance, and reached for his leash in Liam’s hand.

"Let me hold on to it until we get him on the boat," Liam said. Wrapping the end of the necktie-leash around his hand for better control, he tightened his grip; but he needn’t have worried, because once the dog’s feet were firmly on the ground, Eric sidled up next to Rayne and trotted happily beside her.

"Have you always been able to tame wild beasts, or is Eric the first?" Liam asked half seriously.

"Eric isn’t completely wild," Rayne said, scratching Eric behind his ears. "He may have been running loose his whole life, but he likes humans, which means that he was around someone who played with him and handled him when he was a little puppy. If that weren’t true—if he hadn’t been ’socialized’ back then—he wouldn’t want anything to do with us now."

They reached Liam’s chartered boat, and Rayne’s attention turned to the task of getting Eric aboard.

"Let me get on first," she said.

Taking the captain’s outstretched hand, she stepped off the dock into the boat’s stern; then she turned and patted the side of her leg as she had before. "Come on, Eric," she called.

Eric backed up, body trembling with fright, but just as Rayne decided they would have to lift him aboard, he gave a giant leap forward and landed against her legs, knocking her into the captain, who grabbed her around the waist to steady her. Rayne felt a blush creeping up her cheeks as the captain’s hands lingered a bit below her breast.

"Are you Okay?" Liam asked, stepping down into the boat. His eyes darkened as he took in the sight of the captain still holding Rayne.

"Yep, Just a little bit shakened by his unexpected leap." She chuckled softly as she tried to move away from the Captain’s holds, but it seemed the young man wasn’t ready to let go yet.

Liam’s chuckle was low, but his gaze remained fixed on the captain’s hands where they remained firm below her chest. "You can let go of her now," he said with thinly veiled displeasure.

The captain quickly released Rayne, stepping back in a hurry when he met Liam’s dark, displeased eyes. He had only held on a bit longer because he’d never had the privilege of touching a beautiful woman like the red-haired woman, and she felt so good to hold that he’d forgotten his place for a moment.

He gave Mr. Thompson an apologetic look and hurried away.

Liam walked over to the railing to stand beside her, trapping Eric between them. The captain started the engine, and Liam angled sideways, idly watching her long ponytail shift in the breeze as the pier slid away and the boat picked up speed.

He couldn’t blame the young captain; Rayne Wallace was a beauty any man would want to hold or touch. Her beauty was completely out of this world.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked without even turning to look at him.

He was staring at her because she had the greenest eyes, the smoothest skin, and the most beautiful mouth of any woman he’d ever known. Her caring nature towards a stray dog showed she also had a kind heart.

He admired everything about her, but her kindness made him feel a bit uneasy for some reason.

"I was thinking you have a beautiful smile," he replied. Then he turned towards the railing, leaned on it, and watched the boat’s wake spread into a wide V.

The unexpected compliment filled Rayne with pleasure, but since he hadn’t sounded entirely pleased—or convincing—when he answered her question, she decided not to reply and pretend he hadn’t just complimented her.

Twenty minutes later, as they neared the town, the captain, still trying to atone for his earlier mistake of holding onto the lady longer than intended, finally broke the silence. "Are either of you fans of Vincent Robert, the movie star?" he asked.

When Liam said nothing, Rayne looked over her shoulder at the captain, her green eyes shining with excitement at the mention of the movie star who happened to be her and Mia’s favorite in university. "I’m a huge fan of his."

"Well, I heard he is in town. And that’s his yacht over there. Do you want me to take you over there? I can get you really close, and you could get a look at him if he’s on deck."

"No," Liam said coldly at the same time Rayne said politely, "No, thank you."

Taken aback by his cold reply, Rayne looked curiously at him. "You aren’t a Vincent Robert fan?"

Hell no, he wasn’t. And he could never imagine himself being a fan of that asshole. He could still remember their first mission with Neil in the military; it had involved disguising and crashing into Vincent Robert’s party to catch a criminal. The movie star had tried to get in their way by ordering his security to throw them out, but Neil had lost his temper and thrown the first punch at the idiot.

When a fight broke out between them, Vincent’s men had rushed out to help him while ganging up on Neil. Liam couldn’t stand back and watch his friend get ganged up on, so he joined the fight. But he’d ended up receiving a nose-crunching punch from Vincent that night, which had required a little surgery to fix after the fight.

Since then, he hated the mere mention of Vincent Robert, and he mostly disliked women fawning over the bastard.

He glanced at the redhead, who was waiting for him to answer her question, and said, "I can’t in good conscience, describe myself as a Vincent Robert fan," he said finally. "However," he added, "I’d be interested in hearing why you’re such a ’huge fan’ of a sissy like Vincent."

Rayne thought he was being condescending, but she refused to back down from her statement.

"I like his personality, and I admire him more as a person than a movie star," she explained very firmly.

"Didn’t you hear the news of his life with his wife? He has everything a woman would want. And I can assure you on behalf of every woman that Vincent Robert is a national husband. Every woman was in tears when he proposed to his wife."

"Were you in tears?" Liam asked, turning fully toward her.

"Of course."

"You sound like a hopeless romantic." He pointed out, not seeing anything in Vincent Robert’s overly rated personal life show that was shoved in many people’s faces like they gave a fuck about some celebrity’s affairs.

"I probably am," she admitted.

"I guess every woman on earth is."

"You don’t like hopeless romantic women?" she asked.

"Let’s just say I’m not a romantic."

Although he sounded very sure of that, as Rayne looked at his handsome face, she considered some of his actions the night before and arrived at her own conclusion. Smiling a little, she turned away from him and gazed at Vincent Robert’s yacht instead.

"What was that all about?" he asked with amused curiosity.

"I was deciding for myself whether you’re a romantic."

"What did you decide?"

"I think you are."

"And you think you can tell things about me just by looking into my eyes?"

Rayne nodded in the affirmative, but her answer was a little shaky. "I really, really hope so."

Liam suppressed a grin at her uneasy tone and toyed with the idea of surprising her tomorrow by taking her somewhere he thought she’d like. At the moment, however, he wasn’t inclined to say anything that would lead to a prolonged discussion of her favorite romantic hero, and he didn’t want to commit himself to any plans other than going to bed with her tonight.