The Honeytrap Heartbreaker

12.

"Do you just follow me most days now?" She heard the familiar voice of Jake.

Her head was turned approving of the more luxurious boats but the voice came from the older one.

"What, why are you here?"

"Charming! This is my boat," He said proudly, "Well my Grandad's boat."

Ella's face must have wrinkled up in confusion and disgust.

"It's not as nice of the rest of them I agree," He continued.

"No, it is, well, it's not, I mean, it's got character." Ella laughed as she eventually fumbled out her words.

"You wanna take a look?" Jake beamed.

Ella shrugged still sipping on her smoothie. She walked down to where Jake was prompting her to climb on and she lifted was leg to get over.

"WHOA!" Jake shouted.

"What?" Ella asked a bit baffled.

"No shoes on the boat."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Boat rules." Jake stood firmly.

She sighed and bent down to pull off her trainers. She passed Jake her smoothie and he held out his other hand to help her climb on. She wasn't expecting a drop when the put her foot down and she felt as if her foot almost went through the floor. Jake laughed. He demanded her to do all of these crazy boat things she didn't even know existed, tie this like this, untie this, pull this, and put that there.

Jake had to redo most of the things she did so it took them about half an hour before he even turned the ignition on and pulled off. He took her out of the marina and into the open South Channel near Brickell Key.

"You haven't got anywhere to be have you?"

Ella shook her head looking at her Rolex; the tick wasn't at five diamonds yet. Jake floored the ignition and the boat bounced over the waves sending splashes of sun kissed water into the boat. Ella giggled, she hadn't been on a speed boat before and she was shocked she was actually enjoying the experience. She didn't notice too many other boats out but then again it was a Wednesday afternoon and people had to work to afford boats.

She questioned Jake about the boat and he told her how his Grandad had bought it for himself as a retirement present but didn't realise about all of the permits and fee's you have to pay to keep it docked somewhere. It sat on Jake's family farm collecting dust for a while and when his Grandad passed away it was passed to Jake. His Grandad had always spoke about how he loved the sea and it was a fond memory to Jake, he felt like he owed the boat justice so he had it shipped down to Miami and has been doing bits and bobs up on it for a while.

She nodded along whilst he told the story with such compassion in his eyes. She could see the hurt on him when he spoke about his family but especially his Grandad, she could hear the pain in his voice. It was intense in a way neither of them wanted to admit. Jake knew nothing about Ella's past apart from what Adam would have told him – which wasn't much – and Ella only really knew about him growing up on a farm in Kentucky and how he didn't see them much anymore. She guessed there was a reason other than distance but she didn't pry, not because she wasn't interested but because she was fearful of the question being returned. Jake slowed the boat when the conversation had finished and pulled out a beer from the ice box behind him. He threw one at Ella too.

The boat was still, it floated over the few waves, Jake had pressed some buttons so it wouldn't move much and he rifled through his red tin box looking for something. The sun was beginning to burn against Ella's skin in jeans, she didn't think twice before removing her top and jeans to sunbathe in her underwear. At least she had worn a matching Victoria's Secret pair today. She scrunched up her clothes and used them as a pillow as she lay on the front of the boat where the most sun exposure was.