THWACK!

Chase Reynolds looked down at the rubber fishing worm that dangled from the front of his Dockers like a not-so-impressive appendage.  Then he looked up at the wide-eyed kid staring at him from the water’s edge. 

“I think the fish are out there.”  Chase pointed to the ocean lining the beach of the Blue Parrot resort, one of the upper class private resorts in Key West.

Grinning almost proudly, the kid moved toward him, dragging the miniature fishing pole behind him.  “I sure hooked you good.”

Chase attempted to dislodge the hook from his zipper as water seeped into his pants.  No luck.

“Yeah, I’d say you did.  Say, kid, don’t give any quick tugs on that rod or I’ll end up singing soprano.”

“S....soap what?”

“Never mind.”  Chase jiggled the hook again, feeling pretty dumb with a lime green fishing worm dangling from his crotch.  Not the best way to meet with a client.

James Lansing had requested Chase meet him on the beach in front of Lansing’s resort, the Blue Parrot, to discuss the threats that had recently been made against his life.  Odd place to meet, out in the open like that, but it was his client’s choice.   

The boy moved closer, his bare toes bulldozing through the wet sand.  “Hey, mister...”

“Hmmm?” 

“Are you my daddy?”

Chase’s head snapped up from the task at hand.  He looked around, certain the kid had to be talking to one of the other resort guests.  He wasn’t.

“What?”

“I said are you my daddy?”

The kid looked so hopeful Chase hated like hell to burst his bubble.  “Afraid not,” he replied, then returned to the task at hand.

“Are you sure?  My mommy says my daddy is tall, dark and handsome.”

Chase forced a smile, his frustration with the troublesome hook growing.  “I’m sure he is, but I’m afraid I’m not him.”

“But you’re pretty tall,” the boy argued stubbornly.  “And your hair is dark.  Darker than mine even!” 

Chase laughed.  “You’ve got me there.”

“What’s handsome mean?”

“Well,  I guess that’s what women say about men they find attractive.” 

“What’s attractive?” the boy asked, eyes wide, his expression intent.

“It...uh...well it means the woman thinks the man is nice to look at,” he replied, hoping that would be the extent of the kid’s curiosity.    

The boy squinted beneath the glaring afternoon sun as he looked up at him.  “What’s your name?”

What kind of hook did this kid use?  Chase continued the struggle to free himself from the embedded hook as he replied,   “Chase.  What’s yours?”

“Joshua.”  The boy dug his tiny toes into the wet sand.

“That’s a good, strong name for a fisherman,” Chase said with a grin.

“I might be one when I grow up.  I’m real good at it.  I caught you, didn’t I?”

Chase’s eyes widened.  “You were trying to catch me?”

“Sure, for my mommy.  She’s lonely.”

How was he supposed to respond to that?  It was clear Joshua’s father wasn’t in the picture.  At least, not directly.  And despite nearly having a very important part of his anatomy speared, Chase understood the boy’s heart was in the right place.  A little misguided perhaps, but it was there all the same. 

“Your mommy is very lucky to have you looking out for her, Joshua.  But you might come up with another way to catch her a man next time.  Hooking one this way is a little dangerous.”

The boy’s gaze settled on the sand at his feet.  “Won’t need to.  I already caught you.”

“Joshua, you can’t just go a—”

“You can call me Little Man,” the boy interrupted, flashing Chase a wide smile.  “Mommy calls me that sometimes cause I’m the man of the house.” 

Chase chuckled and loosened his tie, thankful for the breeze coming in off the ocean.  He’d seen a lot during his years on the police force and now working as a private investigator, but this was definitely a first.  The kid was out fishing for men for his mother. 

“Man of the house, huh?”  The kid couldn’t be more than five.  “Pretty important job.”

“Sure is.”  The boy tipped his chin up proudly. “Someone’s gotta look after my mommy.”

“Well, your mother’s lucky to have you around to take care of her.”

“I know.”  The boy attempted what Chase assumed to be a wink, only it looked more like he had just gotten poked in the eye with a stick.

“You okay?”

Dark, mischievous eyes stared up at Chase.  “Yep, I am.”  But contrary to the kid’s assurance, he cupped his tiny hands to his mouth and screamed at the top of his pint-size lungs,  “Mommy!”

And what a set of lungs he had.

Temporarily forgetting about the hook-in-his-pants dilemma, Chase followed the direction of the boy’s gaze up onto the beach where two young women sat talking beneath the shade of a large tropical print umbrella.

He turned back to the miniature foghorn.  “Shhh.” 

Chase glanced back toward the open beach umbrella.  Conversation had ceased and both women were on their feet.  One of them, no doubt Joshua’s mother, took off running in the boy’s direction.  Not that he could blame her.  People on the beach were turning to look at him, shooting him wary looks like he was Jack the Ripper or something.

Chase groaned.  The last thing he needed while on a case was to draw attention to himself.  The less conspicuous the better.  But any concern of that fled his mind as Mommy raced toward them across the beach. 

His gaze fell to the rounded flesh that spilled out over the hot pink bikini top.  Wow.

“Joshua,” she said breathlessly as she reached for her son.  She clasped a protective hand around the boy’s smaller one.  “Are you all right?” 

Joshua nodded.  “Yep.  I caught you a man.”

“Y...you what?”  Her eyes darted upward, then down to the worm suspended from Chase’s pants, then finally to her son’s fishing pole.

“Oh my...”  She reached for the hook lodged firmly in his pants and gave a tug. 

Chase let out a yelp.

Her not-so-helpful hand stilled immediately, her fingers still clutching the hook at the front of his pants.  “I’m so sorry.  Are you hurt?”

If he wasn’t already sterile before, he certainly would be now.  “No, I’m fine.”  Or I will be when you stop touching me that way.

“Thank goodness.”  Clearly not a mind reader, the woman went back to work, trying to free the hook from Chase’s pants.  Tsk tsk-ing, she said, “Joshua, what on earth were you thinking?”

Thank God for the discomfort of the situation or Chase was certain he’d be rising like a kite in the wind.

“I heard Aunt Dee say it had been so long you probably forgot how to catch a man.  So I caught one for you.”

Color flooded the woman’s cheeks.  The hook released simultaneously with her gasp of embarrassment.  She stepped away with a burst of nervous laughter.  “Sweetie, you must have misunderstood Aunt Dee.”

Joshua frowned and shook his head.  “Uh, uh.  You told Aunt Dee you weren’t ever going to fish again cause you done such a lousy job of it last time.  So I done it for you.”

Chase couldn’t resist a chuckle at the unexpected turn in conversation.  “He’s quite the fisherman,” he said, taking the hook and its dangling worm from her hand.  Reaching out, he fastened the hook to one of the line guides on the pole the boy clutched so protectively in his small hand.  “There you go.  All set.”

“Thanks,” Joshua exclaimed, then turned to his mother.  “His name is Chase.  Do you think he’s nice to look at?”

The crimson blush returned to her cheeks as she struggled to answer her son’s question.  “Well...I...”  

Chase’s smile deepened into relaxed laughter.  “Be careful what you say,” he warned.  “It just might qualify me for father material.”  Not that being a father would ever be an option for him.

She looked up at him as if she hadn’t heard him right.  “For what?”

She had beautiful eyes, the color reminding him of jade.  An easy smile played at the corners of Chase’s mouth.  “It seems that I’m tall, dark, and if you agree handsome, the father of your son.” 

“Oh, no.”  Her hands flew to her mouth. 

Chased laughed.  “Yes.”

“I’m so sorry.”  Dropping her hands, she looked down at her son.  “Joshua.”

“Don’t give it another thought.”  Chase reached down to give the boy’s hair a playful tousle.  “I get that all the time.  You see I’m cursed with having one of those daddy kind of faces.”

Her tight expression relaxed once more into a smile.  “Such a curse.”

She had no idea.

“Sweetie,” the woman said as she knelt in front of her son.  “Run over there and have Aunt Dee put some more lotion on your nose.  You’re beginning to look like Rudolph.”

The boy crinkled his nose as he smiled up at her.  “Okay, Mommy.”  He scurried away, dragging the fishing pole in the sand behind him.

The woman waited until her son was beyond hearing, before turning to speak to Chase.  “I really am sorry about all of this.”

“Don’t be.”  He gave her a reassuring smile as he waved to Joshua who was now seated beneath the umbrella watching him.  “He’s a cute kid.”

She frowned.  “I just don’t want you to think my son makes a habit of trying to reel men in for me.”

“Just tall, dark and handsome ones?” he teased.

The ocean breeze picked up, carrying the tropical scent of her tanning lotion with it.  Smiling, she reached up to push several strands of chestnut hair from her face.  “I suppose I shouldn’t have told him that.”

The innocent movement created havoc in his lower regions as Chase struggled to keep his gaze fixed on the young woman’s face.

Impossible.

There was no ignoring the sun kissed swells rising from her bikini top or the bare midriff showing little sign a child had ever grown inside of her.

“I take it Joshua’s father is not in the picture,” Chase said as he glanced toward the little boy now standing beneath the oversized umbrella.  He too had been raised by a single mother.  And he fully understood Joshua’s need to have a daddy in his life.  But sometimes life doesn’t always work out the way you want it to.

Silence fell between them.

“I’m sorry,” Chase said, sensing her discomfort with the direction their conversation had taken.  “You don’t have to answer that.  It’s none of my business.  I shouldn’t have asked.”

She sighed softly, then lifted her gaze to his.  “No, it’s all right.  I don’t mind.”  Despite her words, she turned away, wrapping her slender arms about herself as she looked out over the Atlantic ocean.  “My son never knew his father.  He left before Joshua was born.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”