Making a Splash

by Joanne Rock

  “We’re going to Bar Harbor,” Jack told her finally, since the high-tech gadgetry wasn’t giving up any obvious clues. He checked a few instruments and made an adjustment to some stray dial. “Keith and I traded boats tonight after we got into a BS argument about who had the better vessel. Dumb guy stuff.”

  Alicia whirled around to face him. She wondered how he could stand the wind with no shirt on, but then, he’d practically been born on a boat. He looked like a gorgeous Poseidon with his granite wedge of shoulders and his dark brown hair blowing in the breeze. He’d pulled on a pair of trousers, which were unbuttoned at his waist, a hint of dark cotton boxers showing through the open V above the fly.

  And whoa. How did her eyes end up on that southward journey? She yanked her gaze back to his tanned skin and the crinkle of tiny lines around his eyes that spoke of long days outdoors. They’d been there even when he was younger—he had a smile that lit up his whole expression, but it was one that she’d been privy to only for a single incredible year. The lines were deeper now, as if they’d been baked in by the sun from all those months on a destroyer in the Pacific.

  “So if you told him you had a better boat than him, how exactly did you end up sailing his out of the marina while I was sleeping?” Keith had told her to make herself comfortable because he’d be late arriving. Had he set her up for this? Her stomach dropped at the thought that he would do something so underhanded when she’d believed they were friends.

  “Hmm…” Jack scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I might have taunted him about not knowing how to sail. I mean, will you look at this thing?” He gestured to the top-notch equipment at the helm. The tiny hot tub built into the foredeck. “How does this floating house party bear any resemblance to boating as we know it?”

  For a moment, the “we” sucked her in, included her in that exclusive little club of insiders that Jack respected. His list had always been short, his high standards tough for most mortals to meet. When she had been among the people Jack trusted, the feeling had been awfully damn good for a girl who’d grown up without the mother who’d left long ago, and with a father more committed to his job than his kids. Jack Murphy had once seemed like Prince Charming, there to save the day.

  Not anymore.

  “So you didn’t want to take his party cruiser, but you were so dead set on forcing him to sail a real man’s boat that you swapped vessels.” She was starting to form a picture now. She could almost hear the conversation at Ryan’s party. “And what do you think Keith’s motive was for taking you up on the trade when he knew damn well I would be on board?”

  A gust of wind blew the bedspread open around her legs, the fabric lifting clear up to her hip. She battled it back down, stuffing the excess fabric between her knees to pin it in place.

  She thought she spied a flash of male appreciation in Jack’s eyes before he recovered the glower that now seemed to be his trademark expression around her.

  “I can’t imagine what he was thinking, but you can bet I’m going to find out.” He waved his phone again.

  “If you even get a cell signal out here.” She sighed. “Look, why don’t we just tuck into land wherever we are and I’ll catch a bus to Bar Harbor. No harm, no foul.”

  She moved back toward the hatch to return downstairs and dress. She didn’t need this kind of garbage in her life. Whatever Keith had in mind by throwing her together with Jack tonight, it wasn’t going to work. Any chance of making peace between them had ended when he’d signed up for the navy the second he’d finished telling her they were through.

  It’d been the ultimate kiss-off. Not only had he dumped her, he’d hot-footed it to the other side of the globe and sold himself to Uncle Sam in the process, just to make damn sure she knew how serious he was about getting away from her.

  Or at least, that’s how it had seemed. And he’d never disabused her of the notion, keeping his explanations to a bare minimum in a way that had hurt like hell.

  “No.” Jack’s arms were around her, stopping her.

  It didn’t make sense, because she could see how much of a hardship it was for him to be near her. To touch her. Most guys would have at least let her dream on in her aroused state when they’d been in bed together, but Mr. Noble and Upstanding had been too honorable to cop an extra ten-second feel, bolting out of bed as if she was a pariah.

  So why did he have his arms around her now?

  “Excuse me?” Her hair whipped about her face in a crosswind and she had to push it aside so she could see him.

  “I will take you to Bar Harbor.” His hands warmed her right through the quilt fabric. The rest of her remained chilled, while two perfect imprints of his palms flared hot on her forearms. “I have to go there anyhow to drop off the boat for Keith’s colleague.”

  “That doesn’t mean we ought to travel together.” How could she survive being penned up on a boat with her controlling, I-know-best ex-boyfriend? Not in this lifetime. “In fact, that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

  He turned her out of the wind, taking most of it on his back and shielding her from the light spray the gusts kicked up. He was protective like that. Always had been. Some would call that thoughtful. But there came a point where a woman didn’t want to be wound up in bubble wrap for safekeeping, and somehow Jack had never understood that about her. He’d told her she shouldn’t wait for him while he was in the navy, since it would be too much to expect of her.

  Another way he’d cut her to the core.

  “You didn’t think it was such a bad idea ten minutes ago when we were in bed together.”

  She’d need a crowbar to pry her jaw off the deck.

  “You did not just say that to me,” she managed to reply finally, her throat cracking on a dry note at the reminder of how she’d been drawn to him like a magnet. “I was asleep. Are you going to hold it against me that I was having some anonymous sexy dream?”

  “It was hardly anonymous. You said my name.”

  “Did I?” She vaguely recalled this. “I wouldn’t know what I said or did because I was sleeping.”

  “Would you like me to remind you?” His hands shifted ever so subtly on her arms, the play of his fingers up her shoulders taking the touch from gentle restraint to… Sensual? Romantic?

  She didn’t know how to define it—the last time she’d checked, Jack Murphy had told her to have a nice life, since they clearly weren’t meant for each other. The news had come after their umpteenth argument about how to make a relationship work while she was still in college and he was globe-trotting for his father’s company. He’d ditched her and the family job in one swoop, encouraging her to date guys her own age since he was “tying her down,” preventing her from having a real college experience.

  “You. Wouldn’t. Dare.” She knew him well enough to know he would never use her attraction against her. He was all about protectiveness. Doing what was best for her even when she’d hated it.

  As his eyes narrowed, a dangerous light glittered in their depths. Too late she realized she’d just issued a challenge to a man who’d never known how to walk away from one.

  2

  HE WOULDN’T DARE?

  Jack suspected she didn’t have any idea what he would dare when it came to her.

  Alicia LeBlanc had transformed from a sweet college coed in need of a date for her fall formal, to a sexual dynamo with an attitude.

  He didn’t know what to make of this woman who bore little resemblance to the studious business major she’d once been, or even the hardworking swimmer and sorority girl he remembered from before he’d joined the navy. But he didn’t feel the same limits with her as he had four years ago, that was for damn certain.

  She’d grown even more beautiful, her athletic body still trim and lean but the curves subtly more voluptuous. Long blond waves fell around her shoulders. She wasn’t as tall as most swimmers, but she had a can’t-miss presence when she walked into a room. A throaty laugh you could hear across a crowded party. The abundance of f
reckles across her nose reminded him that as an avid diver and surfer, she loved the outdoors as much as he did. She’d started giving lessons in a variety of water sports during her senior year of college and had grown the business to include equipment rentals and a couple of employees.

  Hell, she’d been game for any sport he’d ever wanted to play, and that was saying something. Most guys he knew couldn’t handle the mega-competitive weekend reunions at the Murphy household, but Alicia hadn’t just sat on the sidelines flipping burgers. She’d tried her hand as starting pitcher when they’d played stick-ball, and got prickly when her receivers hadn’t run the routes she’d dictated when they’d let her quarterback a team in the Turkey Bowl. She had a natural competitiveness that made her fit right in with his family.

  If she hadn’t been so damn young—or maybe if she hadn’t been every bit as strong-willed as him—they might have gotten somewhere. But both those things had tripped them up and he hadn’t thought it would be fair to maintain the relationship when he’d made the decision to take a navy contract after…well, when the call to serve had become undeniably personal.

  He hadn’t been at liberty to discuss the way the war had hit close to home back then. Couldn’t let her in on why he’d needed to sign that contract so badly. And the secrecy had cost them both.

  He’d heard she’d dated half his high-school graduating class since then—okay, two other guys that he knew about. But she’d dated with enough of a vengeance that she’d shown him she didn’t care about the breakup.

  It’d stung when he’d gotten the news on his first stint overseas, back when he’d been sitting on a ship in the Gulf of Oman.

  “I’m going to give you fair warning, Alicia.” He kept his hands on her, ill prepared to deal with the riptide effect of being alone with her for the first time in four years. He was too exhausted—and too turned on from finding himself in bed with her. “Because even though I play to win, I believe in a level playing field.”

  “How generous of you.” The soft words held plenty of sarcasm, but she didn’t move a muscle, her body perfectly still under his hands.

  “I would dare a lot when it comes to you.” Because he’d never forgotten about her. Because she’d moved on with an ease that had rankled long afterward. “So if you won’t admit you felt something for me in the cabin earlier, I’m not going to think twice about proving what a lie that is.”

  “Okay, so I felt something, damn it,” she snapped, leaning forward to get in his face. “Satisfied?”

  Her gutsiness had always made her irresistible. And he had no reason to hold back now. She’d sparked a flame inside him and he couldn’t think of any reason not to follow it to its natural conclusion. Maybe this time it would burn itself out, since trying to shut it down four years ago had backfired. He’d thought about her more than any other woman he’d ever been with, probably because he’d stomped out the relationship too soon.

  They might not have personalities that meshed for the long term. But they sure as hell had chemistry that would light things up in the here and now.

  Damn it, they needed to find out what was between them once and for all.

  “No. Admit it was for me. You were dreaming about me. You said my name.”

  She pursed her lips. Brown eyes narrowed. Everything about her posture told him she would argue this all night. So he opted for a preemptive strike. Winding one arm around her waist and one around her back, he drew her to him. Her hands still clutched the blanket to her neck, so he pinned them between his chest and hers. Captive.

  Her eyes went wide in the reflected glow of the running lights. Surprised. He could feel the rapid tattoo of her heartbeat against his chest. And he had no qualms about fitting his mouth to hers and tasting her lips.

  The flavor of her damn near took out his knees. Familiar and foreign all at once, her mouth followed his. Part of him couldn’t believe she was here, in his arms, allowing him to touch her and kiss her. But they’d always been good together physically. And even though he’d been dead to the world when he’d fallen into that berth earlier, he could have sworn she’d been aware it was him she was touching.

  He hadn’t been positive she’d said his name at all, half afraid he’d dreamed up all that heat radiating from her when she’d rubbed her thigh against his. Licked him. But now, feeling her mouth come alive under his, he knew he’d been right. The spark between them was still there.

  Without warning, she broke the kiss and stepped back. Ocean air blew between them, cooling his hot skin and stirring the blanket she gripped around her as if it were a life vest.

  “Uncle.” One hand lifted to her mouth, as if to stroke away his kiss. Or to preserve the feel of it? “Okay? You win. I must have known on some level it was you in bed because I thought I was dreaming about you. But you have to believe that I never would have started coming on to you if I’d been awake. It’s been four years and a lot of water under the bridge.” He did not want to think about the water under the bridge. The other guys she’d dated. The feelings for her that had run deep even after they broke up. He rerouted his thoughts with an effort.

  “Subconsciously, you still want me.” Personally, he thought the desire was pretty obvious on the surface, too, or she wouldn’t have returned his kiss just now. But he recalled she had pride as fierce as his own, and he didn’t think pushing any harder right now would be wise.

  “Or maybe I have a selective memory when I’m sleeping, and I can choose to remember your positive attributes instead of that famous Murphy arrogance.” She tucked into the stairwell. “I’m going below. It’s freezing up here.”

  Funny. He’d been plenty warm until she’d walked away. After one more quick glance to check the horizon for traffic, Jack followed her down into the galley. She slid into a seat at the built-in table near the bag of supplies he’d picked up on his way to the marina.

  He took the seat across from her, giving her space without letting go of a conversational point that needed to be settled ASAP.

  “You’re right about the arrogance,” he admitted, eyes adjusting to the green tinge of the night-light he’d left on in the hall. “But I only pushed the kiss to remind you that we’re not exactly strangers. I mean, you trusted Keith enough to take you to Bar Harbor, and that guy couldn’t sail his way out of a bathtub. So why not me?”

  She laughed. The warm, throaty chuckle pleased his insides like hot chocolate after a snowball war. Damn, but she was gorgeous when she smiled.

  “The fact that I can still be persuaded to kiss you after you dumped me right before my spring formal and then joined the navy to escape my wrath sort of makes me wary around you.” The humor in her tone was tinged with a dark edge that surprised him.

  But then, shipping out weeks after their breakup had guaranteed he wouldn’t see the fallout. Of course, she didn’t know that his decision to go into the service hadn’t been about her.

  “The timing was unfortunate,” he admitted, unprepared to discuss those darker days with her. “But don’t let an old argument prevent you from making this trip. With two of us to sail this monstrosity that Keith calls a boat, we’ll make decent time, and you’ll be off and running in Bar Harbor before you know it.”

  Her gaze turned thoughtful. Serious.

  And the fact that he seemed to be holding his breath clued him in to how much he wanted her to say yes. A smarter man might have questioned his sanity, given the way they’d hurt each other in the past. But seeing her again had blasted through old defenses, sparking a need to simply be with her.

  “Maybe a little closure would be a good thing.” She toyed with the plastic handle of the shopping bag on the table. “I’ve missed your family parties.”

  “Still flying high on the year you won the Turkey Bowl?”

  “I threw a bomb to Kyle and he ran it into the end zone for the big finish.” She mimicked the throw, her arm reaching out of the blanket long enough to give him a glimpse of soft, feminine curves beneath. “It was one of my finer
moments.”

  They stared at each other across the polished wooden table. Was she remembering the finer moment that came afterward, when they’d stolen into one of the cabanas so he could help her celebrate her victory? He’d insisted that she deserved a reward she wouldn’t forget…?.

  “I—” He cleared his throat, knowing she didn’t want to hear about that right now. First, he had to get her to agree to this trip with him. “Yeah. I remember.”

  Needing a distraction from memories that lambasted him, he grabbed the bag of supplies on the table and dragged it closer.

  “You hungry?” he asked.

  He sure as hell was. But there wasn’t anything in that bag that could help.

  “Starving, actually.” She tucked her legs up on the bench beneath her. “Some of us didn’t get invited to the engagement party of the century at the Murphy Mansion. How was it?”

  Grateful to reroute his thoughts, he realized she probably would like to hear about Ryan’s shindig. There’d been six months where she’d practically been family, after all.

  She’d moved to Chatham when he was in high school, but he hadn’t really become aware of her until he’d seen her at one of Kyle’s football games, cheering on the sidelines and explaining the finer points of the game—a little impatiently—to some girlfriends. He’d been amused by her solid grip on the offense’s use of the “I” formation, but she’d been five years his junior, way too young to register on his dating radar.

  But once he’d become aware of her, Alicia LeBlanc seemed to be everywhere he turned for the next two years. Leading her high school team to a state championship in swimming and earning a college scholarship. Taking an interest in the hospitality field and getting a summer internship in one of his father’s resorts as an activity assistant. Showing up at his parents’ house in the summers with a slew of Kyle and Axel’s other friends to boat and surf.