Frowning some, like any man would when faced with a woman who wanted to shop, Nick said, “What could you possibly want to buy here? It’s a tourist trap.”
“That’s what makes it fun,” she told him, and slipped out of his grasp to walk beneath the awning and into the aisle that wound its way past at least thirty different booths.
She wandered through the crowd, sensing Nick’s presence behind her. She glanced at tables set up with sterling silver rings and necklaces, leather coin purses and crocheted shawls that hung in colorful bunches from a rope stretched across the front of a booth. She smiled at the man selling tacos and ignored the rumbling of her stomach as she moved on to a booth selling T-shirts.
Nick came up behind her and looked over her head at the display of tacky shirts silk-screened with images of Cabo, sport fishing and the local cantinas. Shaking his head at the mystery that was women, he wondered why in the hell she’d chosen to shop here.
“Need a new wardrobe?” he asked, dipping his head so that his voice whispered directly into her ear.
She jumped a little, and he enjoyed the fact that he made her nervous. He’d felt it all day. That hum of tension simmering around her. When he touched her, he felt the heat and felt her response that fed the fires burning inside him. The moment he’d wrapped his arm around her waist, he’d known it was a mistake. But the feel of her body curved against his had felt good enough that he hadn’t wanted to let her go.
Which irritated the hell out of him.
He’d learned his lesson with her a year ago. She’d lied to him about who she was. Who was to say she hadn’t lied about her response to him? Wasn’t lying still? But even as he thought that, he wondered if anyone could manufacture the kind of heat that spiraled up between them when their bodies brushed against each other.
“The shirts aren’t for me,” she was saying, and Nick pushed his thoughts aside to pay attention. “I thought maybe there’d be something small enough for the boys to-here!”
She pulled a shirt out from a stack and it was so small, Nick could hardly believe that it could actually be worn. There was a grinning cartoon burro on the front and the words Baby Burros Need Love Too stenciled underneath it. “It’s so cute! Don’t you think so?”
Nick’s breath caught hard in his chest as she turned her face up to his and smiled so brightly the shine in her eyes nearly blinded him. He’d given women diamonds and seen less of a display of joy. If this was an act, he thought, she should be getting an Oscar.
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess it is.” Then he looked past her to the woman who ran the booth and in Spanish told her they’d be needing two of the shirts.
Smiling, the woman found another matching shirt, dropped them both in a sack and held them out. Nick paid for the shirts before Jenna could dig in her purse. Then he took hold of her hand and, carrying the bag, led her back out onto the street.
“You didn’t have to buy them,” she told him once they were on their way to the dock again.
“Call it my first present to my sons.”
She stumbled a little and he tightened his hold on her hand, steadying her even while he felt his own balance getting shaky.
“So you believe me?”
Nick felt a cold, hard knot settle into the pit of his stomach. He looked into Jenna’s eyes and couldn’t find the slightest sign of deception. Was she too good at hiding her secrets? Or were there no secrets to hide? Soon enough, he’d know for sure. But for now “I’m starting to.”
Six
Three days later the ship docked in Acapulco.
“Oh, come on,” Mary Curran urged, “come ashore with Joe and me. He’s going scuba diving of all things, and I’d love some company while I spend all the money we saved by having this cruise comped.”
Laughing, Jenna shook her head and sat back on the sofa in the living room of Nick’s spectacular suite. “No, thanks. I think I’m going to stay aboard and relax.”
Mary sighed in defeat. “How you can relax when you’re staying in this suite with Nick Falco is beyond me. Heck, I’ve been married for twenty years and just looking at the guy gives me hot flashes.”
Jenna knew just what her friend meant. For the past few days she and Nick had been practically in each other’s pockets. They’d spent nearly every minute together, and when they were here in this suite, the spacious accommodations seemed to shrink to the size of a closet.
Jenna felt as if she were standing on a tight wire, uneasily balanced over a vat of lava. She was filled with heat constantly and knew that with the slightest wrong move, she could be immolated.
God, great imagery.
“Hello? Earth to Jenna?”
“Sorry.” Jenna smiled, pushed one hand through her hair and blew out an unsteady breath. “Guess my mind was wandering.”
“Uh-huh, and I’ve got a good idea where it wandered to.”
“What?”
“Oh, honey, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?” Mary leaned forward and squeezed Jenna’s hand briefly.
Embarrassed and just a little concerned that Mary might be right, Jenna immediately argued. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure you don’t.” Mary’s smile broadened. “I say Nick’s name and your eyes flash.”
“Oh God…”
“Hey, what’s the trouble? You’re both single. And you’re clearly attracted to each other. I mean, I saw Nick’s face last night at dinner whenever he looked at you.”
The four of them had had dinner together the night before, and though Jenna had been sure it would be an uncomfortable couple of hours-given the tension between her and Nick-they’d all had a good time. In fact, seeing Nick interacting with Joe Curran, hearing him laugh and tell stories about past cruises had really opened Jenna’s eyes.
For so long, she’d thought of him only as a player. A man only interested in getting as many women as possible into his bed. A man who wasn’t interested in anything that wasn’t about momentary pleasure.
Now she’d seen glimpses of a different man. One who could enjoy himself with people who weren’t members of the “celebrity crowd.” A guy who could buy silly T-shirts for babies he wasn’t even sure were his. A guy who could still turn her into a puddle of want with a glance.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Mary asked quietly.
Jenna took a long, deep breath and looked around the room to avoid meeting Mary’s too-knowing gaze. Muted sunlight, diffused by the tinted glass, filled the room, creating shadows in the corners. It was quiet now, with Nick somewhere out on deck and the hum of the ship’s powerful engines silenced while in port.
Shifting her gaze to Mary’s, Jenna thought about spilling the whole story. Actually she could really use someone to talk to, and Mary had, in the past several days, already proven to be a good friend. But she couldn’t get into it now. Didn’t want to explain how she and Nick had come together, made two sons and then drifted apart. That was far too long a story.
“Thanks,” she said, meaning it. “But I don’t think so. Anyway, you don’t have time to listen. Joe will be waiting for you.”
Mary frowned at her, but apparently realized that Jenna didn’t feel like talking. Standing up, she said, “Okay, I’ll go. But if you decide you need someone to talk to…”
“I’ll remember. Thanks.”
Then Mary left and Jenna was alone. Alone with her thoughts, racing frantically through her mind. Alone with the desire that was a carefully banked fire deep inside. Suddenly antsy, she jumped to her feet, crossed the room and left the suite. She’d just go up on deck. Sit in the sun. Try not to think. Try to relax.
The business of running a cruise line kept Nick moving from the time he got up until late at night. People on the outside looking in probably assumed that he led a life of leisure. And sure, there was still time for that. But the truth was he had to stay on top of everything. This cruise line was his life. The one thing he had. The most important thing in the world to him. He’d worked his ass off to get thi
s far, to make his mark. And he wasn’t about to start slowing down now.
“If the band isn’t working, contact Luis Felipe here in town,” he told Teresa, and wasn’t surprised to see her make a note on her PDA. “He knows all the local bands in Acapulco. He could hook us up with someone who could take over for the rest of the cruise.”
The band they’d hired in L.A. was proving to be more trouble than they were worth. With their rock star attitudes, they were demanding all sorts of perks that hadn’t been agreed on in their contracts. Plus, they’d been cutting short their last show of the evening because they said there weren’t enough people in attendance to make it worthwhile. Not their call, Nick thought. They’d been hired to do a job, and they’d do it or they’d get off the ship in Mexico and find their own way home.
“Got it,” Teresa said. “Want me to tell the band their days are numbered?”
“Yeah. We’ll be in port forty-eight hours. Give ’em twenty-four to clean up their act-if they don’t, tell ’em to pack their bags.”
“Will do.” She paused, and Nick turned to look at her. They were standing at the bow of the ship on the Splendor Deck, mainly because Nick hadn’t felt like being cooped up in his office. And he couldn’t go to his suite because Jenna was there. Being in the same room with her without reacting to her presence was becoming more of a challenge.
The last few days had been hell. Being with her every day, sleeping down the hall from her at night, knowing she was there, stretched out on a king-size bed, probably wearing what she used to-a tank top and a pair of tiny, bikini panties-had practically killed him. He’d taken more cold showers in the last three days than he had in the past ten years.
His plan to seduce Jenna and then lose her was backfiring. He was the one getting seduced. He was the one nearly being strangled with throttled-back desire. And he was getting damned sick of it. It was time to make a move. Time to take her to bed. Before they got the results of that DNA test.
Tonight, he decided. Tonight he’d have Jenna Baker back in his bed. Where he’d wanted her for the past year.
“Boss?”
He was almost surprised to hear Teresa’s voice. Hell, he’d forgotten where the hell he was and what he was doing. Just thinking about Jenna had his body hard and aching.
“What is it?” He half turned away from the woman and hoped she wouldn’t notice the very evident proof of just how hungry for Jenna he really was.
“The lab in Cabo called. They faxed the results of the DNA test to the lab in L.A.”
“Good.” His stomach fisted, but he willed it to loosen. Nothing to do about it now but wait for the results. Which would probably arrive by tomorrow. So, yeah. Tonight was the night.
“Do you want me to tell Jenna?”
Nick frowned at his assistant, then let the expression fade away. Wasn’t her fault he felt like he was tied up in knots. “No, thanks. I’ll do it.”
“Okay.” Teresa took a deep breath, held it, then blew it out. “Look, I know this is none of my business…”
“Never stopped you before,” he muttered with a smile.
“No, I guess not,” she admitted, swiping one hand through her wind-tousled hair. “So let me just say, I don’t think Jenna’s trying to play you.”
He went perfectly still. From the shore came the sounds of car horns honking and a swell of noise that only a crowd of tourists released for the day could make. Waves slapped halfheartedly at the hull of the ship, and the wind whipped his hair into his eyes.
He pushed it aside as he looked at Teresa. “Is that right?”
She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. “That’s right. She’s just not the type to do something like this. She never did give a damn about your money or who you were.”
“Teresa-” He didn’t want to talk about this and he didn’t actually care what his assistant thought of Jenna. But knowing Teresa, there was just no way to stop her. An instant later, he was proved right.
“-still talking. And if I’m going to get fired for shooting my mouth off,” she added quickly, “then I’m going to get it all said no matter what you think.”
“Fine. Finish.”
“I didn’t say anything when you fired her, remember. I even agreed with you to a point-yes, Jenna should have told you she worked for you, but from her point of view I can see why she didn’t.”
“That’s great, thanks.”
She ignored his quips and kept talking. “I didn’t even say anything when you were so miserable after she left that it was like working for a panther with one foot caught in a steel trap.”
“Hey-”
“But I’m saying it now,” she told him, and even wagged a finger at him as if he were a misbehaving ten-year-old. “You can fire me for it if you want to, but you’ll never get another assistant as good as I am and you know it…”
Gritting his teeth because he knew she was right, Nick nodded and ordered, “Spit it out then.”
“Jenna’s not the kind to lie.”
A bark of laughter shot from his throat.
“Okay, fine, she didn’t tell you she was an employee. But that was one mistake. Remember, I knew her then, too, Nick. She’s a nice kid with a good heart.”
He shifted uncomfortably because he didn’t want her to be right. It was much easier on him to think of Jenna as a liar and a manipulator. Those kind of women he knew how to deal with. A nice woman? What the hell was he supposed to do with one of those?
“And,” Teresa added pointedly, “I saw the pictures of your sons-”
“That hasn’t been confirmed yet,” he said quickly.
“They look just like you,” she countered.
“All babies look like Winston Churchill,” Nick argued, despite the fact that he knew damn well she was right.
“Yeah?” She smiled and shook her head. “Winston never looked that good in his life, I guarantee it. They’ve got your eyes. Your hair. Your dimples.” Teresa paused, reached out and laid one hand on his forearm. “She’s not lying to you, Nick. You’re a father. And you’re going to have to figure out how you want to deal with that.”
He turned his face toward the sea and let the wind slap at him. The wide stretch of openness laid out in front of him was usually balm enough to calm his soul and soothe whatever tensions were crowded inside him. But it wasn’t working now. And maybe it never would again.
Because if he was a father…then his involvement with those kids wasn’t going to be relegated to writing a check every month. He’d be damned if his children were going to grow up not knowing him. Whether Jenna wanted him around or not, he wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to be a part of their lives, even if that meant he had to take them away from their mother to do it.
The ship felt deserted.
With most of the passengers still on shore exploring Acapulco, Jenna wandered decks that made her feel as if she were on board a ghost ship. That evening, she was back in Nick’s suite and feeling on edge. She’d showered, changed into a simple, blue summer dress and was now fighting the fidgets as she waited for Nick to come back to the suite for dinner.
Funny, she’d spent nearly every waking moment with him over the past few days, feeling her inner tension mount incrementally. She’d convinced herself that what she needed was time to herself. Time away from Nick, to relax. Unwind a little, before the stress of being so close to him made her snap.
So she’d had that time to herself today and she was more tense than ever.
“Oh, you’re in bad shape, Jenna,” she whispered as she walked out onto Nick’s balcony. She was a wreck when she was with him, and when she wasn’t, she missed him. Her hair lifted off her neck in the wind, and the hem of her dress fluttered about her knees. Her sandals made a soft click of sound as she walked across the floor and she wrapped her arms around herself more for comfort than warmth.
From belowdecks, a soft sigh of music from the ballroom reached her, and the notes played on the cool ocean bree
ze, as if they’d searched her out deliberately. The plaintive instrumental seeped into her soul and made her feel wistful. What if coming on this trip had been a big mistake? What if telling Nick about their sons hadn’t been the right thing to do? What if-she stopped her wildly careening thoughts and told herself it was too late to worry about any of that now. The deed was done. What would happen would happen and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it now.
She sighed, leaned on the balcony railing and stared out at the sea. Moonlight danced on the surface of the water in a shimmer of pale silver. Clouds scuttled across a star-splashed sky, and the ever-present wind lifted her hair from her shoulders with a gentle touch.
“This reminds me of something.”
Nick’s deep voice rumbled along Jenna’s spine, and she had to pull in a deep breath before she turned her head to look at him. He stood in the open doorway to the balcony. Hands in his pockets, he wore black slacks, a gleaming white shirt and a black jacket that looked as if it had been expertly tailored. His dark hair was wind ruffled, his pale eyes were intense, and his jaw was tight.
Her heart tumbled in her chest.
“What’s that?” she whispered, amazed that she’d been able to squeeze out a few words.
He stepped out onto the balcony, and with slow, measured steps, walked toward her. “The night we met,” he said, taking a place beside her at the railing. “Remember?”
How could she forget? She’d been standing on the Pavilion Deck of Falcon’s Treasure, the ship she’d been working on at the time. That corner of the ship had been dark and deserted, since most of the passengers preferred spending time in the crowded dance club at the other end of the deck.
So Jenna had claimed that shadowy spot as her own and had gone there nearly every night to stand and watch the sea while the music from the club drifted around her. She’d never run into anyone else there, until the night Nick had stumbled across her.
“I remember,” she said, risking a sidelong glance at him. She shouldn’t have. He was too close. His eyes too sharp, his mouth too lickable. His scent too rich and too tempting. Her insides twisted and she dropped both hands to the cold, iron railing, holding tight.
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