Breathless on the Beach

Calla bracketed Victoria on the other side. “Any chance we’re going to get you more than fingertip deep in that water?”

“Yeah.” Victoria tucked her blowing hair behind her ears so she could see her friends. “I might dangle my feet.”

“In the pool,” Calla added, clearly skeptical.

Shelby smirked. “Wearing a big hat and a heavy layer of sunscreen.”

“You’re dissing sunscreen?” Victoria asked.

“No way,” Shelby said.

Calla grinned. “Provided the tough, tanned and broad-shouldered Jared McKenna doesn’t use it all up.”

Shelby’s eyes lit with interest. “He’s quite something, isn’t he?”

“I was finally in a good mood, I really was,” Victoria lamented, then pointed at Shelby. “And you have a man. Stop lusting after …” She stopped, bit back a curse.

Fighting the wind, Calla wrangled her long blond locks into a ponytail. “After yours?”

“Jared isn’t mine,” Victoria insisted.

Calla leaned in. “But he could be.”

Despite herself, Victoria was curious how Calla had gleaned that information. “How do you know?”

“I’ve got eyes,” she said a little too casually. “I see him staring at you.”

“And you looking back,” Shelby stated.

The last time her pals had those determined expressions on their faces, Victoria had found herself neck-deep in an undercover sting operation against an unscrupulous retirement-fund swindler. “Are you two going to bug me about this guy all weekend?”

“Yes,” they answered together.

“Fine, then. I like him.” Facing her friends, Victoria was careful to keep her voice brisk and not allow her imagination to provide visual aids of the man in question. “He’s smart, strong-willed, resilient and irritating.”

“And gorgeous,” Calla added, poking Victoria’s arm.

“I’ve got eyes.” Victoria narrowed hers. “I can see that.”

“How’s he irritating?” Shelby asked. “I think he’s charming.”

“He’s … challenging,” Victoria returned, deciding that was the right word to describe the alternating highs of attraction and lows of annoyance she felt in Jared’s presence.

“You like challenges.” Calla’s attention flicked to a point over Victoria’s shoulder. “Don’t you?” she asked, her voice louder.

What was with her? “Sure, but …” Victoria glanced behind her.

Where Jared stood.

Her heart stopped—and not just because she was curious about who might be steering the boat. “How long have you been there?”

He looked thoughtful. “Let me think….” Then he gave her a broad smile. “You like me.”

Victoria whirled to her friends and hoped her glare scorched them on the spot.

5

AFTER ATTEMPTING TO CONVINCE Jared she’d been talking about a guy from work, and absolutely not him, Victoria had focused on the horizon, refusing to speak to her so-called friends, and grinding her back teeth.

Returning to the house after they docked, she retreated to the third-floor balcony to breathe a sigh of relief in private.

Shelby was happily hooked up with her elegant Brit lover; Calla had her attraction to a darkly intense cop. Did they think Victoria wouldn’t be satisfied until she had a man in her life, too?

Well, that was crap.

She was perfectly happy working, shopping, dating here and there and hanging with her friends—though, clearly, she was going to have to find new ones after that sneaky move her old ones had pulled.

She’d have to put that on her to-do list. Unfortunately, she didn’t have her phone with her, as she’d left it in her room before the boat ride.

Fine. Her brain was still sharp enough to make mental notes.

Even if she was interested in a weekend fling, Jared McKenna wouldn’t make the cut. Hot as he might be, she always went for guys with cachet and success. Tour guide wasn’t exactly her usual choice of date. Of course, she didn’t have much to show for her past relationships, either, and there was something about him that—

She heard the door open and, turning, wasn’t surprised to see Jared strolling toward her. “Is this going to be a thing with us?” she snapped.

“Depends on what you mean by thing,” he said calmly in the face of her anger.

They could be a lot of things, she supposed, but she chose to ignore the possibilities for intimacy and focus on the immediate conflict.

“A habit,” she clarified. “One of us comes out here to be alone, and the other one invades.”

Joining her at the railing, he raised his eyebrows. “Invades?”