By the time I’d finished booking everything, we’d dropped anchor in open ocean. I surfaced from my cabin, hot and cranky, and paused at the top of the stairs. Zoe was lounging on the sundeck with her sunglasses covering most of her face. Julian and Josephine were sitting on the couch beneath the roofed section of the sundeck. Julian leaned in and kissed her cheek. I looked away and my gaze followed the line of the sundeck until I spotted Lily behind my bar, wearing nothing but her red bikini and one of my old Nicks caps. It sat crooked on her head, the wide brim covering her entire forehead.
“Where’d you find that?” I asked, stepping closer.
A smarter man would have stepped in the opposite direction.
She glanced up and blanched. “It was in a cupboard down in the galley. I forgot a hat and I get so many freckles if I don’t keep my cheeks covered in the sun.”
I tilted my head, taking in her delicate features beneath the brim of my hat. She already had freckles across her cheeks, but I liked them.
“I can take it off.”
I shook my head and bent down to retrieve a few limes from a bowl beneath the bar.
“Keep it on.”
I purposely didn’t look to see her reaction.
“What are you going to make?” she asked, taking a hesitant step closer.
She smelled like summer. That tropical scent that warms your stomach.
“A margarita,” I said, peering at her from the corner of my eye.
Her red tube top style bikini was tight and had the effect of drawing me in like a moth to a flame.
“That’s my favorite drink,” she said, a small smile stretching across her lips.
I sliced up two limes, squeezed the juice into the shaker, and reached for the triple sec. “I usually like to use fresh orange juice, but this’ll do.”
I pulled the cork from my Patrón and poured in two shots. A little ice and a splash of agave nectar went in next, and then I shook the drink up while Lily watched me in silence.
“Try it,” I said.
Her hand brushed mine as she took the glass from me. Lily brought the glass to her lips and took a small sip. Her bright eyes met mine over the brim of the glass and I knew I had her. She was a better bartender than I was, but I’d been perfecting margaritas since I was sixteen.
“It’s good.”
“You can keep it,” I said, already reaching for two more limes.
“You’re being nice again today,” she quipped, pressing her hip against the bar to face me.
I shot her a dark look. “You won’t be saying that in a few minutes.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“You’ll find out as soon as you finish that drink.”
Chapter Nineteen
Dean
During the summer months, when the sundeck is hot and the water is too tempting to ignore, I like to jump off the side of my yacht into the water. It isn’t dangerous if you do it right, but when I broached the subject to the group, everyone but Julian reacted like I was insane.
“No!” Josephine yelled, leaning out over the edge of the railing. “That’s how people get eaten by sharks.”
“There are no sharks,” I corrected her, reaching for the hem of my shirt. I tugged if off and tossed it back onto the floor of the main deck. When I turned back toward the railing, Lily was watching me. Her eyes dragged down my chest, heating my skin. I cleared my throat and she smirked, meeting my eye for only a moment before glancing away. She wasn’t embarrassed to have been caught. She was too self-assured to be bothered by the fact that I knew she was checking me out.
“I think we should do it,” Zoe said, tossing her sunglasses aside. “It’ll be a bonding exercise.”
Lily grunted. “Will the bonding part come when we’re all at the hospital nursing broken bones?”
I smiled and shook my head. She and Josephine would come around. Everyone did. “I’ve done it a million times.”
Lily’s wide eyes met mine. “It’s that easy to do?”
Josephine slapped her palm against her forehead. “This is dumb. We shouldn’t do this.”
Zoe was ahead of everyone. She already had one leg swung over the metal rail, balanced on the short ledge that extended out a few inches on the other side. I stayed close until she swung her other leg over and had a solid grip on the railing.
Julian helped lift Josephine over the railing even as she continued to protest. “How confident are you about the sharks?”
He laughed off her question and then swung himself over the railing beside her. Zoe, Julian, and Josephine spread out along the side of the boat, a few feet apart. Lily stayed where she was, her feet firmly planted on the safe side of the rail.
“You going to chicken out?” I asked, stepping up behind her.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she replied, sliding her gaze back to me.
I smiled and reached up to take the hat off her head.
“Hey—I didn’t say I was going to do it,” she protested, trying in vain to flatten down her blonde hair. It was curly and wild from the salty air.