“You’re annoying. And you’re not all that.”
“Yes, I am.”
She turned her back on him. He liked getting to her almost as much as he didn’t like Andrew. Jack was still waiting on Bobbi Sue’s report on the man. His gut told him it wasn’t going to be good news. Would Meri listen when he told her the truth?
He refused to consider that Andrew might be an okay guy.
The instructors rode their Jet Skis to the shore. “We’re looking for Meri,” the tallest, tannest and blondest one said.
“I’m here.” She waved. “This is my team. They’re really smart but not superathletic. Sort of like me.”
She grinned and the guy smiled back. He looked her up and down, then whipped off his sunglasses and moved toward her.
Jack stepped between them. He put his hand on the other guy’s shoulder. “Not so fast.”
Surfer dude nodded and took a step back. “Sorry, man.”
“It’s fine.”
Meri raised her eyebrows. “You’re protecting me from a guy on a Jet Ski. It’s almost romantic.”
“I was impressed,” Betina said. “He could have carried you off to the other side of the lake. We might never have seen you again.”
He eyed them both, not sure of their point.
“You overreacted,” Betina said in a loud whisper. “She could have handled him herself.”
“Just doing my job.”
“Sure you were,” Betina told him with a wink. “You’re not subtle. I’ll give you that.”
“Didn’t know I was supposed to be.”
Meri sighed. “While this is lovely, let’s get on with the activity. You’ll take people out with you and make sure they know what they’re doing before setting them loose with the moving equivalent of a power tool, right?”
“Sure thing,” surfer dude said.
Jack grabbed Meri by the hand and led her over to one of the Jet Skis. “You can go with me.”
“Are you being all macho and take-charge? It’s unexpected-but fun.”
Now she was baiting him. Which was fair, he thought as he put on a life jacket, pushed the Jet Ski back into the lake, then straddled it. If she had been anyone else, he would have thought they were a good team. But he wasn’t interested in being on a team, nor was he interested in Meri. Not that way.
She stepped into the lake and shrieked. “It’s cold.”
“Snow runoff and a mile deep. What did you expect?”
“Eighty degrees. I’ll freeze.”
He gunned the Jet Ski. “You’ll be fine. Hop on.”
She slid behind him, put her feet on the running board and wrapped her arms around his waist.
When she was settled, he twisted the accelerator and they took off across the water.
They bounced through the wake of a boat, then settled onto smoother water. Meri leaned against him, her thighs nestling him. The image of her naked, hungry and ready filled his mind. For once, he didn’t push it away. He let it stay there, arousing him, making him want to pull into shallow waters and make the fantasy real.
He didn’t. Instead he headed back to the beach, where her friends were being shown the right way to board a Jet Ski.
There was also a new addition to the group. A dinghy had been pulled up on the beach, and Andrew stood slightly to the side, staring at Meri.
“How about something with a little more power?” he said, pointing to the twenty-five-foot boat anchored offshore.
She climbed off the Jet Ski and pulled off her life jacket.
“I need to stay here,” she told him. “This was my idea.”
Andrew glanced around. “The nerd brigade will be fine.” He grabbed her hand. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”
Jack wanted to step between them the way he had with surfer dude. But this was different. This was the guy Meri thought she wanted to marry. And until he, Jack, had proof that Andrew was only in it for her money, he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop her.
“Go ahead,” he told her, consciously unclenching his jaw. “I’ll take care of them.”
“We don’t need taking care of,” Colin protested, then shrugged. “Okay. Maybe we do.”
Meri looked at Jack. “Are you sure?”
“Go. We’ll be fine.”
She nodded slowly, helped Andrew push the dinghy back into the water, then climbed on board. Andrew started the engine and then they were gone.
Colin stared after them. “I hate it when he takes her away. It’s never the same without her.”
Jack hated that he wanted to agree.
Meri scraped the dishes into the garbage disposal, then stacked them on the counter by the sink. She was pleasantly full from the Mexican food they’d brought in for dinner and just slightly buzzed from the margarita. Hmm, her team had had liquor twice in a week. If she wasn’t careful, they were going to get wild on her.
She smiled at the idea, then caught her breath as someone came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her first thought was that it was Jack, who’d mostly ignored her all afternoon. But then she inhaled the scent and felt the pressure of the body behind her and knew it wasn’t.
“Andrew,” she said as she sidestepped his embrace. “Come to help me with the dishes?”
“No. You don’t need to do that. Let someone else clean up.”
“I don’t mind. I was gone all afternoon.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Didn’t you have fun with me?”
“Sure.”
They’d taken the boat to the middle of the lake, dropped anchor and enjoyed a light lunch in the sun, then stretched out for some sunbathing. What was there not to like?
She would ignore the fact that she’d kept watching the shore to see what was going on there. To make sure her friends were all right, she reminded herself. She hadn’t been looking to see if Jack stuck around. Even though he had.
“Too bad about the cabin onboard,” Andrew said.
“Uh-huh.”
It had been small and cramped, and when Andrew had tried to take her down below, she’d nearly thrown up. The combination of confined spaces, movement on water and her tummy wasn’t a happy one.
“Let’s go have more fun,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Back at my hotel.”
She sidestepped him. “I need to stay here.”
“Why?”
“I was gone all afternoon.”
“They survived. Meredith, you’re not their cruise director.”
“I know, but I’m responsible for them.”
“Why? They’re adults.”
True, but they were her team. “Look, I want to stay here.”
He stared into her eyes. “How am I going to win you back if you refuse to be alone with me?”
An interesting point. Did she want to be won back?
Of course she did, she told herself. This was Andrew, the man she’d thought she might marry. She’d slept with Jack; she was over him and ready to move on with her life. She could emotionally engage now. Why not with Andrew?
“I have a great suite,” he told her. “With a view. If you don’t want to go back to my room, we could go to a casino and go gambling. You know how you like to play blackjack.”
It was true. She didn’t actually count cards, but she had a great memory and there were usually only a half dozen or so decks in play at any one time. How hard could it be to keep track of three hundred and twelve cards?
Jack walked into the kitchen. He smiled pleasantly at Andrew. “You’re still here?”
Andrew stepped close to her. “Trying to get rid of me?”
