laugh stopped Rand in his tracks. Tara’s laugh. He pivoted and followed the sound around a tiki-hut bar and found her at an umbrella-covered table surrounded by a group of six guys. Twenty-somethings. Closer to her age than Rand’s thirty-five. Empty plates, beer bottles, drink cups and a couple of half-filled bowls of chips and salsa littered the picnic table.
The burn in his gut caught him off guard. Indigestion? Probably. He’d speak to the ship’s chef.
Or was he jealous? Couldn’t be. To be jealous he’d have to have feelings for Tara beyond the anger that festered inside him at her manipulativeness. Feelings beyond the respect for her work. Beyond lust for her body.
Her black bikini left her back almost completely bare.
“Tara.”
She startled at the bark of her name and twisted around on the bench seat. “Rand. Hi.”
Was that a guilty flush on her cheeks? Could she be auditioning potential lovers when she’d left his bed only hours ago?
He planted a hand on her shoulder and nodded to her male harem. “Gentlemen. Rand Kincaid. Kincaid Cruise Lines. I hope you don’t mind if I steal my assistant.”
It wasn’t a question.
He noted Tara’s widened eyes, and then one of the guys laughed and grinned at Tara. “You work for the cruise line? That explains all the questions.”
Tara’s shoulder shrugged beneath Rand’s hand. He looked down to see her nose—now sporting a fresh dusting of freckles—wrinkle. “Sorry for the secrecy. But it really is my first cruise, and I know very little about what’s out there. I appreciate you giving me your thoughts on the comparisons between KCL vacations and our competitors’.”
She tucked a pen into the spirals of a little pink notebook. Rand recalled Tara had always carried a notebook in her purse. She was a big fan of note taking. Had been even back when she’d worked for his father. A breeze ruffled the pages—pages filled with her small neat handwriting. Handwriting not formatted like addresses or phone numbers.
Working? She’d been working? Didn’t she realize each of these guys eyed her as if she were a tender and juicy filet mignon and they couldn’t wait to take a bite? And given the mouthwatering cleavage he could see from his position above her, Rand couldn’t blame them.
She rose and gathered her belongings. He let his hand fall from her shoulder.
“I guess this means you’ll have to skip your first Jet Ski ride,” one of the guys said and scowled at Rand. “That sucks. She wanted to learn.”
Tara bit her lip, and disappointment flashed across her face. “I guess so. But I am supposed to be working. It was nice meeting you. Thanks again for your help.”
“Thanks for the drinks,” a blond guy replied. “Maybe we’ll see you at the luau tonight. Save a dance for me.”
“I’ll see what I can do, Joe.” Tara waved and looked questioningly at Rand.
He grasped her elbow and led her to the opposite side of the tiki hut from the devouring eyes of her fan club. “You were working?”
“Yes, and I have some really good info for you. But why did you blow your cover?”
Good question. He didn’t like the answer. He had been jealous. Dammit. More fool him. “You’ve never ridden a Jet Ski?”
“No.”
A smart man would head back to the ship and put some clothes on the woman. His gaze raked over her lightly tanned skin, savoring the swell of her breasts in the bikini top, the curve of her waist and the dip of her navel above a tiny skirted bottom. And then there were her legs.
The rush of blood to his groin annoyed the hell out of him. He grabbed her hand and towed her behind him. “Let’s go.”
“The boat’s the other way.”
“Ship,” he corrected automatically. “But the Jet Skis are this way.”
“But—”
“You want lessons. You’ll get lessons. From me.” And he’d be damned if she’d be dancing with the frat boy later.
The hard thighs clamped around Tara’s and the firm hands grasping her ribs just below her breasts should have made her feel relaxed and comfortable. But they had the opposite effect.
She held her breath as the Jet Ski shot over the crest of a wave and splashed down again. Exhilaration made her pulse race, intensifying her other senses to the tang of salt on her lips, the warmth of the sun on her skin and the tease of wind in her hair. The vibration of the machine beneath her and the feel of the man behind her made her … well, hot in a way that the sea water spraying over her skin couldn’t cool.
A horn sounded, signaling the end of their hour on the personal watercraft. Disappointment sagged through her. She wasn’t ready to go in, wasn’t ready to share the man or the machine with other people on the tiny island or go back to work. She could happily ride for hours longer in the aquamarine-blue water with Rand’s arms and legs wrapped around her.
As if he sensed her reluctance to return Rand transferred his hands from her torso to flank hers on the handlebars. She instantly missed the heat of his palms. He throttled them down and made a wide U-turn toward shore. She couldn’t believe he’d let her drive, but he’d insisted she learn.
She leaned back against him to catch her breath. Despite the life jackets separating their bodies, she couldn’t be more conscious of every hard, muscular inch of him behind her and the strong arms bracketing her.
“That was fun,” she shouted over the engine’s rumble as she tilted her head back onto his shoulder. “And we survived without Jaws coming up to eat us.”
“You’re not out of the water yet,” Rand growled in her ear, then sank his teeth into her neck in a love bite.
She squealed and squirmed then twisted on the wide, cushioned seat she straddled to look at Rand. The wicked grin on his tanned face made her breath hitch and her heart squeeze.
This was the man she’d fallen in love with. The one who played as hard as he worked.
Her laughter died and her smile wobbled. “Thank you. That was great.”
His smile faded and tension invaded his features. Her reflection stared back at her from his mirrored sunglasses, but she’d bet if she could see his eyes, she’d see the barriers drop back in place, as well. “You’re welcome.”
He guided the craft into the cove, where they would be anchored for the next group, and fell in line behind a dozen other riders.
She faced forward again and burrowed deeper into the arms surrounding her. “But you really blew your cover when you flashed your KCL ID and commandeered a ride when you weren’t registered for the excursion.”
He
