Going Overboard (12 page)

He watched her settle into the task, her expression intent.

“Give me a little direction, at least,” she said.

“Okay. The technique I’ve used is to go in slow and’ make sure your aim is good, and then, just before you hit the beach, gun it. You should end up nice and tight.”

“Oh, I bet. I love it when you talk dirty.”

“You started this. I was only beaching the boat.”

“Sure.”

He had a feeling that the longer he hung around Andi, the more he’d adopt her sexy, playful view of the world, and the tougher it would be to concentrate on the serious business of running a huge company. He couldn’t pay attention during a stockholders’ meeting if he found himself daydreaming in sexual metaphors.

“Here we go,” she said, her voice humming with excitement.

He gripped the console as the motors roared, the boat hit the beach and the prow dug firmly into the sand.

She let out a whoop of triumph.

“That’s great! Shut ‘er down. Let’s moor this puppy.”

“Are you gonna drive those long stakes into the ground?” Her smile twinkled at him.

He threw his arm around her shoulders and treated himself to a fast, hard kiss. “What do you have, a one-track mind?”

“Don’t you?”

He gazed at her. She’d put on a T-shirt and shorts for the trip into the cove. There was nothing particularly sexy about the outfit, but all he had to do was concentrate on her for two minutes and he was hard and aching. “At the moment, yes,” he said.

A
NDI HELD THE STAKES
while Chance swung the sledgehammer. One glancing blow and he could have broken one of her fingers, but she never feared that he might miss and hit her hand.

She helped him wind the mooring ropes around the stakes, and then she dusted off her hands. “Should we start loading, or call the hospital first?”

Chance took off his sunglasses and wiped his arm over his sweaty forehead. Then he replaced his glasses. “Before we do either one, let’s talk about a few things.”

Andi panicked. They were coming to the end of the trip. They’d load up the stuff, call the hospital and take the boat back to the marina. Despite the look he’d had in his eyes when they’d made love this morning, when push came to shove, he wasn’t interested in a yoga teacher from Las Vegas. He probably wanted to make sure she understood that although he’d had a great time, everything would end when he left Nevada, because he had a business to run. She’d told herself to expect this, yet she’d forgotten in the excitement of loving Chance.

She remembered what he’d said a moment ago, when she’d asked him if he had a one-track mind.
At the moment, yes.
The moment had come to an end.

She decided to preempt him and salvage her pride. She walked over to the semicircle of chairs and sat down in a deliberately nonchalant pose. “You know, this has been
great fun, but when you get right down to it, totally out of the realm of reality.”

“That’s true.” He looked at her with some wariness.

She leaned back in the chair and forced a small laugh. “We’re two adults, and should be able to have a little flirtation without turning it into a federal case.”

“I guess so.”

“Well, just so you know, there’s no pressure from my side of this equation. It’s been great, but hardly enough to build a future on. We’re too different. I mean, you have a company to run and I have…my own crazy life to live, right?”

“Mmm.” He turned to look out over the water. “I can’t argue with your logic.”

“I didn’t expect you to.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. What had she imagined, that he’d drop to his knees and pledge his undying love? That he’d abandon his megamillion-dollar company and sell shoes in Las Vegas, just to be with her?

“The only thing is—”

“What?” she asked too quickly.

He turned to look at her. “The boat’s rented for a week.”

She told herself not to grasp at straws. “Are you worried about whether we’ll get a refund if we return it early?”

“No, I’m not, dammit. After all we’ve been through, do you still think I’m that focused on the bottom line?”

“Well, I—”

“Don’t answer that. I’m trying to find out if you have any interest in…keeping the houseboat a little longer.”

She grasped at a whole handful of straws. “With you on it?”

He grinned. “No, all by yourself,” He walked over to
her chair and leaned his hands on the arms, which brought him very close. “You and a ten-person houseboat. Of course with me on it, you nut!”

A reprieve. A person with any self-respect would reject a few more days, knowing the ending would be exactly the same. But as he leaned over her, his very kissable mouth inches from hers, all she wanted to do was gobble him up. “I would be very interested in that.”

“Good. So would I.”

She couldn’t keep the big smile off her face. By the end of the week she might be in tears, but in the meantime, she would party hearty.

“There’s the matter of Nicole and the baby,” he said, pushing himself upright again. “If she needs us there for any reason, or if you want to drive into Vegas and see them, we could dock at the marina for a day or so.”

“I guess we could. If she needs us.” If she didn’t, Andi knew she’d rather stay here with Chance. That’s how far gone she was. “If she doesn’t need us, I was planning to spend a week in Chicago with her after the baby was born, anyway, so it’s not like I won’t have the opportunity to play aunt.”

“And once I’m back in Chicago, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to play uncle.”

“But not much time to play houseboat,” Andi said.

“No.” He smiled gently. “This is it.”

“Then I guess we’d better make the most of it, huh? We could drive all over this lake, take in all the sights, and—”

“Or we could stay right here for the next three days.” Taking off his sunglasses, he pulled her out of the chair and drew her into his arms. “I like these sights just fine.”

She gazed up at him, her heart pounding. “You realize
that means no more ramming the boat into the sand and no more driving the stakes into the ground.”

“Yeah.” He cupped her bottom and held her tight as his manhood stirred against her. “I’ll have to find other outlets for my testosterone surges.”

“Oh.”

He gave her a lingering kiss that left her throbbing. “But first we need to call the hospital.” He released her and headed for the boat. “I’ll get the cell phone.” He turned and walked backward, twirling his sunglasses in one hand as he continued talking to her. “The paramedic gave you a card with the number on it. Where is it?”

“It’s—Chance, look out!”

Too late. He flipped backward as the taut mooring rope caught him behind the knees and he landed with a crunch on the sand.

She hurried to his side. “Are you okay?”

He got to his feet and glanced down at the mangled sunglasses he’d just sat on. “Yeah, but I doubt if my shades will pull through.”

“I’ll bet they were expensive.”

He took her by the shoulders. “Will you stop implying I give a damn about money? The only time I care about the cost of things is when it negatively affects the business or my family. How come nobody
gets
that?”

“Maybe because you’re so busy playing with figures, you don’t take the time to tell them.”

“They should
know.
But maybe you’re right. I’ll try to remember to say it, too.”

“But in order for them to really believe you, you’ll have to stop playing with figures all the time. Actions speak louder, and all that stuff.”

“But if I don’t handle those things, nobody else will!”

Andi gazed at him silently for a moment and wondered
if he’d already forgotten Bowie’s heroics during the baby’s birth. “Are you absolutely sure of that?”

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes.

“I didn’t think so,” she said.

“Well, something weird is happening, at any rate. I’m not in the habit of knocking food into the fire and flipping backward over mooring ropes. Not to mention finding myself in the middle of the lake without a clue.”

“It’s probably all my fault.” She sincerely hoped that was true. Maybe he was turning into a klutz around her for the same reason she became one around him.

“No, I just need to stop acting like an idiot. Where did you say that card was?”

She sighed. No revelation yet. “It’s on the kitchen counter, I think.”

He stooped to pick up the broken glasses. “I’ll be right back. And after we call the hospital, I need to call the office.”

“Okay, you do that.” So he thought he could settle right back into his old role, did he? Not while she had something to say about it. Until proven otherwise, she’d assume he was becoming disaster-prone because she distracted the hell out of him. And if she had any influence over him, she damn well wasn’t going to spend three days watching a man work on his laptop.

Moments later he hopped down from the boat and came toward the chair where she’d gone to await his return. He held the cell phone in one hand and two pop-top cans of orange juice in the other. Barefoot and dressed only in his shorts, he didn’t look much like a man dedicated to business pursuits, she thought. With his well-sculpted pecs and rakish stubble, he looked like an international playboy.

He tossed her a can of juice. “Breakfast.”

“Thanks. Maybe I should have warned you earlier that Nicole’s the domestic goddess, not me. With her gone I can’t promise we’ll have a well-balanced menu.”

“Don’t be so modest.” He handed her the phone and the card with the number on it before plopping onto a deck chair next to hers. “I happen to know you’re a regular Julia Child with fudge sauce.” He opened his juice can and took a long swallow.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t creative.” She glanced at him, enjoying the sexy ripple of his throat as he tipped his head back and closed his eyes to drink the juice. “Just not well-balanced.”

He finished the juice and crumpled the can. “I’ll take creative over well-balanced any day,” he said, giving her a very suggestive smile.

She absorbed the implications of that smile and decided that she was definitely capable of keeping him from disappearing into his corporate fog, at least most of the time.

“Make your call,” he prompted gently.

“Right.” She peered at the card the paramedic had given them and punched in the number. Within a few seconds she was connected with Nicole, who answered the phone with gusto.

“Hey, Nic! Wow, you sound great,” Andi said.

“I feel great. The doctor said it was because I didn’t take any kind of drugs during delivery. It was a little rough at the time, though, and I guess I swore a tiny bit, huh?”

Andi couldn’t resist. “Why do you suppose Chance passed out again?”

“No, really? Did I use the F-word?”

“Are you kidding? That was one of the milder ones. It’s all Chance and I have been talking about ever since.”

“Oh, God! I’m so embarrassed. Tell Chance I don’t usually do that, please!”

“I told him he’d finally seen the real you.”

“You didn’t! Andi Lombard, so help me, if I weren’t in this hospital bed, I’d—”

“Oh, relax,” Andi said, laughing. “Seeing you let loose like that was one of the highlights of the evening. And Chance hasn’t commented on it once. I don’t know if he even noticed, as woozy as he was the whole time.”

“You are a rat. I’m telling Mom.”

“No, you’re not, because then you’ll have to adimt to all that swearing. Just think what it would have been like if Mom or Mrs. Chauncey M. had been around with a video camera. And sound.”

“It would have been completely different because I would have asked for about a million drugs. But I’m sorta glad I couldn’t have them, because I don’t have any side effects. Chandi’s bright and alert, too.”

Andi sat up straighter.
“Who?”

“Chandi. Your niece. My daughter.”

“Chandi?”
Andi stared at Chance, who was shaking his head frantically and turning both thumbs down.

“Don’t you love it? Bowie and I came up with it during the helicopter ride.”

“Because they started giving you drugs on the helicopter, right?”

“No! Bowie and I were completely serious.”

“That’s one opinion. Listen, it’s not written down or anything, yet, is it? Like on a birth certificate.”

“It most certainly is. Signed, sealed, witnessed. Chandi Bowina Jefferson.”

“Oh, God.” Andi was torn between horror and hysterics. “Forget all those childbirth courses they offer. There should be mandatory classes in how to name a baby. You
and Bowie shouldn’t have been turned loose on that birth certificate without supervision.”

Nicole laughed. “Give yourself time to get used to it. After all, you and Chance are going to be the godparents, so a combination of your names is exactly what Bowie and I wanted. And I’m not crazy about the middle name, but Bowie loves it, and she won’t have to use it much. Trust me, it’s a great name.”

“For a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bulls, maybe. Did you ask poor Chandi Bowina how she feels?” Andi heard a crash and looked over to see Chance on the sand, his chair tipped over backward.

“Chandi
Bowina?
” he said, scrambling to his feet. “Give me that phone.”

“Oh, Uncle Chance has a few words to say.” She handed him the phone, holding her palm over the speaker. “Don’t get too carried away now. Remember, she’s a new mommy,” she murmured.

“Oh, like you didn’t tease the devil out of her about the swearing.” He took the phone. “Nicole? What the hell is this Chandi Bowina nonsense?”

“That was subtle,” Andi said.

Chance scowled at her, and then, as he listened to Nicole, his mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding.” He rolled his eyes. “Engraved, huh? Yeah, she likes to do that kind of thing.”

He covered the mouthpiece. “My mother loves the name,” he murmured to Andi. “She’s already had a silver cup engraved with it.”

Andi shook her head in disbelief.

He cradled the phone against his shoulder and picked up the deck chair he’d tipped over in his agitation. “Well, if she likes it, and you like it, I guess I like it.” He covered
the mouthpiece again. “Mom thinks the name sounds French.”

Andi smothered a laugh.

“Yeah, I suppose we’ll all get used to it by the time she’s, say, thirty-two.” Chance paused and nodded. “Sure. Listen, Níc, do you need us to drive in there and help out with anything?” He glanced at Andi.

She held up her crossed fingers.

“Yeah, we got the boat unstuck.” He rocked back on his heels and stared up at the cloudless sky. “Actually, it came loose pretty easy. I think the chopper affected it.”

Andi grinned at him.

“Well, if you don’t need us for anything, we were considering just finishing out the week with the boat.” He listened for a moment. “You’re sure? Then I guess we will.”

Andi leaped up and started doing her version of an endzone victory dance.

Chance smiled at her. “But we can certainly drive in if you need us to,” he added, giving Andi the thumbs-up sign. “Yeah, Andi said she was planning to fly to Chicago for a visit pretty soon.” His smile faded as he continued to listen. Then he sighed. “Yeah, I know that, Nic. Okay, here she is.”

Andi took the phone back. “You’re sure you don’t need us?”

“First tell me how it’s going with His Stuffed-Shirtedness,” Nicole said.

“Okay.”

“I can tell he wants to stay, but do you?”

Andi blew out a breath. “Yeah, I do.”

“Look, I certainly don’t need you to run in here. In fact, we may try to book a flight out the day after tomorrow. But I worry about you. Bowie says this is the perfect
thing, you two being stranded alone together like “Gilligan’s Island” or something, but I’m not so sure. I wanted to be around to referee.”