On Wednesday morning, Julia lounged on a chaise in Kat’s suite, reviewing plans for the upcoming interview with the resort’s owner. “Do you have any questions about the questions I gave you?”
“I’m supposed to write down whatever that lady, Mrs. Whattaburger—”
“Weatherfork,” Julia corrected.
“Mrs. Weatherfork,” Kat echoed, continuing smoothly, “just write her answers down in here, right?” Kat held up the notepad.
Julia nodded. “Usually, I’d also record the interview on my phone, but since we’re not allowed to have our phones…”
“I’m sure the owner would make an exception for this,” Kat said.
“Besides, don’t you need pictures and video of the resort anyway?” Andie asked from her spot on the floor, where she was doing crunches.
“She’s right,” Kat agreed. “Those ‘Take Me!’ articles always have fun video clips.”
Julia already had plenty of stock photos from the PR packet the resort had emailed her prior to her arrival, but video footage was a component of her review that she’d put on the back burner to figure out later. When was she going to learn that doing that was how she always got burned? It was already the middle of the week; she was running out of “later.” “I’ll look into it.”
“You’ve been a bit distracted, huh?” Andie teased. She’d flipped over and was now nose to the floor, doing push-ups.
“Yeah, she finally took our advice to have fun.” Kat grinned and joined Julia on the chaise.
Julia scooted over. “I’ve been having a little fun,” she admitted, feeling a twinge of guilt. So far, she’d spent way more time thinking about Luke than focusing on writing the review.
“Was that a little bit of kissing I saw happening on the beach yesterday?” Kat asked.
Julia flushed. “I’m surprised you noticed,” she shot back.
“I’m an excellent multitasker.” Kat grinned, eyes gleaming with wicked innuendo.
“You both put on quite a show,” Andie snorted. She rolled to her side. “Are either of you planning for a repeat performance this afternoon?” she asked, foot flying up and down in a series of leg lifts.
“What’s this afternoon?” Julia wondered. She was having a hard time keeping track of what day it was, let alone what activities were next on the schedule.
Andie rolled to her other side. “Don’t you remember what you signed up for?”
“Not really.” Julia shook her head. “You were rushing me to finish the itinerary. I picked my own bonus activity, but for everything else I just circled the same stuff you two did.”
“Today we’re having a beach party!” Kat cheered.
Julia frowned. “We just spent the afternoon on the beach yesterday though.”
“This is different,” Kat assured her. “There’s going to be volleyball and windsurfing and—”
“A sand castle contest,” Andie added.
“Sand castles.” Julia’s lip curled. “Really?”
“It’ll be fun.”
Julia eyed her friend, currently balanced on her elbows and toes in a plank position. “I’m beginning to think you and I have a very different definition of that word.”
“It’s a beautiful day. You don’t even have to help build a sand castle,” Andie promised. “You can just lay out in your swimsuit on the beach and relax.”
“But I didn’t pack a swimsuit.”
“Who goes to a lakeshore resort in June and doesn’t pack a swimsuit?” Kat wondered.
“Someone who doesn’t plan to go swimming in the lake.” Julia crossed her arms.
“I packed two.” Kat beamed. “You can borrow one of mine.”
“And I bet we can find a certain someone to keep you company.” Andie winked.
“Maybe you should invite Curt to come with us, too,” Julia suggested. Turnabout was fair play.
“Why would I do that?” Andie made a sound of disgust, but Julia caught the way her friend’s face lit up at the mention of his name.
Kat must have noticed it too. “Come on,” she said, sharing a secret smile with Julia. “Let me show you those bathing suits.”
A few hours later, settled in with her notepad, a stack of travel magazines from the hotel lobby for research, and a drink from the pop-up beach bar for refreshment, Julia decided that, once again, her friends had been right. It was a perfect afternoon. The sky perfectly clear. The lake perfectly blue.
Her plan had been to review Kat’s notes from the interview with the resort owner, content to relax in her beach chair, enjoying the view of the lake and observing the interactions of couples scattered across the beach. Maybe it was the gorgeous weather, but the sandcastle activity proved more popular than she’d expected. She waved to Patrick and David, who were assembling an impressive-looking medieval fortress.
It wasn’t long before Andie’s competitive streak reared its head, and Julia laughed at her friend’s outrageous attempts to sabotage everyone else’s castles. Especially Curt’s. Julia watched in smug delight. The entire time Andie was taking jabs at Curt’s castle, the man stood there with a silly grin on his face, watching her with stark admiration. He was clearly giving Andie the look. And based on the way Andie’s smirks were holding less heat and more affection, Julia knew her friend knew it too.
Thinking about the conversation on “the look” that she’d had with Andie and Kat on the forest trail led Julia to thinking about Luke—something she’d been trying to avoid all afternoon. Things had started to get too personal yesterday. Talking with him on the beach, she’d let her guard down. Emotions were getting involved. It was unprofessional. She was here to do a job, one that, if she did well enough, would ensure she still had a job.
Reluctantly, her gaze traveled to where Luke was working on a castle with Kat. Several guys had volunteered to become Kat’s worker bees—including Luke. He was kneeling in the sand next to her, long legs folded beneath him, shooting dirty looks at Zach, who was kneeling on Kat’s other side and shooting dirty looks right back. As Julia watched, Luke leaned closer to her friend, pointing at something, and Kat’s face broke into a grin.
Pinpricks of jealousy pierced Julia’s chest. Kat had Zach, as well as an entire battalion of beefcake at her service. Why was she flirting with Luke?
For fuck’s sake, stop being an idiot. They were just having fun.
Julia shoved a magazine in front of her face and tried to ignore them. But when a peal of Kat’s unmistakable laughter rang out, she couldn’t help peeking over the pages again. Luke was helping Kat form a tower from a bucket of sand, his long, competent fingers cupping hers as they patted the sand into place.
The pinpricks grew barbs, making it hard to breathe. Julia dropped the magazine, tucked her notepad into her beach bag, and headed for the water.
“Where are you going?” Andie called after her.
“For a swim,” she bit out, not bothering to look back.
Bare feet pounded in the sand behind her, and a moment later Andie appeared at her side. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“You were the one making fun of me for not packing a swimsuit.”
“Exactly.” Andie laughed. “I know taking a dip in the lake is not really your thing, Jules.” She glanced out at the water. “This is Wisconsin in June. It might feel like summer on the sand, but that is a Great Lake and it’s still going to be pretty darn cold.”
“I walked in it yesterday,” Julia pointed out, stomping into the shallows.
“Wading and swimming are two different things,” Andie warned her. “It’s going to get colder the further you get from the shore.”
“Good,” Julia muttered. She could use a bit of cooling off. She dove into the waves, gasping as icy water swirled around her. Julia immediately regretted her decision, but with Andie standing there smirking knowingly, her need to be right—or at least not be wrong—reared its head.
“How is it out there?” Andie called.
“It’s fine,” she lied, clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering, and sucking in a breath while thousands of freezing liquid needles stabbed every inch of exposed skin. “You just have to get used to it,” she insisted.
Andie waded in up to her knees and raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, wow.” Julia looked past her friend. “Curt’s castle is at least three times the size of yours now.”
“What?” Andie turned quickly, running back up the beach.
The tide rolled, and Julia drifted a little farther out. She bobbed in the waves, surprised to discover that the water had started to feel a little warmer. What she said must be true; she was getting used to the temperature. That, or a fish had just peed nearby. Wait. Fish were cold-blooded. Would their pee be warm? Did fish pee?
Thanks to a memorable field trip to the Shedd Aquarium when she was in second grade, Julia knew for sure that fish pooped. A fact that reminded her she was currently floating in a giant fish toilet bowl. Gross. This was why she didn’t swim in lakes.
Distracted by her disgusting realization, it took her a moment to realize something felt different. Even then, she didn’t figure out what was wrong until she caught sight of a flash of bright yellow bobbing in the waves a few feet away.
Damn it. She had known she shouldn’t borrow Kat’s swimsuit. It was too snug in the butt and too loose in the boobs. She’d pulled the strings as tight as she could and tied a double knot at the neck, but apparently that hadn’t been good enough.
Julia glanced back toward the beach. Nobody had noticed. Everyone was focused on their castles or on each other and she was the only one who’d been idiotic enough to venture into the lake. Holding an arm over the girls, she reached with her other arm for the top, but it had already floated too far away.
Ugh. Julia dug her toes into the rocks and sand and kicked off, swimming toward the runaway bikini. Her fingers barely brushed one of the ties when a shadow passed overhead. Glancing up, she spotted an increasingly familiar ball of white feathers winging toward her like a missile. On instinct, she ducked her head underwater.
When she resurfaced, the seagull was gone.
And so was her top.
“Thief!” she yelled, smacking the waves with her palms.
Her shout got the attention of a few people on the beach. Wonderful.
She sank lower, waves lapping at her chin.
“What’s wrong?” Andie called, her coach voice loud enough to attract the attention of anyone who might not have been looking Julia’s way already.
Working her way toward the shore while staying as submerged as possible, Julia pointed toward the sky.
Luke seemed to be the first to realize what was happening. He scrambled forward, scattering sand in every direction, heedless of the structures in his path.
“Hey, that’s my castle!” Andie yelled.
“Hey, that’s my top!” Kat cried.
“Give that back, you flying menace!” Luke shouted, shaking his fist.
Unimpressed, the seagull circled overhead with its loot, bright yellow strings fluttering in the breeze like an erotic kite. Luke hurried down to the shoreline. “Here.” He tossed Julia his shirt. By the time she’d managed to pull it over her head, he was racing across the beach, yelling expletives as he chased after the bikini bandit.
She hurried after Luke, finally catching up to him crouched behind a large rock. “Where did he go?”
“Shh.” He put a finger to his lips before waving at her to get low.
Julia hunkered down next to him behind the rock. He was still breathing heavily from the run—and so was she, for that matter. She sucked in air, laughing quietly. “This has got to be the most running I’ve done in one week in years.”
“This has got to be the most time I’ve spent shirtless in public in years,” he muttered.
“Thank you.” Julia grinned. “It was very chivalrous of you.”
“I’m sure plenty of people would have preferred to see you topless,” Luke said, lips quirking. “But they’ll have to deal with seeing me instead.”
“Life’s full of disappointments.” Julia laughed ruefully. “And if we don’t get that top back, my friend is going to be very disappointed. I was borrowing her swimsuit.” She shook her head, baffled. “What would a bird want with a bikini, anyway?”
Luke gestured toward a dip in the sand a few feet away. “I think he’s planning to use it in his nest.”
“Add a bit of color, huh?” Julia glanced around the edge of the rock. “Is that the same seagull who stole your notebook?”
“Yep,” he grumbled. “And your ice cream cone. Little kleptomaniac asshole.”
“I think he has an accomplice.” She pointed to a second bird. “Ooh, I wonder if it’s a lady friend.”
“Fantastic. We’ve discovered the Bonnie and Clyde of the bird kingdom.”
The two seagulls fluttered around the nest for a minute before drifting over to a nearby rock.
“Think we can sneak over there and steal the top back?” she wondered.
“It’s worth a shot.” Luke crept forward in the sand.
Julia followed close behind. They were almost within reach of the nest when both gulls started flapping their wings in a frenzy.
“Abort mission. Abort! Abort!” Luke dove, shoving Julia backward and covering her with his body.
Beneath him, she squeezed her eyes shut as Hitchcock-inspired nightmares involving pecked-out eye sockets dripping blood flashed through her mind. She heard more wing flapping. Eyelids still tightly closed, she pressed her face into his chest and asked, “Are they coming?”
“Um, sort of.” His voice sounded odd. Almost strangled.
“Oh, God.” Julia cracked one lid open. “Are you okay?” She patted his naked back, frantically feeling for the ripped flesh of talon scratches. “Did they get you?”
“No. But I think…” He paused. “I, uh, think Bonnie and Clyde are getting some.”
“Some what?” Julia’s eyes snapped open, and she shifted, craning her neck and peering over Luke’s shoulder. One of the birds was standing on the back of the other. Clyde, by the looks of things. “I’m not sure that’s how it works.”
“I didn’t realize you were so knowledgeable about the mating habits of seagulls.”
“I’m not.” She punched him in the arm. “Are you?”
They both turned to watch what could best be described as a circus act. As the bird balanced on top began to gyrate his tail feathers around in an acrobatic frenzy, Julia pressed her mouth to Luke’s ear and whispered, “I feel like a voyeur.”
“That’s because you are,” he whispered back, attention still on the amorous avian activity. He squinted, narrowing his gaze.
“Do you want me to get you some binoculars?” Julia asked, only mostly teasing. “I didn’t realize this was your thing.”
“This is not my thing,” he hissed, affronted. “I was curious,” he admitted. “I wanted to see if Clyde has a … um…”
“Thing?” Now Julia was curious, too. She joined him in scrutinizing the action. “Hm. I’ve never thought about bird peen before, but a few minutes ago I was trying to remember if fish could pee, so I suppose it’s just that kind of day.”
“What about fish pee?” he asked, the question vibrating with barely checked laughter.
Julia met his gaze. He was smiling down at her, humor in his eyes as well as his voice. Suddenly, she was acutely aware of their position in the sand. How she was flat on her back, in nothing but a too-small bikini bottom and his T-shirt, and he was sprawled on top of her. “That was very noble of you, by the way.”
“What was?” he asked, mouth drifting closer to hers.
She licked her lips. “How you were ready to sacrifice yourself to try and save me from a bird attack.”
“I’m just full of chivalric deeds today,” he murmured. He dipped his head, kissing her first in one corner of her mouth and then in the other.
It was a teasing kiss, one that made her ache for the real thing. She pressed her palms into the sand and arched up, bringing her lips to his.
He groaned in response, wrapping his arms around her, grinding his hips against hers. Things seemed to go from zero to sixty when the thick ridge of his shaft pressed between her bare thighs, hard and aroused. Mouth never leaving hers, Luke rolled, shifting their position and pulling her on top of him. His hands skimmed over her scantily clad bottom, fingers gripping the hem of his T-shirt.
Pressed against the warmth of his chest, acutely aware of the fact her breasts were bare beneath the thin layer of cotton, her nipples tightened. He broke off the kiss, inhaling sharply. Julia sat up, and his gray eyes followed the movement, eyes sparkling when they focused on her chest. The way he was looking at her … Whoa. Heat coiled inside her.
He lifted a hand and brushed the outline of one breast, thumb stroking over the taut peak. The sensation of the soft fabric rubbing against her skin was so intense it was almost painful. His hand shifted to her other breast, and then his mouth was on her as well. She could feel his tongue, hot and wet through the cotton, and then, Oh, God, his teeth. Julia moaned, head lolling back, eyes drifting closed.
Just when things were getting really good, he abruptly stopped.
“Luke?” Her head snapped up and she blinked. “Is something wrong?”
“Um…” His voice was muffled, face still pressed between her breasts. He pulled back slowly and gazed up at her. “Do you feel like we’re being watched?”
Julia blanched. When they’d chased after the bikini bandit, they’d gotten so far away from the crowd she’d all but forgotten anyone else was on the beach.
“Though I do suppose turnabout is fair play,” he mused.
“Huh?” Julia followed the direction of his gaze. “Oh.”
Two sets of beady black eyes stared at them.
“Well, this is awkward.”
“Very,” he agreed.
“What should we do?”
“You don’t think they’re expecting us to continue, do you?” Luke asked. “I don’t perform well in front of an audience.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she joked, feeling a little slaphappy. This whole situation was too bizarre. “Do you want to try and steal back the bikini top?”
Luke kept his gaze trained on the birds, as if afraid that they’d pounce the second he looked away. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
“We should have grabbed it earlier, when they were … distracted.”
“That would have been a good plan.” he agreed, smile going lopsided. “But then we, uh, got distracted too.”
We did indeed. Julia tried to ignore the pulse of residual heat between her legs, where she still straddled him. “What’s the new plan?”
“Depends,” Luke said.
“On what?”
“On how mad your friend will be if we don’t get her top back.”
“I’ll buy her a new one.”
“In that case, I hope you don’t mind my distinct lack of heroism.” He met her gaze, lips quirking as he acknowledged his own cowardice. “I recommend we gracefully retreat.”
She grinned, equally spineless. “Works for me.”
Julia wasn’t sure how graceful they were, but somehow they both managed to get untangled and on their feet without much fuss. Slowly backing away from the still staring birds, Julia barely resisted the urge to put a protective hand over her eye sockets. After a moment, when the seagulls didn’t react, she and Luke turned around and started the trek back.
They’d been walking for a few minutes when she couldn’t help asking, “Do you think that was really what they were doing?” She glanced at him. “Before?”
“I’d rather not think about it.” A playful smirk flashed across his face. “But I admit, my internet search history is going to be especially weird tonight.”
Julia laughed.
Luke reached for her hand, fingers entwining with hers.
I love your laugh. His words echoed in her mind and her heart squished in her chest like a big, fluffy marshmallow.
A shadow passed overhead.
“Uh-oh,” Luke warned, interrupting her happy musings. “The bandit is back.”
No sooner had Luke said that, then the seagull swooped down, landing in front of them.
The bird—Clyde, she thought—trotted forward, bikini top in his beak, sunshine yellow strings dragging in the sand.
“What do you think he’s doing now?” she wondered.
“Watch out,” Luke warned as the gull came closer. “That marauding menace probably intends to claim the other half of his booty.”
“Was that a butt joke?” Julia tugged on her bikini bottom, feeling a ridiculous urge to make sure it was secure and safe from panty-snatching pirate seagulls.
But rather than try and steal anything, the bird dropped the top at Julia’s feet and squawked once before flying away.
Mystified by this apparent peace offering, Luke and Julia watched silently as Clyde made his way back to his nest.
“Huh,” Luke said. “I guess it’s a truce.” He bent, scooping up the bikini top and handing it back to Julia. “I’m still mad at him, though,” he muttered. “Cockblocking sky weasel.”
A puff of resigned laughter escaped her. He had a point. The interruption had been frustratingly untimely. Which was for the best anyway, Julia reminded herself, as they started to make their way back. She’d just finished reiterating the fact that she was here to do a job, not get romantically involved.
But when he reached out to hold her hand again, her heart did a rebellious little hop, skip, and jump routine that seemed designed to tell her brain, Make whatever rules you want, head … We’re going to break them all.