ANDI HAD HOPED her ploy of yoga exercises on the deck would shorten Chance’s business call. She hadn’t meant to prevent him from calling altogether. She didn’t discover what had happened until after they’d made love on Chance’s bed and polished off a breakfast of scrambled eggs, coffee and toast.
“How are they surviving at the office without you?” she asked as they cleared away the dishes.
“I don’t know.” Chance set the dishes on the counter and got out the dish soap. “I hung up before I talked to anybody.”
She almost dropped the carafe of coffee. “You hung up? Why?”
He set the bottle of soap on the counter and turned to her, his glance roving from her head to her toes. His eyes glinted with appreciation. “I think it was the inverted-vee position that did it.”
“You didn’t even talk to your secretary?”
“Nope.” He turned back to the sink and started filling it with warm water and soapsuds.
“Well, now I feel guilty.”
He chuckled. “I wondered if you were deliberately trying to sabotage me.”
Whoops. “Uh, not exactly. I mean, I do like to start the day with yoga exercises, and the deck has the most space.”
“It’s okay, Andi.” He dumped the breakfast dishes in the soapy water and looked over at her. “Do your damnedest. If I don’t have the willpower to ignore you, that’s my problem. I have a couple of projects to finish on the laptop before I go back to Chicago, and I plan to spend some time on them today. Trust me, when I’m really concentrating, you could dance naked in front of me and I wouldn’t notice.”
“I see.” Her eyes narrowed. This ol’ boy didn’t know her all that well, she thought. If he did, he wouldn’t have thrown down such a rhinestone-studded gauntlet Dance naked to get his attention? Hell’s bells, she was a damn sight more creative than that.
THREE HOURS LATER, Chance sat on the rear deck. The platform covering the boat’s generator served as a desk for his computer, and he had his phone to his ear. He’d been working ever since they’d finished the dishes. Andi had figured she’d be reasonable and give him some time. After all, he did have a trunkload of awesome obligations. But considering the magnificent surroundings and the delicious isolation, three hours glued to a laptop and cell phone was bordering on excessive.
Time for diversionary action—for his own good, of course.
“Think I’ll go for a swim,” she said, walking past him.
“Mmm. Have fun.” He didn’t even look up.
She could have dived right off the side and splashed him, but that was too juvenile. She used the ladder to climb down into the water. She even swam for a little while, to lull him into complacency.
Chance continued to type away on his laptop, the phone clamped between his shoulder and his ear. He could get a permanent neck condition from doing that, she thought. He needed her to save him from those kinds of compulsive work habits, at least for the next three days. Treading water, she worked her way out of the red suit.
Her aim needed to be perfect for the next part. Too close and she’d soak him, which wasn’t her goal. Too far away and it wouldn’t have the same effect. She tossed the suit and it landed with a soft plop on the railing about two feet from where he sat.
He glanced up quickly, obviously startled. Then he looked at the suit hanging there, a brilliant statement on the dark blue railing. As she watched him, Andi thought of a bull staring at the matador’s red cape. She was hoping for a similar effect.
When he turned his head toward the water, she dived under the surface. When she came up for air, she had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He was still working on the laptop, but he’d repositioned his chair so he was closer to the railing and had a better view of the water.
A lesser woman might have faked a leg cramp, Andi thought, but she wanted Chance in the water out of desire, not responsibility. He had enough responsibility in his life, as it was.
Thanking her lucky stars that she’d chosen water ballet for her physical-education requirement in college, Andi changed her swimming style from the standard strokes to the more graceful movements she’d learned in the class. Floating on her back and sculling with her hands, she lifted one leg, toes pointed, and slowly allowed herself to sink until at last her toes disappeared under the water.
Breaking the surface, she caught a quick glimpse of Chance before making a dolphin-like forward dive that hid her smile and displayed her bare bottom. He was no longer typing and he’d put down the phone. When she came up again, he was already starting to unfasten his shorts. He was halfway out of them as she began her next move. Arching her back, she propelled herself into a slow backward dive that lifted her breasts above the water, then her hips.
The movement finished with her toes pointing at the sky, her leg muscles firm and…cramping! She gasped and swallowed a mouthful of lake. Oh, God, major cramp. She flailed to the surface, her calf muscle screaming. Her cry for help came out a gurgle. Still thrashing, she looked through a glaze of pain toward the houseboat.
“I’m coming!” Chance shouted, stumbling half-in, half-out of his shorts.
[n his panic, his hand shot out toward the generator cover to steady himself and his fist bounced against the laptop, a lightweight piece of technology that skimmed across the fiberglass surface like a hockey puck and flipped over the railing.
Chance made no effort to save it. As the computer landed with a splash and sank beneath the waves, he dived into the lake and started toward her, his powerful stroke cleaving the water with grim purpose.
CHANCE HAD ALWAYS prided himself on his ability to stay calm in a crisis. But when Andi screamed for help, panic grabbed him and shook him until his teeth rattled. Putting the shorts on again would take too long. Desperate to rid himself of them, he became clumsy. Vaguely, he realized he’d knocked the laptop into the water, but he spared it no thought as he tore the seams of his shorts in his frustration, threw them aside and vaulted the railing. Double-checking Andi’s position, he dived into the lake and swam harder than he had in his entire life.
He reached her quickly, hooked his arm around her and towed her back to the boat.
“Your laptop,” she gasped as they reached the boat and she clung to the ladder.
“I don’t give a damn about the laptop.” He held on to her as he grasped the other side of the ladder. “What happened?”
“Leg cramp.”
“Which one?”
“Left calf.”
He managed to hoist her on his knee and reach down with his free hand to massage her leg.
“Chance, never mind me. Get your computer.”
“To hell with the computer. You could have drowned out there.” His heart beat wildly. He’d never been so scared. Never.
“Because of my own stupidity. That’s better, Chance. Go get that laptop, please.” She eased her leg out of his grasp.
“You should probably get back in the boat. I’ll—”
“No, I think the water’s better for it. Will you get that darned thing?”
“Okay. Just stay right here.”
“I will. I promise.”
Giving her one last glance, he swam to the spot where the laptop had disappeared and dived down. Scooping it off the bottom, he sculled his way to the surface and over to Andi. Using the ladder for support, he lifted the computer, water streaming from every crack, to the deck.
“Oh, Chance!” Andi stared at it, her eyes huge. “Is there any hope?”
“Who cares?”
“I’ll…I’ll pay to replace it,” she said, looking miserable. “But I know that’s not the point. You’ve lost all the stuff you had on there.” She sniffed. “I should never have tried to distract you.”
He realized with a shock that not all the moisture on her face was lake water. She was crying. Crying because of what he’d lost. Crying because of a dumb piece of office equipment.
Reaching across the ladder, he closed his hand around her arm. “Hey,” he murmured. “Come here.”
She allowed him to draw her close, but she averted her face. “I think I’m so smart, so clever. I’ll get him away from that laptop, I said. Well, I sure managed that, didn’t I? What a gal.”
He caught her face and turned it toward him. “Don’t ever apologize for being yourself. I told, you to do your damnedest It was a dare, and I can imagine how you react to dares. And I knocked the stupid thing into the lake, not you.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears that spilled over her wet lashes. “Because I was teasing you, trying to get you to lose your cool! And then I got a cramp, because I’m not used to pointing my toes like that.”
He smiled tenderly at her. “It was a good show while it lasted.”
“I was dumb to try it. Now everything’s ruined—your spreadsheets, your reports, your list of pros and cons. All gone.”
He was becoming increasingly aware of her naked body cuddled next to him in the water. “You know what? I don’t really give a—” He paused as he registered what she’d just said. He tilted her face up so he was looking directly into her regret-filled eyes. “And what list of pros and cons would that be?”
Her eyes widened just like those of a little kid caught climbing on the counter in search of the cookie jar. “Oh, um, well, I just threw that in. Fve heard busy executives often keep—”
“Bull, Andi.” He grinned at her. “You were in my files.”
“I just wanted to make sure the laptop was working after it fell on the floor.”
“You could have determined that without snooping.”
She went on the offensive. “And it’s a good thing I did! You had that list in a mess.”
“I did?”
“A complete mess! What do you mean by referring to my wacky view of life?”
Watching emotions blaze in her eyes was an incredibly exhilarating experience. Feeling her slipping and sliding against him in the gentle current was even more exhilarating. “I can’t imagine what I was thinking.”
“Damn straight. That’s why I changed it around.”
“You what?”
“I rearranged a few things so it’s more accurate.”
He was nuts about this woman. “You edited my list?”
“It needed some work. Now it looks better.” She looked pleased with herself, but then her mouth drooped again. “Or it did. Now it sleeps with the fishes.”
He started to laugh. He should have been outraged that she’d messed around with his computer, and furious with himself for dumping it overboard. But the strangest thing had happened. Once he’d accepted that the laptop was unusable, a huge weight had lifted, one he hadn’t even known he was carrying. He couldn’t work. He physically couldn’t work. My God, but he felt liberated.
“Chance,” she said, “maybe we should try to dry it out again, like we did after you poured coffee into it. You never know. Miracles do happen.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Miracles happen all the time. Hang on to the ladder for a minute. I’ll get it.”
She followed his instructions, moving away from his supporting arm.
When his hand was free, he reached up and took the computer off the deck. Then he held it out over the water… and let go.
Andi shrieked and started after it, but he grabbed her before she could dive under the water.
“What are you doing?” she cried. “There’s no way it’ll work now!”
“That’s right.” He pulled her close. “When we’re ready to leave, I’ll go get it. In the meantime, pucker up those lips and kiss me. We have three hours to make up for.”
ANDI COULDN’T BELIEVE the transformation in Chance with the laptop six feet under the surface of the lake. Apparently it had been the anchor weighing him down, reminding him of his obligations. Without it, he seemed reborn. He stripped off his bathing suit and they cavorted in the water like children, chasing and splashing around the cove until they were panting from the exertion.
But beneath the playfulness ran the sensuality that held them both in its passionate grip, and eventually Chance led her back to the boat and made love to her until the sun dipped below the horizon. They called Nicole and found out that she, Bowie and Chandi were flying back to Chicago the next day, which left Andi and Chance free to finish their vacation as they pleased. In celebration, they cooked dinner on the beach, spread out beach towels and made love again.
And it was love they were making. Andi couldn’t kid herself that physical pleasure was all she felt when he touched her, when he moved within her. She’d promised Nicole she wouldn’t let down her guard, wouldn’t let herself get hurt. Maybe if he hadn’t knocked his laptop into the lake, she would have managed not to fall so completely in love with him, but this unhampered Chance was impossible to resist.
As they retreated to the boat for the night and Andi snuggled into his arms, she tried not to think of how little time they had left.
HE WOKE HER at dawn with little nibbling kisses. The aroma of coffee drifted from the kitchen, and she turned toward him, thinking she knew what he wanted before his morning coffee.
“Time to get up,” he whispered. “Time to fish.”
“Fish?”
“It’s the very best time. Come on. The coffee’s almost done. I have the poles ready.”
She reached for him. “I had a very different pole in mind.”
He backed away and grinned at her. “Thanks for the compliment. Hey, don’t close your eyes again.” He leaned down and pried her lids open. “Come out to the rear deck. I set up two chairs. It’s more fun with two.”
“So’s my idea.”
“We’ll do that later. Now it’s time to catch some fish. Fish for breakfast. Yum.”
“Doughnuts for breakfast. Yum squared.” She swung her legs to the floor. “I remember Bowie saying you loved to fish, but I thought you must have outgrown it.”
“Luckily I didn’t.”
“Luckily.” She peered at him. He really did look all excited, as if getting up before the sun was the greatest idea in the world. “Chance, it’s barely light out there. Fish don’t have alarm clocks. They won’t be up yet.”
“Fish get up very early.”
She loved most of the changes in him since he’d dumped the laptop overboard, but she wasn’t sure this fishing thing qualified as a positive sign.
“Here, wrap the sleeping bag around you.” He draped it over her shoulders. “You’re going to love this.”
“Oh, yeah.” She stumbled down the hall, trailing the sleeping bag like a down-filled bridal train.
He settled her in a deck chair, cast her line for her and put a cup of coffee in her hand. “Isn’t this great?”
“Outstanding.”
An hour and another pot of coffee later, she turned to him. “So when does the excitement start?”
“Well, they’re not biting on the lures we have.”
“That’s because we should have bought live bait. I told Bowie that we—”
“Your earrings.”
“Excuse me?”
“What have we got to lose? Let’s try your earrings and see if they go for those.”
“You may not have anything to lose, but I have a lovely pair of earrings, a memento from my darling brother-in-law, to lose.”
“He can make you another pair. He’d love to. Please, Andi. I really want to catch a fish for breakfast, don’t you?”
“You bet,” she muttered.
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”
She couldn’t bear to squash his excitement, even if she didn’t understand it one single bit. “I am. I really am. I’ll go get the earrings, one for each of us. Maybe we’ll catch two fish!”
Turning away, she rolled her eyes and went in search of the earrings.
A half hour later, Andi begged Chance to stop catching fish because they had more than they could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“You could take some home and freeze them,” he said hopefully as they stood on the rear deck with a cooler full of fish.
“Sorry. I have an understanding with my freezer. I don’t put dead fish in there and it gives me an endless supply of Fudge Ripple Delight.”
“Did you see the way your earrings worked, though?” He held the feathered creation, a little the worse for wear, in one hand. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Jefferson Sporting Goods needs to get this lure on the market.”
Andi looked at him. “Gonna give Bowie a bonus?”
He glanced up, startled. “Yeah, I suppose I should, huh?”
“You know, this may work as a fishing lure, but the idea of earrings isn’t bad, either.”
“Yeah, if you don’t lean too far over the boat while you’re wearing them.”
Andi laughed. “Hey, cross-promotion! Catch a guy or catch a fish, whichever you’re in the mood for.”
“I don’t know, Andi. Jefferson’s always been a pretty conservative company. That sounds kind of goofy, considering our image.”
“Too bad you’re so restricted. It would be fun to see what would happen if you turned Bowie loose on a campaign for marketing his lure earrings. In fact, if I were you, I’d turn him loose, period. Let him be in charge of new ventures for the company. His creativity is pretty much wasted in sales.”
“I’m not sure he has the discipline to carry through if I didn’t have him in some structured position.”
That did it. “Better erase that old tape, Chance. That’s your dad talking, not today’s reality. Think about what you’ve seen on this trip. Think about the night little Chandi was born. When you were sidelined, Bowie picked up the ball without missing a beat.”
“It was his wife, his daughter.”
“It’s his business, too! He’s a Jefferson, although he hasn’t been given much opportunity to prove it. You have no idea what would happen if you cherished his free spirit instead of scoffing at it, like your dad did all his life.”
“I don’t scoff.”
“Don’t you?” She was determined that this time they’d finally get to the end of the argument.
“I get a kick out of Bowie. He’s a fun guy.”
“Yeah, but fun has its place, right? There’s a time for it, and then there’s a time to get down to business and be serious.”
“Well, of course.” He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe she’d even bother stating the obvious.
“You don’t trust Bowie’s ability to get down to business and be serious when the situation demands it. Even though you’ve had some powerful evidence recently that he’s not the fluff-brain you think he is.”
He seemed uncomfortable. “I don’t know if what happened the other night would translate into business situations.”
“The hell it wouldn’t! A crisis is a crisis. And in this particular one, you folded. You hate that, don’t you? You’d like to forget it, and return to the old days, when you could handle anything and Bowie couldn’t be trusted to tie his own shoes without direction.”
Chance’s gaze grew flinty. “This isn’t about me, it’s about him. You haven’t lived with him for twenty-seven years. I have. If I gave Bowie the kind of freedom you’re talking about, he’d be all over the map. He’d flit from one thing to another, never settling on anything long enough to make a success of it.”
“Well, I’m no different. Does that make us so bad?”
He didn’t say anything, but the answer was there in his eyes.
She’d guessed that was his opinion of her. She just hadn’t wanted to think about it. “Bowie and I are fun to have around once in a while, but don’t count on us for the long haul, because we don’t have that kind of stamina, right?”
He took her by both arms. “Let’s take Bowie out of this for a minute. You have tremendous potential, Andi. I’m not so blinded by lust that I can’t see how capable you are. When you were working with Bowie on yoga, I realized that you’re a natural teacher. If you’d just grab hold of something, maybe open your own yoga school, for example, you could be—”
“Like you?” Had he not made this comment, she would have taken great satisfaction in having him learn from Nicole that she’d gone into business for herself. Now he’d suppose it was his idea, not hers, which took the incentive right out of it. “You want me to drive myself day and night to achieve some goal someone else set for me? No, thanks.”
He released her and turned away. “I suppose you think I should just abandon Jefferson Sporting Goods to Bowie and run away with you to some desert isle where we can live on love.”
Tears of frustration filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Bring Bowie’s fishing lure and you have a deal.”
He bowed his head. “I can’t, Andi.”
Her throat hurt from the effort not to cry. She’d set herself up for this, after all. “Can’t or won’t?”
He turned, his eyes filled with agony. “Won’t, then. Good or bad, I’m the way life has made me. I can’t imagine turning the company over to Bowie, no matter what I’ve seen on this trip. And I can’t image life without the challenge and the competition I’m used to. I’d go crazy on a desert island.”
“And all that you love about your life would drive me crazy.”
He swallowed. “I’ve been asking myself if there was any way you could come to Chicago, any way we could work out some arrangement.”
She closed her eyes against the pain and took a long, shaky breath before she dared speak. “What we’ve found here is too fragile, Chance.” She forced herself to look at him while she finished. “We’d kill that special feeling in a week.”
He gazed at her in silence. Finally he spoke, his voice husky. “Please tell me we didn’t just kill it this morning.”
If the ache in her heart was any indication, she still loved him, stubborn type-A behavior and all, with a fierceness that promised to give her a great deal of misery in the future. “Is your laptop still in the lake?”
“Unless you hooked it with one of your wild casts.”
“Would you expect me to cast any other way?”
“No.”
She held out her arms and gave a seductive little shimmy. “Then let the good times roll.”