The next morning, Jeff knocked on Vivian’s door, wondering if there was any way she was really going to rest and relax this week.

He knew her pretty well, and he assumed the most likely scenario would be her making a kind of game of it and then taking a lot of pictures, creating a pretty narrative about the week, and writing an article for Faith and Fabulousness about the necessity of rest and relaxation.

All without ever resting and relaxing herself.

She opened the door to him with a cheerful smile, looking very pretty and perfectly put together in a casual blue dress and stylish sandals. “Morning,” she said brightly.

Jeff sighed. The bright, confident, slightly flirtatious manner was typical for her. Her game face, he called it. She wore it like armor—and had since college, when he’d first concluded she was beautiful, brilliant, and untouchable. He knew now that it hid the vulnerability at the heart of her, and sometimes he found it frustrating that she would still try to put on a show for him when she was feeling uncertain about things.

They knew each other too well for that.

She must know that she wasn’t fooling him.

He wished she would be more herself—at least in front of him. He wished she would trust him that much.

“Are you grumpy this morning?” she asked, her smile fading slightly at his prolonged silence.

He shook away the futile thoughts. “Of course not.”

“Then why are you giving me that disapproving look?”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“So you were trying to keep your disapproving thoughts about me to yourself?”

He couldn’t help but smile at her clever tone. “Of course not. Why would I disapprove of you?”

“I don’t know.” She was looking more like herself now as they walked down the hall together. “But I know your disapproving look when I see it.”

“You’re imagining things.”

She didn’t answer, but her blue-gray eyes made it clear that she knew better.

When they reached the lobby, Vivian stepped out of the elevator and nearly collided with Zeke, who was wearing an ugly, striped shirt and his typical scowl.

“Haven’t you heard of saying excuse me?” she asked, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes at Zeke.

Zeke made a wordless grumble and stepped into the elevator.

Vivian laughed softly.

“You shouldn’t tease the poor guy,” Jeff said.

“Tease him? I don’t think that guy would know teasing if it hit him over the head.”

“Well, you shouldn’t flirt with him or whatever you were just doing.”

“I wasn’t flirting with him,” she said with a frown, taking his arm as they headed into the dining room. “I’ve just decided my mission over the next week is to get that guy to smile.”

“Why bother?”

“Because it’s a challenge. What else do I have to do this week?”

“You can focus on taking it easy and hanging out with the rest of us.”

She sighed. “You are grumpy this morning. I thought you were going to be Mr. Laid-back this week.”

Jeff wasn’t by nature a laid-back guy. He worked hard and tried his best and took serious things seriously. Kaylee, his ex-wife, used to say he was a stick-in-the-mud and complain that he didn’t know how to let loose.

He couldn’t help but wonder if Vivian thought the same of him.

“I am,” he said. “Mr. Laid-back. That’s me for the week.”

Vivian just laughed.

***

Jeff and Vivian’s staff consisted of six full-time employees. Grace, smart and perky and in her midtwenties, who was Vivian’s assistant. Melody, always known to the office as Mel, who was in her fifties and handled most of the marketing. Rachel O’Brien, who was an interior decorator by training and a fashion junkie by preference—and her husband, Garrett, who had a degree in professional writing and managed their line of books. Plus Hal, their IT guy, and Vince, Jeff’s assistant.

The O’Briens were the newest addition to the staff, and they’d been working for Faith and Fabulousness for almost two years. So they all knew each other really well. The staff was really as much like a family as a company, and Jeff knew that Vivian wanted it that way.

They usually got along quite well, although the occasional spat was inevitable. Vivian usually left it to Jeff to make sure everyone was behaving themselves and doing their job, because she hated conflict and confrontation.

Vivian was the inspiration, the idea person, the heart and voice behind the company.

Jeff just made sure things got done.

So it wasn’t a surprise when, after they’d finished eating breakfast and had fallen into silence, Vivian looked over at Jeff. Her eyebrows lifted. “So should we do something?”

Jeff already knew what he was going to suggest. “We have to do some sort of physical activity today. Rules of the center. Maybe we should do it first, before it gets too hot. They’ve got a good beach volleyball court.”

“Excellent,” Garrett said. He was smart and outgoing and had a hipster look with dark-rimmed glasses and hair that always needed cutting. “Rachel is great at volleyball. I’ll be on her team. Let’s get going now before someone else claims the net.”

“Some of us need to change clothes or shoes,” Jeff put in. “Let’s meet down there in twenty.”

The rest of the staff agreed with this plan, but as they were getting up, Jeff lingered because Vivian’s expression looked strange.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, putting a hand on her arm to stop her from following the others.

She gave him her (fake) bright smile. “Nothing.”

He rolled his eyes. “Haven’t we talked about you lying to me? Your game face doesn’t convince me, you know.”

She sighed and thankfully lost that artificial expression. “I don’t know how to play volleyball.”

He gaped at her. He couldn’t help it. “What? You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not kidding.” She’d narrowed her eyes at him now. “I don’t know how to play. I never have before.”

“Didn’t you play in school? At church picnics? In summer camp?”

“No, I didn’t. My family never did that kind of thing.”

“What kind of thing did they do?” He’d leveled off his tone now because he could see she was getting defensive.

“We did… community service projects, worked in food banks, went on short-term mission trips. You know what my folks are like, right? You think they’d spend time with something as useless as volleyball when they could be saving the world?”

Her tone was light, but Jeff felt a little twinge in his chest. The same one he’d felt when he’d overhead her discussion on Skype with her parents the other night. He knew she loved her family and they obviously loved her back. He shouldn’t judge someone else’s priorities or lifestyle. If constant do-good-ery made them happy, then all the better for them.

But he didn’t like that Vivian always had to compare herself to those standards; ones that made her feel like she was always falling short.

Any parents, any family, any husband should have been incredibly proud of what she’d done with her life, of the person Vivian was.

Her expression had changed as she’d waited for him to respond. “Jeff?”

He blinked. “Yeah.”

“I thought we were having a discussion.”

They had been until he’d found himself thinking very inappropriate and futile thoughts about her. “Sorry. I must be tired or something. But don’t worry about not playing volleyball before. We’re just going to be having fun.”

“But I seriously don’t know how to play.”

“Basically, the idea is to get the ball over the net.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I can just watch.”

“No, you can’t. You’re playing with the rest of us.”

“But—”

“But nothing. You’re playing.”

“You know I don’t like it when you’re bossy like this, right?” Her blue eyes were flashing at him, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

For just a moment Jeff had to fight the urge to pull her into a kiss.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry you don’t like it, but there’s no question about this. It’s a company retreat. Your company. You have to play.”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. Fine.”

“You can be on a team with me. I’ll help you out.”

“Okay.”

“It’s really not that hard.”

“I said okay.”

“I’m just saying. You’ll probably enjoy it. There are just a couple of things to learn—how to hold your hands and such. You’ll pick it up quickly.”

“Jeff?”

“What?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you don’t know how to take yes for an answer?”

He felt a flicker of amusement and then another flicker of attraction. He was used to the attraction—it was impossible not to find Vivian beautiful, sexy, desirable, smart, generous, brave, funny, everything he might want in a woman—so he focused on the amusement. “Just making sure you’re not going to back out,” he told her with a twitch of his lips.

She smiled at him, and he felt his heart do a ridiculous gallop. Not just a little trot, which would have been familiar and manageable, but a full-fledged, no-holds-barred, run-for-the-roses gallop.

This wasn’t good at all.

“And this is your company too,” Vivian added in a different tone.

“What?” He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about because he was consumed with getting his foolish heart back under control.

“You said it was my company. It’s your company too. It’s ours. It’s always been ours. It wouldn’t be anything without you.”

And that did nothing to help the state of his heart. He swallowed hard. “Oh. Right.”

***

In a little more than twenty minutes, the staff had gathered at the beach volleyball court. Jeff had asked Zeke for a ball, which the other man had provided in typical unsmiling silence.

They divided into two teams, and Jeff made sure he was paired with Vivian. Garrett and Rachel were also on their team, and they both clearly knew what they were doing. Between the three of them, they could cover for Vivian.

As it turned out, they had to. Rachel was a spiker, and Garrett and Jeff were pretty good at setting her up. But Vivian mostly just got out of the way of the ball. Even when it came right to her, she would look over at Jeff, expecting him to get it for her.

After about twenty minutes, he stopped running over to cover for her.

When the other team got three points in a row, Vivian strode over to Jeff, took him by the arm, and said in an annoyed whisper, “You’re supposed to be helping me.”

“I will help you. But you have to actually play for me to help.”

“We were doing fine with you covering for me.”

“I don’t care. You still have to play.” He spoke in the voice he always labeled in his mind his “determined voice.” It was low and even and almost laid-back, which was a shift from his normal tone.

“Don’t give me your stubborn voice,” Vivian said with a scowl.

“Determined voice,” he corrected. It was like she had read his mind.

“Stubborn. And it’s not going to work this time. I don’t know how to play.”

“You haven’t even tried.”

“I don’t like doing things I don’t know how to do well.”

There was the slightest note of vulnerability in her voice, and it struck Jeff hard. He realized she was telling the truth. The absolute truth.

Vivian was good at things—good at almost everything. She was outgoing and confident and used to being in control of her world.

She wasn’t used to learning how to do something she didn’t already know how to do.

“I know you don’t,” he murmured, “but I’m not going to cover for you anymore. So you either step up or face the ridicule of the staff for not even trying.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but he could see she wasn’t really angry. She was embarrassed and kind of nervous, and the human side of her was just as appealing as the side she showed the rest of the world.

More appealing because she showed it to him but almost no one else.

“Fine,” she muttered, returning to her place.

The others had used the break to grab a drink of water and catch their breaths, but they were at it again soon enough.

Vivian did try after that. She missed several times as she worked out how to position her hands, but she eventually picked it up. The ball didn’t always go exactly where she was aiming at, but she did pretty well for her first time. She was fit and coordinated. She wasn’t going to be terrible at his.

He could see her gaining confidence with each volley, and soon she was obviously comfortable enough to actually be competitive, which was her normal attitude with any game.

They’d played for almost an hour, and Jeff was finally able to focus on the game and not on making sure Vivian was doing all right. Everyone was clearly having fun with a lot of cheerful taunting and rivalry, and Vivian was now joining in.

He was relaxed and enjoying himself, and when the ball came into his quadrant, he did the normal thing and ran over to set up Rachel for a spike.

The ball was kind of in between him and Vivian but definitely more on his side than hers. He certainly didn’t expect her to run for the ball too.

They ended up crashing into each other, and the other team got the point.

While the others either cheered or groaned, depending on which team they were on, Jeff tried to pull himself up.

It wasn’t as easy as it sounded since he was on the sand in a tangle with Vivian.

He was actually on top of her, and she was warm and soft and feminine and curvy beneath him. His body started thinking things—and doing things—that it definitely shouldn’t be thinking or doing.

“I had it!” Vivian complained. She didn’t appear to be hurt, and she didn’t appear to be perturbed that he was lying on top of her.

“It was on my side.”

“But I could have gotten it.”

“We’re supposed to be on the same team. We take turns.”

She scowled at him, and the expression did nothing to distract him from the stirring in his groin, the buzzing in his head, the thudding of his heart. “I was just getting good.”

She was good.

She was good at almost everything.

She would probably be good in bed too—passionate and vulnerable both.

He gulped and jerked his body away from hers before his condition became too advanced and potentially noticeable. He breathed heavily and willed his body back into a safer state.

Vivian was looking at him as she stood up, tousled and flushed and beautiful. “Are you mad?” she asked, peering at him closely.

“No, I’m not mad. Just stay on your side.”

He wasn’t mad. Not at her anyway.

God help him, he was mostly mad at himself.

***

They did activities together all morning and then had lunch together. Then Jeff figured they’d had enough togetherness for the time being and turned everyone loose to amuse themselves for the afternoon.

At about three, Jeff had gone up to his room to shower since he’d walked on the beach and gotten all sandy.

He was thinking about what he should do when he happened to glance down through his window and saw that Vivian was lying out by the pool.

No reason why he shouldn’t go down to the pool himself.

He changed into a suit, grabbed his sunglasses and a book he’d brought with him, and headed down.

Vivian waved at him when he came out but didn’t invite him over.

He sat on the opposite side of the pool as her, in case she wanted to be alone.

She was wearing one of those two-piece suits that weren’t really bikinis. The top came down close to the bottom. But it was still plenty revealing, and he couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on the delectable cleavage revealed above her top and the length of her bare legs stretched out on the chaise.

He’d put on his sunglasses, so he could watch her without it appearing obvious. She looked relaxed, like she might be taking a nap in the sun, but he knew she wasn’t.

She was awake.

She was probably plotting out her next plans for Faith and Fabulousness. He knew she did that in her “downtime.”

After a while, she got up, picked up her bag, and went to the door off the pool deck that led to a bathroom. She came out in a few minutes, and she looked like even less relaxed than she had before.

He kept watching her.

She had a little notepad with her, and she would occasionally jot something down.

She was definitely planning something. Plotting out a blog post or putting together a new project.

She was supposed to be taking it easy.

In less than an hour, she got up again to go the bathroom with her bag.

And he knew—he knew—something wasn’t right.

He suddenly realized what it must be.

He’d known she’d relented too easily when she’d given up her phone. She’d made a gesture at resistance, but it hadn’t been enough.

Jeff got up and walked over to wait outside the bathroom door.

When she walked out again after a few minutes, she jerked slightly when she saw him waiting for her.

“What?” she asked, putting her bag over her shoulder in a protective gesture.

“Hand it over,” he said, stretching out his hand with the palm up.

Her frown this time was real. “What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve taken your purse to the bathroom twice in an hour. I know what you have in it. Now hand it over.”

“You’re being ridiculous. It’s none of your business why I go to the bathroom. I might have… have female problems.”

“You don’t have female problems. If you don’t give me the phone, I’m going to take it from you. I knew you gave in too easily yesterday.”

“I don’t have a—”

He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. “Vivian, give it to me right now. You know the rules. You agreed to the rules. And now you’re standing there lying to me. Give it to me.”

He saw the struggle on her face as she tried to decide between her own will and her sense of duty. Finally she grimaced, let out a soft groan, and reached into her purse. She opened a zipper pocket and pulled out a small smartphone.

“It’s a ridiculous rule.”

“I don’t care. You agreed to it, so you’re going to abide by it this week. I’ll give this to Zeke.”

She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were flashing. He had a quick picture, a visual of how she would look if he was making love to her, her eyes flashing, her breast rising and falling…

“You’re a real asshole sometimes, Jeff,” she said. She wasn’t whining or being petty. She was telling him exactly what she was thinking—the way she almost always did. “You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know that. And you’re kind of spoiled and willful sometimes. We all have our issues.”

He’d hoped the lighter tone of his voice would spark her humor, but it didn’t.

She didn’t smile at him.

She wasn’t yet resigned to the fact that he’d made her give up her phone.

She returned to her chaise, but she didn’t lie back down. She got her water bottle and her hat, and she left the pool deck.

She was really annoyed with him. It wasn’t one of their teasing little spats.

It made his stomach twist uncomfortably.

He didn’t want her to be annoyed with him. He wanted her to like him.

He wanted her to more than like him.

But it was just as well.

His thinking was obviously starting to run out of control where she was concerned, so this was a helpful reminder to pull himself together.

She was in his life. She would always be in his life. And he always wanted her there.

But she would never look at him as anything except a business partner, so he couldn’t let himself hope for anything else.

He’d already given his heart to a woman who didn’t want it once, and it had been the most painful, humiliating experience of his life.

He wasn’t going to do it again.