I was pissed at Finn all the next day, and he knew it. He suggested the two of us go night fishing as a way to apologize. But now that I was at the pier waiting on him, he was nowhere to be found.

“Now that your guest has arrived, are you ready to set sail, Mr. Bennett?” I stared. His words didn’t make sense. My guest? I looked in the direction the steward was facing and saw her. He hadn’t told me Leigh would be here. My eyes flicked over to her slender form, taking in the way she looked against the moonlight as she neared. Perfect was the only word to describe it. Had she known about this entire set up? We were just friends. I thought I had made that clear.

She stopped a few feet from me. Her nose scrunched in an adorable way as her eyes trailed down my body. My clothes weren’t nearly as dressy as hers.

“If you’re going with us, don’t you think you should’ve dressed up a little nicer?” She inched a little closer, studying the people on the boat. “Where’s Bri anyway? She told me to be here at eight sharp because that’s when the dinner cruise was leaving. Did she rent this entire thing for us?”

“Bri isn’t here. It’s only us. I think we got set up. Finn told me to meet him to go night fishing.” I stilled, gauging her reaction to see if she was genuinely innocent in all this.

Her mouth dropped then snapped closed, her expression mortified yet angry. The bottom of her dress flung out as she spun around and started walking back up the pier.

For a few seconds, I watched her. I hadn’t expected that reaction. But I couldn’t let her walk away. Even though I knew something like this would cross the friendship line, I couldn’t stand the thought of her being upset. “Whoa! Where are you going?” I jogged to her, gently grabbing her arm.

She hastily jerked around, her eyes glassed over with tears. “Why would they do that? Can’t they get it through their heads that we’re friends? Was she trying to embarrass me?” She took a ragged breath. “I’m going to kill her.”

She attempted to leave again, but I blocked her path.

“I… bet… you thought I had… something to do with… this… didn’t you?” she stuttered in a panicked tone.

I felt like a dick. She was right. I had thought she was in on it. But I would never admit that to her. She was vulnerable enough at the moment. It was up to me to either make this worse or better.

I bent my head low, putting my hands on her arms. “Of course I wouldn’t think that. But it would be a waste of a beautiful night if we didn’t take advantage of what they put together. The boat’s here and waiting. Let’s enjoy it and then kill them tomorrow. We’ll do it together. All Bonnie-and-Clyde like.”

She closed her eyes in frustration. “You promise we’ll kill them?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“Promise.”

Grumbling, she moved around me and headed back to the boat. What was happening? Since when did I care so much about how a girl felt? I regretted ever running into her at that bar. My life had been perfectly fine until I met her. I did me. Taking care of myself and being alone was enough. Not worrying about how someone else felt.

“Good evening, ma’am. You’re looking beautiful this evening,” one of the crew greeted.

Silent, I ran my tongue over my teeth to keep from doing something stupid. She wasn’t mine. The guy was only being polite to her. It was his job. He smiled, saying something else to gain a laugh from her.

“That’s so true,” she said, looking in my direction. Shit! What the hell were they talking about?

I narrowed my eyes at the guy. He shifted uncomfortably.

Yeah, back off, playboy. Geez! I shook my head, trying to regroup. She was making me go insane.

“What’s so true?” I finally asked.

“We were talking about how underdressed you looked next to me. Bri could’ve told me something that required comfortable clothes, and not this…” Her hands slowly slid down the front of her dress. It was an innocent move to her, but to me, it was anything but innocent. More than anything I wanted to be the one exploring her body. That almost-kiss last night had my imagination working in overdrive.

A cough erupted, and my eyes snapped up to the crewmember.

“There’s some clothes for you in the downstairs bedroom, sir. Finn said to make sure you changed into them before our departure.”

Leigh’s eyes danced between the two of us. “There’s a bedroom on this boat? How much did they spend on renting this thing?”

The crewmember’s brows slashed in confusion. His mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. Before the words could spew from his mouth, I held up a hand dismissing whatever he was going to say.

“A lot probably. Of course, Finn probably got a big discount considering we both work for the company,” I answered. “I’ll change. I can’t have you being the only one dressed up out here. You going to be okay alone?”

I studied the crewman, and his eyes widened at my sudden interest in him.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, waving me away before going to the edge of the boat to look out over the water. I stood and stared at her for a few seconds. Yeah. This was definitely crossing the friend line. All I wanted to do was go over and touch her. I sighed, forcing my feet to move in the direction of the stairs.

I took them two at time and pushed open the door to the bedroom. A slick black suit lay across the bed, accompanied by a button-down gray shirt and dress shoes. I let out a low whistle. “Damn, Finn. When did you learn how to pick out a suit that looks like this?” I made a mental note to ask him about this hidden talent when I saw him next. Which would probably be after we docked. He needed a good butt-chewing for setting me up. I growled. He and Bri were up to no good. They couldn’t leave well enough alone. We were perfectly happy with the way things were. Why complicate that?

I undressed and pulled the new shirt over my head. It fit snuggly against my body as did the remaining parts of the outfit. I ran a hand through my hair, making it appear more manageable than what it normally was. Turning, I caught sight of my reflection. It had been a while since I’d worn anything that looked this way. The last time…

I turned away, not wanting to relive that awful day. It had taken me months to move past it. She’d always liked me in a suit. Made me wear one every Sunday morning to church. That was one reason I hadn’t gone back. That, along with the fact that I couldn’t seem to understand why my mother had been put through what she had. It didn’t make sense to me. I dropped my eyes and went back up stairs. We had already started moving through the marina and out to the open water.

The boat rocked me back as the engine roared, pressing harder. Blackness surrounded us as the water lapped against the sides.

“Wow, you clean up nice,” Leigh said, coming from around the corner.

“I do, don’t I?” I winked at her. She blushed and crossed her arms before looking away.

Why were things so weird? We had been around each other basically every day with the exception of when I was in Utah. Not once had it been awkward. Not until that almost-kiss. I’d left right after. It had been too uncomfortable. But hell, throw us in some nice clothes and out in the middle of the bay, and we didn’t know how to act.

White lights cut on, illuminating her face. It glowed. It was a smile that I hadn’t seen before.

“Dinner is ready,” the crewman said.

I jumped, blinking to clear my thoughts. “Thank you,” I told him before turning my attention to Leigh and holding out my arm. “Shall we?”

She smiled, and crossed the gap between us. Her arm wrapped through mine as her fruity scent wafted up. I took a deep drag. She smelled delicious. Better than anything waiting on the table for us. I couldn’t help but wish I was about to taste her instead of the food.

“We shall,” she purred, leaning into me.

At the front of the boat, a table was set up with long-tapered candles burning. Elegant china sat waiting to be used. I walked her to her seat then pushed her under before taking my own.

“Those two really went all out for this thing. They must really be wanting us to bang.”

I spluttered, nearly choking on my own spit. She couldn’t have said what I thought she did. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. That’s all I’ve been hearing from Bri. When are you two gonna bump uglies already, so you can tell me all about it? I keep telling her it isn’t going to happen, but she won’t stop.”

A salad appeared in front of me. I had never been more grateful for something to change the subject.

“Looks good.” I shoved my mouth full of food and didn’t say another word. No matter how much I ate, I couldn’t put the thoughts of her naked out of my mind. Why did she have to bring it up? I didn’t want to admit Finn had been the same way.

After we finished eating, we walked to the back of the boat and landed in a cushioned seat.

“Dolphins directly over to the right,” came a loud voice over the speaker.

“Dolphins!” Leigh jumped up and ran over to the rail, squinting out in the dark.

A spotlight beamed toward the water, catching the fin as one popped out of the waves for a split second.

“There it is!” She jumped up and down, nearly toppling over.

She fell back into my arms, which instinctively wrapped around her midsection and pulled her closer to my chest. Her hair tickled my nose, and I ran it through the silky stands, inhaling deeply. She tensed but didn’t pull away. After a second she relaxed and rested her head against my chest.

“Another one directly in front of you.”

Neither of us bothered looking. I was pretty sure neither of us wanted to move. Soft music started to play.

She twisted around and looked up to me. “Want to dance?”

My arms fell to my sides, and I took a step back. “I don’t dance.”

She frowned, her eyes darting from the floor and back up to me. “Sorry. I didn’t know.” Her voice sounded small.

“We should probably be getting back. It’s getting late.” I avoided her hurt expression and walked to the cabin. “Please take us back in to the pier,” I barked at the crew. “And turn that music off.”

“Yes, sir.” One jumped up and flipped a switch, leaving us in a bitter silence.

When I returned to the back, Leigh was seated with her arms crossed. She glanced up to me and tried her best to fake a smile. “You’re right. It’s getting late.”

I sat beside her and put my head in my hands. She was hurt. That was clear. All because of something stupid that I had promised myself years ago. There was no way I was telling her that. It was something I’d never told anyone. Not even Finn.

“Tonight was fun,” I said, finally looking back up to her.

“Um, yeah. It was.” She looked at the water, distancing herself from me. I gritted my teeth, unable to stop from being angry at myself.

I’d ruined a perfectly good night. We rode the rest of the way in silence.

When we docked, she shot forward, her phone already in her hand, talking to someone. “Yeah. I’m at the harbor. You can pick me up from here. Thank you.”

“You don’t want me to take you back to Bri’s?”

“No. I called an Uber. Should be here in a few minutes, so you don’t have to wait.”

Wow. I had really made her mad. Like fuming. She was ready to get away from me as soon as possible. I couldn’t let her leave being this mad at me.

I grabbed her around the hips and tossed her over my shoulder. She slapped at my back. “Put me down! Please, Luca. Put me down!”

“Sorry, no Uber is taking you home. I made a mess of the night, and I can’t let you leave being mad.” I dropped her into the passenger side of my truck and ran around to the other side. I shut the door and focused on her. She sat back, not bothering to look in my direction. The entire way to Bri’s she stayed just like that.

When the truck came to a stop, I couldn’t take it anymore. Before she could jerk the door open, I pulled her arm back. “You’re not even going to say bye?”

Her pupils dilated, but not in fear, in anger. “I don’t understand you sometimes. It’s like you completely shut down. All I asked was if you wanted to dance. That’s all!” Her bottom lip trembled.

I reached out, cupped her chin, and ran my thumb along it. Her breath sucked in, then she puckered and kissed it. Her lips were moist and warm. I licked mine and leaned in. Our eyes remained locked as I closed the small space. I half expected one of us to stop. Or back away once we came to our senses. But it didn’t happen. I stopped at her mouth, running my lips over hers as I slid my hand around to her neck. Her chest moved up and down rapidly, her breathing erratic. I focused on the woman in front of me. Never had I wanted to kiss someone as bad as I did Leigh in that moment.

“Luca…” she said, softly.

“Shhh…” I fully took her lips with mine. An internal moan wracked my body as she opened her mouth, and her tongue rolled against mine. Just one kiss was all I needed. Just to see what it would be like, and then the urge would be satisfied. It had been all I’d thought about since last night when we were so close.

Of course, that hadn’t been the right moment. A first kiss deserved to be a private matter, decided by those participating, not something forced on them. It alone was still the sexiest thing in the world to me. A guy could tell everything from a kiss. If it was horrible, well… things might not be as had been originally thought. If it was good… I almost didn’t want to think about it. Leigh had managed to crawl into my heart. If this kiss is good, it will make me want more. It needs to be awful. That was what I kept repeating to myself.

Greedily, I deepened the kiss as hot waves of pleasure radiated over my body. This was anything but awful. This was fire. Her hands ran up my chest, around my neck, and fisted in my hair. Desperate to feel more, I hooked a hand underneath a thigh, and hoisted her into my lap. She straddled me, grinding against the throbbing bulge. She moaned in my mouth when I nipped at her lip then covered it in small kisses.

She arched back, pulling away long enough to put her lips on my jaw. Her tongue ran along, meeting my ear and taking it in her mouth. I panted, ready to rip the dress from her body and throw her into the back seat. I blinked erratically, trying to calm down. My hand hit the window, leaving a trail through the fogged glass.

“Leigh,” I breathed.

She moved lower, her teeth grazing my neck.

“Leigh, we need to stop. This can’t happen here.”

She pulled back, leaning against the steering wheel. “Oh…” She touched her swollen lips that I desperately wanted to kiss again. “…sorry. I thought—” She stopped, obviously struggling with what to say.

The truth was I didn’t even know what to say other than to curse at myself for stopping this and making her feel like I didn’t want it as much as she did.

“Can I walk you to the door?” Can I walk you to the door? What kind of the thing was that to ask after this? Stupid!

She nodded and pulled the handle, climbing out before I could say anything else. It was clear she was ready to bolt from this awkward situation I had put us in.

We stopped at the door. She turned toward me but kept her head down. “Good night, Luca.”

“Good night, Leigh.”

She twisted the knob, and went inside, leaving me staring at the door.

I put my palm on the wood, wanting to beat the hell out of it and get her to come back out.

But I didn’t.

I turned and walked away.