“Okay, but, Dad, remember, I did warn you that I’d have to work some. That was the only reason I got the time away from the office for this trip.”
Harry didn’t say anything to this. Instead, he turned to the woman who’d just come from the bridge to stand at his side. Sally, his longtime stewardess and self-appointed cruise director, handed Hannah what looked like a frothy eggnog and a festive elf headpiece, complete with a little green hat.
Sally laughed at the look on Hannah’s face. “I know. But Harry insisted. All passengers-slash-coworkers have to be in the proper festive spirit this week.”
The thing about boating with Harry this week was that he didn’t make money, so he gave his crew the time off, which meant it was all hands on deck. “Just how many others are we talking about?”
“Well, Susan and Dan, of course,” Harry said, referring to the Webbers. “And you and your mom, and—”
Hannah’s phone rang again.
“Nope,” Harry said and jiggled his hat. He always collected cell phones at the start of a trip, mostly because Harry had never met a responsibility he couldn’t put away, not to be seen until it suited him.
“Dad—”
“Nope. And I’m doing you a favor, trust me.”
She grimaced in apology but answered the phone. “Hannah Banfield.”
Harry rolled his eyes.
“So you do live,” Cynthia said in her no-nonsense, perpetually irritated voice. “Is there a reason you’re not checking your damn phone in the middle of a very important week when you’ve got a very big case being decided upon?”
Three years ago, the woman had taken a chance on Hannah, teaching her the ropes when Hannah had started with no specific experience, only her painful ambition. Hannah was now a successful health care advocate, working for the hospital in her hometown and fighting on behalf of insurance rights for terminal patients. She was incredibly proud of the work she was doing. But because she’d made the mistake of asking her dad what he wanted for Christmas, and because his answer had been only one thing—her—she was here, and Cynthia was going to get heartburn and the chance to take Hannah’s case in front of a judge. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What’s up?”
“I’ve emailed you several files. I’ve marked my questions. The last thing we want is the judge to postpone until after the holidays.”
“I’ll take a look,” Hannah promised and disconnected.
Her dad wriggled the hat for her cell phone. “This is vacation.”
“Come on, Dad, I’m turning twenty-seven years, not twelve. And who’s the other guest?”
Harry just smiled, giving her a very bad feeling. But it couldn’t be. Her mom had told her James was in Belize with a girlfriend, which suited her just fine.
Totally, one hundred percent fine.
Fine.
His parents were no problem, she loved them. But when it came to James, her feelings were . . . complicated. That’s when she realized Harry was smiling at someone just behind her, and then a long arm reached around her to drop a phone into the Santa hat.
Slowly she swiveled and came face-to-face with a blast from the past. The kind of blast that stole her breath away and rendered her stock-still. The kind of blast that was sexy and familiar at the same time, and brought both the best and the worst memories of her life slamming back into her.
James Webber, who was clearly not in Belize.
Her dad grinned at him. “Hey, WK! Good to see you, kid.”
WK was short for Wild Kid, and there’d been plenty of years when James had merited the nickname. He was a grown man now, but Harry still saw both of them as kids.
Not looking bothered by the handle at all, James exchanged a warm, back-slapping hug with Harry. Then he looked at Hannah, and the result was good news and bad news. The good news—she managed to keep her cool and give him an “I’m totally okay that you’re here” smile. The bad news—his crooked smile was still a killer, and those warm blue-green eyes still promised fun and trouble that she knew he could deliver on. Suddenly needing that hopefully strong eggnog, she took a healthy swallow, then promptly began to choke up a lung.
James patted her on the back until she waved him away and glared at her father. “Virgin?”
“I always serve you virgin.”
“Yeah, when I was a kid.”
“You’re still a kid.” He spread his arms. “Because I’m only twenty-nine.”
“You’ve been twenty-nine for twenty-nine years.”
“Hey, knock that off. Reality doesn’t have a role here in Vacay Land.”
James accepted a glass from Sally. He drank, and then his eyes were flat-out laughing.
Clearly not virgin.
“Wow,” she said to her dad, looking away from James, because it’d been a huge mistake to look directly at him. How was it that he looked even better now than he had back then?
Especially because back then he’d been naked.
At the memory of the last time she’d seen him, she reached over the bar against the back of the deck, grabbed the bottle of dark rum, and poured it into her glass.
James looked amused.
“You should both go get settled before I put you to work,” Harry said. “There’s a storm brewing, so as soon as Dan and Susan arrive, we need to get ahead of it.” He nodded at Sally to follow him to the bridge.
When they were gone, Hannah let out a slow breath. Great. A storm on the horizon, and another in her stomach. She took another sip of her eggnog, knowing it was going to help when it burned all the way down.
James stood there, eyes amused. She couldn’t stop herself from looking right back. Barefoot, he was wearing jeans that fit him in all the right spots, an untucked thin army-green T-shirt tight across his chest and loose across his abs. Damn. Why did he still appeal to her? Not that it mattered—he was most definitely not on the menu for the week.
Been there, been destroyed by it.
“Hannah Banana in the flesh,” he said. “Been a while.”
She added another dollop of rum, and he laughed softly.
She took a big gulp before meeting that gaze of his, the one that tended to make her stupid. “Thought you were going to be in Belize with your girlfriend. Hope you didn’t get dumped.”
He smiled. “The trip got moved up. I got back last week, but Candy and I had a great time, so thanks for your concern.”
She refrained from rolling her eyes. Probably Candy was a perfectly nice person. She wasn’t annoyed by Candy. She was annoyed by the man standing there looking better than anything she’d seen in a long time.
James picked up the duffel bag he’d dropped at his feet. “And while you finish up that drink that you look like you really need, I’m going to grab the good cabin.”
Oh hell no.
Their eyes caught and held, and then they each took off running at the same time, and for a moment it was like they were kids again.
Until James stopped short and pointed starboard. “Hey, what’s that?”
Like a sucker, she skidded to a halt and looked.
Nothing.
And James was running again.
“Cheater!” she yelled, running after him.
He just laughed, moving with the easy grace of a lifelong athlete.