Breathless on the Beach. Wendy Etherington

steering the boat. “How long have you been there?”

      He looked thoughtful. “Let me think….” Then he gave her a broad smile. “You like me.”

      Victoria whirled to her friends and hoped her glare scorched them on the spot.

       5

      AFTER ATTEMPTING TO CONVINCE Jared she’d been talking about a guy from work, and absolutely not him, Victoria had focused on the horizon, refusing to speak to her so-called friends, and grinding her back teeth.

      Returning to the house after they docked, she retreated to the third-floor balcony to breathe a sigh of relief in private.

      Shelby was happily hooked up with her elegant Brit lover; Calla had her attraction to a darkly intense cop. Did they think Victoria wouldn’t be satisfied until she had a man in her life, too?

      Well, that was crap.

      She was perfectly happy working, shopping, dating here and there and hanging with her friends—though, clearly, she was going to have to find new ones after that sneaky move her old ones had pulled.

      She’d have to put that on her to-do list. Unfortunately, she didn’t have her phone with her, as she’d left it in her room before the boat ride.

      Fine. Her brain was still sharp enough to make mental notes.

      Even if she was interested in a weekend fling, Jared McKenna wouldn’t make the cut. Hot as he might be, she always went for guys with cachet and success. Tour guide wasn’t exactly her usual choice of date. Of course, she didn’t have much to show for her past relationships, either, and there was something about him that—

      She heard the door open and, turning, wasn’t surprised to see Jared strolling toward her. “Is this going to be a thing with us?” she snapped.

      “Depends on what you mean by thing,” he said calmly in the face of her anger.

      They could be a lot of things, she supposed, but she chose to ignore the possibilities for intimacy and focus on the immediate conflict.

      “A habit,” she clarified. “One of us comes out here to be alone, and the other one invades.”

      Joining her at the railing, he raised his eyebrows. “Invades?”