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“It’s a beautiful day. I’m heading to the lake with the bachelors. Will you be joining us for the trip?” Her face hurt from holding her smile in place.
His gaze narrowed and he looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time since she’d almost ran over him. “No. JP will be supervising this morning’s shoot. I’m working on tonight’s show. We’ll boot another two bachelors.”
“Can I pick which ones?”
His brow lifted. “No. Not until the last show do you get to chose.”
“I know.” She nudged his arm playfully, pretending not to notice how sparks of awareness dug into her from the contact. “I was just teasing.”
One corner of his mouth lifted in a tight smile and he looked beyond her to the door of his suite. “Have fun on your trip and don’t get wet.”
She waved and brushed past him. Hoped he’d grab her, pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless, but knew he wouldn’t.
And of course, she was right.
She moseyed down the stairs, passed a grim faced Gregory on the landing, and joined the men waiting in the foyer.
“Ready, boys?” she asked when she saw the bachelors present and crew present. Seems she’d been the last one to arrive on two occasions today.
She chatted to Jeff and Steve for a few moments before JP joined them.
“You look lovely, Your Highness.” JP grinned at her, then shook his head with regret. “I apologize for the change in plans, but I’m no longer going to be able accompany you. Gregory’s on his way to inform Rob he’ll be supervising today’s outing.”
At that moment, a red-faced Rob bounded down the stairs.
“We need to talk.” He grabbed JP’s arm and tugged him across the foyer and into a neighboring room.
Although she couldn’t make out Rob’s words, it didn’t take a genius to figure out he wasn’t pleased about the change of events. Undoubtedly, spending the day watching her wasn’t on his priority list.
Too bad, because the grin JP shot her when he reentered the room assured her that once again JP had gotten his way. Rob would be going on the canoe trip.
Jill smiled and hooked her arms with Jeff and Steve’s elbows. “So, which one of you gents am I going to be rowing with first?”
Chapter Thirteen
Who’d have known canoeing would make her seasick? She’d never been seasick. Couldn’t believe something as serene as a paddle across the small private lake would make her regret her breakfast. Nothing should make a woman regret delicious food. But with each shift of the elongated metal boat, her stomach pitched.
Things might not have been so bad, but after three trips across the water with various bachelors, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to take much more. Especially since her current companion was Bachelor #4.
“Has anyone ever told you the one about the preacher and the four cops?” he asked, ignoring the fact she hadn’t laughed at his last three jokes.
Would he just please shut up? Who wanted to hear lame jokes about body functions or another one downing cops when one’s stomach threatened to upchuck?
Rob and two crewmembers trolled beside them in a small gas powered boat. Knowing Rob was near, if inaccessible, helped. She snuck a quick glance across the twenty feet or so separating them.
He wore a headset to listen in on their conversation, courtesy of the mikes they wore. His face looked terse, unyielding. Guess he didn’t find any of the jokes funny either. Despite his grim expression, he provided the only bright spot to her current excursion across the lake.
Turning back to Bachelor #4, she blocked her mind of her aching stomach and imagined Rob sat across from her. Would he smile at her as he rolled them across to the middle of the lake? Would he take her hands and kiss her to distract her from her uneasiness in the canoe?
“Wanna hear something really funny?” Bachelor #4 asked.
Did he know anything really funny? If so, why had he been holding back all these weeks?
“Why not?” Jill smiled politely, although she’d have preferred to keep fantasizing about Rob and pretending she didn’t feel nauseated.
He launched into another unfunny joke. Jill’s stomach pitched and so did the boat as the man slapped his knee in amusement at his own tale. In his merriment the oar slipped from his fingers and dropped into the water.
Had Jill not been fighting to keep her breakfast in her body rather than on her clothes, she’d have fores
