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“Sure. But you love it on the Cape.”
As opposed to him, who spent half the time they were dating on another continent.
“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of competition for tourist dollars there. And your family runs a tight ship. I don’t think I’m ready to battle with the Murphy clan in the business world.” She’d considered that kind of venture. But it would mean living in Jack’s backyard. Circulating in his family’s world. “Bad enough I’ve had to occasionally whoop your butt in swimming. I couldn’t demean you in business as well.”
“Ally, I’m serious.” He slid into using an old nickname seemingly without even thinking about it. “It’s going to be tough enough starting a business alone. Why travel so far from your roots to make it happen? Why not give yourself the support system of your friends and family?”
She felt herself stiffen, her pride bristling at the thought of her father or brother coming near her project. But shehadasked Jack for his input. Damn it, she’d wanted advice about how to handle the inn in Bar Harbor, not all the reasons she shouldn’t buy it. She tipped her face into the ocean breeze and took a deep breath to try and soften her tone.
“My family is a far cry from yours, Jack.” Her father was a workaholic who’d driven her mom away long ago with his tunnel-vision dedication to his job and his habit of manipulating his kids like chess pieces. The older brother who’d stuck around seemed content to follow in his father’s footsteps, commuting daily into Boston or New York to a job that required most of his time.
When Todd wasn’t working overtime to add to his bottom line, he indulged his favorite hobby—telling Alicia how to live her life.
“But they interfere because they love you. You know that. I think you’ll miss being able to see them.” His green eyes appeared sincere. His expression heartfelt.
A less wise woman might believe his worry on her behalf was touching. But she understood that it wasn’t concern for her needs so much as an unrelenting belief he knew what was best for everyone around him. She’d suffered under those arrogant misconceptions of his in the past and the end result had been his decision that he was wrong for her—shutting her out of the equation completely.
“While I appreciate you looking out for me – I’m not asking for help with the personal aspect of this.” As long as she could get the bank on board, she would close this deal if she liked the property as much in person as she did online.
“Have you even thought about opening a place on the Cape where you have connections?”
Behind him, the ship radio squawked with a weather warning that made Jack check the sky and his watch. The storm clouds might be a few hours away, but as far as Alicia was concerned, Jack was already trying to rain on her parade.
“What connections?” She shook her head. “I couldn’t afford a place on the Cape even if I wanted to stay there--”
“I’ll back you,” he announced, rising from the built-in table to make adjustments on the boat’s automatic steering system.
She wished her life had an auto steering function right about now because she was feeling more adrift by the moment and Jack seemed determined to step in and take charge.
“You’ll back me?” She parroted back the offer to be sure she’d heard correctly. “As in vouch for me to some corporate banker so I can borrow the bazillion dollars it would cost for a nice B&B property on the Cape? Even if you could convince someone to say yes, I wouldn’t be able to make a profit fast enough to pay that off. I don’t want that kind of pressure.”
Most of all, she didn’t want to be in debt to Jack.
“No pressure.” He turned the boat hard toward the west as he settled into the captain’s chair. “The loan would be from me.”
For a second, she couldn’t catch her breath. Her throat felt like she’d inhaled a bug off the breeze.
“You can’t be serious.” How could he even consider such a thing? As tempting as it was to have the budget for a property that could be three times as profitable as the place she was looking at in Maine, she could never do business with her ex.
Out of the question.
He was making her question herself, jumping into her life and trying to take over. And they’d been back in each other’s presence for how long? Less than twenty-four hours.
“I’ve already invested in a handful of places around the Cape and you’re a safer risk than some of those places.” He gestured toward a control on the helm. “Can you flip that switch up?”
Rising to her feet, she joined him by the helm and noticed from the chart plotter that he was headed toward Marina Bay, just south of Boston.
“Where are we going?” Frowning, she remembered how tough it was to keep up with a man who didn’t share his plans or intentions, a man who plowed through life on his own terms.
“Storm’s coming. It’ll be safer to go inland for the night.”
“Fine. You get to steer the boat, after all.” She ground her teeth together, trying to remain gracious. Patient. “But you’re not steering my life and I’m still going to Bar Harbor to buy an inn. Alone.”
She turned to make sure he got the message and found they were closer than she thought. He’d stood beside the captain’s chair to snap a clear side curtain into place around the helm.
“Sure,” he agreed easily enough before thrusting half the vinyl fabric into her arms. “We can talk about it over dinner.”
Helping him spread out the material so they could snap it on the side behind her, she reached high over her head to connect the snaps even though the sun was still shining.
