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“I remember. The Master Manipulator knew what was best for me, even though I was having the best season of my career. Of course, swimming never meant anything to him.” She shook her head, her heart full of so much regret and sadness she didn’t know where to put it all. “And while my father decided what was best for me academically, you decided what was best for our relationship without consulting me. You never considered letting me in to share the things what were closest to your heart.”
“I did consider it, damn it.” He didn’t elaborate, however.
Perhaps because they both knew he only considered it until he nixed the idea.
“But ultimately, you decided to let me worry about Harvard and my future in swimming while you shouldered the bigger concerns on your own.” Frustration simmered and she wasn’t sure how to keep a lid on it. Heat built behind her eyes in direct proportion to the hurt and resentment. “Did it ever occur to you that I shared what was going on between my dad and me because I cared about a future with you? I cared about your opinion. You, on the other hand, didn’t care about mine.”
She couldn’t tell if she felt better or worse after their heart to heart. While it helped to understand more of what Jack had been going through four years ago, it stung to realize how completely he’d shut her out back then. She’d loved him and he’d … enjoyed the escapism their relationship offered.
The frustrated heat steamed over her skin until her neck itched and her cheeks flushed with the mortification of discovering she’d never really known this man at all.
“I didn’t say that.”
Of course, he didn’t clarify anything either. She couldn’t bear one more minute of the Jack Murphy brand of cold shoulder. Why had she thought the night before meant anything to him? But that was her fault. She should have asked these questionsbeforeher brilliant plan for seduction.
“Would you mind killing the engine?” She pulled off her shirt and headed for the swim platform at the back of the boat.
“What are you doing?” He rose to follow her, but she could hear he’d hit the kill switch first.
The engine stopped and she watched the churn behind the boat to be sure the propeller went still.
“I’m going swimming,” she announced, stepping out of her shorts to reveal another tankini top and matching swim short set. This one had turquoise and yellow stripes.
“You can’t swim here.” He peered around, as if waiting to find some good reason for why she shouldn’t.
But since there were no other boats, no skiers and no Jaws-style fins sticking out of the water, he was plain out of luck.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m hot and mad. I’m also young and impetuous, part of the reason you ditched me four years ago, remember?” She pointed to the water. “The propeller is still. The engine is off. There are no swirls to suggest a strong current. So with any luck, I’ll reach the shore before dark.”
She wasn’t serious. She just needed to cool off and a moment to herself. To indulge in something that never failed to bring her peace.
But that didn’t stop her from enjoying the priceless expression on his face just before she stepped off the platform and into the Atlantic.
ChapterSix
Chase after Alicia? Or ensure his brother’s splashy yacht didn’t float out to sea without them?
With a curse, he moved back to the helm to hit the switch for dropping the anchor after he was certain Alicia was nowhere near the line. She bobbed and floated a few yards away from the port side, looking more like a dolphin at play than a woman hellbent on getting to the shore. Getting away from him.
She couldn’t have been serious about swimming to the coast. She knew better than to try something so dangerous with boat traffic and unfamiliar water all around her. Still, she’d given him a hell of a scare.
“I don’t see why you’re mad at me,” he called down to her as he tossed a life ring tied to a long line out into the water for safety’s sake.
“That’s because you don’t understand me even one little bit,” she returned, her golden hair sopping and dark where it plastered to her head. Her freckles stood out on her skin that looked more pale than usual.
No doubt she was cold. The Atlantic in the northeast never turned all that warm in the summers, for one thing. And the water was deep here. Still, she kicked into a back float like she had all the time in the world to taunt him from the sea’s rippling surface.
He tried to remember how much her antics irritated him instead of noticing her killer legs. Her fearless willingness to back up the smack she talked. Hell, she could be sixty years old and she’d still be young at heart. That was just the kind of personality she had.
“If I take the boat out to sea a little farther and make better time tonight, will you come back aboard and explain it to me so I do understand?”
She bit her lip, thinking about it, apparently. In the meantime, he heard the signal that meant the anchor had hit bottom. If he wanted it to set properly, he’d have to start the engine and pull forward against the line, something he wouldn’t do with Alicia in the water.
“You can be difficult to talk to,” she protested. “You’re very stubborn.”
“Says the woman who jumped overboard because she was miffed.”
Peering over her shoulder, she lifted a dripping hand out of the water to shield her eyes as she gazed at the shore.
