Page 25 of Love Overboard
“The Shippers.” She pounded a fist into the sand. “This has their fingerprints all over it.”
He knew she was right but didn’t want to admit it out loud. He was enjoying the rare sight of her normally battened-down self so out of control.
“The man had an emergency, Lacey.” Jon shifted to find a comfortable position. “Let it go.”
“So why didn’t he load everybody on the boat before he left?”
“I concede your point. That would have made more sense.”
She snatched a pebble and chucked it at the waves. “They wanted to give us plenty of time alone to reminisce.”
“About ourfriendship, you mean?” Jon grabbed a jagged rock and hurled it in the same direction.
“About whatever.” Lacey leaned on her arm, away from him.
“Let’s reminisce, then. Do you remember the first words you ever said to me?”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Were they ‘nice to meet you’?”
“No. You skipped the formalities.” Jon’s mouth twitched as he studied his fingers. “You said, ‘Are you going to pick up that trash?’”
“Trash?”
If Jon had asked herwhereshe first saw him, she could’ve named the exact location. Lacey was a maid then. She remembered standing in the housekeeping line as the chief steward belabored their duties. The bellboys stood opposite, and long-legged Jon with the quarterback shoulders and toothpaste-commercial smile had caught the eye of more than one lady. But there was no trash involved.
“It must have been commonplace to you.” He laughed. “You always had a bossy streak with everyone.”
“I’m not bossy.” Lacey dug her toes in the sand. “I’m assertive.”
“That you are.” Jon stretched out his legs and leaned back on his elbows. “You’re assertive a lot.” She opened her mouth to defend herself, but he interrupted. “I admire that about you.”
She closed her lips and slowly reclined on the sand—keeping a Bible’s length between them, the safe distance all the youth pastors in her adolescence had prescribed. And she definitely needed safety at the moment. “Were you littering?”
“No. I was walking down a stateroom corridor and passed a crumpled coffee cup on the floor. You didn’t like that I left it there.”
“I still don’t.” She squinted his way. “Why didn’t you pick it up?”
“Can’t remember. Maybe I didn’t notice it. Maybe because it wasn’t mine.”
“If you work on a ship, then it belongs to you. Every part. Even the trash.”
Jon rolled on his side to look at her. “I agree. Now. But I was still learning the ropes then. Many of which I learned from you.”
It was hard to keep her distance from such an insightful, gorgeous man.
But she would persevere. Stay safe.
Charming people let you down.
The reminder sounded hollow, even in her head. Lacey wiggled a little to the left, widening the space between them by another Bible’s length. She lounged on the toasty sand and propped her hands behind her head.
“No charge for the lessons.” She lowered her lids.
The Mexican sunlight warmed her skin, and a salty-sea aroma tickled her nostrils.
Lacey felt rather than saw Jon relax beside her. They were on an open beach with two nosy chaperones a few yards away, but the intimacy rocked her insides. The Shippers were good. She’d give them that. Throwing her together with this sweet, sincere, and good-looking-enough-to-make-your-earlobes-tingle guy was a savvy plan. She moved her hands in front of her, folded them on her torso, and stayed still as a mummy. The ancient Egyptians embalmed people after removing the heart and other organs from the body to preserve a beautiful, empty corpse.
A morbid thought for a sunny day at the beach.
