Page 14 of Knockin' Boats
I looked at my blackberry-swirled cheesecake forlornly. It was exquisite, but I’d lost my appetite. I slid it over to Cashwith a raised eyebrow, and he eagerly took on a second helping, shoving a bite into his mouth with a ridiculously X-rated moan.
He was so ridiculous sometimes, but I’d rather watch Cash’s theatrics than think about Ash cozying up to my mother in the kitchen.
As soon as the meal concluded, I made a beeline for Brooks. Before I could get a single question out, he raised his hand.
“Okay, I know I screwed up,” he said. “I planned to tell you about Ash’s food boat the other night, but you were so damn worked up after seeing him on the lake. I didn’t want to wind you up evenmore.”
“So you just left me to be sideswiped?”
He grimaced. “I didn’t know Sky invited him to this dinner. I would have given you a heads-up. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, man. I know you’ve got beef with him, but maybe it’s time to let it go.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Maybe not. But Skylar can’t make his business decisions based on your personal grudges.”
“Yeah, I guess not,” I said. “What do you want me to do though? I can’t change how I feel overnight.”
“I know,” Brooks said. “Just be a professional. He will too. It’s not like you have to work closely together. Just don’t make this Skylar’s problem, okay?”
“I won’t.”
At least Ash hadn’t joined the boat tour crew. He’d be doing his thing and I’d be doing mine and occasionally our paths would cross at the resort. But that wasn’t really any different than our paths crossing on the lake.
It was undesirable, and just like always, I’d do my best to give him a wide berth.
Nothing had to change. It would be fine.
CHAPTER 4
Ash
I paced by the private dock behind our house, grumbling under my breath. Our small yacht was gone.
Rick must have taken it somewhere. Damn. I was so used to him being out of town that I’d begun to think of it as my boat. In the past, even when he was around, I’d always had one of the DreamBoats at my disposal.
I couldn’t afford to go there now, though. It would only give him an opportunity to persuade me to take a booze cruise tonight. Apparently, I got better reviews than most of the guys—other than fucking Julian—and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
We were young and hot. Well, I was hotter. That’s not ego. Just facts. But Julian played fast and loose with the rules, joining the party more often than not. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get the DreamBoats in a whole heap of trouble. But when I’d tried to warn Rick of that, he’d told me that Julian knew how to avoid actually breaking the law.
More like, Julian was his most requested tour guide, and he didn’t want to give him up. Just like he didn’t want to givemeup.
I checked the time on my phone again. I was due at the Swallow’s Nest resort and turning up an hour late wasn’t the impression I wanted to make. I’d already been cutting it close last night for the dinner, because Mom delayed me to talk about giving Rick a break.
She always backed him up, so it wasn’t a surprise. Just frustrating. But I got it. He held all the strings to her comfortable life, and she didn’t want to rock the boat.
I turned and headed for my car. I was going to have to drive over to the marina and catch a water taxi.
My wallet complained about the fifteen bucks it cost me to board. Despite living in the lap of luxury, I was a thrifty bastard. Every penny went toward my future business. Otherwise, I’d never get out from under Rick’s thumb.
The resort had covered the costs of getting me up and running. I’d take home fifty percent of the profits for running the boat. They’d get the rest as return on their investment.
It was a perfect testing ground for my business model. But if I ever wanted to take my business out on my own, I’d have to buy out the boat. Expanding would take even more money.
It was a five-year plan, at best. But one I was eager to start working toward.
I hunkered down on a bench seat in the taxi, flipping the hood of my sweatshirt up when the wind started whipping my hair around. This time of day wasn’t too busy, so I was only sharing the ride with a family of four seated near the front. They had a little boy, about eight years old, who was gazing wide-eyed out at the water, pointing at each boat we passed as if he’d never seen such amazing sights.
I watched him, trying to remember when I’d gotten such simple delight out of being out on the water. Probably before it became a job to drag tourists around the lake all day. I used to spend a lot of time on the lake with Sawyer’s family. We tubed,went waterskiing and wakeboarding. If there was a water sport you could do on the lake, Sawyer and I tried it.
