Lured In (8 page)

“You okay?” He reached toward her, as if he was going to touch her forehead, but she pressed her fingers over the injured spot and turned back to the computer.

God, it was hot in that room all of a sudden.

“I'm fine,” she lied. “But before we concuss each other, maybe you should back up a few steps and I'll finish this myself.”

“Good idea.” The relief in his voice was almost palpable.

The more space between her and Finn, the better. Especially when he smiled like that, awkward like…like…how he'd smiled earlier in the great room when she'd made that stupid comment about kissing him.

Jessie didn't know what had made her say it, and then once she did, she couldn't even move. She couldn't look at him, or away from him, so she kept her gaze locked on the room full of guests. The whole time she could feel him staring at her, just as he was doing again here in the office.

After a second he backed up as far as he could and turned to study the laminated map of the coastline that had hung on that wall for as long as Jessie could remember. There wasn't a centimeter on that map Finn didn't already know, yet still he ran his finger slowly over each grid, studying it all over again.

Clearing her throat, Jessie made a few more adjustments to the reservation and hit save.

“There,” she said. “Now all we need to do is move their bags down to the White cabin. You coming?”

“What?”

She was already at the door when Finn finally clued in to what she'd said.

“I mean, yeah. Let's go.”

Clearly, fresh air would do them both good.

“Here, fishy fishy fishy.”

Jessie had been right; that little bit of fresh air had done them both good. By the time they'd delivered the luggage to the White cabin, she was back to her normal self and Finn no longer had that dazed look on his face.

Marlene and Norma were thrilled with the change and ran straight down to the cabin to check it out before dinner. And for the rest of the evening, everything was just as it should be.

Dinner with the guests was always loud and busy, and Jessie wouldn't have it any other way. She loved the noise and the laughter and the way a good meal could bring complete strangers together. It was a far cry from what she'd grown up with, sitting across the table from Tracy's empty chair night after night.

One of the things she loved most about the guests was that once they settled in, they tended to let their guards down, as if they were living by the what-happens-there-stays-there rule.

Maybe that was why Charlotte, one of the Green-cabin women, felt comfortable telling everyone that her friends had all but kidnapped her and flown her up to the Buoys to get her away from her fiancé for a few days.

“That boy does not deserve her.” Jacqui shook her head so fast it sent her wildly fun Afro swaying. “Nuh-uh.”

The other friend, Patsy, couldn't agree faster. Whoever this fiancé guy was, apparently he was a stifling bore who thought a good time included things like dinner theater and foreign films with subtitles.

“Look at her,” Jacqui said. “She's a gorgeous, vibrant, adventurous woman. She could have any man she wanted, so why, I ask you, should she settle for a guy who thinks Drumheller is a good place to go for a honeymoon?”

“Drumheller?” Jessie croaked. “You mean the dinosaur place?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Oh boy.” Jessie tried to stifle her laugh, but it choked out anyway. “I'm…well, I've never been there myself, so I can't…I'm sure it's, uh…great.”

“Yeah.” Patsy snorted, then pushed her glasses up on her nose. “If you're a twelve-year-old boy, I bet it's amazing.”

“Charlotte needs a man who'll show her some fun,” Jacqui said. “You know—someone like him.”

Every head in the room turned to see where she was pointing—every head except Jessie's. She already knew.

“Me?” Finn's shocked cry was drowned out by the guffaws coming from Liam and Kate. “I'm not fun!”

“He's really not,” Liam said, but the women completely ignored him.

“Do you only go to movies with subtitles?”

“I don't actually go to—”

“And do you avoid the outdoors to the point of seeming vampire-ish?”

“Well, that's a little hard to do in this business.”

“And where do you think a couple should go for their honeymoon?”

“I'm not…I mean, I don't…” He looked over at Jessie, clearly desperate for someone to bail him out on this.

“That's not a fair question, because Finn's not the marrying kind.” Jessie smirked as she shook her head slowly. “Not even close, actually. But if he was, he'd take his wife somewhere secluded, somewhere with crystal-clear water and their own private beach, where they'd be the only ones to see their part of the sunrise and sunset, and where there'd be no chance of hearing a cellphone ring.”

Liam slipped his arm around Kate and they both nodded.

“He'd take her somewhere they'd have to depend on each other for warmth and where they wouldn't be found until they were good and ready to be found.”

Charlotte's friends sighed dreamily, prompting Jessie to finish it the most accurate way she could think of.

“Yeah, he'd deck her out in a full-body bug jacket and take her camping.”

Finn, who'd been sipping his Guinness and looking quite pleased with himself up to that point, sputtered over the top of his glass as the dreaminess vaporized from the women's faces.

“What?” he cried as his brother guffawed from the other side of the restaurant. “I wouldn't—”

“Somewhere without plumbing,” Jessie added.

“That's exactly what he'd do,” Liam laughed.

“He totally would.” Kate nodded, grinning as she lifted her glass in toast to Jessie. “And he'd probably make her pitch the tent, too.”

The slow smile Finn gave Jessie sent heat blasting up her neck and over her cheeks, but she still tipped a teasing look back at him and lifted her hands, daring him to deny it.

He didn't. He just shook his head slowly and took another sip of his beer, his grin never fading.

Pretty soon every one of the guests was in on the debate over what Charlotte should do about her fiancé: keep him or leave him. And the whole time not a single person stopped to ask Charlotte what she wanted, so she just sat there, not really listening to any of them as she sipped the last of her mojito.

Jessie couldn't decide if Charlotte was incredibly smart for ignoring all the negativity or incredibly naïve. Either way, Jessie was in no position to judge, so she tucked in behind the bar and refilled Charlotte's drink—on the house.

Shortly after everyone finished dessert, the guests began to trickle off to their rooms. It wasn't late, but by the time Jessie and the rest of them had finished cleaning up, the sun had already started sliding toward the horizon, leaving the big bay window bathed in blinding yellow light.

Part of Jessie hoped it would be too late to meet Finn at the lake, but a brief quirk of his eyebrow and slight tip of his head cleared that up; he wasn't letting her off the hook that easily.

The other part of Jessie couldn't decide if she should be terrified or happy about that.

Kate and Liam said their good nights and headed out the back door toward their A-frame, followed soon after by Olivia, but even after Jessie changed into her shorts, she went back to the office for a few minutes, tidying up her already tidy desk, giving herself a couple of extra seconds to get her bearings.

With a steadying breath, she grabbed her walkie-talkie in case Olivia or a guest needed her, and started out of the office, only to get stopped by the phone ringing.

“Thank you for calling the Buoys; this is Jessie.”

“There's the voice I've been missing.”

It took her a few confused seconds to recognize the husky drawl on the other end.

“Sam!”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Uh, yeah…no, I just wasn't expecting it to be you, is all.”

Crap
.

They'd gone back and forth with emails, but this was the first time she'd actually spoken to him in a couple of months, and it immediately felt…ugh…awkward, to say the least.

“Did you get my email last night?”

“Y-yes,” she stammered. “Thanks. We're all pretty excited about you guys coming up.”

“Are
you
?”

“Of course.” Sure, she was more excited for what the opportunity meant for the Buoys, but it didn't really sound like that's what he meant, so to cover her hesitation, Jessie swallowed, then faked a cough. “It'll be great to see you after all this time.”

“It's been a crazy four months.”

“Right.” It was kind of sweet that he'd been keeping track. “Four months.”

“And in those four months,” he said, “guess how many times you called? Or, forget the phone, guess how many times you emailed me—and I'm not including the times when you were replying to something I sent.”

“Uh…”
Oh crap
. “Gosh, I don't know.”

“Not once.”

“Oh. Really? I, um…I'm sorry, I just…”

Jessie could have kissed the phone when she finally heard him laugh on the other end.

“I'm messin' with you,” he said. “We both agreed it was for the best, and I heard the O'Donnells' old man had let the place pretty much go before he died, so I knew you'd be busy. Besides, I was heading to Corpus Christi, so…”

Jessie pulled the phone away from her mouth long enough to expel the breath she'd been holding.

“Right,” she said. “And I guess…I don't know…I just sort of figured…”

“What? That that was it?”

“Honestly?” She tried to laugh, but whatever it was that came out of her mouth sounded more like a snorting choke. “Yeah.”

“Okay, well…um…”

He paused just long enough that Jessie wished she could see his face so she had some sort of idea where this was going.

“Even though we're not…you know.” There was another short, slightly awkward moment of silence before he cleared his throat. “I was kind of hoping we could still…well…okay, the thing is, I still think you're pretty amazing and, uh…yeah.”

And “uh yeah” what?

Should she be flattered? Excited?
Something?

And how much longer could she not say anything before it got too awkward to deal with? The silence probably didn't last more than a few seconds, but it was enough to remind Jessie that one of the reasons she usually felt weird around guys was that she always felt as if she had to come up with things to say.

Thankfully, Sam stepped up.

“Anyway, my producer and I were checking out your website the other day. Looks like you've got the place set up real nice now.”

“Thanks, we're getting there.” Jessie frowned into the phone as questions started zinging back and forth in her head.

Was he just making conversation or was he hinting that now that the place was up and running, Jessie should have more time for other things? Like him?

Change the subject!

“I'm sorry things didn't work out down in the Gulf,” she said. “Do you think you'll try again next season?”

“I don't know. Maybe. We'll have to see.”

“I can't imagine what summer down in Texas must be like. I'd probably melt.” With each word that spilled out of her mouth, Jessie cringed more.

Really? Weather? Is that the best you can do?

“Yeah, it was hot.” For the first time, Sam's voice sounded hesitant. “Is everything okay? It sort of feels like that first time we went out, when everything was kind of awkward, but I thought we got past that. We had some good times together, didn't we?”

“Yes, of course we did.” Not a lie; she'd enjoyed almost every minute she'd spent with him.

“But?”

“No, no buts.” Oh my God,
yes,
there were buts, starting with the fact that no matter what Kate and Olivia had on their Jessie-and-Sam agenda, Jessie wasn't going to be part of it. “I'm sorry, Sam, I've never been really good at this kind of thing.”

And just like that, his hesitation vanished and he was back to sounding relaxed and confident.

“What kind of thing? We're only talking.”

Maybe, but Jessie had no idea what they were actually talking about. On the surface it almost sounded like normal chatter, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he was feeling her out a little.

“Look,” he said, “I just want to make sure that everything's okay between us, because there's something kind of important I'd like to talk to you about.”

“What's that?” Jessie closed her eyes and tried to breathe normally.

“I'd rather talk about it in person, but I'm really hoping you'll like what I have to say. And on top of that—”

Oh God
.

“Sam,” she said, trying to talk over him. “I don't think—”

He wasn't listening. “If everything works out, my producer tells me
Hooked
could make the Buoys an annual thing.”

That stopped Jess cold. If everything works out? Works out with whom specifically? Him and her? Or him and the Buoys? And did him and the Buoys depend on things between him and her?

Sam was still talking, but it took a second for Jessie's brain to catch up.

“Obviously, the viewers who know anything about the Buoys will be expecting to see the fish whisperer and the ballplayer out on the boat with me, and to be honest, I'm pretty pumped about getting out there with Finn myself, but once we're done shooting for the day, I'm sort of hoping to get some time alone with you to catch up and talk about things. I hated how everything ended so abruptly between us.”

Abruptly?
Jimmy had died. What did Sam expect her to do, sit there and order dessert?

“Time alone,” she repeated, scrambling for something—anything—to help her out on this. In the end, she could only offer a short laugh. “Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of space around here to get much privacy.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “But there's a big wide ocean out there, and I'm sure your bosses won't mind if we take one of the boats out for a while, will they?”

“Uh…n-no,” she stammered. “Probably not.”

A tiny voice in the back of her brain screamed for her to tell him the truth, to put it out there before either of them said another word, but she was still trying to grapple with the idea that her reaction to him and his “wanting to talk” could have a direct impact on his show filming at the Buoys.

Besides, what if he turned out to be one of those Camp B types who insisted he could be the one to get her over her fear? The only way around that would be to tell him Finn was already helping her.

And for reasons she didn't want to think about too deeply, she didn't want him or anyone else to know about the time she'd spent with Finn in the lake.

It was too personal.

As if her crazy, jumbled, racing thoughts had summoned him, Finn suddenly appeared in the doorway.

“Hey.” His slow grin made her smile back, which was weird because it was the first natural thing she'd felt since answering the phone.

Jessie pointed to the phone, then held up her finger, realizing Sam had said something and was waiting for her to respond.

“Sorry, Sam, what was that?”