Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT Caribbean Nights #9) - Kat Cantrell Page 0,63
Ilhota Rosa,” she suggested. “I’ve been thinking that it’s time to move forward with reinventing your snorkeling excursion.”
That was not anything close to what he’d expected her to say. “We can’t. Rachel hasn’t gotten anywhere with the court.”
Audra shrugged. “So? Don’t charge. Then it’s not a commercial endeavor, right?”
“Yeah, but this is a business. I can’t just give away all our services.”
“But you’re not doing excursions now,” she argued with absolute truth that he’d be a fool not to recognize. “It’s not like you’re eating into existing profits. I guess boat fuel costs, so maybe it’s not a good idea. Let’s think of another one. The important thing is that you can’t give up.”
Scowling, he started to sit up, to change positions, to do anything other than let her laser-sharp vision keep slicing through him. “I’m not giving up. I’m just…”
Stalled. Defeated. Overwhelmed. There was little wiggle room with the injunction in place, and barring a deliberate decision to ignore it, which was not the right thing to do, he had few options. Aqueous Adventures was his dream, and it was disheartening to have it poised on the brink of ruin, especially given the motivation behind it.
Jared Anderson, one of his oldest friends, had set out to destroy Charlie’s life and was doing an excellent job thus far. Once, he’d believed Audra had some part in it. Now, he just wished it was something they could talk about.
“You’re in need of some inspiration.” She searched his expression. “Maybe you can replace snorkeling with something else. I’ve always wondered why you didn’t add kayaking at Bright Bay to your company’s offerings. It would be a perfect fit.”
Because the memories would have killed him.
But as her warm palm continued to bleed sanity into his battered heart, he realized he was at a different place than he had been. No longer did he have to avoid areas of the Caribbean for fear they would spear him through the gut with images of Audra.
Something tender unfurled in his chest as he stared at her. “That’s what I pictured in my head. All those nights we were apart. The bioluminescence spreading out under the kayak and your soft perfume on my skin because I couldn’t wash it off.”
Or more to the point, he’d never tried. The two weeks they’d spent together had specific associations: scents, textures, muscle aches, tan lines. They were all unique to the Caribbean but nothing more so than kayaking at night in Bright Bay, which wasn’t something you could do just anywhere in the world.
“Why not look into it?” she murmured, her breasts brushing against his torso as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be discussing business strategy while naked. On the beach.
But it made sense in the world they created when they were together. She made sense.
It fit to finally admit to himself while reveling in the colorful chaos of Ilhota Rosa that Audra had hurt him so much because he’d given her a piece of his heart that he’d never meant to let go. He’d fought it, denied it, pretended he’d had a choice in the matter, but in the end, the only decision he could truly make was to embrace it.
He was in love with Audra. For all the good it did him to admit it.
Jared’s receptionist hated Audra. Always had. Audra chalked it up to one more barrier between her and the man behind the curtain, whom she would see today come hell or high water.
Charlie needed her to take care of the injunction once and for all. And maybe at the same time she could banish at least one of the speed bumps between them. They spent so much energy tiptoeing around inflammatory conversations. Why not just nip this one in the bud?
It wouldn’t fix everything. She’d thought revisiting Ilhota Rosa might be enough to break through some barriers, but all that had done was get her to the point where she realized that she owed it to Charlie to do what Rachel had suggested—flat out ask Jared to do her the favor of lifting the injunction. She had to take action, to fix the problems she’d caused. Not purposely. But that didn’t matter. Still her mess to clean up.
“I have an appointment,” Audra informed the brunette who was examining her manicure like there wasn’t anyone standing in her reception area. The woman had one job—to let people into the ReefCo inner sanctum, and she was failing miserably at it.