they’d consumed all their food—and had both gone to bed hungry, in more ways than one.
She sat up in the small bed that wasn’t nearly as impressive as the one in the captain’s cabin.
And then it hit her. Everyone would know they’d been caught out in a storm. Would the Magnolia Harbor grapevine be buzzing about the fact that they’d spent a night out here together? And how did she feel about that?
She didn’t know. Maybe a little numb and confused. But she was pretty sure Topher’s family would be upset. They didn’t want her designing a house for him, and she was willing to bet they would be appalled if they knew he’d kissed her.
But it didn’t matter. Tongues would be wagging by the time she got back to town. It was a given, considering her completely undeserved reputation.
She let go of a deep sigh. Maybe she should consider the job offer from Damon Brant. His secretary had followed up, and Jessica was scheduled to make a quick trip to Miami in a few days to meet with him and his partners.
She got up, pulling on her rumpled clothes. Out in the galley, Topher was whistling.
Whistling?
She didn’t think of him as the kind of guy who whistled. Did anyone whistle anymore? It seemed like an old-fashioned thing to do. But it sounded happy.
Now, that was a word she wouldn’t have applied to the man. He wasn’t a happy person, and she supposed he had plenty of reasons not to be.
She jammed her feet into her Keen sandals before she opened the cabin door, which led through a short passageway to the galley.
“You had coffee and didn’t tell me?” she said as she entered the small cabin and got her first morning look at him. His hair was kind of a mess, his beard a little scruffier than yesterday, but his blue eye still burned with a fire that ignited a deep yearning right in the middle of her belly.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said, his voice a little low and rough. “I found some in one of the cabinets. We don’t have any sugar or cream though.”
“I can deal,” she said, trying not to look him in the eye.
He reached for the electric coffeemaker’s carafe and poured the magic elixir of life into a mug that had the boat’s name printed on it in navy blue.
Their fingers brushed in the exchange, the jolt of awareness now familiar. She was going down, and she didn’t even want to swim hard.
“So, what time is it?” she asked.
“We’ve overslept. It’s after ten o’clock, and the wind has died. So drink up, me hearty. We need to sail back to Magnolia Harbor.”
* * *
Topher left the galley, his heart thundering in his chest. His throat thick with emotions he didn’t want to have right now. She hadn’t said one word about what had happened yesterday.
She’d gone back behind her mask. And he might never see the real Jessica—the angry one, the vulnerable one, the one he wanted to hold, the one he wanted to love—again.
So here he was, standing on the foredeck reconnecting the jib to the halyard and getting ready to rush back to the harbor.
What else could he do? Tell her what was in his heart? Never. She’d run from him like a frightened rabbit.
He shackled the sail to the halyard and made his way aft, where he got busy removing the bungee cords from the mainsail. She joined him a few minutes later, her gaze carefully averted.
She was nimble as she helped him rig the boat, and it made his heart sing to see her moving so easily through the mass of lines and blocks. He could imagine a future, sailing with her. He could imagine…
A lot of things that weren’t going to happen.
In less than fifteen minutes, they had the boat shipshape and headed out in the main channel, sailing wing on wing on a run to the harbor. He kept his gaze fixed ahead. He didn’t trust himself to look at her.
About ten minutes into their sail, they were hailed by a Coast Guard patrol boat. Topher pulled up and pointed Bachelor’s Delight into the wind, stalling their progress while the patrol boat came within hailing distance.
“Bachelor’s Delight, are you all right?” someone shouted over a megaphone.
“We’re fine. We anchored at Lookout Island overnight and weathered the storm there,” he shouted back.
“Glad to hear it. There are a lot of people on Jonquil Island worried about you.”