lines and it went badly. Come to think of it, the mere idea of crossing the lines and doing anything that might be viewed as unprofessional would probably offend her.
And he wasn’t interested in a relationship anyway, so why had his tired mind gone there?
Tired was the keyword. That was why he was noticing the way the sun lit up her profile. Why when the ship rocked and she gripped the forestay, all he could think about was how close his hand was to hers on the railing.
“Anyway, thanks for the help.” After taking a second to steady herself, she flipped through her ever-present planner, peeled off a sticker, and placed it next to the Michael Jordan quote.
“Did you just give yourself a gold star?”
There was that amazing laugh again, making the blood in his veins zing faster. She haughtily lifted her head. “You’re just jealous that you don’t have one.”
“I am. Where’s my gold star?”
One honey-colored eyebrow arched, drawing attention to her hazel eyes, the whirlpool of green and brown sucking him right in. “Do a good enough job, and maybe you’ll earn one by the end of the trip.”
With that, she headed toward the cabin where the kitchen was located.
Leaving Josh to think up ways to make her happy enough to snag himself one of those fancy stars.
After breakfast, they took their steaming mugs of coffee and sat at the table on deck to start the morning’s think tank session. The entire time, Danae struggled to make eye contact with Mark.
Yesterday’s comments felt personal, especially the remark about using Google calendar to run their lives, which was something they’d disagreed on while dating. She’d simply wanted to have a shared calendar, so she knew what was going on and when. Instead of seeing how convenient it’d be for the both of them, he’d told her that she didn’t need to micromanage his life.
Not what she’d been trying to do, for the record. Silly her, she’d thought it would bring them closer, instead of being the final straw.
Even though she and Mark had promised to continue to support each other, and that they wouldn’t let the promotion change anything, things were different. By accusing her of putting too much emphasis on the wrong market, he also seemed to be implying she didn’t deserve to be the Chief Marketing Officer.
His verbal jabs during meetings might become an issue she would have to address—one he’d probably dodge while accusing her of being too sensitive—but since she’d just delivered the inspirational quote, she was focusing on staying upbeat.
“This morning I want to mix things up and do something fun,” Danae said. Clearly her team needed to climb aboard the optimism train, because their skepticism was palpable. “Let’s split into teams of two and come up with out-of-the-box ways to market our boats. Then we’re going to shuffle our papers and have other teams present them as their ideas on how to make it work.
“Everyone remember how you want your own ideas to be received. Remember to be open-minded and brainstorm ways to implement the idea before making a snap judgment or declaring it impossible or unproductive.”
Her gaze automatically flickered to Mark, conveying to him that she’d heard his silent critique yesterday, and she was working on it. The residual sting radiated through her, Mr. Barton’s similar feedback pushing it that much deeper.
Mark gave her a tiny nod, and the pressure in her chest eased. She could learn and change. It’d only make her better at the job she fully intended to keep.
They worked for twenty minutes, shuffled the papers, and then created presentations for the concepts they’d received.
The wind had kicked up after breakfast, and it swirled Danae’s hair around her face as she and Vanessa stood to give their mini presentation. As luck would have it, they’d ended up with Mark’s idea. That was easy enough to figure out, thanks to his suggestion, and she recognized his scrawling handwriting besides.
Across the deck, she caught sight of Josh. He flashed her a smile. His skin was sun-kissed from the hours he spent outdoors, and those eye crinkles took charming to an unfair level.
“Danae,” Vanessa shout-whispered at her side, and she glanced at her partner, who raised her eyebrows even higher.
Right. She was in the midst of a presentation, and how in the world had she allowed herself to be distracted? “So, what we would like to do is show that it’s not solely about getting the woman, so to speak. It’s about