Savin' Me (6 page)

He chuckled and gave her a
can’t-blame-a-guy-for-trying shrug. While Erik made quick work of
untying the ropes and maneuvered them out of the marina, Little Bit
did his impression of a hood ornament, standing on the bow with his
nose in the air, ears flapping in the breeze.

They’d both done this so many times they had
a routine, but Kat was lost. There weren’t any seats at the front
of the boat, and she wasn’t about to sit on the bench seat with
Erik at the steering console. There were two seats at the rear, but
they seemed kind of low, and she wasn’t sure how wet she’d get
sitting back there. She glanced to Erik and shouted over the
winding motor. “Where do you want me?”

The slow turn of his head, the wicked gleam
in his eyes, and a smile that promised sex on the half shell said
he could make
anywhere
work just fine.

At this crucial time in her life, she needed
an army of angels sitting on her shoulders, prodding her toward
good, responsible behavior. Instead, she had the slut brigade, and
they weren’t
prodding
her toward anything. They were
propelling her, with a raging lust, toward bad, irresponsible,
illicit behavior with six feet of wicked temptation.

But resist she must.

She threw up her hand to block the magnetic
pull of the smile spreading across his glorious mouth. “You know
what I meant. Where do you me to sit.”

“What?” Again, with more of the wasted
innocence. “I knew whatcha meant. And I was going to say that it’s
not rough, so you can sit or stand anywhere.”

She chose a seat at the back and had just
settled into the hypnotic rhythm of the boat when they came to an
abrupt stop. Alarmed, she jerked upright in the seat. “What’s
wrong? Why’d you stop?”

Erik seemed to be smiling from the inside out
as he pointed to something in the water on the left side of the
boat.

She stood for a closer look just as a
porpoise jumped out of the water. She gasped in surprise and ran to
the railing. A second jumped and rolled, quickly followed by a
third.

Erik left the boat idling in neutral and
moved to the railing next to her. “I swear, I think they know the
sound of my boat.” His wide smile and the wonder in his voice
clearly indicated he liked the recognition.

As the trio circled closer and closer, Erik
leaned over the railing and let his fingers dangle in the water.
One of the porpoises rolled onto its side and brushed against
Erik’s fingertips as it slipped under the boat. The second followed
suit, while the third jumped and rolled, appearing to do tricks for
their benefit.

“They swim past my house every night, but I
thought we’d be too early to see them now.”

Kat watched, awestruck, as the porpoises took
turns brushing against Erik’s hands. “Have you ever swum with
them?”

His smile broadened. “Yeah, last summer. We
were skiing and they kept circling us and wouldn’t leave. We were
afraid we’d end up hitting them, so we put the skis away and swam
with them instead.”

“I want to swim with them!” The announcement
flew out of her mouth without any conscious thought. “Well,
obviously not today, but…” She would love a carefree swim with
these beautiful creatures someday.

Erik laughed as his gaze raked her from head
to toe. “You could always go skinny dipping.”

She playfully kicked off her shoes and
grabbed the hem of her dress, pretending to take the suggestion.
Laughing, and totally lost to the moment, she heard him murmur,
“There’s the Kat I knew.”

He might as well have picked her up and
dunked her head first into the cold water. What was she thinking?
At the first sight of the porpoises, she’d chunked her
professionalism into the river like an old, ratty bag. The old Kat
had barreled through without a care in the world, and it had taken
his comment—his subtle reminder of who she’d been the night they
met—to snap her out of it.

Seeing her sudden change, Erik said, “Relax.
You’re too uptight. You need to let go a little.”

She straightened her dress and slid her feet
back into her sandals. Who was he to lecture her on how to behave?
He didn’t know anything about her… well, other than how much she
liked that thing he did with his—

Stay on topic here, Kat.

Erik didn’t know that, more than anything,
she longed to “let go.” But she couldn’t afford to do that
now—opportunities to prove she could be successful were
dwindling.

She crossed her arms over her stomach and
took a step back. “You know, maybe you should ‘let go’ a little
less. It seems you have quite the reputation as a party-hardy
playboy.” She refused to look at the ugly green-eyed monster making
its appearance with that comment. She was on a roll, and she didn’t
have time to stop and make its acquaintance. “Maybe if you worked a
little harder and partied a little less you wouldn’t have lost that
account in Charlotte.”

She gasped, horrified. “Omigod!” She’d never
spoken to a client in such a rash and hostile way. She threw her
hand over her mouth, nearly in shock. “I can’t believe I said that.
I am so, so sorry.”

Erik stood frozen, equally stunned by her
outburst. Her fingers numbed, and heat exploded in her face and
neck as he slowly crossed his arms and leaned a hip against the
rail.

Breathing in short, rapid bursts, with her
stomach knotted like a pretzel, she said, “Saying I’m sorry isn’t
nearly enough.” She wanted to grab his arm and beg him to not be
angry, but instead, she swallowed hard and gripped the railing with
a sweaty palm. “I don’t know where that came from. I’m sorry for
being so out of line.”

She held her breath and waited for blistering
words to explode from his lips. Instead, he rested one hand on the
railing and the other on his hip, before calmly saying, “At least
we’re getting somewhere.” He chuckled. “Even if it is blatant
hostility, it’s nice to see that inner fire that drew me to you in
the first place.” His gaze softened. “What’s happened to you, Kat?
Where did you get the notion that you can’t have fun?”

She exhaled and slumped against the center
console. “All my life I’ve been criticized for having my head in
the clouds. Being too spontaneous. Not taking life seriously
enough. I’ve been told over and over and over I should be more like
my brother.” Sadness filled her chest as she watched the porpoises
swim away… the perfect symbolism for her life at the moment. “I
can’t afford to play and have fun and mess up the opportunity to
make VP.” Emotion clogged her throat as she thought about her
grandfather. He wasn’t getting any younger, and she had to make him
proud before he left her. “It’s my last chance to prove that I’m
not a total screw-up.”

He took her chin in his fingers and turned
her head so she was forced to look at him. Holding her gaze, he
said, “You are not a screw-up. We’ve all made mistakes. You have to
forgive yourself for what happened at your old job and move on.”
Shadows moved in his eyes and a pained expression crossed his
features before he dropped his hand and turned away from her to
face the water. “But most importantly, you have to keep being
you.”

She had the feeling something more besides
her “uptightness” was bothering Erik, but he’d closed himself off
to her and she couldn’t get a bead on his emotions. Deciding to let
it go and return the focus to her latest misstep, she said, “I’m
good at my job. I’m sure you find that hard to believe, considering
the circumstances under which we met and my recent outburst. But I
swear to you, I am competent, and I’ll never cross that line
again.”

“I believe you’re more than competent. Rusty
never would’ve hired you if you weren’t, and he sure as hell
wouldn’t have turned my account over to you. As for that line…” He
looked at her from the corner of his eye and smiled. “You’re the
hottest thing I’ve ever seen when you’re all fired up—whether it
comes from passion or anger doesn’t matter. Personally, I hope to
see you cross that line again and again and again.”

Chapter Four

Ten minutes later, Erik laughed to himself as
he eased the boat into his slip at Monteague’s marina and wondered
what Kat thought about designated boat slips at a place of
employment. Antsy to get back on solid ground, Little Bit jumped
and bounced around until Erik said, “Wait a minute, boy. You know
the rule. Ladies first.” LB flopped down and waited while Erik tied
off the boat, then pulled Kat’s bags from the hatch and set them on
the pier’s storage box.

After their talk, she returned to her seat
and remained sullen and withdrawn. He figured she instituted a
self-imposed timeout for her flare-up, and rather than continuing
to push, he backed off and let her have her space.

He knew she was angry with herself, but he
saw her comments as the defensive mechanism they were and didn't
taken them personally. No sane person could ever question his
dedication or work ethic, not with the hours he put in. He also had
the benefit of knowing his job performance hadn’t had anything to
do with losing that account in Charlotte. It didn’t actually have
anything to do with Monteague Boats at all. The dealer had been
forced to reduce inventory, and Monteague had been a victim of
circumstance.

Of course, Erik hadn’t been happy about the
loss of business. But when she’d met him in that bar, he hadn’t
been drinking away the loss of the account like he told her. It had
nothing do with his job and everything to do with the date.

April fifth.

He’d spent nine years trying to figure out a
way to get through that day. The first couple of years he tried the
drunken-stupor approach. When that hadn’t worked he tried working
himself to the point of exhaustion, hoping to sleep the day away
without even realizing it had come and gone. But nothing had made a
difference.

Until Kat.

This year, when April fifth rolled around, he
spent more time thinking about her than Lindsey. Part of him felt
guilty as hell about it. A large part felt tremendous relief.

But the Kat standing at the back of the boat,
with a sad smile and yearning look in her eyes, wasn’t the same Kat
he’d met that night. Then, even though she’d been upset about her
job, she’d been full of life and had laughed until she cried,
making him laugh right along with her. The amount of alcohol they
consumed helped, but it certainly wasn't the biggest contributing
factor… that had been Kat’s fun-loving personality.

He’d caught breakthrough flashes of the old
Kat in the gazebo and again today, but she was working so hard to
suppress her carefree spirit, he had to wonder what had caused such
a significant change in her. It didn’t take a genius to see how
unhappy she was.

What he struggled most to understand, though,
was why it mattered to him. He was supposed to be seducing her,
having a frenzied night or two (or three) of great sex, to work her
out of his system, then moving on.

Nothing more. Nothing personal. And certainly
no involvement.

And yet, looking at her now, he’d do anything
to make her laugh and smile again. To make her happy.

He double-checked the ropes, helped her off
the boat before following, then led her up the pier to the back
door of Monteauge’s corporate offices. Once inside, he turned left,
went halfway down the hall, then turned right into his office.

“I need to check voicemail. Can I get you
something to drink while you wait?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” She looked around the
office, taking it all in, and he tried to see it as she might.
Well-worn leather sofa—he couldn’t begin to count the nights he’d
slept there because he’d worked so late he didn’t have the energy
to go home. Coffee table in front of it covered with boating and
fishing magazines. The wall to the right of the door housed a wet
bar complete with mini fridge. His mahogany desk sat in front of a
large picture window overlooking the Pamlico and was covered from
one end to the other with boat plans, folders, and magazines. His
office had operated much like a home over the years, and that
contributed to its well-lived-in appearance.

While he retrieved his messages, he watched
Kat gravitate to the wall decorated with plaques and recognition
awards like a nail being drawn to a magnet. He always felt like
that wall screamed, “Hey, look at me. Look what a great guy I am,”
and he hated it. He and the company didn’t make charitable
contributions because they wanted the recognition. They did it
because they wanted to help the community. However, he always made
sure to put the recognition plaques on display somewhere, because
if he didn’t, sure as shit, the person who gave it to him would
drop by and notice it missing.

As he hung up the phone and rose from his
chair, she turned awe-filled eyes to him. “This is amazing. Why
didn’t I see press releases for any of this?”

“We don’t do any.” Her mouth dropped open,
and, knowing what was coming, he rushed to cut off her protest. “We
don’t do it for the recognition.”

“Obviously. But you should take advantage of
it. Let the community know how much you give back.”

“No.” Through the years, he and Rusty had
gone ten rounds over the subject, but Erik felt strongly about it,
and he wouldn’t be dissuaded. “It’s not up for discussion, so let’s
save ourselves the future hassle where this is concerned.”

Hoping for a quick end to the debate, he
walked to the door and gave her his special smile. The one he’d
been perfecting since he was a little boy and realized its magical
power. “You ready for the tour?”

***

Two hours later, Kat walked down the pier
toward the boat, her head a congested traffic jam of thoughts. Erik
and Rusty had been right. Pictures didn’t do justice to Monteague’s
impressive state-of-the-art facility. However, that wasn’t what had
left her dizzy.