“I think the piano bar is the place to hang out. Your dad made sure the drinks were flowing.”
“That’s his way of making friends.” Kyle shook his head but abruptly smiled widely. “What are we doing lazing on the beach?” Kyle poked Jami, and she slapped his hand away. “It’s almost glassy out there, but there’s no surf. Let’s go snorkeling.”
“I’m in.” Beck popped to his feet in one fluid motion as Kyle rose and scooped up his towel.
“What about you, Jaymz? Lady of leisure.”
Jami raised up on her elbows with her lips pursed. What was the point in sunbathing when she could be exploring the ocean, but, then there was Beck. He was damn irritating, even if those glistening pecs of his were distracting her. Sleep or go play? She wrinkled her nose. “I’m a gamer. You know that.”
“This is the lazy one of the family.” Kyle jabbed his thumb in Jami’s direction. “She only runs marathons and triathlons.”
Jami flushed and wished Kyle would shut up. It was none of Beck’s business what she did with her free time. As she tossed her belongings into her oversized straw bag, her skin prickled with awareness. Beck’s gaze was glued to her.
Crap. She was pointing her butt straight at him. She turned to the side and prayed her bikini top was secure and she wasn’t showing too much underboob. She straightened up. Whatever. It was a free country, and Beck could look all he liked. He wasn’t getting any. And that was her final answer.
Jami pushed her glasses up into her hair, and then flexed her bicep and hummed a few notes to a song. “I work out.” She winked.
“I can still out-sprint you,” Kyle bragged.
“Your legs are almost twice as long as mine. You’re a freaking giraffe.” Jami matched her stride to her brother’s and made sure Kyle was between her and Beck.
“See? She’s a sore loser, too.”
“Is everything a competition for you Barretts?” Beck shook his head as they made their way toward the surf shack at the opposite end of the beach. He caught Jami’s eye with an easy smile, but she ignored him.
“It’s all in good fun, right, Jami?”
“Tackling you in a game of flag football is just how I say ‘I love you,’ little brother.” Jami laid on the sugar in her voice.
“You took me out at the knees,” Kyle protested.
“Those moose pegs are your soft underbelly.” Jami laughed. That had been an epic scrimmage.
“She’s got the killer eye, Beck. You’d better watch out. She’ll pull a fast one on you, and you’ll never know what hit you.”
“Forewarned is forearmed.”
“She and Austin are the pair that got the nice-guy-assassin gene from dad.”
Seriously. Would Kyle ever learn to keep that mouth zipped? Beck was the last person who needed to hear details of their family life or any of their secrets. Jami stared stonily ahead.
“She doesn’t look like an assassin.”
“Judging a book by its cover?” Jami fluttered her eyelashes and affected a twangy drawl.
Kyle wore a puzzled expression as he stared at Jami and Beck in turn. Jami lifted her chin. Kyle could think whatever he wanted. She didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let Beck Kavanagh have the last word. Or get under her skin.
CHAPTER 6
They loaded up into the boat with about a dozen other vacationers, and Beck listened to the safety instructions with half an ear. He’d been snorkeling and diving countless times, but it never hurt to pay attention, and no doubt there were some unique features to the reef they were about to visit.
As the guide chattered and joked, Jami kept her attention squarely on the guide and poked Kyle in the ribs when he seemed to nod off. Beck tried not to laugh at the siblings’ antics. Beck studied her profile and her high forehead, straight if slightly button nose, and her full lips that seemed to smile easily for everyone except him.
Her thin, white polka dot cover-up flapped in the wind and gave him an ever-shifting glimpse of her lean waist with the hint of her strong abdominal muscles and generous swell of her breasts. He imagined them fitting nicely into the palms of his hands. He glanced away, but couldn’t help but sneak a few more peeks at Jami. She was fit, strong, and curvy in all the right places. As she smiled at Kyle, a dimple appeared in her cheek. For a lean, mean, fighting machine, she was absolutely adorable.
Beck pressed his lips together into a tight line and shifted the snorkel gear in his hands. Jami was the last person he should be thinking about sexually. She was a barracuda with a vicious bite, and she most distinctly thought of him as public enemy number one. Besides, who chased after a sister-in-law? Not that she was really related to him. She’d actually be Rob’s in-law, and he was only Rob’s half sibling at that.
The boat jounced along the rolling waves, and Beck took bets with himself on the sturdiness of Jami’s bikini top. Would it actually hold her girls in place or would there be a strategic failure if they hit a rogue wave?
The chugging engine slowed to a rumbly putt-putt-putt, and the guide launched into his safety spiel. Within a few minutes, everyone was splashing around in the sea and fiddling with their masks and fins.
“Don’t wander off, little brother,” Jami began. “Anna will kill me if you don’t show up to her wedding.” She laughed, but Beck detected a soft note of concern in her voice.
“No worries, Jim-Jam. I know you’ve got that big sister vibe pounding in your brain. I’m not five anymore.” Kyle waggled a hang-ten hand sign at her and then swam off.
“Once a bossy sister, always a bossy sister?” Beck smirked at Jami.
“Whatever. I fished him out of the pool when he was a kindergartner, and I kind of can’t shake the image of him blue and not breathing. So sue me for being overly protective.”
“Peace.” Beck waved a hand in front of Jami. Well, he’d certainly stepped in the mouth of the shark on that one. Smooth moment number three thousand and seven. “I’ll shut up now.”
“Fine.” Jami adjusted her snorkel and turned away from him.
As she dove through the water, Beck smiled wryly at his awkwardness, and he was pretty sure Jami had wanted to flip him off but had restrained herself. The good part was he was absolutely not interested in the prickly, sharp-tongued Barrett sister, so his little episode of foot-in-mouth was actually for the best. His secret strategy was clearly to keep her in a constant state of irritation and disgust with him.
Ha. Mission successful. Yes, he was a smooth operator.
With a last check for leaks around the edges of his mask, Beck swam off with the snorkel in his mouth and his fins gently propelling him through the smooth waters. The underwater world exploded in front of him.
The coral reef was at least fifty feet away, but silvery schools of tiny fish darted and dove in front of him. Ahead, Jami and Kyle kicked down to the reef for a closer inspection of the anemones swaying in the gentle current.
Beck floated and idly waved his arms to maintain his viewpoint. Jami was a work of art in that blue and white batik bikini. As she stretched an arm out at a passing fish, Beck glimpsed the paler white skin under her breast, and an answering tightness in his board shorts told him he was far from immune to her.
The pair held their breath until at last, a slow trickle of bubbles emerged from their snorkels. First Kyle, pushed toward the surface and then after another twenty seconds, Jami gave a tiny thrust of her legs and rose through the water.
She spun a five-eighty spiral and burst into the fresh air above. Beck swam a few strokes and then plunged under the water and dove deeper to the sprawling white and yellow reef. An aqua and neon pink-trimmed fish swished by, and a swarm of pinky-peach round fish surrounded him and then streaked away. A long, skinny barracuda idled past him and countless tiny silvery needlefish skimmed by. A shadow loomed in the corner of his vision, and Kyle waved, and then Jami drifted past, but she refused to make eye contact with him.
Golden and blue-barred fish zipped by, and Jami floated with a mesmerized
expression that was clear, even through her mask. As one, all three of them pushed back to the surface.
As a trio, they repeated their dives until they were almost dizzy, and they treaded water until they caught their breath. As Kyle and Jami debated whether they had seen a spotted eagle ray or just a blotchy stingray, Beck studied Jami. She was muscled and lean and had no problem keeping up with two guys who easily outweighed her by fifty pounds or more and were more than five inches taller.
She wasn’t even breathing hard after so many multiple dives. In fact, she was in better aerobic shape than him as far as Beck could tell. She bobbed in the water with the swell with ease until she froze, her eyes fixed at a distant point.
“You guys, look!” Jami must have kicked hard because she popped up high out of the water and pointed. “Dolphins.”
Beck turned and spotted an array of perky fins cutting through the waves. Beck double-checked to be sure that they were the curvier trailing edge fins of the friendly mammals and not the straighter edge of a shark. He glanced back at the snorkel boat, and the skipper waved and pointed to the approaching pod.
“There must be at least ten of them.” Kyle stretched high to get a better view.
“They are coming in our direction. I think we’re in luck.”
“I wonder if they’re spinners or bottlenose.” Jami pushed up higher for a better view.
“Didn’t the guide mention Spotted and Fraser, too.”
“I have no idea how to tell the difference.” Jami laughed. “Now the big decision is whether to dive down and join them or hang out on the surface.”
More fins emerged, and Beck guessed there were over thirty dolphins cruising past them. More of the other snorkelers popped up to watch the show. One sleek, gray creature sprang high into the air and then executed a rapid spin before it dove back into the shining waters. Another cavorted into the air, and then another, with splashes, huffs, clicks, and whistles.
There were cheers and shouts, but Beck let the energy of the moment spill over him and through him. He half shut his eyes, and the sun glinted starry streaks off their glossy backs and long snouts. The edge of the pod was no more than twenty feet away, and a riot of splashes churned the waters.
Something bumped into him. It was Jami, and she had a serene smile on her face as if she was in a zone of pure bliss. Their shoulders brushed in the choppy waves, but Jami simply smiled at Beck.
A strand of longing sliced through him. For an instant, he was part of Jami’s joy and her love. It was simple. It was pure. It was perfect.
With a few last flips and spins, the dolphins sped away until only the tips of their fins were visible above the ocean waves.
Jami broke into laughter, and Kyle joined and then finally, Beck gave into the zest of the moment.
“Ten more minutes!” It was the voice of the boat guide booming through his microphone.
“Come on, let’s have another go.” Jami secured her mask and snorkel and disappeared under the waves.
Kyle shrugged. “Gotta go where the sister leads us.”
“Does she ever slow down? She must have the lung capacity of a pearl diver.”
“I’d say a whale, but she’d kick my butt.” Kyle winked and then dove.
Beck laughed but shook his head. Jami Barrett was a worthy opponent. On and off the battlefield. If he didn’t watch himself, he was going to find himself at a disadvantage with her.
Beck took a deep, lung-filling breath, slipped under the water, and arrowed down toward the reef. He focused on the blue and white batik fabric barely covering Jami’s backside. It beckoned him closer and closer. Ah, yes. The material had crept up, and Beck had an enticing view of a whole lotta cheek. That was one delectable booty.
And at that instant, Beck forgot about land deals and business expansion, but he had a vague sense he might be in deep trouble.
CHAPTER 7
J ami rose early the next morning, went for a run, and then slid into a beach yoga session right as the first pose was struck. After that, she ambled over to the Plumeria Pool, nibbled on fruit and yogurt from the buffet, and made a date with Kyle to meet at the waterfalls at the south end of the island.
Somehow she kept expecting to see Beck, but he was conspicuously absent, and perversely, she was disappointed. She almost missed sparring with him.
They had the morning free before the festivities resumed with an afternoon treasure hunt. Jami muttered a few choice words under her breath, but at the same time, it was kind of fun.
An hour later, Jami loitered near the sign for the waterfalls. The sound of the water tumbling over the edge of the cliff wasn’t quite the roar of a race car engine, but it drowned out the chirps and chitters of the birds and critters rustling around in the thick, tropical woods. She looked around for a sight of Kyle, but she was all alone.
Jami peered down toward the bottom of the falls at the sparkling, clear pool below. According to the trail sign, it had been a favorite jumping spot for hundreds of years. A knot of anxiety clutched in her belly. It was a long way down. She shook her head. It wasn’t that she was afraid of heights, but she did respect them.
Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea to do on her own. She backed up a step.
“Changing your mind?” a voice asked next to her ear.
Jami jumped with a squeak. “You scared the crap out of me.”
With his bare, tan chest and close-fitting, dark green and white striped board shorts, Beck looked divine. He flashed a toothy grin her direction and then ran his fingers through his mop of loose, dark curls. “Nervous?”
“No. I didn’t think anyone else was around.” Jami shifted back and propped a hand on her hip.
“Everybody is still poolside. Trying to decide what to do with an afternoon off.” Beck rolled his eyes.
“Anna makes the rules. She always has, and probably always will.”
“It is her show after all.” Beck shrugged, and Jami appreciated his relaxed attitude. “So are you going to jump?”
“That’s the plan.” Jami assumed a peppy tone she wasn’t quite feeling.
Beck strode to the edge and examined the flashing blue water below and then turned his attention to the cascade of water tumbling down. “I’m kind of surprised they let people jump here. I guess nobody’s broken their neck.” He continued his perusal of their grassy perch and the straight drop down to the water far below.
That was her thought exactly, but she wasn’t going to let Beck know that. “Are you chicken?” Jami blinked with an innocent flutter of eyelashes, but her voice dripped sarcasm.
“I’m judging the distance and arc of the jump.”
“How technical of you.”
“I am an engineer.”
“Do you estimate thirty feet?”
“More like forty.”
“Maybe even fifty?” Jami pursed her lips and shot him an I-dare-you look. “Is that too scary for you?”
“A teeny thing like you might get hurt. I’d hate to see you twist an ankle.”
Jami glared. Since when had anyone called her tiny? She was five feet eight in her bare feet. Without meaning to, she ran her eyes up and down his body and was impressed. Not just with his ridiculously cut muscles, but the sheer mass and height of him. Beck was a good half foot taller than she was, and he clearly outweighed her. She was practically delicate in comparison to him.
A bead of moisture dripped onto his shoulder from a lolling palm frond and trickled down his bunched bicep. Dear heavens. Beck was delicious. Jami blinked and called herself to order. Dammit. She did not have the hots for her almost in-law.
“Oh my gosh, that’s so sensitive of you.” Jami scrunched her nose. “You’re stalling. I’m beginning to think you might be afraid of heights.”
“Hardly. Daredevils die. I take calculated risks.”
A derisive bark of laughter echoed behind her. It was Austin. She glared at her brother, but he only laughed harder.
“Shut up, you two, and fucking jump alr
eady.” Austin rolled his eyes and then launched off the edge of the cliff. He turned one summersault and then pointed his toes and plunged like a spear into the sun-kissed water. Jami counted under her breath as the water rippled. She hit ten before Austin popped up with a roaring whoop, then he swam to the shore.
Jami shrugged, took two steps back, and then leaped. As the tropical air whistled across her skin, Beck jumped, one step behind her, and snatched her hand into his. What was he doing? Did he think she couldn’t do this on her own? She tried to wriggle free, but his grip was like steel.
As they soared, exhilaration rose through Jami’s core, and a joyous shout slipped between her lips. Beck grinned and pumped his fist. At the last moment, Beck released her hand, and she folded her arms by her breasts and torpedoed through the shimmering blue waters. The water whooshed past her like a swirling vortex as she arrowed deeper and deeper, down into the indigo depths of the pool.
Her momentum slowed, and she floated, hovering weightless. Beck was a dark shadow a distance below her. A stream of bubbles drifted past and then the pressure of the water pushed against her ears and her chest. She looked toward the beacon of sunlight glinting above and beat her legs in a thrusting scissor kick. Beck zoomed up to her, grinned, and grabbed her hand. Together they whipped their legs and careened through the crystal clear water.
They broke through the surface, and clean, tangy air whistled into her lungs. Her hand was still tangled with Beck’s, and a curious link seemed to tether between them. They turned to each other, and both began to laugh with the sheer joy and energy of the moment.
Beck’s gray eyes took on the blue of the sky and the cerulean of the water and glistened in the sunlight. Jami’s laughter faded to a curving grin and widened eyes. With the water streaming off Beck in rivulets, he looked like a water god bursting from the depths of another world. A pulse of need clenched between her thighs.
Beck drifted closer to her, and his laughing gaze turned smokier, naughtier. Beck licked his lips, and a wicked glee danced across his expression as he snatched an object out of the water.
Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads Page 103