by catjohnson
Jamie smothered a sigh. Was he missing some sort of male gene? The caveman swine genome perhaps? As usual, it was simply easier to humor these guys. “Whatever you want, Reilly.”
Apparently happy with that answer, Reilly grinned, then spied the coffee shop across the street. “Oh, man. Look. There’s caffeine in my future. That damn alarm clock went off way too frigging early this morning. You guys coming?”
“I sure as hell am. James?” Brandon paused. “Will you be partaking of the caffeine with us?”
“I already had my fill this morning. Thanks, but Rob looked like he may need some coffee.”
“I’ll grab him one.” Reilly nodded and the two took off at a run across the street.
Once they were gone, Jamie finally took the time to admire the view. It was a beautiful setting. No doubt about it. He might actually enjoy himself. Nothing to do but rest, and relax…and watch Reilly and Brandon make asses of themselves over the two bikini-clad girls who were getting out of the car that had just pulled up.
It was a bit early for bikinis, even with the so-called cover-ups they wore. This would be a match made in heaven as far as he could see. Bimbo bridesmaids meet frat-boy groomsmen. Hell, it had all the makings of one heck of an adult film.
He’d have to check the boat for hidden cameras. That had been a favored trick back at the frat house. Catching one of the brothers on film with a girl. They never bothered setting it up in Jamie’s closet. He wasn’t stupid—he never brought girls back to his room at the house. Not that there had been all that many girls in his past anyway.
A pair of long legs unfolded out of the car and Jamie recognized Julie from pictures Rob had emailed him. Noting the morning sun glistening off her blond head, he immediately pushed Reilly’s previous disrespectful carpet and drapes comment out of his head. This was his best friend’s future wife, after all.
The three women unloaded suitcases onto the sidewalk and then the driver pulled the car away and parked it in the lot nearby.
Jamie swiftly had his arms full as Julie realized who he was and hugged him as if she’d known him forever. A quick introduction to the bimbos, uh, bridesmaids followed, after which Jamie was about to help them onboard with the suitcases when a fourth woman came striding across the parking lot. Wearing knee-length shorts and sunglasses with her hair pulled casually back into a ponytail, she walked with purpose directly toward him. Did she know him from school? There was something familiar about her, but Rob hadn’t mentioned inviting anyone from school other than Brandon and Reilly on the cruise.
She drew nearer and smiled. It lit up her face and his heart beat faster. He hesitantly returned the smile…and she walked past him as if he weren’t there and went directly to Rob. Jamie hadn’t even noticed Rob standing there he’d been so entranced with the approach of this woman he obviously didn’t know.
Jamie swallowed, embarrassed at his ridiculous assumption that her joy had been over seeing him. He took a step back to give them room as they hugged. Then the mystery woman was called away by Julie before he even learned her name. She walked away from him to interact with the three other women farther down the dock. He watched her until he realized he was being spoken to.
“Huh? Sorry. What did you say?” Jamie turned.
Rob who grinned wide. “I said that’s Gillian.”
“Julie’s sister. The maid of honor.” Jamie put the pieces of the puzzle together. His gaze settled on her again. That explained why she looked familiar, she reminded him of Julie, but not why she had awoken physical urges deep within him he usually kept well buried.
“Yeah.” Rob lowered his voice. “You’re staring.”
Shit. He was. Inexplicably, Rob’s future sister-in-law had woken him more than his morning coffee. Both his hormones and his imagination kicked into overdrive. The idea of a week at sea with this woman provided much fodder for sexual fantasies.
Jamie shook his head at his own thoughts. He was acting more like Brandon and Reilly than himself. He hadn’t bothered to date or do anything else with a woman recently because he simply didn’t have the time. Gillian made him want to take the time. Just when he’d thought the lower half of him was hibernating, things started to wake up. Though, in his experience, women who looked like Gillian and Julie went for men like Rob, or even Brandon and Reilly, not him. That was a sad but true fact of life. He wrestled his attention away from the walking, talking, blond fantasy that would never come true. At least not for him.
Jamie pushed up the glasses that had slipped down his nose. “I’m not staring. I’m just observing the resemblance between her and Julie.”
Rob laughed. “Ah, of course. Though Gillian thinks she looks nothing like Julie, and she won’t listen when anybody tells her otherwise. They may look alike, but they’re totally different.”
His interest piqued. “Different how?”
“Well, Julie starred in all the plays in school, then did some modeling and acting after college. Meanwhile, Gillian was top of her graduating class. Very studious and quiet, always with her nose in a book. She kind of reminds me of you.” The implications of that last statement hung suggestively in the air. They had been friends long enough that Rob knew damn well Gillian was Jamie’s exact type.
Beautiful and smart. He glanced in Gillian’s direction one more time. Where Julie was model-thin and straight up and down, Gillian’s hips curved nicely into a perfectly rounded ass. If what Rob said was accurate and Gillian didn’t believe she looked like her sister, she was absolutely right. She looked better.
Usually opposed to matchmaking among friends, Jamie was willing to make an exception in this case. “Do I smell a set up?”
“No, of course not. Gillian would never stand for that. I just want all my buddies and all of Julie’s to get to know each other before the wedding. One big happy party, you know? That’s all.”
Jamie didn’t believe that for one minute, though he was already fantasizing about getting to know Gillian a whole lot better. Perhaps he did have that swine gene after all.
Chapter Three
Face tilted toward the warmth of the sun and eyes closed, Gillian leaned against the chaise lounge’s headrest and sighed.
Maybe Rob’s trip wasn’t such a bad idea after all. There was nothing to do on the four-bedroom private yacht except relax and enjoy the cruise through California’s Channel Islands…and maybe get to know the shy best man she’d noticed watching her on the dock.
She sure as hell didn’t need to get to know the other two guys any better. Not after the way they were ogling the bridesmaids. The yacht was named The Playmate. That was fitting since as far as she could see, Julie’s two actress wannabe friends thought they and their barely-there bikinis were posing for a Playboy centerfold onboard. Gillian didn’t care. Let them be exhibitionists. She and her full-coverage tankini were doing just fine.
A shadow blocked the sun but, half-asleep since she’d been up past midnight packing, Gillian ignored it as she drifted peacefully in and out of consciousness. Until a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and started kneading.
“How’s that feel?” The voice was low and so near to her ear his breath wafted against her skin. Gillian spun to see who it was, kind of hoping to find James Foster there.
No such luck.
“Hi there, beautiful.” Brandon grinned, grabbing the beer he’d set on the table next to them even though it wasn’t even lunchtime. “You looked a little tense. I thought maybe I could help you relieve some stress. Julie and Rob told me how hard you’ve been working on the wedding stuff.”
Julie and Rob had told him that? Her heart fell. Her suspicions about their matchmaking had been correct and worse, this was the guy they were fixing her up with? Were they insane?
A chill ran through her in spite of the heat as his eyes dropped to take in the skin exposed by her tankini. She hadn’t been tense before, but she was now thanks to Brandon.
Torn between covering herself and asking what he was looking at since she
had the least amount of cleavage of all the females on the boat, Gillian struggled for a response. She had to be nice. He was one of Rob’s best friends and they’d be trapped together on this cruise for a week, not to mention the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself when they returned. That didn’t mean, however, that she had to put up with his come-ons or Julie and Rob’s pitiful attempt at setting her up.
What were they thinking? Did Rob really think this guy was her perfect man?
“Um…” How exactly could she handle this delicately?
The best man appeared behind him. “Brandon, you’ve got to come over here for a minute.”
“The geek summons.” Brandon rolled his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
Great. She’d hold her breath waiting for his return. Gillian managed to nod as she glanced in the direction of her savior and wished she could thank her knight in shining armor, or more accurately, knight in slightly baggy pleated shorts. He’d saved her from having to come up with an excuse to get away from Brandon. Even though she realized Brandon’s absence was most likely only temporary, she breathed with relief.
Should she go hide in the stateroom she was sharing with her sister before he returned? Though he could come looking for her there. Below deck, she’d have no escape. Better to stay here, safely out in the open.
She sighed. There went any hope for relaxation if Brandon was going to be hitting on her the entire trip. She could kill her sister for playing matchmaker.
And speaking of…
“Gilly, isn’t everything absolutely beautiful?” Julie swept her hand to include the three-hundred-sixty-degree view from the deck.
Besides the pushy groomsman I’m trapped at sea with?
“Yeah. Incredible.” Extremely unhappy with Julie at the moment, Gillian’s flat tone didn’t match her words.
Her sister squatted down next to the chaise, handing her a glass of champagne mixed with orange juice. She took it. Hell, alcohol could only help this situation. The first mouthful felt so cool and tasted so good, Gillian immediately took a second.
“I saw Brandon over here talking to you…” Julie raised an inquisitive brow and let the sentence hang in the air.
“Yeah, thanks a lot for that.” Gillian felt her lips twist in a scowl.
“What?” The head matchmaker actually managed to look convincingly confused.
“Don’t try to look innocent. You’re setting me up with that sleaze ball who wants to help me ‘relieve my stress’ after only knowing me for two hours.”
“I’m not trying to set you up with Brandon.”
“No? Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
“Gilly, Brandon’s not the guy Rob has his eye on for you.”
That was a relief, but if it wasn’t Brandon, then who? Hopefully not the other groomsman. Perhaps it was the best man. Hmm. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad…
Gillian shook that idea from her head. Set-ups never worked out. “Rob shouldn’t have his eye on any guy for me, Jules. I’d prefer if you two left me to find my own man. Please.”
“Okay. Whatever you want, but promise me you’ll keep an open mind, Gilly. You never know when you’ll meet the one.”
Gillian glanced at Brandon and the other frat-boy usher, Reilly, both giggling with their cell phones out snapping pictures of Julie’s two bridesmaids as they sunbathed face down with their tops off at the other end of the deck. She shook her head, seriously doubting she’d be finding the one in those two.
“I have a feeling you’ve already got the best man on this floating fun ship, Jules.”
“Aww. Thanks, Gilly.” Julie gazed lovingly at Rob at the helm.
Gillian’s own coincidental use of the words “best man” struck her, and James Foster, the official best man for the wedding, came to mind. There may well be two good men onboard. It certainly couldn’t hurt to get to know the other one a little better and find out. If Brandon would stay away long enough, that was.
She glanced over at Julie’s two friends. One girl stretched, flashing them all with some side boob as the two ushers drooled. Hopefully she’d keep her top off for the rest of the cruise. That should keep Brandon off Gillian. She took another swallow of champagne to celebrate that thought.
Julie stood. “You know, you’re going to get suntan lines in that suit.”
“I’m not taking my top off like Adrienne and Ronni so don’t get any ideas.” Gillian cocked one brow at Julie’s implied suggestion.
“I didn’t mean that, silly. Don’t you have a strapless bathing suit with you?”
Gillian sighed. She knew she’d forget something. “No. I should have bought a strapless one-piece before we left. I didn’t even think of it in all the confusion. Damn. Sorry, Jules. Maybe I should stay out of the sun for the rest of the trip.”
“Of course not. It’s okay. I have one. You’re welcome to borrow it.”
“It’s not a bikini, is it?” Gillian narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her sister. Julie was the model with the perfect body, not Gillian.
“No, it’s a one piece, not that you couldn’t wear a bikini if you wanted to.”
“So you say.” Gillian scowled.
Julie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It’s in our stateroom. Want me to go and find it for you?”
Gillian noticed Rob waving Julie over to where he stood steering the ship. “No. That’s okay. Your groom needs you and since he’s driving, or sailing, or whatever it’s called, you better go see what he wants. I’ll go down and look myself.”
Julie grinned. “Okay. It should be in the top drawer of the dresser.”
“I’ll find it.”
Now that Brandon the horn dog was otherwise occupied playing peek–a-boo with Ronni’s breasts, the feel of the sun beating down and warming Gillian’s skin was too luscious to leave just yet. Thinking she’d get up in a minute and go change suits, she closed her eyes again and drifted peacefully for she didn’t know how long, until another shadow fell across her.
“Um, Gillian?”
Sleepily, she cracked open one eye. This time the man she found didn’t make her want to jump overboard. He might make her want to jump somewhere else though. Like perhaps into bed.
“Yes?”
As if he wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, Rob’s best man shoved them deep into the front pockets of his shorts. “Um, I hate to bother you. In fact, I waited for you to wake up on your own, but you didn’t. You’re really starting to turn red. I didn’t want to wait any longer to point it out to you.”
If this were one of the other two frat boys, she’d assume the next words out of his mouth would be to offer to spread sunscreen on her chest for her, but this guy seemed legitimately sorry to bother her and honestly concerned about her skin.
Gillian took a closer look at him. She’d barely had time to be introduced to him earlier, between the confusion of getting everyone onboard, and the spectacle the two ushers had made of themselves ogling Julie’s bridesmaids in their bikinis. What color eyes did those wire-rimmed glasses—that changed from clear indoors to tinted outdoors—hide? Whatever the color, she was sure she’d find sincerity in them.
“James, right? We spoke on the phone.” Gillian knew exactly who he was, even where he lived thanks to the copy of the guest list in her maid of honor folder, but no need for him to know that.
“Yes, though I’d much prefer if you called me Jamie. These guys only call me James because they think it makes me sound like more of a geek than I already am.” His shy smile captured her attention.
She let her eyes drop and found hints of a lean muscular body hidden beneath his pleated khaki shorts and collared shirt. He looked absolutely adorable as he kicked the toe of one shoe against the deck like he was nervous to be talking to her.
Given a choice between siding with the shy nerd, which she had been herself all through childhood, or the popular crowd, she’d stick with the underdog any day. “They probably think you’re a geek because you don’t do things like gawk and
giggle at half-naked bridesmaids.”
“Well, I rarely giggle and I do try not to gawk, but I have to make a confession. I did notice the half-naked bridesmaids.”
“Can’t blame you there. Even I noticed.” She shrugged.
“I can tell you, though, my first thought when I saw those tops coming off was that it would be the perfect opportunity to get Brandon away from you.” He scrambled to add, “Um, just because I saw him over here and you didn’t look too happy about it.”
Gillian laughed. “You’re right. I wasn’t. Guess I didn’t hide my feelings as well as I thought.”
Like right now, she probably wasn’t hiding how she was sizing him up as the wind tossed his dark blond hair making him look like he’d just finished an energetic romp in bed.
He grinned, making him even cuter.
“Yeah, don’t ever play poker. I saw the look on your face and decided to call him over. I pointed out the potential of one of those girls forgetting they had no tops on and rolling over. That’s all it took.” Jamie shrugged, shooting a glance at the two men who had moved on to rubbing sunscreen onto the backs of the two bridesmaids. “I think we may have lost Brandon and Reilly for the duration of the cruise.”
“I hope you’re right, and thank you. I really owe you.”
“Your gratitude may be diminished when you look in the mirror.” His glance dropped to her chest. “I should have woken you sooner.”
Her gaze followed and she gasped. She moved one strap to expose a definite white stripe surrounded by angry, red skin. Her fingertips brushed against her chest and she winced as even that slight touch stung like sandpaper.
“You’re not terribly burned yet, but it’s getting there. I think you should get out of the sun. Or at least put on some stronger sunscreen and a T-shirt.”
“Julie is going to kill me.” The heat radiated off her burn. She looked up at him panicked. “Our dresses for the wedding are strapless.”