Free Making Waves by Tawna Fenske Page B

she tore her eyes away from Jake. For all intents and purposes, Jake seemed unaware of the smorgasbord behind him, or of the woman who was shooting daggers of lust at his backside.
    Alex, too, seemed oblivious, or maybe it was just that he was focused on the complicated-looking navigational chart. Juli looked back at Phyllis, who was staring wistfully at Jake again.
    “That sure smells good,” Jake called from the helm.
    Juli glanced at Jake, then back at Phyllis. Phyllis met her gaze, her expression uneasy.
    Juli gave her an encouraging smile. “Maybe you should take some of this over to Jake. Since he’s busy driving the boat and all.”
    Phyllis looked as though Juli had just suggested stripping naked and painting her breasts with the port wine demiglace.
    Of course, she didn’t appear to think the idea was entirely unappealing.
    Juli picked up an empty plate and handed it to Phyllis. “Just grab a couple of each and feed them to him,” she encouraged. “You don’t want him to have to take his hands off the controls, right?”
    “Right,” Phyllis said, biting her lip. “Jake, you want to try this stuff?”
    “Yeah, that’d be great,” he called. “Better get it now before you guys eat it all.”
    “Oh. Okay.” Phyllis eyed the spread of food. “Well then.”
    She gripped the plate and piled a couple dates and some mini quesadillas on it. Juli reached over and spooned some guac on the side, then gave Phyllis a conspiratorial wink. Phyllis looked mortified, but she stood and wobbled her way over to Jake.
    Juli smiled at them before turning back at Alex, who was shoveling food into his mouth with single-minded determination. He’d missed the whole thing. Probably missed the chemistry between Phyllis and Jake, too.
    Alex looked up at her and stopped chewing. “What?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Am I missing something?”
    “Probably. That makes two of us in the dark, doesn’t it?”
    Alex eyed her suspiciously. “You still feeling drugged?”
    “Nope.”
    “Maybe you should take some more.”
    “I thought you preferred your bride sober for the honeymoon.”
    “Honeymoon’s over. I’ll take you as you are.”
    Juli swallowed hard, blinking as Alex smiled. She tried to pull her gaze away, but her brain wasn’t obeying the command.
    “More Pinot Gris, anyone?”
    Startled, Juli looked up to see Cody brandishing the bottle beside her. She held up her glass, grateful for the distraction. From the corner of her eye, she could see Phyllis feeding Jake a mini quesadilla with a shaky hand. She wore an expression of grim determination, not unlike a woman tasked with feeding a school of piranhas.
    “Which one do you like best, Jake?” Juli called, picking up her glass and sipping her wine.
    “This one with the green stuff is good,” he said, shooting her a wary glance before turning back to let Phyllis shove another one in his mouth.
    Okay, so Jake didn’t like her yet. At least the others were warming up a little. She wasn’t doing too badly so far. She might even make some friends before this was all over.
    Cody sidled up to the table with another tray in his hand and placed a small crystal dish in front of Juli. “So next we’ll be cleansing our palates with a key lime and basil sorbet,” he announced, placing a dish in front of Alex.
    Juli looked down at the tablespoon of ice cream melting in her dish. She swirled her spoon through it before smiling up at Cody. “Are these flecks of fresh basil?”
    “I brought my herb garden with me,” Cody said, beaming. “These guys said I wouldn’t need it, but obviously…”
    “Obviously,” Juli agreed, and she dug into her sorbet. She groaned aloud. “Ohmygod, this is incredible!” she said, closing her eyes and licking the back of her spoon. “Cookie, you’re a genius!”
    She plowed her spoon back into the dish, scraping up the last traces of sorbet. She licked the spoon again, savoring the tangy, crisp flavors.
    She looked up to see Alex staring