Free Going Overboard by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page B

sexless? Mother Teresa, maybe. Not Andi Lombard. Chance would just have to deal with his hormones, she decided, walking out into the kitchen.
    Bowie looked up from the bacon he was turning with a familiar-looking barbecue fork. “He-ere’s Andi!”
    “Morning. Did every—”
    “Oh, God!” Chance wailed from the table which had become his temporary office. “Quick, throw me a towel, somebody.”
    Andi grabbed a towel from the kitchen counter and threw it at his head with a certain amount of relish. He caught it and started mopping his keyboard.
    Nicole slid down from her perch on the captain’s chair and went over to watch. “What happened, Chance?”
    “Spilled my coffee.”
    Bowie paused with the fork in midair. Then he turned to give Andi the once-over. “Uh-huh. Wonder what came over him? Any ideas, Andi, sweetheart?” He winked at her. “Nice suit, by the way.”
    Nicole looked over at Andi and back at Chance. She grinned. “It is a nice suit, don’t you think, Chance?”
    “Didn’t notice,” he mumbled.
    Bowie leaned closer to Andi. “He didn’t notice,” he said in a stage whisper. “It was pure coincidence that the minute you came into the room, he started pouring his coffee into his computer.”
    “I guess I’ll just have to let it dry out and hope it still works.” Chance picked up the open laptop as if it were an injured animal and carried it out to the front deck.
    Nicole clapped her hands together. “I love it. I haven’t seen him this rattled since he got showered with champagne at our reception. I wish I’d seen his face when you first walked in just now. I’ll bet his jaw was on the floor.”
    Andi looked down at the black suit. “Is it too much? I’m beginning to get a complex. Every time I’m around, something crazy happens to Chance.”
    “It’s time a few crazy things happened to Chance,” Bowie said. “The guy needs to have his chain rattled. Now, if anyone cares to scramble up a few eggs, the bacon’s about ready.”
    “I’ll do it,” Nicole said.
    “Nope. I will. You relax.” Andi opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of eggs. “How did you sleep last night?”
    “Unfortunately, your niece kicked most of the night, so I didn’t sleep a lot.”
    Andi paused in the midst of closing the refrigerator door. “That’s too bad.” She wondered if Nicole had heard what had gone on in the sand outside the boat the night before.
    Chance came back in. “I put the laptop on a deck chair outside, but turned it away from the sun. I think it’ll dry quicker that way than leaving it in here.”
    “I wouldn’t know,” Nicole said, “but it sounds logical. I’d offer you a hair dryer, but I didn’t bring one. Did you, Andi?”
    “Nope.” She stood next to Bowie and cracked eggs into a bowl while butter melted in a frying pan “I figured I wasn’t on this trip to be gorgeous.”
    Bowie lowered his voice. “Just sexy as hell.”
    She answered out of the corner of her mouth as she whipped the eggs. “These are the suits I happen to have, okay?” She poured the eggs into the frying pan.
    “Very okay. He’s a basket case.”
    “By the way, I heard those crazy wild burros braying last night,” Nicole said. “And you tearing out to save Andi, Chance.”
    Andi froze. Sound tended to carry in such an open area. How much else had Nicole heard? Not that there had been much talking. Moaning and gasping, but not much conversation.
    She turned, a spatula in her hand. “Yeah, it was very sweet, Nic. He’d never heard what real burros sound like, and he thought some drunks were out there having a party.I explained it, and that was that. It’s nice to know chivalry isn’t dead.” She didn’t look at Chance.
    “It’s nice to know my brother isn’t, either,” Bowie said.
    Andi kicked him. “Eggs are ready.”
    During breakfast they plotted the cruising for the day. Andi sat across from Chance. She couldn’t help noticing that he seemed intent on keeping