“Oh, yeah.” Kendra nodded. “It was great. I was in the ocean almost every day as a kid.” Lucas raised his eyebrows, and she splashed him. “Iwas.I love swimming. The whole thing with the kayak was a one-off.”
“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” Lucas winked, so she splashed him again.
“Did you like growing up in Missouri?”
“It was okay.” Lucas paused. “It was nice, sometimes. My childhood had a very small-town feel — summers swimming in the pool and riding bikes with my friends and barbecuing; winters spent in school, building snowmen, and all that.”
“That sounds really nice.” Kendra paused. “So, how exactly did you go from quintessential small-town boy to jerk who doesn’t let women go first in line?”
“Hey!” This time, it was Lucas who splashedher. “That line thing was one hundred percent your fault.You’rethe one who ran into me, and I was there first.”
“Ha, no way!” Kendra shook her head. “That one was definitely your fault. You had a chance to be nice, but oh, no, you wouldn’t do that.”
“Wow.” Lucas chuckled. “I think we’ll have to go for a fifty-fifty split on the blame for that one, too.”
“Fine. I guess so. But that’s just because I’m feeling generous today.”
“And because I saved your life yesterday.”
“Yeah,right.” Kendra rolled her eyes. “You saved me from a situationyoucreated!”
“If I may remind you, we agreed that the whole kayak thing was fifty percent your fault.”
“I don’t know… We may have to revise that.”
Lucas splashed her again, and Kendra laughed. It was easier to talk to him now that they were teasing each other. Maybe this was the secret to a semi-enjoyable two weeks. They hung out in the pool a little longer, mostly splashing each other and joking around, before Lucas glanced at the time on his smart watch.
“We’d better go back upstairs. I need to check my phone before dinner.”
“Of course you do,” Kendra muttered. They’d been having a nice time, or so she’d thought, but the phone was still more important.
That was another important scrap of information. Whatever was going on with Lucas, he really liked that phone.
CHAPTER 11
LUCAS
“And a complimentary dessert,” the waiter said, setting an enormous flan on the table between them.
“Thank you,” Lucas said automatically. He glanced over at Kendra, who grinned back at him. Things had felt a little different between them since that morning. They’d been joking around a little, even splashing each other in the pool, and it was exactly the distraction he’d needed from work. There was another side to her from the stressed and rude woman he’d run into at the airport. A fun, lighthearted side. A side that he appreciated.
And then there was that kiss. He hadn’t expected such a simple thing as a kiss to make his head spin the way it had. Especially not a kiss with someone who’d mostly gotten on his nerves up until that point. Yet he couldn’t get the feeling of Kendra’s lips on his out of his mind, and he found himself half-hoping that there would be another staged picture so they could do it again.
“This looks great,” Kendra said, sliding her spoon into her half of the flan. “But will it be as good as Mexican Coke? The jury is still out.”
Lucas smiled as he dug his spoon into the flan too. It was delicious — sweet with a hint of vanilla. He didn’t even mind that they were sharing one dessert, which was one of the most couple-y things he could imagine and something he’d always avoided in the past with women he’d actually been dating.
“I’d say it’s notquiteas good,” Lucas said. “But that’s because Mexican Coke is so special. When I come home from my vacation house, I’ve been known to fly a few bottles back with me.”
“Can you do that?” Kendra asked, her eyebrows rising.
“Sure, but I don’t recommend it. Once, one of the bottles hit something, probably when it was being unloaded, and exploded all over my clothes.”
“The airline must have been furious.” Kendra giggled, her green eyes narrowing in humor.
“Well, it was on my private jet, so they were very understanding.” He winked, raising his spoon in a toast, and she giggled again.
“You have a private jet?”
