So now he’d answered that, but there was still one thing she wanted to know.“Why?”
“I already told you.”
“No, why did you volunteer for Emma?”Emma was a beautiful woman.Mac had always felt her sister was much prettier than herself.Emma had always turned heads where Mac tended to be overlooked because she didn’t wear a lot of makeup or flashy clothes to draw attention.It was impractical on a boat.Was Barry sexually involved with her sister and that was the only reason he was doing this?
Barry turned to face her completely, his hip jutting out to rest against the front of the desk.“What exactly are you asking?”His tone was casual, but she could see the irritation in his eyes at her question.
“I think you know.”
“Are you asking if I’m with your sister?”
“I am.”She was not going to stay involved with a man who was banging her sister at the same time.Not that she was still considering seeing him like that.Maybe.She was undecided.What she did know was that she was hurt she’d been lied to.If he could help save the sharks, she might consider not causing him bodily injuring for hurting her.
Barry almost looked insulted by her question, but she wanted to know the answer.If he was involved with Emma, she would not play his sloppy seconds any longer.
“Do you really think I could do that?Cheat on someone I’m involved with?”
“I don’t know anything about you.”In her heart, she knew he wasn’t the type, but she still wanted to hear the words.“Maybe if it were part of your mission.”
“You already know the answer to that question,” he said with a knowing look.
She did, but she wanted to hear the words.“Tell me anyway.”
“No, I’m not.”
Mac released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.“I know I should apologize for asking or even accusing.”
“I get it, but you have nothing to worry about in that department.We’re only friends.”
“Emma is a beautiful woman.”Men in their school were always pursuing her.
“She is, but there is nothing romantic between us.She’s helped me in many ways, and I felt I owed her one.”
His arm.“That’s her work, isn’t it.”It wasn’t a question.She knew Emma’s work.She should have put two and two together when she first saw it, but she really didn’t want to think her sister would stoop to sending a babysitter to watch over her.
Barry lifted up his arm.“It is.”
Mac hadn’t even known Emma could design and build something like that, but she shouldn’t have put it past her.Emma was a genius.“She helped you with your arm, so you felt you owed her by looking in on me.”
“Yes.”
“And the reason you’re helping me is because you don’t want to tell my sister my headstrongness got me killed?”
Barry pushed off the table, gliding toward her.The room suddenly felt very small with him standing right in front of her.Without warning, his head dipped down, and he captured her lips.Mac stood in shock as his tongue slid into her mouth and swiped over hers before retreating.It was over as quickly as it began.
Mac was trying to get her sex-clouded brain to focus again.The man had a way of scattering her brain cells.“What was that for?”
“Because it’s been too long since I last kissed you.”
“Maybe it would be best to stop kissing and everything else altogether and focus on what’s important.”
“What’s important is you.”
“What’s important is saving the sharks and stopping Miles.Not mixing business and pleasure.”
“Business?”His face pulled back into a sneer.
“Our partnership,” she corrected.
