“Why are you so nice to me when I’m such a horrible person?”

“You’re not a horrible person,” he insisted.

“But I used you!”

Jay laughed. “Trust me, if this is how you use men, once word gets out, there’ll be a long line of men forming all the way from the Hamptons to New York City, all wanting to be used by you.”

Tara lifted her head. “You’re not taking this seriously!”

“I am.” He cupped her cheek. “Tara, you’re a beautiful woman. No healthy man with a pulse would have any objections—”

She interrupted him by slapping him on the shoulder. “Stop it! If that were the case then you’d be tossing me on the couch now and fucking me. But you’re not, because you don’t want to be used like that.” She tried to get off his lap, but his arms tightened around her torso.

“The reason I’m not tossing you anywhere is because you don’t know what you’re doing right now. You’re mad at your parents, and you probably had a few too many drinks at the party. Your judgment is impaired, and you’re vulnerable. I’m not going to take advantage of you tonight. And I’m certainly not going to let you out of my sight either until you’ve calmed down. End of discussion.”

“But I—”

“Tara,” he warned, with a deep rumble in his voice. “Be a good girl tonight. And if you still feel the same way tomorrow and decide you need a waiter or a construction worker to piss off your parents, then you can jump my bones anytime you want.”

She stared at him, wide eyed and surprised at his offer.

“Just one word of warning though,” Jay added. “I’m not the kind of guy you can toss aside after one night, so be careful what you start.”

6

Jay stirred. He’d been awake half the night, watching Tara sleep in his arms, wondering whether to continue with his charade. When she’d revealed her issues with her parents and how she felt about rich men, he’d realized that confessing that he was wealthy and exactly the kind of guy her parents would love to have as a son-in-law, would only make her flee. It would have confirmed all her assumptions: that rich guys felt entitled and played with other people’s feelings.

And he didn’t want her to think that of him. He wanted her to get to know him away from all the things her parents found so important. Just as he wanted to get to know the real Tara, the one she’d started revealing last night. The young woman with dreams and fears. The brave woman who’d rescued a stranger from drowning.

Jay opened his eyes and rolled onto his side, stretching out his arm to bring Tara back into the curve of his body. But the other side of the bed was empty. He reared up.

“Tara?”

He let his eyes wander around the sleeping cabin. The door to the bathroom stood open. It was empty. His gaze shot to the closet where Tara had hung her damp dress the night before. The hanger was still there, but the dress was gone.

He listened for sounds from the upper deck, but only silence greeted him.

Tara was gone. She’d heeded his warning this time and decided to leave, before she got into something she didn’t want to continue. Apparently the thought of dating a poor waiter and construction guy wasn’t as appealing in the light of day as it had been at night.

Jay walked into the bathroom. As he went about his morning routine, disappointment swept through him. He’d thought he’d seen something in Tara that had made him believe she was different from the other young women of New York and the Hamptons, willing to give an ordinary guy a chance. Clearly, he’d been wrong. However, the spark had been there, he knew that. He’d seen it in the way she’d looked at him, in the way she’d reacted when he’d kissed her, when he’d touched her. When he’d licked her smooth, hairless pussy in the shower. Just thinking back to it made him hard.

Jay switched on the water and stepped underneath the warm spray, imagining Tara to be with him. Wishing the water running down his skin was her touch. Her lips kissing him, her hands caressing him, wrapping around his hard rod. Pumping him. Yet his cock was thrusting into his own hand, his hips pumping air, while with the other hand he braced himself against the tile wall.

He closed his eyes, seeing her in front of him like the moment he’d stepped into the bathroom. Creamy smooth skin, small, yet beautifully formed breasts with rosy nipples, slim hips, and a pussy that had nearly robbed him of his breath. He hadn’t expected her to be bare, but now that he’d seen her like this, he couldn’t imagine how he’d ever liked anything different.