Page 83 of These Summer Storms

She couldn’t help her smile at that reply, teasing and serious at the same time. Not that she was interested in such a thing right now. She’d just gotten out of a very serious relationship, and that was before her father died. What was it they said about grief? No major decisions for a year? Well, letting Jack Dean mess with her head…or any of the rest of her…was a major decision. And she wasn’t about to allow it to happen.

Starting now. Clean slate. No major decisions.

And definitely no Jack.

“Are you flirting with me?” Now, hang on. That wasn’t the kind of thing she should say if she was committing toNo Jack. That was a clear violation of theNo Jackrule.

But she couldn’t take it back. Not when he had already answered. “Not intentionally.”

No Jack. No Jack.

“In fact, I have been feeling like I should apologize for yesterday…at the beach.”

That was the last thing she wanted him to do. “We did more than flirt, Jack.”

His voice slid into a deeper register. “I noticed.”

Okay. ApparentlyNo Jackwould begin later, as this was all feeling veryJack. “That was intentional flirting.”

“It was,” he admitted, with something in his eye that might have been described as sweet if he were literally anyone else. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Bad decisions abounded that day, and he could easily be the worst of all of them.Get it together, Alice.“I should go. I should see if Emily needs help. I should get Mom…a banana or something.”

His brows rose. “A banana. I’ve never heard that particular remedy for…”

“Tripping balls?” Alice offered.

He laughed then, a low rumble that she shouldn’t have liked somuch. “Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair, the first sign all morning that he might not be as in control as he liked everyone to believe. “Christ. This is…”

“I would remind you thatyou’rethe one who decided to spend the week withus.”

“I didn’t really have a—” He cut himself off, but she heard the end.

An irony, that. Considering he seemed to be the one with all the choices. The arbitrator of what was acceptable, who was properly following the rules, where they could go, when they could speak, with whom they could interact.

“As far as weeks go, I’ve had worse.” Everything tingled at his words, so soft, like a secret, her scalp, her fingers, the skin of her neck that could still feel the rough scrape of his late-night stubble.

What was he offering?

What if she took it?

No. God. This was not—No Jack.

“You know, Jack,” she said, to them both, really. “The more time I spend with you, the more I understand why my family is unsettled around you.”

“Why is that?”

“You’re a lot like my dad. It feels like you’re one step, two steps, eight steps ahead of us—that makes sense. You learned to play his game, and you’re here to finish it for him. That, I understand. But there’s a part of you that isn’t like my dad. And that’s the part that scares me.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because he sent you here, made you our common enemy for a reason.” She took a breath, wishing it were deeper. “I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop. And here’s the thing…I’m afraid you might be it.”

“I’m not.” The denial was instant.

“I don’t believe you.”

He sighed. “Alice. Your mother’s high, your sister is about to ruin her life, your brother is blaming everyone around him for his own problems, and tomorrow the island is hosting two ex-presidents, half theFortune100, a Nobel Prize winner, and a real live duke. Aren’t thereenough shoes dropping?” He closed the distance between them, until he wasright there,leaning down, so close that if she lifted herself onto her toes, just barely, she could press her lips to his.