She bit her lip, again doubting her decision to go with the club this time. She hadn't gone on a dive trip since before her dad's stroke and the itch for adventure drummed loud in her heart.
"Hey, Savannah." Scott snapped his fingers in front of her eyes to get her attention. "Go home. Shower. Change into something less coated with dirt. Have fun. Think you can handle that?"
She smiled before sliding her gaze again toward her father who had now stopped to stare at her with his hands on his hips. When he saw her looking at him, he shooed her with his hands and hollered something she couldn't understand.
"I've never felt so unwanted in my life, you two ungrateful sons of bitches," she yelled before winking at the foreman. "I won't have my cellphone so—"
"Don't need you. Go." He slapped the door before turning his back on her and walking toward Eli.
With a laugh, she shrugged away any doubts and drove away from the worksite toward her small house on the outskirts of Dallas/Ft. Worth that overlooked a lake. When she noticed the convertible Mercedes parked in the driveway, any second-guessing evaporated on a sigh.
Bill Evans knew how to fill out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Shaggy brown hair tossed over his eyes in the breeze as he held up a bag of take-out Chinese food and walked toward her from where he'd been lounging on her front porch swing as if he belonged there. Then again, they did spend more time together than with anyone else and he'd helped her hang that swing when she'd first moved in a few years ago. Seeing him saunter toward her with that mischievous grin, she couldn't resist laughing.
"Are you lost?" She jumped from the truck and pointed over her shoulder. "The airport is that way, my friend. You've always been GPS challenged."
"I thought you might need a lift and some encouragement to not leave us high and dry this time." He exchanged the bag of food for her toolbox, always the gentleman even though he knew she was fully capable of carrying her own things.
"Where's Lexi? I thought you had a date for this trip." She slid her gaze up his neck, over his grinning face, and locked on his hazel eyes that always danced with the promise of mayhem. "Let me guess...she heard we weren't spending all of our time at a swim-up bar and decided to pass?"
"Something like that, yeah." He adjusted his hold on the toolbox while she opened the front door. "You'd better hurry. Why are you so late?"
She peered into the bag and noticed the absence of eggrolls. "I see you were munching while you were waiting. Damn it, Bill, you know those are my favorite."
"You were late so..." He shrugged and motioned toward the hallway. "Get your ass in gear. We have a plane to catch."
"Believe me, I know. Everyone keeps making sure I'm well aware of that fact." She grabbed her carton of sweet and sour chicken, pulled a fork from the drawer, and jogged toward her bedroom. "Thanks for feeding me on the fly!"
"You need a keeper, Savannah! Someone's gotta make sure you're fed! Hurry up!"
She practically moaned at the taste of the food. She'd forgotten to eat all day because she'd been in such a frantic state of making sure all was in order before she left. With a sigh, she kicked off her boots and peeled her pants free. Deciding to do a quick wash over the sink, she rinsed off all the places in need and brushed her hair until all the tangles were removed. Satisfied that she didn't stink anymore, she tossed on some deodorant and pulled on a cotton dress that skimmed the top of her knees.
"It may not be fancy, but it's comfy," she muttered, thinking of her dad's words.
Shoving her feet into a pair of flip-flops as she jabbed her fork back into the carton, she looked up as Bill stepped into the doorway.
"I didn't hear the shower," he said, a strange look shadowing his face as he looked her over from head to toe. "You're ready? Where is your dive bag?"
"By the door." She grinned over a mouthful of sweet and sour.
"You're the only woman I know who can manage to look drop dead gorgeous in less than ten minutes." He turned his back on her and disappeared down the hall.
She chewed slowly, thinking that his words sounded more like an insult than a compliment. She dropped the carton in the trashcan before shoving a few more essentials into the duffel bag. Men. She spent her life surrounded by the species and still couldn't figure out their moods. Rolling her eyes, she went to meet him and was surprised to see him standing in the living room looking at a picture of their dive club taken during a New Year's Eve trip to Belize over a year ago.
"Alyssa and Luke missed you when you didn't show up at our reunion," he said without looking at her. "We're all invited to their wedding in the fall. Do you think you'll go?"
She stopped short and shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it."
He looked at her then, eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't identify. "One of these days you're going to need to let the past go, Savannah. How long do you think you can go through life avoiding weddings or commitments?"
"Whoa, where did that come from? You're awfully prickly. If we're going to go, let's go." She put their used forks into the dishwasher and started it while avoiding his piercing gaze. "I don't want to come home to dirty dishes."
"You're a walking contradiction—spend your days getting dirty, yet your house is immaculate. I'll never understand you."
"Probably not." She winked at him over the edge of the granite counter before taking a final look around the kitchen. "I still don't know why you met me here instead of the airport."
"I wanted to talk to you alone for a few minutes." He shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, the movement stretching the material of his shirt tight across his chest. How a self-proclaimed computer nerd could look so damn hot all of the time baffled her.
"If this is about Lexi and whatever tall tale my sister Emily told her, I—"
"I don't give a damn about that."
Her grin faded. So Emily had spewed her theories, huh? Good to know whom not to trust. Strange how that list grew as she got older. "Listen, Bill, she's got it all wrong."
"Go to Alyssa and Luke's wedding with me."
"Where is this coming from?" She turned her back on him and preoccupied herself with making sure the faucets on the sink were tightened as far as they could go without snapping off.
The truth was she avoided events like weddings, no matter how much she liked the bride and groom. Once upon a time, in a reality that no longer seemed true, she'd fantasized about happily ever after; but then she'd grown up and witnessed the cruelty of the world.
On the eve of her own wedding over a decade ago, a week after graduating from Baylor University, her fiancé had shot himself in the head. His friends had found him when they'd arrived to take him to the bachelor party. She'd never forget that phone call or the crippling despair that had rendered her almost mute for months afterward. And all the accusations, the whispered innuendo that he'd rather die than be married to her...words she would never forget no matter how much time filled the void between then and now.
"Aren't we rushing to the airport? Late, late, remember?" She walked toward him and indulged in roaming her gaze over his solid body. Even though they'd cemented themselves into the friend zone long ago, she appreciated a hot guy like any other hot-blooded female. She took the picture of the Belize trip from Bill's hands, grinned at Luke and Alyssa, and placed it gently back on the end table. "I'm happy they're getting married."
"Then go with me to their wedding in September. I'm sure it will be fun."
She avoided eye contact while motioning to the door. "Let's go. We have a pending trip to get out of the way before we make plans for another. C'mon."
Needing to get out of here before changing her mind about the entire vacation, she walked onto the porch without him. She inhaled the spring air and exhaled the tension. Birds chirped in the trees, budding flowers cast their fresh scents in the breeze, and the scent of her neighbor's cut grass permeated the air.
"You're afraid of going to the wedding, aren't you? Think you might catch the bouquet and be on the
hook yourself?" Bill loaded her bags into the trunk with his before holding the door open for her.
When she stepped past him to sit, she looked him in the eye. "We go on adventures every few months. Never say I'm afraid of something as silly as a wedding."
He smiled slowly before pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Why, honey, you're reaction is a bit overblown," he drawled in that slow easy way he had that always stirred her blood into a frenzy. "Sounds like something you should talk over with a therapist."
She swatted him—hard—before sinking into the leather seat.
"You're the most infuriating man," she said while he adjusted his seatbelt.
"That's the consensus today." He winked before backing from her driveway. "You have sweet and sour sauce on your chin, by the way. You might want to fix that before—"
"Before we get to the airport, I know. Everyone is so damned concerned about what I look like on the goddamn plane." She pulled out her cellphone and used its camera to fix her face.
When he laughed, she did, too. Being with Bill relaxed her better than any stiff drink ever could. Looking at his profile with his smile and his shaggy hair that always reminded her of dark chocolate, the worries of only an hour ago evaporated on a sigh. Good friends were hard to come by and Bill ranked right up there with the best of them. She'd never do anything to jeopardize that.
"Here we come Costa Rica!" She raised her hands up in the air as he drove them down the freeway with the Dallas skyline already lighting up in the twilight.
Closing her eyes, she felt the wind on her face, heard him whoop next to her, let the worries of daily life go, and laughed from anticipation of the adventure to come.
Chapter Two
A three-hour delay thanks to a thunderstorm, overcrowded flight, followed by a rickety bus ride to the middle of the jungle at midnight in yet another thunderstorm. Yep, definitely the start of a normal trip for the group of six.
Underlying all of that had been a growing sense of unease. He'd walked the aisles of the plane so much he'd been certain a US Marshall would pin him down for suspicious activity. His heartbeat had felt off, as if it beat too fast, and his palms were sweaty.
All I need is a vacation, that's it. Once I get to the resort, I'll relax. I simply need a change of pace, that's all. Perspective.
"I'm starving, think the resort will have something open at this time of night?" Derek grimaced as he peered out the window at the falling rain. "Wicked weather out there."
Bill squinted over Derek's shoulder. "Let's hope it clears up. It might affect our trip out to the dive site later."
"You mean tomorrow not later, right?" Savannah peeked over the top of her seat directly in front of him, her large brown eyes wide with concern "You promised we'd have a day to hang out."
He grinned, leaned his head back, and peered at her through half-closed eyes. "Don't worry, oh delicate flower, you'll get the massage you so desperately crave. I made you a reservation the other day. It's all set. Now you just need to get up in time."
He couldn't see the bottom of her face, but her eyes looked happy before she disappeared from sight.
"Tomorrow, though, right?" Derek followed up on her question, his dark eyes looking worn out from their endless travel.
"Yes, everyone, tomorrow we go to the dive site. Today is all about sleeping, getting our bearings, and meeting with the dive master later this afternoon. Jeez, I think you are all getting too old for this kind of thing," he said loud enough for the rest of the group to hear him.
Jon smacked him in the back of the head. "Watch who you're calling old, Billy Boy."
"Did I hit a nerve?" He laughed at his friend who was the oldest of the bunch. "Didn't mean to set you off, Grandpa."
"Where's your girlfriend, Billy Boy? Savannah thought she'd have a gal pal to hang out with this time around." Jon kicked the back of his seat and laughed. "Lose another one, huh?"
"Where's your wife, Jonny Baby?" He countered as he looked around his seat to look at the tall skinny man sitting behind him. "Why doesn't she ever come along? Anxious to get rid of you for a week or two, isn't she? I don't blame her."
"The secret to a good marriage—"
Everyone groaned in protest, but Jon kept talking.
"—Is respecting each other's space."
"So what's she up to while you're getting all this space?" Savannah's head popped into the aisle from where she leaned out of her seat, her long black hair covering one eye, and her smile as wicked as the day Bill had met her.
"We were talking about Bill's girlfriend ditching him, not my wife." Jon crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "But it must be a touchy subject since he's diverting the conversation to my wife's activities."
"Lexi wasn't officially my girlfriend and we ended things permanently before I left." He met Savannah's gaze and shrugged. "We had different ideas about life."
"It was me, wasn't it?" she whispered, her face suddenly full of apology. "Emily—"
"It had nothing to do with you." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Let's not talk about her anymore. It's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned."
"Playboy Bill is at it again...breaking hearts and shattering every gold digger's dream of landing the hottest tech guy in Dallas—Watch out Steve Jobs and move over Bill Gates because Bill Evans is—"
"Shut up, Stewart," he said without looking across the aisle to the source of the speech. Apparently, someone had read the Business Journal before boarding the plane. "I haven't slept in twenty-four hours—"
"Why didn't you sleep on the plane?" Savannah asked. "You were working, weren't you?"
"Why am I suddenly the center of attention?" He opened his eyes and saw Savannah scrutinizing him from her weird position in the bus aisle. "Look out the window or something. We're in Costa Rica. Enjoy the experience."
"It's the middle of the night and it's pouring rain outside." She arched an eyebrow and her crooked grin did strange things to his heart. "What time's my massage?"
He smiled reluctantly at her question. Despite what people in general thought about Savannah Willis, he knew how much she loved being pampered at a spa. "Noon. I knew you'd want time to get settled."
With a wide smile, she disappeared back into her seat, leaving him alone with the fidgeting Derek. Lexi's words had been gnawing at him the entire trip for reasons he didn't understand. It hadn't been the first time one of his girlfriends had voiced jealousy over his friendship with Savannah or annoyance with his connection with the dive group.
Okay, maybe they had a semblance of a point, he'd acknowledge that. Lately, he'd been spending more one-on-one time with Savannah—hanging out in her backyard by the fire pit enjoying a beer, having lunch every Sunday since her dad's stroke, and talking each night before going to sleep. So what if she was the last person he wanted to talk to at night and the first he wanted to text in the morning? That's what best friends did, right?
He blew out a long sigh and rubbed his fingers against his forehead. I'm such a fucking liar and an even bigger fool.
He'd been in love with Savannah since their first dive trip together to Antigua years ago. But she'd made it clear that hooking up with him wouldn't ever be on her agenda—or becoming involved with anyone, for that matter. Everywhere they went, she hooked up with some random tourist or at least flirted outrageously with the locals. How many times had she looped her arms around him and called him her best bud?
Best bud. He shook his head at the words he'd grown to dread. They'd become an invisible wall between them that clearly stated, Hands off.
"What's up with you?" Derik asked. "You're muttering under your breath. Are you pissed off about something?"
He glanced at his friend before shaking his head 'no.'
Derek frowned and shifted so that his broad back covered the bus window. He nodded toward the seat in front of them where Savannah lounged. "Lexi had issues, didn't she?"
"It's not important."
"What time's my massage?" Derek raise
d an eyebrow.
"Your what?"
"Exactly." Derek smiled.
"It's not like that." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and wished he'd splurged on a private plane so they could have arrived earlier. The bus suddenly seemed claustrophobic.
"You need to get yourself together before the dive. This is one of our most complicated trips to date. It's like a maze under there. Maybe we should switch up our partnering if you need some distance."
Savannah peeked her head over the seat again, only her eyes were visible as she squinted at him. "Why do you need distance from me?"
"Oh, for the love of God, why do you insist on eavesdropping? It's your worst habit." He twirled his finger around hoping she'd get the hint to turn back around.
She kept staring through narrowed eyelids.
"Okay, yes," he practically yelled the admission so that the entire team could hear and stop talking about the issue once and for all. "Lexi was jealous of you," he said directly to Savannah's eyes before motioning to the others, "of all of you. It's not like I'd been picking out engagement rings, how about we all drop it now, okay? Like Derek said, we have a challenging week of diving ahead of us and I, for one, plan on having a good time. Stop gawking and asking questions like a bunch of old ladies with nothing better to do."
Jon whistled long and low before kicking the back of his seat. "Who died and made you our boss? I think we hit a nerve. Must have been one helluva fight."
Deciding not talk about it anymore, he closed his eyes and waited for them to shut-up before relaxing into his seat. Even though he couldn't see her, he knew that Savannah watched him from her perch.
He valued her friendship too much to tell her that all of his exes had been right. She'd run if she knew. He'd seen her delete, block and kick to the curb any man who tried to get too close.
"We're here," Derek announced after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. "Thank God. I'm beat. I hope it doesn't take too long to check-in. Am I bunking with you, man?"