“I could see the outline through his shirt. Sheesh. Pay more attention, Gannon.”

Oh, he’d paid plenty of attention. Too much attention.

Milly continued. “He was hot, right? You thought he was hot?”

Gannon chuckled, amused by her excitement. It wasn’t new for Milly. She was constantly attempting to set him up with someone, and on the off chance Gannon showed even the slightest hint of interest, she was all over it.

“You should call him,” she said, still rambling incessantly. “Ask him out. Or maybe he’ll call you. If he does, will you go out with him?”

“Take a breath.”

Milly made a dramatic effort to inhale and exhale, giggling as she did. “That was so worth the hour trip,” she told him.

“So does that mean we don’t have to go out on the boat then?”

She leveled him with a glare.

Couldn’t blame him for trying.

“I wonder if he’ll be the one to take us out on the lake next week.”

Gannon did, too. Part of him hoped he did; the other part, now that he’d had a chance to get his bearings, wasn’t sure he could handle being close to Cam for any extended period of time. As it was, every time he blinked, Gannon saw him as vividly as though he were still standing only a few feet away.

That couldn’t be good.

“When we get back to the office,” Milly began, “I’m gonna send out a memo and let the team know this is a mandatory team-building event.”

“Mandatory?” Gannon glanced over at her.

“If I give them an option, they’ll stay right there in the office.”

True, they would. He would, too.

Thankfully, Milly was silent for a few minutes. Long enough for Gannon to gather his thoughts about Cam.

He wondered if Milly was right. Maybe he should ask Cam out.

It’d been a long time since he’d felt this sort of attraction to a man; surely he shouldn’t ignore it. If he did, who knew how long it would be before it happened again.

You’ll see him on Tuesday, remember?

Okay, so the voice in his head had a point, but could he wait until then? What if he didn’t get to see Cam on Tuesday? What if someone else took them out on the boat? Then what would he do?

What if Cam wasn’t interested? What if Gannon made a fool of himself?

Gannon took a deep breath.

The pessimism didn’t suit him. He didn’t like to think negatively. Though he hadn’t always had the easiest life, he had set out years ago to think positive. He attributed his success to that, the fact that he didn’t look for doom and gloom around every corner.

So, yeah, what could it hurt?

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

Gannon shot a look at Milly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Milly’s husky laugh filled the car. “And now I know you’re lying.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because you didn’t answer my question with a question.”

Turning back to face the road, Gannon smiled to himself.

This woman knew him too well.

Six

Sunday evening

Cam tilted his beer to his lips, letting the warm breeze blow across his face, trying to relax as he sat on the edge of the pier, bare feet dangling in the water. Behind him, Lulu was snoring, zonked out after spending an hour leaping into the water to retrieve the stick Cam had tossed her.

He couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday evening.

“Tell me this…” Roan said quickly, his beer bottle dangling between two fingers as he sat on the edge of the pier beside Cam. “What made you think you could beat him in the first place?”

Okay, so maybe a little less chatter would be good, but he hadn’t said it was a perfect Sunday.

Roan’s question was followed by a laugh, and Cam smiled, staring down at the water. “I did beat him,” he reminded his friend.

“It was close.”

“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” Cam refuted. “I still beat him.”

They’d been sitting on the pier as the sun started its slow descent in the sky, enjoying the solitude that only a Sunday evening could afford them. They closed the marina early on Sundays, which left them with a little free time for themselves. Dare and Teague had opted to go out, something Cam didn’t much care to do these days. The gay bars that Teague was fond of didn’t do much for Cam, but he knew Teague would likely never give up trying to get him to go. After the first time he’d mistakenly agreed, Cam swore he’d never do it again.

“One of these days, those young punks are gonna best you,” Roan offered, tilting his beer to his lips.

“Probably,” Cam agreed. “But I ain’t ready to give up yet.”

“Obviously. That’s why we nicknamed you Reckless. So what’s next? You gonna try skydiving?”

“It’s on my list, so yeah, why not?” Cam spent most of his time on or in the water, whether he was working or not. And yes, as Roan had mentioned, Cam was somewhat wild, perhaps a little careless at times, never finding a dare he wouldn’t take. It was the reason they’d started calling him Reckless.

That and a few years ago, he’d started a list of all the things he wanted to do, and once his friends had found out, they’d made it their mission to add more to it.

“You’re gettin’ a little old for that shit, aren’t ya?”

“Old? Who’re you callin’ old, grandpa?” Cam laughed. He certainly didn’t consider himself old; however, he didn’t consider himself young by any means.

“Hey, watch it,” Roan screeched. “I’m only eleven days older than you.”

“And?” Cam took a long pull of his beer.

“Bro, that kid you beat today was twenty-one, max. That makes you old.”

“Twenty-two.” Not that it really mattered. “And I beat him, didn’t I?”

Roan clearly couldn’t let it go. Just that morning, Cam had rented out two of the personal water crafts to a couple of young guys. While they were out on the lake, Cam had opted to take his own jet ski out to check on them, make sure they were doing what they were supposed to. While he’d waited for the pair to finish a race they’d started, he’d floated in the general vicinity. And when they’d returned, the younger one had been hyped up on adrenaline, excited that he’d beaten his buddy. That was when the guy had offered Cam a dare, insisting there was no way Cam could beat him.

Well, Cam had easily accepted, as he always did, and twenty minutes later, the young punk wasn’t quite as cocky as he had been. That short amount of time he’d spent out there had been fun, making Cam realize he didn’t do nearly enough of it these days.

And now, as he sat on the pier with Roan, he thought back to all the crazy things he’d done up to this point in his life. He’d surfed the Pipeline in Oahu, gone zip-lining in Montana, swum with dolphins, once with sharks, been white-water rafting in Salmon River, went snowboarding every couple of years because he loved that shit. The list went on, but the list that remained was equally long. Sure, he was somewhat reckless by definition, but only in certain aspects of his life. When it came to recreation, he hadn’t met a challenge he couldn’t accept. However, in other areas, he was likely far too cautious for his own good.

Likely the reason for his nonexistent love life.

His thoughts strayed to Gannon Burgess, the pretty-boy executive who’d waltzed into the marina looking to rent a boat. Every time Cam closed his eyes, he saw the handsome face and dark eyes, not to mention the suit. Although Gannon was definitely Cam’s opposite in every way, there was something about him, something that Cam couldn’t quite put his finger on. Something that he couldn’t stop thinking about.

For two days, he had spent far too much time thinking about the guy since he’d watched him walk out of the marina office and climb into his fancy Lexus. And for whatever reason, erasing him from his mind wasn’t happening.

“Hand me another beer, would ya?” Roan asked, nodding toward the cooler of ice sitting beside Cam.