“You got it,” she said, knowing that proved how wrong they were for each other, not that it mattered. That wasn’t even on the table. She rolled off him and braced herself with her elbows.

He did the same, so they were lying side by side, looking out to sea.

“Speaking of shaking things up,” he said slowly, staring at something in the sky. He pointed toward a bright spot of color. “I know what we’re doing next.”

She realized it was a parasail. Two people dangled there, miles high, dots with legs against the blue sky, the boat far, far below. Candy’s heart lurched and she felt the swirling vertigo she got whenever she found herself on a balcony.

“You want us to parasail?” she asked, her mouth dry.

“Have you done it before? I never have.”

“No, no. I haven’t. Um, not yet.” She swallowed over a suddenly tight throat, not wanting to admit her fear.

“Then it’s perfect. Something new we can do together.” He got to his feet and reached for her hand. He seemed excited he’d found a way to shake things up.

He had no idea.

She pushed past the quiver in her stomach, the constriction in her chest, how dizzy she felt and said, “I can’t wait.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be as scary as it looked.

MATT PAID THE SPEEDBOAT owner for a tandem parasail ride and before long they were putting on yellow life jackets while the boat zoomed out into the ocean. He grinned at Candy, delighted he’d found some thrill she’d not yet had. Then he noticed her fingers were shaking as she clicked the clasps.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I just can’t get this.” She fumbled the bottom latch, so he clicked it into place for her. Her smile was tentative and her face pale.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

“I guess lunch didn’t sit well in my stomach.”

“Do you want to cancel? We can come back tomorrow.”

“No. We’re here. It’ll be great. Once we get…up there.” She forced a look that was as determined as her voice was weak.

Before he could pursue the contradiction, one of the crew called them to climb into the side-by-side harnesses that reminded him of a toddler’s playground swing.

Matt put his hand around Candy’s on her upright line, surprised to find she had the rope in a death grip. Her body was trembling, too. “Are you cold?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Just excited.”

No, he realized abruptly. She was scared. How had he not noticed? “Candy, if you’re nervous, we can quit right now.”

“No! I’m a little jumpy about heights is all. I’ll be fine once we get moving.” She swallowed hard and forced a shaky smile. “This is an adventure.”

“We’ll do something else that doesn’t upset you.” He leaned forward to call to the crew.

“Don’t you dare!” Candy said fiercely. She leveled her gaze at him. “I want to try this. We’re going up. It’s an adventure.”

The guy asked if they were ready.

Candy shot him a thumbs-up and before Matt could intervene, the crewman released the winch and let out the tether. Slowly, Matt and Candy rose, up and away from the boat. It was an incredible sensation. He felt weightless and free, but he kept his gaze glued to Candy, whose eyes were shut tight.

His heart lurched. He should have stopped this. Forget her pride. No way would he allow her to be terrorized on his whim.

He was about to signal the crew to pull them in when she opened her eyes and smiled cautiously. “This is…nice.” She looked gingerly around, then glanced down. That made her gasp and squeeze her eyes shut again.

“Candy, let’s quit. You got up here. You proved yourself. You can say you’ve parasailed.”

“No,” she said, eyes tight, pale as milk beneath the pink of her sunburn. “Baby steps is how they fix phobias. I’m working through it. I just won’t look down. Right away, anyway.”

The woman was being her own therapist. “You’re amazing, you know that.”

“I’m just me,” she said, steadying her gaze on him. The wind blew her hair away from her sweet face. She looked scared and brave, vulnerable and fierce all at once and emotion built inside him.

He watched her build up her courage, keeping her eyes open for a few more seconds each time. Before long, she let out a huge yell of triumph. “Yeah! I did it!” She released her rope long enough to squeeze his hand. “This is great. Thanks, Matt.” She smiled, her eyes bright, her voice warm with gratitude.

Looking at her like this, radiant with courage and triumph, Matt’s heart flipped over in his chest.

“What?” she asked him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he said, but that wasn’t true. Something was up, all right. Two-hundred feet in the air, he’d fallen for Candy.

Which was insane. And impossible. Even if they didn’t work together, which was trouble enough, Matt had no interest in the emotional roller coaster that Candy would consider normal. He liked things calm and stable. She liked to shake things up. They were apples and oranges, oil and water, as she’d said. And all the lighter fluid in the world wouldn’t change that.

Still, as he watched Candy laugh, head thrown back, reveling in the moment, love billowed inside him, taut and broad as the parasail that held them aloft, as if it planned to keep him in the air forever.

He knew then that it was too late for good sense, for willpower, for turning back. He was in love with Candy and now he had to figure out what to do about it.

12

CANDY LOOKED OUT across the sky, careful not to look down, thrilled to be floating on air, surrounded by blue, blue sky. She’d not only conquered her fear, but found a new thrill-parasailing. It was fantastic…electrifying…She felt so alive. And so grateful to Matt for giving her this gift.

“I love this,” she said, looking right at him. And I love you.

Uh-oh. Bad idea. Just an overflow of her delight, right? Except Matt looked at her so warmly, it was as though she’d actually said the words and he’d said them back to her.

That was scary. She felt dizzy and faint, the way she’d expected to feel floating so far above the water, but didn’t. Not anymore. She’d gotten used to it. Could she get used to these feelings for Matt?

She became suddenly aware that they’d stopped moving forward and had begun to drop in altitude. “What’s happening?” she said. “Are we going down?”

“It has to end sometime,” he said softly and she knew he wasn’t talking just about the parasail ride.

“Too bad.”

“Nothing lasts forever.”

“If it did, we’d be bored or burned out.”

“Probably.” He sighed.

“We’ll make the most of every minute,” she said, determined to do just that.

The parasail crew seemed to sense their need to hang on to the experience, because they gave them an extra bit of time to dangle their feet in the water before they hauled them onto the boat, ending the trip.

They smiled at each other and tried to act as if nothing had changed. But it had, all right, and Candy could tell the end of their affair would not be as easy or simple as they’d made it sound last night.

“A BUSINESS LUNCH? And you’re taking Matt?” Sara stared at Candy, as she tugged the drugstore panty hose under the single cocktail dress she’d brought on the trip. She’d borrowed a linen blazer from Sara to give the outfit some business flair.

“It’s perfect. Matt gets another networking lesson, I talk up Ledger Lite Personal with possible clients and impress him even more with my professionalism.” Plus, it would be a taste of being in the work world again, a chance to test their ability to keep work and play separate.

After the parasailing, they’d managed to get back more or less to how they’d been-making love for hours, laughing and talking as if nothing had changed.

Still, Candy knew she was in a fog. The mere thought of Matt started her heart banging in her chest. The luncheon, she hoped, would put things in perspective.