Chapter 6
Six
Kara took a wary look around as she made her way into the restaurant at McCarthy’s Marina. He had been lurking a few times, which had her on edge as she took a lunch break on a spring day in late May. She wore her ponytail pulled through a Ballard Boat Works ball cap.
“How’s it going, Kara?” Mac asked.
The younger of the two Mac McCarthys was seated at a table inside the restaurant, with paperwork spread out in front of him. A man who looked like Mac sat across from him.
“Great. Business is really picking up with the boats arriving for Race Week.”
“The pond will be wall-to-wall by the weekend,” Mac said. “This is my brother Evan. Evan, meet Kara Ballard.”
“Hey, Kara. Heard about the launch service. That’s lit. We’ve needed that for years.”
Kara started to say something but faltered. “Damn it. What’s he doing here again?”
Evan turned to look at who she was talking about.
Dan Torrington strolled into the restaurant like he owned the place.
He wore a pink dress shirt rolled up over his forearms, white Bermuda shorts and loafers.
He looked ridiculously out of place dressed like that at McCarthy’s, which had the most chill vibe she’d ever encountered.
The whole island did, except for when he was around.
“I’ve got to go.” Kara grabbed her lunch and headed for the exit, eager to get on the water and away from him.
He’d asked her out three more times in recent weeks, and she’d managed to dodge him every time.
So he’d taken to showing up at the marina almost every day to bother her over the two weeks the launch service had been open for business.
Did she hate herself a tiny bit for looking forward to seeing what he’d try next to get her attention? Yes. Yes, she did.
“Hey, what’s your rush?” Dan asked as he followed her.
Why won’t he take the hint and go away? Kara wondered as she got on the boat and ate her lunch as fast as she could, wanting to get back on the water and away from the annoyance named Dan Torrington.
“Nice day,” he said from the dock.
She sat at the helm of the launch with her back to him.
“Uh-huh.” The boat bobbed in the chop from a passing dinghy, making her feel nauseated after shot-gunning the lunch she’d planned to enjoy during a leisurely break that he’d ruined with his presence.
Most of the time, she ignored him, but today, he’d ventured down the ramp to the floating dock that housed the launch.
“So how does this work?”
She turned to look at him, hoping he wouldn’t take that as encouragement. “How does what work?”
“The launch service.”
Wasn’t it rather obvious? “Ah, we give people rides to and from their boats.”
“If someone wanted to go along for the ride, how much would that cost?”
“A ride to where?”
“Wherever you’re going when you leave here.”
“We don’t do that. You have to be going somewhere to come for the ride.”
He puzzled over that for a minute. “Isn’t the goal of this venture to make money?”
Kara hoped her scowl answered for her.
“If I’m willing to pay…say…twenty dollars to ride along, you’d refuse that?”
“If you have money to burn, you should give it to charity.”
His lips quirked with amusement, highlighting very appealing dimples. Kara also hated herself for finding his dimples appealing. She knew his type. Nothing good came from spending time with guys who thought they were entitled to take anything they wanted. She’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“It’s a nice day. I’d like a boat ride. You have a boat. Are you sure we can’t negotiate a compromise?”
His use of lawyerspeak didn’t help his case, not that he needed to know that.
“Ask Mr. McCarthy if you can borrow his boat.” Kara gestured to the pristine Chris-Craft that Luke Harris had lovingly restored.
She’d learned that IYRS was the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, Rhode Island.
Luke had been planning to teach there over the winter but had decided to stay on the island to help Mac expand the marina’s facilities.
“Since I don’t know the first thing about how to run a powerboat, he’d be crazy to let me borrow that beauty. Besides, I heard he’s off-island today. Something about his brother the judge getting an award from the state bar association. Mrs. McCarthy, Shane, Owen, Laura and baby Holden went, too.”
He was certainly well informed on island gossip. “Who’s minding the store at the Surf?” She instantly regretted the question because her goal was to get rid of him, not to continue the conversation.
“Owen’s mom.” He squatted to bring himself to her eye level. The scent of his expensive cologne invaded her senses, making her want to lean forward to get a better sniff. “Will you take me for a ride?”
“If I do, will you go away and leave me alone?”
Damn those dimples. “For now.”
“Fine. Get in, but don’t talk to me when I’m working.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He scrambled on board and slid precariously when the bottoms of his fancy shoes connected with the boat’s deck. “Whoa.”
She laughed at the faces he made as he barely saved himself from pitching over the other side into the water. “Those aren’t exactly boat shoes.”
He handed her a twenty and took a seat on the bench in the aft portion of the boat.
Kara had expected him to sit near her and was slightly disappointed when he didn’t. Knock it off, she thought. What do you care where he sits?
He rested his arms on the back rail and stretched out long legs. They were nice legs with dark hair. Not too much dark hair. Just the right amount.
When she realized she was staring at his legs, she forced her gaze off him and out to the busy harbor. Why did she have to react to him the way she had since the night she met him at Luke’s house last fall? Every time he came around, she felt edgy and off-kilter, the way she had when Matt—
No. Do not go there. Do not think about him. Do not.
As much as she never wanted to think about her ex-boyfriend again, she couldn’t help but draw comparisons between two handsome, successful attorneys who walked around like they owned every room they stepped into, as if they were entitled to take whatever they wanted and discard that which they didn’t.
She’d already been discarded once and had no desire to let that happen again.
“How do you like living on the island?” he asked after a long stretch of silence.
Kara had never wished more for customers to give her something else to do besides talk to Dan Torrington. “What’s not to like?”
“I couldn’t agree more. I love it here. It’s so quiet and peaceful compared to what I’m used to.”
“Anything is quiet and peaceful compared to LA.”
Damn it, she’d made him smile again. She had to watch out for that. Those bloody dimples popped up with no warning and distracted her from her mission to get rid of him.
“Not all of LA is frenetic and crazy. It has its charming areas, too.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.”
“Ever been there?”
She shook her head.
“You should come out sometime. I’ll show you the nice parts you don’t get to see on TV.”
God, he was so much like Matt. He didn’t look anything like Matt, but his entire act was right out of Matt’s manifesto.
Effortless charm and that whole aw-shucks-I-have-no-idea-I’m-ridiculously-hot thing were their trademarks.
She’d been sucked in once before by that routine, and it wasn’t about to happen again, no matter how appealing she might find him.
Kara reached into her bag and pulled out the book she’d started reading the night before—anything to distract her from giving too much thought to why he’d decided to fixate on her.
She thought he’d have something to say about her burying her nose in a book, but he sat quietly, taking in the scenery and adding to his already impressive tan.
Not that she was watching him or anything.
No, she was reading and enjoying the story.
Or she was until she read the same sentence for the fourth time.
Since she refused to let him know how distracting he was, she continued to pretend to read for at least ten more minutes before a customer finally showed up. Thank goodness!
“Trouble you for a ride?” The young man was handsome, but he didn’t have dimples, and he didn’t make Kara feel anxious or on guard the way Dan did.
“Sure thing. Hop aboard.” When he was settled, she said, “Where to?”
He pointed to the northeastern corner of the pond.
Kara tossed off the lines and backed the launch out of the slip, using a combination of throttle and rudder to turn the boat in a tight area.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dan watching with interest and what might’ve been admiration.
She told herself she wasn’t showing off for him.
Of course she wasn’t. Why would she show off in front of a man who annoyed her and whom she was determined to resist?
On the way through the anchorage, she chatted with the boat owner about the upcoming Gansett Island Race Week activities, the weather, the sailing conditions, her favorite restaurant on the island and the small New York town where the man lived.
As they got closer to his navy blue sailboat, Kara made a wide turn and brought the launch right in next to the boat, reaching for a stanchion to hold her boat in close enough for the man to disembark.
“Thanks a lot for the ride.”
He’s actually quite cute.
“Hope to see you again before I leave.”
“Good luck with the races.”
“Thanks.”
As she pulled away, she took a call on the shipboard radio and headed to the other side of the pond to make a pickup. About halfway there, an air horn sounded, leading her to another pickup.
By the time they returned to McCarthy’s thirty minutes later, Kara had a full boat and people waiting for her on the dock. She loved spending her days on the water and meeting new people, but mostly she loved being anywhere other than Bar Harbor.
Absorbed in collecting money, greeting new customers and helping others off the boat, she almost forgot about Dan.
Almost.