Page 5 of Daring Lance

Lance brought his hand to his brow, shading his eyes. “Oh, hey Willow. I didn’t realize you were out here today, too.” Cam coughed into his beer, and Lance flinched, shooting him with what he hoped was a discreet glare. “Been snorkeling?”

Lance sat up, ready to offer her his chair, and Willow waved him back down before he was able to stand. Reluctantly, he leaned back, purposely ignoring the confused looks his friends shot at him.

She raised the mask she held in her hand. “Yeah, it was great! I saw two nurse sharks and a barracuda out at the reef about a quarter mile from here.”

“You saw a shark? Here? In shallow water? Shouldn’t we call the Coast Guard or the Navy Seals or something?” Antonio’s grin had disappeared to be replaced by a dropping of his jaw. Lance chuckled under his breath.

“They like to hang out by the large rocks surrounding the coral reef. The six-footer has been there for weeks.” Lance nodded toward their cooler. “Would you like something to drink?”

Willow’s green eyes widened under her finely arched brows, and Lance found himself unable to break eye contact with her. Her emerald gaze was a startling contrast to her olive skin and long jet-black hair, a combination that caused a definite uptick to his heart beat each time they encountered each other. “No, thank you. But I’m intrigued Lance. I didn’t realize you knew about the sharks out at the reef. Have you snorkeled there a lot?”

Lance shrugged effortlessly. “Every day the water has been calm enough to see anything. Lately, the water has been too murky, but this morning was great. I went out around seven.”

Antonio, who had been applying yet another coat of sunscreen-Lance wondered if his friend had some weird addiction to the stuff-jutted his gaze back and forth between Willow and Lance, then cleared his throat. Lance to cringed in anticipation.

“Sounds like you and Lance should go snorkeling together, Willow. I mean, sharks can be dangerous, and it’s always good to have a buddy with you when swimming.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Cam. “I read online that you should always snorkel in pairs. I think that’s good advice.”

Willow’s gaze traveled between his friends and then to him, causing Lance to want to throw a beach towel over his own head. He hadn’t felt this awkward in front of a woman since the sixth grade when he’d asked Ashley Trenton to the school dance. He smiled weakly at Willow before dragging his gaze toward Cam. “I think that’s typically good advice for scuba diving, but for snorkeling, especially if you stay close to the shore, you’re typically fine going solo.”

Antonio sat up from his previously reclined position, and Lance knew that couldn’t be a sign of good things to come. “Did you know that Lance is a lawyer? He graduated at the top of class, from a great school, too.”

Willow’s brows came together in confusion, and Lance had to swallow back a groan. Why had his friends decided to become his guardian angels now? He’d told them he wasn’t interested in her. Why couldn’t they simply believe him?

“Ah, no, I didn’t. That’s awesome, Lance.”

Lance smiled and mumbled something that he hoped sounded like thanks rather than the tortured gurgle it was.

“He’s also fluent in Portuguese and Spanish!” Lance swatted Cam’s hand away when he tried to pat Lance on the shoulder.

Antonio sat up straighter. “Yeah, he can speak Spanish as well as anyone in my family. Even my mom says so. When we were working in Brazil, people there thought he was a local because his Portuguese sounded like a native.”

Lance had to stop his lower jaw from gaping wide because he had never spoken Spanish in front of Antonio’s mother, and his Portuguese was limited to being able to order a beer and to ask for the check. He bit down on his back teeth. He’d wait until Willow was well out of ear shot before he pounced on each of his friends.

A cool film of perspiration began to gather at Lance’s temple, and he blew out a soft breath in an effort to try to slow his accelerated pulse rate. Between Willow being clad in barely nothing and close enough for him to touch and his friends’ obvious comments about him to her, he was ready to have a heart attack. “Guys, stop. Willow obviously was on her way to wash off her snorkeling gear. By the way Willow, you remember these two from the wedding? Antonio is on my left and Cameron on my right. I thought they were only friends and co-workers until now, but apparently, they are my PR agents as well. Guys, you remember Willow?” Lance muttered with a grimace directed at each of them.

Willow toyed with a strand of her long, black hair, twisting it between her fingers, and Lance had to drag his eyes away before she caught him staring at her.

“Portuguese is one of the languages on my list to learn. I’m studying Polish right now because there have been a lot of suspense dramas coming out of Poland over the last year, but Brazil has had a few out too, so if they increase in popularity, I’ll need to work on my Portuguese.”

Antonio sat up straight. “Hey, maybe—”

“Do you know if there will be another season ofStranger—” Cam began before Lance cut him off.

“Guys, please stop!”

Willow laughed, and the sweet sound rippled through him, causing tiny prickles to pop up on his skin.

“It’s okay, Lance. As soon as someone finds out that I freelance for Netflix, I’m typically bombarded with questions about sequel releases.”

Cam sat up straight and leaned forward in his lawn chair. “Do you know what the plans are for the next Harlan Coben release? I love his books, and the limited series are awesome.”

Willow shook her head, and Lance found himself transfixed by her long, black hair, the silky strands flowing effortlessly across her shoulder. “Nope, sorry, I don’t. I typically work on projects that originate from outside of the country, mostly from Asia.”

“Oh,” responded Cam and Antonio in unison. Lance hoped that the lull in conversation would prompt Willow to make her escape and practically groaned when Antonio spoke up yet again, stopping her from leaving.

“We are on assignment here in Boca Raton for about six weeks and then we will probably move to South America for our next project. It would be so cool if you were working on a Brazilian movie while we were there. We could totally hang out.”

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