Page 79 of The Billionaire's Teacher

I nodded slowly. “We’re just friends.”

“See?” Megan pointed at me and shook her head. “He says that, too. In that same tone of voice. We don’t buy it.”

What tone? I hadn’t used a tone. I’d simply said we were friends. And it was true. Ish. I certainly didn’t know what else to call the relationship I had with him. “I don’t know how to respond to that. Did you not actually want to sail? And I wasn’t scheduled for this anyway. You could have all ended up down here and stuck with Javier for two weeks.”

Whitney and Jenna exchanged a guilty look.

I frowned. “Or you roped Zee into your subterfuge.”

“It didn’t actually take convincing.” Kayla bit her lip. “She was really glad when we called to set this up.”

I bet she was. I wanted to go to her house, drag her out of bed, and shake some sense into her. That wouldn’t be professional or polite. Especially since it’d mean leaving the women standing here in front of the office. “Well. I’m here. The boat’s ready. It’s up to you.”

“Out of curiosity, on a scale of one to ten, how angry are you?” Whitney gripped the handle of her rolling bag.

Angry wasn’t one of the emotions I was feeling. Maybe I was miffed at Zee, although I also couldn’t blame her. The opportunity had fallen into her lap and she’d gone along with it. “How angry is Wes going to be?”

“Wes is pretty even keeled.” Megan shrugged. “I imagine he’s going to be upset on your behalf but not beyond that.”

I nodded. That sounded like Wes. “I’m good. You’ve got a nice itinerary planned and I love taking out the sailboat. So if you’re game, let’s get on board and we can get going. Then you can start whatever third degree you have planned.”

Jenna laughed. “I think I like you.”

“Good to know.” I started toward the boat without checking to see if they followed. I glanced over my shoulder and added with a wink, “I’ll let you know when I figure out if it’s reciprocated.”

Laughter followed me to the boat. I stepped aboard and turned, waiting for the women. As they approached, I reached over and hauled the suitcases onto the deck, then helped each of them to climb in.

“Are you going to stay on the boat at night, or will you want to get hotel rooms on shore?” Before I lugged their bags down into the staterooms, I figured I’d see if it would be necessary.

“What do you recommend?” Kayla was already looking a little green around the gills from the slight bobbing of the boat.

I gestured to the seats along the side. “You should sit. I think, looking at you, hotels are a better plan.”

“Sorry.” Kayla laid her hand on her stomach.

I noted the small bump, and two-and-two added quickly into four. “You’re expecting.”

She nodded.

“Then definitely a hotel. The beds below are fine, but they’re not always kind to the back. Especially if you’re not used to it. Plus, more consistent air conditioning and a lack of motion are going to be better if you’re dealing with nausea.”

“All right. I’ll find us reservations.” Jenna crossed to the desk and plopped onto the bench beside Kayla, then rubbed Kayla’s leg. “You’re a sport for coming.”

“I wasn’t going to miss it. You know that.” Kayla smiled.

“I’ll leave you all to get settled. I’m going to just stow your bags out of the way though, so you can get them later this evening. Make yourself at home. There’s food and coffee in the galley below.” I got busy stowing the bags and making preparations for us to cast off.

Before long, the sails were hoisted and full, and we were on our way. I stayed at the helm. I didn’t know what to think. These women clearly cared about Wes. That was good. None were single. Jenna didn’t have a wedding band, but the rock on her left hand definitely indicated she was taken. So it wasn’t as if I worried that they were…guarding their territory. That was kind of the vibe, even though it didn’t make sense.

Thing was, Wes wasn’tmyterritory, either.

Oh, sure. Zee wanted him to be. She had this whole thing imagined out where we’d fallen in love on the island. I definitely had feelings for him. I wasn’t ready to call them love. Maybe that was stubbornness. Maybe it was realism.

Maybe both.

Maybe it was just a leftover sense of responsibility for having gotten him shipwrecked and injured.

I wasn’t analyzing it. That was the big thing. Because there was no point. I lived here. He lived there.

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