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the coffee before taking a sip. Her dewy lips drew his gaze like a magnet. Jake turned around and added some sugar to his coffee.
    “I didn’t know you used sugar.”
    “I don’t,” he said, turning back to her.
    “You just dumped three tablespoons into your cup.” She sounded as perplexed as he felt.
    Jake lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “It must be something in the air.”
    “Must be,” Lily agreed, not knowing what he was talking about. She dropped her gaze to the dark, steaming liquid. “I’ve been thinking that I need lessons on how to flirt.” Jake nearly choked on his coffee but did an admirable job of containing himself. Lily was so unconsciously alluring that he couldn’t believe that any man could ignore her.
    “Will you teach me, Jake?” There wasn’t anyone she trusted more. Jake had been all over the world and done everything she hadn’t. Lily didn’t think there was a thing he didn’t know.
    With that, he did choke on a mouthful of coffee. “Me?”
    “Yes, you.”
    “Lily, come on. I don’t know anything about feminine stuff like that.”
    “Sure you do,” she contradicted, warming to her subject. “Every time I bat my eyelashes at a man, I’m convinced he thinks I’ve got a nerve disease.”
    “Ask Gram.”
    “I can’t do that.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Just tell me what Elaine did that made you go all weak inside.”
    “I don’t remember.”
    “Something like this?” She dropped her eyes and parted her lips, giving him her most sultry look.
    Jake experienced a tenderness unlike anything he’d ever known. He couldn’t teach her to flirt. She was a natural. “Yeah,” he murmured at last.
    Discouraged, Lily straightened. Elaine had known exactly what to do to make a man notice her. For months, Jake had been so crazy over the other woman that he’d hardly ever come by for a visit. It had shocked Lily when they’d split. Maybe Jake wasn’t the best person to teach her what she needed to know. But she knew he wasn’t immune to a woman’s wiles. The problem was, he thought of her as a sister. She could probably turn up on his dock naked and he’d barely notice.
    “Forget it,” she mumbled. “I’ll ask Gram.”

Chapter Three
    Jake paced the small confines of his galley like a man trapped in an obligatory telephone conversation. He had to do something, and fast. Roughly he combed his fingers through his hair and caught his breath. Lily was beginning to look good to him. Real good. And that was trouble with a capital
T
. Either he found himself a woman, and quick, or … or he’d take it upon himself to find Lily a wealthy man. Both appeared formidable tasks.
    If he involved himself in a relationship, it would surely end in disaster. No woman would be satisfied with his carefree lifestyle. Every woman he’d known, with the exception of Lily, had taken it upon herself to try to “save” him. The problem was, Jake didn’t want to be redeemed by a woman’s ambitions.
    But locating a rich man for Lily wouldn’t be easy either. It wasn’t as if he traveled in elite circles. He had a few contacts—buddies from school—but he didn’t know anyone who perfectly fit the wealthy profile Lily was after.
    The only potential option was Rick, his friend from college days. From everything Jake had heard, Rick had done well for himself and was living in San Francisco. It wouldn’t hurt to look him up and see if he was still single. Jake didn’t like the idea, but it couldn’t be helped.
    * * *
    Humming softly, Lily smiled at the doorman at the Wheaton and sauntered into the posh hotel as if she owned it. She was practicing for when she could enter a public place and cause faces to turn and whispers to fill the air.
    Lily felt good. The meeting with Jake hadn’t turned out to be the confrontation she’d expected. Jake had every reason to be angry with her, but he wasn’t. If anything he’d behaved a bit weirdly. He’d seemed to go out of his