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seemed to fill her body. The boat was small. The man was big. And he wouldn’t let her do anything.
    “Let me help.”
    “No,” he said, without even bothering to look up from the data.
    “Come on. I’m just sitting here.”
    “I told you it was pointless for you to come, but you insisted.” The
so sit there and be quiet
was implied by his tone of voice.
    Avery didn’t appreciate that much either.
    Her fingers began tapping on the edge of the boat, a rhythm she couldn’t seem to stop. She wasn’t used to watching someone else work. Being idle drove her nuts.
    After several minutes, Knox finally threw her a glare. “Stop that.”
    Beneath the weight of his gaze, Avery stilled. For a moment. And then she deliberately thrummed her fingers against the smooth wood again.
    It might have been childish to enjoy watching the edges of his mouth tighten with irritation. But there was a part of her—a bigger part than she really wanted to admit—that delighted in knowing she could get under his skin the same way he managed to dig at her.
    “Payback is hell,” she taunted.
    Knox opened his mouth, she expected a string of unhappy words to flow out, but instead a slow smile bloomed across his face. It crinkled the corners of his eyes. Light and laughter flashed through them, turning the caramel color to something hot and inexplicably making her mouth water.
    Leaning sideways, Knox dipped his hand into the water beside them. Cupping his palm, he scooped up a handful. Avery knew what was coming, but there was nothing she could do. Nowhere to go.
    “Don’t you—”
    He did, flinging the salt water straight at her. It cascaded down the front of her shirt leaving splotches over the cotton. Droplets clung to her eyelashes and the wisps of hair that had fallen down from her ponytail.
    “You’re right, doc, it sure is.”
    Avery wanted to yell at him. She opened her mouth to do it, but nothing came out. She wasn’t used to men playing with her. Didn’t know how to react. Especially since her entire body was responding as if he’d touched her instead of the water, flaming hot and throbbing in inopportune places.
    At least she could blame her tightened nipples on the cool breeze drying her shirt.
    Out of nowhere, a low buzz interrupted any retaliation she might have planned. At first it was faint enough that Avery thought maybe Knox had stuffed his cell into his pocket. But as the sound grew, the rumble quickly increasing to a whine that vibrated through her chest, she realized that wasn’t the case.
    Then a small plane appeared on the horizon.
    “Knox,” she said, pointing to where the speck was quickly growing.
    It wasn’t unusual to see planes carrying passengers or cargo from island to island, but this one was out in the middle of nowhere.
    “It’s coming in low,” Knox murmured, almost to himself. Abandoning what he’d been doing, he straightened, using a hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sun. “Very low.”
    He flipped an assessing glance at her. It didn’t last more than a few seconds, but it was enough to let her know he somehow thought she was responsible for whatever was happening.
    What the hell?
    The plane buzzed past, banking hard to the right and swinging in a large arc. At a diagonal, it headed away, but managed to drop even lower in the sky.
    “What the heck are they doing?”
    “McNair.”
    It wasn’t an answer, and yet it was. “You think he’s surveying the wreck site?” Surprise crept into her voice, although once the words were out of her mouth, she didn’t know why.
    It was exactly the kind of thing McNair would do. Even thinking he had her firmly lodged in his back pocket, he wasn’t the kind of man to leave things to chance.
    Or maybe he was just checking up on her.
    Anxiety ricocheted through Avery’s rib cage. He needed to back off or he was going to ruin any chance she had of doing what he’d ordered.
    Then something tumbled out of the back of the plane and plunged toward