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civilly?”
    â€œIt’s Theo. And what was it that you wanted to civilly talk about?”
    For the moment, annoyance won the battle over her desperation—and lust. “Don’t play stupid. You know we have a lot to talk about or else you wouldn’t still be here throwing a tantrum like a . . . like a . . . hungry bear.”
    He prowled to the table, narrow eyed, and braced his hands on it, leaning toward her. “Have you ever seen a hungry bear? Because they don’t throw tantrums. They devour.”
    She mimicked his pose, leaning in, getting in his face. “Are you going to devour me?” The second the words crossed her lips, her cheeks heated.
    Stop thinking about that, Allison. For real, this time.
    If she hadn’t been his employer and fresh off a messy divorce, and if she hadn’t been only a month done with breastfeeding and barely back to feeling like her body was her own—and if Theo didn’t hate her for claiming ownership of Cloud Nine—she would have welcomed a good, old-fashioned devouring, the kind she’d always imagined she deserved, if only the world were a more perfect place and men weren’t such insufferable assholes.
    The insufferable asshole presently staring daggers at her pressed his lips together, his body tensing, like it took all his strength to hold back that fire gleaming behind his eyes. Then, without warning, a hard, loud laugh burst out of him that made her jump. Muttering in French, he returned to the window.
    â€œThe French is getting annoying, by the way. But I’m sure that’s part of your grand plan.”
    â€œI have a lot of grand plans, but none of them involve you.”
    â€œWhy, exactly, are you so angry at me?”
    â€œBecause Cloud Nine is mine.” His attention snapped to the stack of paper on the table, a proposed contract he’d had drawn up right before Lowell’s assets were frozen. He’d brought the contract with him when he showed up in Cloud Nine’s office less than an hour after the crowds dispersed and she’d returned to the landing to put Katie to sleep in the portable crib she’d set up in the larger of the two bedrooms, the only one with a bed.
    She set her hand on the other stack of papers on the table, the legal proof that she was now the sole C.E.O. of Cloud Nine Incorporated and sole owner of the landing property. “But it’s not yours. It’s mine.” She hoped her answer sounded as strong as she meant it to, with quiet authority, as though her conscience wasn’t engaged in a tug-of-war with her brain over the unappealing position her sudden ownership put him in.
    As infuriating as Theo was, she couldn’t help seeing the situation from his point of view. He’d been poised to buy the company, and he had to feel as though she was stealing it from under his nose. In a way, Theo was a victim of Lowell’s hubris and greed as much as Allison was. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a legitimate claim to it, and an equally legitimate reason for turning down the offer to buy Cloud Nine that he’d made her a half hour earlier.
    Hence, the tantrum and threat to devour her.
    It was a dangerous, thin line to walk. If he quit, then her failure was practically guaranteed because she was in no way qualified to run a boat rental company. One might call that pessimism, but Allison was determined to turn over a new leaf as a realist. No more head in the sand like she’d done while married, when she’d repeatedly allowed her determination to be optimistic bulldoze over scary, real-life concerns as if she were the love child of Mary Poppins and Mr. Rogers.
    â€œI’ve worked at Cloud Nine for ten years, operated it on my own for five. I have a stake in this company, a history, and you come sweeping in here like a hurricane. You’re going to run this business into the ground—if you don’t burn it to