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wallet from his back pocket and handed over a hundred. Had she even been serious
    about their new bet?
    “You shouldn’t walk around with this much cash in your wallet. Someone might take advantage of
    you.”
    She hopped down and started for the door, and the sassy twitch to her hips was the last straw. He
    opened his mouth.
    “Drinks are on me tonight,” she called back, pouring oil on his fire.
    “Piper.” Her name shot out before he could stop himself.
    “Yeah?”
    “I accept,” he growled.
    3
    PIPER BREEZED INTO the conference room with precisely one minute to spare. Cal wondered briefly
    if she’d sat outside, timing her arrival for maximum impact. Probably. Piper had always loved pushing
    boundaries, pushing buttons.
    Particularly his buttons.
    He, on the other hand, had shown up early for the meeting with the Fiesta Cruise Lines team, tested his
    equipment and made small talk with the visiting executives, getting a feel for the terrain. His audience today
    consisted of two males, one female, all somewhere between forty and fifty-five. Sal Britten, Ben Lloyd and
    Margie Kemp were recreational divers who had logged some fairly adventurous dives. He didn’t anticipate
    any difficulty selling them on his planned program.
    Piper dropped a mammoth white tote bag onto the chair beside him. “Did you miss me? Getting
    anxious?”
    He shot her a look.
    She grinned back. “You were. That’s positively sweet. I’d almost think you were looking forward to
    losing. To me. Maybe you’ve been thinking about it since our game earlier this week?”
    Her eyes twinkled as she needled him. She wore a white dress that stopped several inches above her
    bare knees. The perfectly modest V-neck showed no cleavage but drew his eye anyhow, as did the narrow
    brown leather belt wrapped around her waist beneath the fitted blue-and-white-striped blazer. She looked
    fresh and energetic. The cruise ship woman eyed her outfit and he could practically feel the two guys
    melting. Piper had that winning effect on people.
    “I’m not falling for your game,” he warned softly.
    “And I’m not playing.”
    She turned away to introduce herself to the Fiesta executives, rings flashing on her fingers as she
    worked the room. He eyed her ring finger and discovered it was bare. Of course, he couldn’t imagine who
    would take her on for keeps, but there were plenty of crazy men out there. Or men who’d abandon caution
    when they got a good look at those high-heeled shoes of hers, which made him think of bondage clubs.
    Not, of course, that he’d ever been to one, but he had internet, and the tan straps crisscrossing her feet were
    suggestive.
    She finished her meet and greet and turned back to him. Sal Britten paused in the middle of a long-
    winded story about his most recent shark-cage dive off the coast of Australia (Cal would have killed for a
    look at the man’s logbook, because he had his doubts about the man’s dive creds) and looked between
    them. “Do you two know each other?”
    “You bet, ” he said, deliberately needling her.
    Piper’s eyes narrowed, then she winked at him. “Cal here was hoping I’d be a no-show.”
    If Piper didn’t get her butt in gear soon, they’d run late, so he ignored the wink and headed for the back
    of the room. “This meeting starts now.”
    She grinned at him, keeping pace with him. “Ready to lose, big boy?”
    She made everything into a competition, a game. He was tired of it, frankly, but she wouldn’t let it go. If
    she wanted to compete, he’d compete. He was a SEAL. He didn’t ring out. He didn’t quit. Except when it
    came to diving, the unwelcome voice in his head pointed out.
    The cruise ship guy looked over at them. “We’re ready to get started when you are. Who’s up first?”
    Time for the opening salvo. “Ladies first. I insist.”

    * * *
PIPER KEPT HER professional smile painted on her face, but her rescue swimmer wasn’t playing fair.
    Cal waved her to the front