She smiled despite herself. Cody was thinking of her. Sure, it was only because of the race, but still. She was on his mind. Her—not McKenzie Palmer.

She quickly texted back: You know I am!

But that exclamation point was a little bit misleading. After all, she’d missed their scheduled practice session yesterday—she claimed she had too much to do, but the truth was, she couldn’t shake the image of Cody with McKenzie. As if that one day of not seeing him could’ve convinced her to give up this misguided fantasy that she and Cody had some sort of magical connection. She was an adult—it was time to start acting like one. And that meant no flirting or joking around with Cody. No daydreaming about what it might feel like to step into his arms and let herself be held.

Today she would be the crew to his skipper. She would handle the jib and keep an eye on the compass while he maneuvered their boat like a chess piece across a board, dealing with the big-picture tactics he claimed would help them win.

Truthfully, she hadn’t picked up much skill in the way of sailing. She’d found herself far too distracted by her instructor to remember much of what he said. The only thing she’d really paid attention to was how good he looked when he said it.

As she trudged out to her Vespa, it occurred to her that her lack of concentration could pose a legitimate issue now that they were heading out on the water. But she was ready. She’d made her peace with the ocean—and besides, Cody would be there. If she were somehow thrown into the watery depths, he’d get her out again.

Would it be wrong to engineer such a scene?

She made her way toward the yacht club where the regatta would take place, pulling into the first parking spot she saw—right next to Cody’s Jeep. Her stomach turned over when she spotted him down by the water. He was helping with the setup—how early had he gotten here?

She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked toward him, trying to ignore the memory of McKenzie on his arm exiting the restaurant the other night. She’d tried to deny it, but they really did look lovely together. McKenzie was shorter than Louisa and much, much smaller. Maybe Cody should have someone like that instead of someone like her—tall and sturdy with unattractive red hair and freckles.

She forced the thoughts away with a silent groan. This wasn’t helpful for anyone.

“There you are,” he said as she walked up. He took his ACK ball cap off, repositioned it back on his head, then squinted at her. “Feeling good?”