Kiss Me Kate (The English Brothers Book 6) (24 page)

“Please, Skylar. Just listen. You’re the perfect person for this. You’ve got to help me out.”

Skylar Sorenson rolled her eyes at Brooks Winslow, adjusting the brim of her baseball cap as she swept past him, headed down the dock for her next job.

“I mean it, Sky. I’m up a tree…and we’re friends. Can’t you give me a hand?”

Dreamy Delight
needed a new float switch and bilge pump, which would be difficult to manage with Brooks Winslow standing on the dock, looking casually gorgeous as he yammered at her about some charity event he wanted her to attend.

Looking down at her hands, she noted they were still covered with engine grease from the oil change she’d just handled on the outboard motor of a J-24 sailboat. Not wanting to get black fingerprints on the white fiberglass of the motor boat she was about to service, she took a bandana out of the back pocket of her overalls, then turned to face Brooks as she wiped her fingers.

“Are you going to follow me around all afternoon if I don’t listen?”

“Umm…pretty much.”

She sighed with feigned annoyance. “Fine. You have my attention. Tell it to me again.”

Brooks looked relieved and gave her a small grin that—
damn it
—made Skylar’s stomach flutter.

“Knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

“Haven’t said yes to anything yet,” she said, shoving the bandana back into her pocket and crossing her arms over her chest as she looked up at him.

“My sister, Jessica, is back in Philly this summer to get married, and to keep busy, she’s organized some big benefit for the Institute of Contemporary Art. She and her girlfriends thought it would be fun to volunteer their single brothers to be auctioned off.”

“Auctioned off?”

“Yeah…a bachelor auction.”

“Some sister,” said Skylar, unable to keep the teasing from her voice.

“It’s for charity,” he said defensively, running a hand through his waves of jet black hair.

“Okay. So you got roped into it.” She thought back to an old movie she’d seen once where women were auctioned off as dates. At each of their feet had been a pretty lunch basket, and the man that was the highest bidder won a homemade lunch with the girl of his choice. “What do you have to do? Have lunch with someone?”

“Oh, no,” he said with irritation, pursing his lips. “Nothing that painless. Jess wants to make money
. Big
money. She had to think bigger than lunch.”

Skylar stared up at him. “Dinner?”

“Nope.”

“Two dinners?”

“Uh-uh.”

She gestured to the sleek Sportscruiser moored at the end of the dock that she was supposed to be working on. “I’m out of guesses, Brooks…and that pump isn’t going to fix itself, so--”

“A sail. She’s auctioning off a sail. With me.”

“Well, I don’t know why you’re complaining. You love sailing. You love women. What’s the problem?”

Skylar tilted her head to the side, looking at Brooks’ way-too-handsome face with a cheeky grin.

Long ago Skylar had accepted the fact that Brooks would never see her as anything but a great mechanic, a proficient sailor and a long-time friend. And she was—honestly and truly—satisfied with that status quo between them. He was rich and powerful—an ex-Olympian and world-renowned sailor from Philadelphia, while Skylar lived a much quieter life, working as a “handyman” at her Dad’s marina in Maryland. What they had in common was a deep love of boats, and that was just enough to keep their friendship intact.

The first time Skylar had ever seen Brooks Winslow was the day he came down to her father’s marina to claim the fifteen foot Primrose wood-hulled sailboat gifted to him from his parents for his fifteenth birthday. He swaggered into Sorenson Marina, flashing his perfect smile at her, and her ten-year-old heart had grown wings as she’d discreetly followed him down the dock. She was instantly infatuated with Brooks, of course, but much more, Skylar harbored a deep devotion to his Primrose, the most beautiful little double-ended Daycruiser she’d ever seen. Her stomach had been in knots as she walked behind him from a discreet distance, hopeful that he would handle the little sailboat with the grace and care she deserved. But, Skylar’s worries turned out to be unfounded. He’d treated that pretty boat with respect and skill, and Skylar had breathed deeply with relief, her eyes dewy with hero-worship, as he sailed away.

Twenty years later, Skylar knew for certain that Brooks was one of the most talented, natural, organic sailors she’d ever met in her life. Heck, he’d made it all the way to the Olympics and come home with a medal to prove what Skylar had always known: any boat was safe in his hands, and she respected him more than most of the sailors she knew.

“Not a one-day sail,” Brooks continued in a terse voice, jettisoning her memories as he prompted her back to their conversation. “Not even two. Jessica signed me up for a cruise. From Baltimore to Charleston.”

Skylar felt her eyes widen as she stared at him. “That’s a week. Minimum.”

“Yeah.”

“Crew?”

Brooks grabbed the back of his neck with his hand, rubbing. “Nope. It’s supposed to be… romantic.”

A romantic cruise. For a week. Alone. With Brooks.

Lucky girl,
she thought, ignoring the ridiculous spike of jealousy that jabbed a little at her heart and made her feel instantly guilty.

She couldn’t help her attraction to him, of course, but the fact that it was totally unreturned made it manageable in a way that didn’t hurt—and it wasn’t like she had
feelings
for Brooks beyond friendship. She just liked looking at him. For Pete’s sake, her eighty-year-old granny’s heart would flutter at the sight of Brooks’ thick, dark hair, flashing sea-green eyes, square jaw, muscular body and perennially-tan hands that handled a boat with the same finesse that he probably handled his women. Noticing Brooks’ good looks didn’t make Skylar unique or special, and it didn’t mean she wanted more from him than friendship, either. It just made her human.

“Romantic,” she murmured. Turning away, she looked out at the harbor where sailboats bobbed up and down in afternoon sun.

“Yeah.”

“But you won’t know who she is,” said Skylar, “until she wins you.”

“Bingo,” he said.

“And then you’ll be trapped at sea.”

“Precisely.”

“She could be
anyone
.”

“Yep.”

“Does your sister really hate you?”

Brooks scoffed. “No. But she really loves modern art.”

“Okay. Yeah. It’s a pretty sucky situation. But how can I help?”

He grinned at her. “You can bid on me.”

STANDALONE BOOKS:

Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date

(a Kindle Worlds novella)

Buy
THE WEDDING DATE
now!

Playing for Love at Deep Haven

Buy
PLAYING FOR LOVE AT DEEP HAVEN
now!

The Vixen and the Vet (a modern fairytale #1)

Buy
THE VIXEN AND THE VET
now!

Never Let You Go(a modern fairytale #2)

Coming 2015

THE ENGLISH BROTHERS
:

Breaking Up with Barrett

Buy
BREAKING UP WITH BARRETT
now!

Falling for Fitz

Buy
FALLING FOR FITZ
now!

Anyone but Alex

Buy
ANYONE BUT ALEX
now!

Seduced by Stratton

Buy
SEDUCED BY STRATTON
now!

Wild about Weston

Buy
WILD ABOUT WESTON
now!

Kiss Me Kate

Thank you for reading!

THE WINSLOW BROTHERS
:

Bidding on Brooks

Pre-Order BIDDING ON BROOKS now!

Proposing to Preston

Coming 7.7.15

Crazy about Cameron

Coming 9.3.15

Campaigning for Christopher

Coming 11.17.15

Katy Regnery
, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author, started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract for a winter romance entitled
By Proxy
.

Now a hybrid author who publishes both independently and traditionally, Katy claims authorship of the six-book Heart of Montana series, the six-book English Brothers series, and a Kindle Worlds novella entitled “Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date,” in addition to the standalone novels,
Playing for Love at Deep Haven
and Amazon bestseller,
The Vixen and the Vet
.

The Vixen and the Vet
is included in the charity anthology
Hometown Heroes: Hotter Ever After,
and Katy’s novella “Frosted” will appear in the upcoming (Jan ’15) anthology,
Snowy Days Steamy Nights
. Additionally, Katy’s short story, “The Long Way Home” will appear in the first RWA anthology (Feb ’15),
Premiere.

Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.

Don’t miss upcoming English Brothers and Winslow Brothers books!!

Click here
to sign up for Katy Regnery’s newsletter!

Click here
to find Katy on Facebook!