All That Jazz (Butler Cove #1)(65)

Devon hops aboard and speaks to the captain. Jack climbs on and reaches back for Keri Ann. Joseph does the same for me. I swallow, trying not to hesitate, and put my hand in his. His hand. The hand. Shit. “Thank you,” I murmur.

“You’re welcome,” he says, and today feels like it will last forever in awkwardness. I muster a smile and decide I will not even think about Joey right now. It doesn’t matter what he was up to the other night. Why he did what he did. Why the hell I did what I did. It just was. It’s over.

“Dan,” the captain says to me once I’m aboard as he has to each of us.

“Jazz,” I answer, shaking his salty paw. He shows us around. There are two cabins off the galley below deck, and Keri Ann and I put our stuff in one and head back up topside. Devon offers us a soda and we decide to go sit on the front sundeck. Jack and Joey are already up there. I pick a spot away from them, pointing my face up to the sun.

Dan slowly glides the boat along Broad Creek heading for open water. I tie my hair back from where it’s whipping my face, but strands still fly across my sunglasses. I ignore the spot in the water where my dad’s boat used to be.

“I wish Monica was here,” says Devon, referring to his wife I know about because they are like Hollywood’s power couple. “She loves the water. Loves being on a boat.”

“Where is she?” I ask.

“She’ll be here next week, we had a couple of projects we were finishing up.” If I remember rightly, Devon and Monica own a production company.

“So, what are we doing?” I ask him. “I’m happy to just lounge around on the boat, but are we doing something specific?”

“I wanted to get down here myself and check out the spots our locations department had listed,” he replies.

They’re going to film here? I’ll have to get the update from Keri Ann. “So, you’re approving them or something,” I guess.

“Well, normally we go with the locations people, but Jack thought we could make a day of it and check a few other places out ourselves.” Devon glances at Jack and they exchange a look.

Interesting.

I can’t help seeing if Joey caught their interaction. He’s facing sideways watching the marsh glide by, but I have no doubt he was listening to every word.

If Jack is going to be filming here, he’s going to be around for a while, and that means Joey is going to worry about Keri Ann. I want to tell him to chill out. My girl can take care of herself. I take that moment to catch Keri Ann’s eye and wink. I’m so happy for her.

Honestly, the way Jack keeps looking at her as if she might disappear in a puff of smoke, you can tell the guy is crazy for her. They just need to figure some shit out without Joey getting in their way.

I sigh.

Clearly, Keri Ann was spot on. She needs help with Joey today. I get to be buffer. Yay. Of all the freaking times. I lie back on the white vinyl cushion and soak up the rays. Although when it comes to me and Joseph, is there ever a good time?

Devon, Jack, and Keri Ann are talking about Marsh Tacky horses. I tell them I’ve heard about Marsh Tacky races on the beach on Daufuskie Island.

“That must be a sight to see,” says Joey, joining the conversation. Hallelujah.

“I spoke to a local guy who keeps a few on the island,” says Jack. “So that’s what we’re headed to do today. Race horses on the beach.”

I sit up abruptly. “Oh my God, seriously?” My excitement comes out as a squeal. “That is so freaking cool!”





DAUFUSKIE ISLAND IS only accessible by boat, so it feels like you’re a million miles away from real life when you’re there. It helps that the whole island has such history and legend associated with it, from Indians to pirates to plantations.

The stable owner’s land is right next to the ocean, and in true Lowcountry style, the trees are a sparse mix of snaking live oaks and pin straight pines causing dappled sunlight to filter through to the pine needle carpet at our feet.

I’d lagged behind to make sure I was lathered up with sunscreen, and now I get to hear the tail end of Jack challenging Joseph to a race. I laugh as I realize Joseph’s told the stable boy he’s defending his sister’s honor and the kid’s gone running off to get him a faster horse.

God, Joseph needs to take a freaking chill pill about his sister already. But I have to say, annoyingly, it’s kind of endearing.

Jack looks serious for a moment as he assesses Joey. “If I win,” Jack tells him. “I get to stay on this island tonight with your sister. Alone.”

Beside me Keri Ann practically melts.

“Shit, that was hot,” I say, wishing someone would feel as intensely about me one day as Jack clearly does about my best friend. We follow the guys and the horses out to a marked out section of the beach.

Jack toes off his shoes and then abruptly pulls his shirt over his head, leaving him just in jeans. Oh holy mother.

Joey pulls his shirt off too. For the seventeenth time that day I’m glad I have my sunglasses on. Jack is chiseled and lean. Joey is slightly broader but no less drool worthy. And bigger, stronger, bodies just … do it for me. “Oh my …” I lose capacity to speak.

I fish in my purse for a napkin to wipe my drool or at least get my phone out. This has to be recorded for posterity. Lana Del Rey’s words float through my head.