Reece shook his head. “I’ll get the finances straightened out and set up the books, but then I’m gone.”

Max grinned. “Well, I’m in. I didn’t leave any doors open when I resigned. In fact, my father’s not talking to me.”

Cooper hadn’t exactly left Remington Industries with a lot of warm fuzzies, either. Technically his father, vice president of legal affairs, was still speaking to him but saying things like, “You’ve gone completely off your nut” and “Don’t expect to come crawling back and step into your old job.” His mother simply wept every time they talked, sobbing about all the money they’d wasted on his Harvard law degree.

They’d get over it. Cooper wished Reece had quit, too, instead of taking vacation time, which he’d been saving up for years because he thought vacations were a waste. If anybody needed to learn how to kick back and enjoy life, it was Reece. The guy was strung tighter than a sail in a hurricane.

Cooper checked his watch. “Almost nine o’clock. Let’s see if the marina’s open yet.”

He turned toward the gangway just as a feminine shriek behind him made him nearly leap out of his skin. He whirled around and found himself face to face with…a redheaded vision. Barefoot, and with long, tanned arms and legs fetchingly displayed in low-slung shorts and a cropped T-shirt, she was absolutely, heart-stoppingly gorgeous.

But, boy, was she mad.

“What are you doing on my boat?” She took a menacing step forward, a heavy ceramic coffee cup clutched between her hands. Cooper had no doubt she could do damage with it. “You can’t just board somebody’s boat without permission. Now get the hell off! I’ve got a gun below and I’m using it if you’re not gone in five seconds.”

Cooper’s respect for the woman crept up a notch. What an amazing creature, fierce and vulnerable at the same time. He knew he should heed her warning, but he stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear his gaze away. She’d rendered him speechless, too. No intelligent explanations occurred to him.