by Cindi Madsen
The twisty sensation stopped dead in its tracks and tumbled down to my feet. Go me.
“He asked for my number, too. Now I just have to hope he uses it, while not staring at my phone, begging for it to ring. I guess that’s one point for leaving it in your truck, even if that’s mostly so I don’t drop it in the water, because that’s so something I’d do.” She reached down and messed with the strap of her sandal, and I noticed her hot pink toenails matched the neon fingernails I’d focused on entirely too much as she’d texted away in my truck. “But don’t worry, I’m not going to sit around and wait, either. By the end of this week, I’m going to deploy some new strategies. I don’t have time to go slow. It ups the stakes, but today’s the first time I didn’t feel completely over my head.”
I cleared my throat, but my voice still came out like I’d swallowed sandpaper. “That’s great. Pretty soon you won’t need me at all.”
She lunged across the boat, making it rock, and grabbed my hand. “No way. I’m not ready to go out there without a safety net yet. We still have at least a couple weeks on our deal, right?”
As usual, I couldn’t let the girl down, even if this mission was starting to make me less and less happy. The buzz of a challenge wasn’t there anymore. In fact, it was the opposite of how challenges tended to go for me, like the more I succeeded, the less the urge to fist pump. But I worked to cover my true feelings, because she’d done her part, and this wasn’t about me. “Right. I’m here for you, as long as you need me.”
The tension leaked out of her posture. “Good. I’d be totally lost on this stuff without you.”
I pulled my hand out of hers before I could think about how good it felt in mine—okay, so maybe I was too late, but at least I tried. “We better get training. Are you still sore?”
“Nope. I’m always exhausted by the end, but the soreness is finally gone. Plus, I’ve got all these happy vibes traveling through me from today’s success, so I feel like I could go forever.”
I gripped the edge of my seat, the sensation in my gut going from beat-up attraction to biting jealousy. This is why I wasn’t supposed to get so involved. I don’t have much free time left, and we’ll all just be going to college in a few months anyway, and none of this stuff will matter.
Kate took hold of her oars. “What’s your fastest time with Jaden? Because I’m ready to take it down.”
“It’s going to take a lot more than not being sore.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, regret rushed up. Her crestfallen expression gave it sharp claws that made the regret dig deeper and make a home in my chest.
Since I didn’t know what to say—and it’s not like I could explain I was only frustrated my help with landing her dream date was being so effective—I spun around in my seat and took hold of my oars. I twisted my wrist so I could see my watch. “Ready?”
“Ready,” she said, much less enthusiastic than she’d been moments ago.
Then we were off, oars gliding through the water, sights set on the other side.
Chapter Fourteen
Kate
Excitement had zipped through me all day, keeping me on a constant high.
Until I’d gotten into the boat with Coach Grouchy Pants. Stupid me, I’d been anticipating the moment we’d be alone on the water again. We had such a great weekend together, and the past few days I thought we’d really connected. That we understood each other in that sort of way two people did where they could communicate without words. Although, for the record, I liked communicating with words. Lots of them, often all strung together. The silence hanging in the air made me antsy, and I instinctively wanted to fill it with anything and everything. But Cooper didn’t deserve my chatter.
Klaus is going to get an earful when I get home, so I hope he’s had his twenty hours of sleep already.
Two ducks flew overhead and landed in the water a few feet away.
They immediately swam over and quacked at each other, as if they were checking in on the other’s landing. Aww.
“Kate! Are you paying attention? You’re getting off pace!”
I whipped my head forward to see Cooper looking at me over his shoulder, and my irritation must’ve shown through, because his eyes widened, like he knew he was about to get it.
I dropped my oars. “For your information, I’m not paying attention to your stupid pace. I’m watching two ducks. They’re cute and they’re nice to each other, and right now, I’m about to jump in the water and go hang out with them instead of you.”
Cooper pressed his lips together, and at first I thought it was fear, but then he seemed to be fighting laughter.
“No, you don’t get to laugh.” I stood. “I know I sometimes jokingly refer to you as Coach Grouchy Pants, but today you’re taking it to the next level. You’re Coach Jerk Face.”
Sputtered laughter came out, and when I scowled at him, he slowly stood and turned to face me, his hands up in surrender. “You’re right. I’ve been a jerk face today.”
I crossed my arms. “You’ll get no argument from me.”
He took a step and the boat wobbled. “I’m sorry. I was in a bad mood.”
“Well, don’t take it out on me.”
Cooper glanced at the ducks. “Do you ship them?”
“Not that I have to, because they’re clearly already in love, but yes. I hope they have a very happy duck life and have lots of beautiful duck children.”
“I think the word you’re searching for is ducklings, because children are a human thing. Duck children sounds like a mutant science experiment gone wrong.”
“Ugh, you drive me crazy!” I shoved him, and he barely caught his balance.
“I just thought a math girl would be more into facts, is all.”
I moved to shove him again, and he caught my arm. The boat rocked, and I fell into Cooper, my hands braced against his chest. Despite trying not to think about it, my hands noticed how firm it was. I also caught a whiff of woodsy cologne, and there was something intoxicating about the way it mixed in with the fresh air and water scent.
“Careful,” Cooper warned, his deep voice vibrating against my palms. “You’re about to send us both into the water.”
“I don’t want to be careful.” I straightened. “I love the lake, and I want to enjoy my time out here. I’m glad you love rowing and all, but sometimes you’ve got to slow down for a moment and appreciate it.” I squatted next to the side, curving my hands around the edge of the wooden boat, and peered into the water. Underneath the surface, a couple of fish darted back and forth. “There’s an entire life under there and you’re missing it.”
Cooper knelt next to me, his thigh pressed against mine, and warmth wound through me. “I get what you’re saying,” he said. “No more being so serious.”
“Seriously.” In one fluid motion, I scooped up a handful of water and launched it at him.
His jaw dropped. He blinked at me through wet lashes, and then he lunged. With a squeal, I scrambled backward, attempting to flee—I’m not sure where, but I suppose there was something to be said for trying.
Unfortunately Cooper was too fast. He launched a spray of water at me and all I could do was throw my hands in front of me to try to block another attack. The boat rocked as I attempted to stand, and I flung out my arms, trying to brace myself on something.
Strong hands caught me around the waist. I gripped Cooper’s wrists, clinging on for dear life. The rocking of the boat calmed, but I couldn’t say the same for my heart rate. Instead of coming back down, it tripped over its beats, each one faster than the next.
The weirdo attraction vibes caught me off guard and overwhelmed me, so I did the only thing I could think of. I rocked the boat again, trying to get the teasing vibe back. Only I overdid it, my attempt to turn the tides apparently endowing me with super strength.
I bumped into him, and he tipped, his hands flailing now. “I’m sorry, I—”
He reached out and caught hold of my wrist, and then we both went tumb
ling over the side, into the icy cold water.
Chapter Fifteen
Cooper
I broke the surface with a gasp, the jolt from the cold water like a hundred volts of electricity being fired into my body.
Kate bobbed up a second later. “Oh my gosh, it’s cold!”
“Hey, you’re the one who decided to throw me into the water.”
A shiver wracked her body. “I meant to make you almost fall, not actually fall. And I like how you took me with you.”
“I just figured you’d want to follow your own advice about enjoying the water.”
She splashed water at me. “Oh, sure. Now you listen to me.”
I slapped the surface of the water with my palm out, sending a spray at her. We laughed, and then we fired at will, stream after stream. Some crashed in the middle, and some hit their target.
Little by little, my body got used to the cold water. Or maybe it grew numb, but either way, it wasn’t so bad anymore.
Kate ran her hands through her hair, slicking it back away from her face. “Okay, let’s see who can spin all the way around and come back up faster. Ready…? Go!”
I dove under the surface, tucking and spinning, and kicked for all I was worth.
She was already up and waiting. “You lose.” She added a victory dance, doing some kind of chicken thing with her arms as she made an oot-oot taunting noise.
“And you wonder why I get so serious about winning. Where’s my ‘good try; you’ll get ’em next time’?”
“Good try, sport, but you had your ass handed to you.” She giggled, apparently thinking she was hilarious. And okay, she kinda was.
“Fine. Let’s see who can hold their breath longer.” I lifted my fingers toward my nose to plug it.
“No way.” Kate shook her head. “In, like, every movie where they do that, the other dude doesn’t come up, and then the person is left swimming alone, calling their name in a panic.”
“You’ve seen too many movies,” I said.
“Go ahead and hold your breath, then. If the sea monster gets you while you’re down there, just know that I’m not coming after you.”
I laughed and swam closer. I reached down and grabbed her leg, laughing harder when she squealed. She kicked me and stuck out her tongue. “Jerk.”
Unlike when she called me Coach Jerk Face earlier, this time there was a lighter, joking tone to her voice.
Suddenly she lurched toward me, her arms wrapping around my neck. “Okay, for reals, I just felt something slip past my leg.” Her gaze skimmed the surface of the lake. “I’m telling myself it’s just a fish, but it felt like a really big fish.”
“There are some pretty big fish in here.” I paused for dramatic effect. “Then there’s the alligators.”
“I know there aren’t any alligators,” she said with a click of her tongue, but she still searched the area around us.
“Okay, but I know for a fact that the police caught a couple last year.” It was true, but they were little ones, and the police concluded they were pets someone had abandoned. If the owners had done any research, they’d know the water was way too cold in the winter for alligators to survive it. But I wasn’t going to tell Kate that quite yet—messing with her was too much fun. “Do you see the way the water’s parting over there? I thought it was a log, but a log doesn’t move like that.”
She practically crawled up me, her grip on my neck nearing chokehold levels. “Not funny.”
I was going to tease her some more, because we hadn’t even covered snake territory yet, but then I noticed the soft press of her curves, and how if I looked down, I could see her skin and her polka dot bra through her shirt. And then I couldn’t stop looking and noticing, even though I knew I shouldn’t be.
My breath grew shallow, and for a couple of seconds, I forgot I needed to continue to tread water, and we started dipping lower.
“Okay, I think that’s enough enjoying the lake by being inside of it today. I’m ready to get back to rowing.” Kate let go of me and swam toward the boat, and as she climbed in, I noticed a few other things I shouldn’t. Namely her legs and the way her clothes molded to her body, every curve on display.
Get it together, Callihan. Still, I couldn’t help thinking she was right earlier when she said I didn’t slow down enough to enjoy the actual lake. I was in such a hurry to be on the water as much as possible before my time ran out that I forgot to actually appreciate the ability to get lost out here. The sense of calm it brought to my life, and how it felt more like my home than my house sometimes.
I lifted myself into the boat and returned Kate’s smile. Goose bumps covered her skin and water dripped from her hair and clothes into a puddle on the boat floor. The bit of makeup she’d had on was long gone, and the last rays of the sun spotlighted her natural beauty and those features I was starting to crave seeing.
Kate wadded her hair in her hands and wrung it out. “Did you want to tell me how I was right about how fun it can be to slow down once in a while now, or later?”
I could think of so many girls who would’ve yelled at me for pulling them into the water fully clothed, and how there’d be talk about ruined clothes and hair and makeup. Kate had to be freezing, but she was sitting there all smug, grinning like she’d just had the best adventure.
While I was slowing down and enjoying things, I figured I should add the time she and I had left together to that list, too.
By the time we made it back to my truck, we were both cold and tired. Kate was still in a happy mood, but I worried she’d catch pneumonia or something, like every person over the age of forty threatened kids they’d do if they didn’t cart around big coats 24/7.
I cranked the heater and looked behind my seat. “Jackpot.” I handed my hoodie over to Kate.
“But what about you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring the squish of my jeans against the seat as I moved to start the truck. “Just put it on. Please.”
She nodded and tugged it over her head. Unfortunately, with her wet clothes, I knew she’d still be far from warm. The twenty-minute drive to her house didn’t usually seem like a big deal, but that long being cold and wet—not to mention all the time we’d spent on the lake that way—was adding up fast.
My house sat behind us, a dim outline against the setting sun.
Wednesday meant Dad played golf this afternoon, and he almost always went drinking with the good old boys after. Since his current case left his stress level high, things were tenser at home between him and Mom as well right now, so most likely he’d stay out late.
“This is crazy riding around in wet clothes like this,” I said. “Why don’t we go dry off and warm up at my place, and then I’ll drive you home later?”
Kate hugged her arms around herself as she cast a quick glance at my house. She nodded, her teeth chattering together. “Okay. I’ll just text my mom and let her know.”
Her eyes widened when she took her phone out of my glove box. “Mick texted me. He actually texted me! I figured it was a long shot, or that he’d take days, but”—her voice pitched higher—“he texted me!”
She tapped on the screen and her happy expression morphed into one of confusion.
Was it wrong to hope he’d said something extremely stupid or jackass-ish? Something that would land him way past the ten spot on her Kanye Douchebag Scale, so he’d look a lot worse than me.
“All it says is ‘what’s up?’” She turned the screen to me and practically shoved it in my face, so close the words blurred. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Ignore him and keep hanging out with me. For no other reason than to have fun. Needing a distraction, I drove the few yards to park in my driveway. Of course when I stopped the truck she was still looking at me all expectantly. “Uh, type: just messing around with Cooper at the lake.”
“Yeah, but if he thinks I’m with you all the time, won’t he start thinking I’m with you, with you and stop talking to me?”
&n
bsp; One can only hope. I knew that my hope was in vain, though, because that’d require him being a gentleman, and he wasn’t much of one. So he’d read between the lines and take it as she and I were messing around, and turn it into how he wanted to mess around with her, which sent enough heat through my veins that I wasn’t all that cold anymore. It’s what she wants. Why she’s here with you in the first place.
I tried to remind myself yet again that I was avoiding drama and getting carried away with Kate and the act we put on in public for her mission, and forced my reply through clenched teeth. “Trust me. Send the text.”
She spoke the words as she typed, the exact ones I’d fed to her, and then she sent the text about going to my house to her mom.
I wasn’t nearly as eager to take her inside after that stupid texting thing, but it didn’t change the fact that she needed warm, dry clothes. I called out for my mom as I ushered Kate inside, but she didn’t answer, so it looked like we had the place to ourselves.
I took her up to my room and dug through my drawers until I found a T-shirt and some sweats I’d outgrown years ago. I pointed her toward the bathroom adjacent to the guestroom so she could take a hot shower and get her body temperature up.
I broke off to my bathroom to do the same, and about fifteen minutes later, we met back up in the hallway. I took her wet clothes and tossed them into the dryer, trying not to let my eyes linger when I spotted the polka dot bra among her things. It had a pink bow in the middle.
Okay, so I failed at not lingering.
When I returned to my room, Kate was seated on my desk chair, twisting it one way and then the other. My too-long sweat pants pooled around her ankles and she had the sleeves of my hoodie rolled up. Her wet hair looked darker than usual, and it was messy, like she’d tried to finger-comb it, only to abandon the attempt halfway through.