He ignores the women and guides me toward the wooden railing. “Time for you to bail.”
“Oh no, if anyone bails it’s you.” I push him jokingly. “Over the edge you go.”
“After you, wife.” He tugs my life jacket strap.
“I dare you to jump. It’s a long way down.” I peer at the sheer height and shudder. Jumping out of a rowboat is one thing, but a cruise ship?
How many stories up are we?
“I jump, you jump,” Jordan argues. “Hold my hand and we’ll go together. What are you, chicken?”
I size him up. Back in third grade, he was the class prankster. I was the shy wallflower he picked on.
I cried easily. My knees wobbled whenever I bumped into him in the hallways, and I blushed and skittered off to safety if I saw him swaggering toward me.
But in a way, he toughened me.
After he moved away, I gained poise and presence, having learned to paste on a confident smile and tilt my chin up.
“I’m not a chicken, and I’m not scared of you.” I grit my teeth into a toothpaste ad smile. “We’re going back to our cabin and laying down some rules. Be forewarned. I’ll give back more than I get.”
“Is that a promise? I like the sound of getting more of everything from you.” He smirks a long one and licks his lips.
I shake my head dismissively. “You men always think you have some kind of benefit coming to you. No, Jordan Reed, you’re nothing but a pastime Jade arranged for me to forget my disastrous life. It’s going to be fun to make you suffer.”
“I believe she wanted me to give you a good time,” he counters.
“Right, by screwing with you.”
“Back at you.” He wiggles his eyebrows, and my dirty mind can’t help but picture him hot, naked, and hard. I mentally slap myself.
Jordan Reed isn’t dangerous. He isn’t my type, and there’s zero chance of my heart getting entangled with his.
“Getting back at you for everything you did to me in third grade’s going to be fun. Let the games begin.” I raise my hand and slap his palm.
“The gloves are off.” He grasps my hand and curls his grip lightly over my fingers. “And so is the rain jacket.”
Naughty brain of mine pictures his unsheathed member, hooked up and to the left.
I slap my own face and lean over the rail.
I should jump.
