“I promise, it’ll be fine,” Travis assured her, his eyes lingering longer than necessary on her face. I could have sworn I saw a look of longing pass across his features. Becky sighed heavily. Intrigued, I watched as her lips lifted in a reluctant smile.
“Fine, just one loop,” she told Aiden.
We all watched while Travis and Aiden raced around the track. I thought that Aiden wouldn’t do more than twenty-five miles per hour, but he surprised us all by going almost sixty. Becky practically bit her nails off watching. She didn’t relax until Aiden had finished the loop first and was tossing his fists up in victory.
By the time we’d had enough, every last one of us was covered in mud.
“Let’s go swimming,” Braden suggested, and almost everyone agreed. We finished our snacks and loaded the coolers back up. Before I could climb onto the back of Tessa’s ATV, she was taking off down the trail.
“Seriously?” I grumbled, glaring after her when she tossed a satisfied grin across her shoulder at me.
Braden revved his ATV from behind me. “Hop on,” he instructed, the corner of his lip shooting up in a half-smile. Since most everyone else had left before Tessa, I had limited options. I climbed onto the back and tried to sit as far away from him as I could.
But Braden’s ATV didn’t have the same passenger grips that Tessa’s ATV had. When he pressed down on the gas, we shot forward so fast and hard that my only option was to grab onto him for dear life. I heard his chuckle as I clung to his waist.
Holding him again like this did strange things to my heart. It thudded wildly in my chest. I could pretend it was the sudden jump forward, but the real reason my heart was hammering had less to do with the speeds Braden hit andeverythingto do with how close I was to him—and how hard and tight his abdomen was beneath my frantic grip.
We pulled up to the beach after everyone else had arrived. Tessa was waiting for me by her Grizzly, still wearing a smug smile. I hopped off the back of Braden’s ATV the moment he stopped it, as if he was covered in thousands of tiny spiders.
I stalked over to my traitorous best friend. “How could you do that? Leave me with him like that?” I hissed.
Tessa winced apologetically, her amber eyes seeking my forgiveness. “I’m sorry, he paid me off.”
“How much?” I sighed.
“A hundred bucks, actually,” Tessa chuckled. “I figured we could split it.”
“No, I’ll be taking it all,” I informed her.
Before Tessa could say another word, I was scooped up from behind. I knew from the feel of the calloused hands, strong arms and hard chest that it was Braden.
“Don’t you dare!” I practically screeched, trying to wiggle my way out of his arms.
But naturally, Braden didn’t listen, and Tessa’s laughter followed me as he marched purposely down the dock. A moment later, I was submerged in the cool water of the lake, his arms still around me.
Braden
It was the best one hundred dollars I’d ever spent. Feeling her arms wrapped around me from behind, having her warm breath against the back of my neck and her scent enveloping me while we raced back down the trails was heaven.
But Elle hadn’t been thrilled about the arrangement at all, and the moment we got back to the beach, she’d started hissing angrily at Tessa. I felt bad that my soon-to-be sister-in-law was getting the flack for my idea. I figured that Elle needed to cool off a little, so I picked her up and ran off the dock with her in my arms. I held her as long as I dared before releasing her.
“You’re such a dick, Braden,” she said, but her eyes were light and she was laughing.
“I know,” I murmured, swimming closer to her. We stared at each other for several long moments, the air between us wrought with tension and longing. She had mud on her cheek, and I absently brought my hand up, using my thumb to gently wipe it away. Her eyes were fixated on mine, as if she was locked in a trance. In that moment, I almost kissed her. I wanted so badly to press my lips against hers, to feel her surrender in my arms.
Her hands came up to my chest, her fingers curling into fists, nails gently pulling against my soaked t-shirt. Goosebumps erupted across my skin, and I moved my lips closer to hers, my hand still cupping her cheek. She inhaled when I exhaled, and we breathed each other in, our eyes locked on one another.
Her brow furrowed and she broke our gaze by looking away. Her chest heaved as she drew in another deep breath. Shaking her head slightly she pushed off me and swam away, back towards the beach.
I remained in the water for almost a minute longer, trying to figure out what the hell all of this meant and what I was going to do about it. I ran my hands through my hair, brushing it back from my eyes as I walked out of the lake.
“Could you tryanyharder?” Gordon ribbed, punching me in the shoulder when I came to a stop where he was standing by the picnic table with Ezra, Peter, and Tommy. I was dripping wet, my t-shirt clung to my skin.
“Fuck off,” I told Gordon, pulling my shirt off over my head with one hand and twisting it to ring it out. I felt Elle’s eyes on me, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her scowl. I smirked.
“I think it’s kind of sweet,” Ezra remarked. The sympathy I saw in his eyes pissed me off almost as much as Gordon’s ribbing.
“Sorry man. I think you’re kicking a dead horse. Elle’s stubborn as shit, and she hates your guts.” Tommy interjected, shaking his head ruefully.
