“Sorry.” She pulls back on the throttle. “That, um—sorry.”
I chuckle, shifting so that I’m bracketing her in case she loses her balance again. “It’s okay. Just ease into it this time.”
Kenzie shifts into no wake, keeping it there for several seconds before slowly increasing speed. She completely forgets about the wheel, so I keep one hand low on the center to steer us in the right direction.
“How far do we need to go in order to fish?” she asks.
“We’re not fishing today.”
“We’re not?”
Her hat brim knocks me in the chin as she glances back. I’m hovering like a helicopter, but it’s important for me to stay close—for safety reasons.
“I thought I’d take you to Wilks Beach for lunch. I know you said you didn’t want to celebrate, but you deserve it after all your hard work.”
There’s a little beach town that not many people from the city bother visiting because it’s such a long drive to get there. By boat, it’s relatively easy to reach, just a few miles down the coast. I’m hoping Kenzie will enjoy its small-town charm and the crabcakes at its only restaurant—Bayside Table.
“Oh,” she says. “Thank you.”
Then it’s like watching the early sun rays break over her face. Kenzie’s smile shifts in dazzling degrees, genuine for the first time since her breakup. I grin back, using my hand on the steering wheel to anchor the weightless sensation in my chest.
I’m in so much trouble.
It’d been relatively easy to keep this crush under control when I kept a minimum six feet of distance between us at all times, but now, with her back bumping against my chest, with her smiling at me like that…
We hit a white cap, and sea spray mists us both, causing Kenzie to focus back on the task at hand. A delighted giggle escapes her lips as she cranks the throttle. When her mischievous eyes shift back to mine, I have to clench my abs to keep from doing something reckless.
Pulling a measured inhale into my lungs, I shift my attention to the sea stretching out in every direction. The steady hum of the engine whirs as the tension between my brows eases.Watching the subtle ebb and flow of the waves, the crisp salt air brushes against my face like a caress. With nothing but the ocean and the sky before us, I feel my shoulders drop. Being out here has always been my happy place, and with Kenzie between my arms, I can almost pretend that she’s here because she wants to bewith me.
Though my brain cautions against that very dangerous thought, my heart decides to swan dive into delusion. Kenzie nestled against me already feels like the most natural thing in the world, like she was made for me. I dip my face to inhale the scent of her strawberry shampoo, wishing I could slide a hand over her waist and pull her fully to my chest.
My fingers twitch at my side, debating, when we hit a second white cap. This time, when Kenzie glances back, her face is unmistakably white.
“Oh no.”
I barely have time to slow the boat before Kenzie darts away, losing her breakfast over the side.
Chapter 8
Kenzie
“I’m really, really sorry,” I tell Trevor for the forty-seventh time as he uses a soft-bristle brush to clean the side of his boat.
Number Sevenis moored at one of the six boat slips behind a beautiful bay-facing restaurant. Meanwhile, I’m sitting on the dock, my back against the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows with my palm on my still-queasy stomach. Any second now, a server will come tell me to move. I’m likely spoiling the view for someone’s lunch date.
“It’s okay. Stop beating yourself up about it.”
“But”—I nearly dry heave over the memory—“it was sogross.”
Afterward, I peeled off my fleece half-zip, leaving it on the boat. The crisp air on my bare arms feels chilly, but I’d rather be cold right now. It helps with the lingering nausea.
Trevor chuckles. “Gross is a high school boy’s locker room. This is nothing.”
An ominous gurgle surges in my throat, and I tamp it down. “Still. I don’t think I’ll be ready to eat anytime soon.”
“No problem,” he says, dunking the brush in the bay water before stowing it. “We can relax in the lawn area until you’re feeling hungry.”
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to eat for two consecutive days, but Trevor’s being so nice about all of this that I push myself up from the ground. “Sounds good.”
