“My father insisted I join the New York Yacht Club.Nos agimur tumidis velis.”
“Speak like the commoners, please,” I bite out.
“We go with swelling sails.I had zero interest in the old-time rules and the constant history lessons. But the rest of his business partners’ kids were members. It was another way to keep them close.”
My face falls and I can’t hide the rushing wave of sadness that engulfs me.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I can’t tell him my opinion of his father. Nobody wants to hear strangers criticizing their parents.
He navigates with precision, steering the boat along the coast. “Spit it out.”
“Not my place to say anything.”
“I want to hear it either way.” He pauses and flashes a dangerous smile. “If I don’t like it, I can throw you overboard.”
“Hey! You said you wouldn’t kill me.”
“I said I wouldn’t kill you in your sleep.”
We stare at each other for several seconds, the wind and the waves lapping on the side of the boat the only sounds around us while Carter continues to look at me expectantly.
“It just sounds so manipulative,” I finally burst out. “Did you even like to sail?”
“It didn’t matter. I had to.”
Words come out of my mouth before I realize the overstep. “I’m sorry he used you.”
He’s rigid, a statue blown by the wind, eyes hard, hands gripping the steering wheel. I want to catch him before he retreats into himself completely, but I’m tooscared to unbuckle. I grip the material of his trousers and bunch it in my fist behind his knee. I want to anchor him to me and this beautiful moment out on the water.
Carter drops back to me, slightly confused until I smile at him, tugging gently on the rough fabric and he beams.
“Hold on, kitten,” he says before the boat picks up speed and I can barely hear my own squeals and giggles over the wind.
What I do hear is the wild drumming of my heart singing with pure joy fueled by adrenaline and the feeling I get when Carter looks at me and lets go, laughing, living the moment with me.
People have the constitutional right to water their gardens in peace. Not being pestered by their annoying roommate. No matter how good-looking he is or how deliciously the muscles of his arms twist when he folds them over his chest.
“You’re telling me you’ve never been to New York.”
This again. “Obviously not,” I grumble.
“We’re you never curious? To go beyond Silver Lake Falls?”
His condescending tone is slowly raising my blood pressure. “Your privilege is showing.” I take a large gulp of air to stop the string of names pushing to be unleashed on him. “For your information, I’ve been places. For work. And Jared took me to Ohio once. On our anniversary.”
Carter chuckles and it raises my hackles instantly. “Oh, kitten. That’s unbelievably…sad. Depressing actually. I don’t think the man liked you.”
Blood whooshes violently in my ears. As if I didn’t come to realize it. “Oh, shut up! His aunt gave him the ticket to visit her.”
“That’s even worse,” he says, too amused by my pathetic travel history.
“You pompous—” I’m so angry words fail me. My body vibrates with frustration, and I yank on the hose to do something with the unrest coursing through the tips of my fingers. My palms stop itching. The unfortunate side effect is I end up spraying Carter with cold water from head to toe.
He’s stock-still, water dripping from his hair, the top of his nose, and the hem of his T-shirt into a puddle around his boots.
My hand flies to my mouth and I gasp. “Shit.”
