Page 12 of On the Line

Delaney walks up beside me wrapped in a towel with her sunglasses pushed up on her head, and Ace looks like Christmas came early.

“Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever you say, bud.”

“This is Delaney,” I say, and do the introductions. Delaney shakes everybody’s hand. Joel is watching me with his eyebrows up, and I can tell he’s enjoying this way too much.

“How’d you two meet?” Rayna asks.

“We met at Mercury Slice yesterday,” I say.

Delaney elbows me in the ribs, looking around to see if any of her friends are nearby. Fortunately, they’re all inside getting food. “Six weeks ago.”

“Oh. Right. Six weeks.”

Ace chokes on nothing. I give him a look that promises violence, but it’s too late, and Joel’s grin is getting wider by the second.

Chrissy shakes her head. “Nuh-uh. We’d know if Liam was dating someone.”

I nod. “They’d know,” I confirm.

Delaney glances over her shoulder to make sure her friends are still inside. “He’s my fake boyfriend for the weekend.” She quickly explains the situation with the cabin and her friends.

It’s quiet for about one second. Then Ace starts laughing so hard he has to hang on to a piling.

“Shut up,” I tell him.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were about to.”

He wipes his eyes and looks at Delaney. “He volunteered, right?”

Her mouth opens and closes. “How did you know that?”

Ace loses it all over again.

“I hate you,” I mutter.

Joel claps me on the shoulder. “Our man here is no fool. There was a pretty girl in need, and he couldn’t resist being the hero.”

“I was bored,” I say.

“Sure, you were.”

“You were all too busy to hang out with your single friend.”

Forrest leans close to my ear so only I can hear. “Play your cards right, and you won’t be single much longer.”

I swear under my breath and tell my friends to get lost.

Twenty minutes later we’re back out on the water. Delaney is sitting next to me at the wheel with her leg pressed against mine.

“Your friends are funny,” she says.

“No, they’re not.”

“They are. I like them.” She smiles and leans back in the seat.

We ride without talking for a while, her leg still against mine, and neither of us moves it.