Page 48 of Her Filthy Mistake

A horse. I file that information away for the future. A horse doesn’t fit into my condo’s rental animal agreement, but who knows what the future holds for us. All I know is that if Zoe wants a horse, I’ll get her one.

“Really?” Zorya hops up and down in her seat. “I never knew you wanted a horse when you were younger.”

“Who said it was only when I was younger.” Zoe leans forward and says with a tone of conspiracy, “We could get matching black stallions, 15 hands high–”

“Zoe,” Carly growls with mock anger. “You’re cruising, young lady.”

“What? I’m not doing anything?” She raises her hands, palms upward with mock innocence.

By the time we get back to the resort, Carly and Landon have contacted the cruise line and changed their departure time by two weeks, and we’ve agreed to join them for Christmas at their home.

Let’s just hope that when we show up together that everyone remains happy. Not that I intend to wait that long to tell them. When we get back to the States, it’s time we sit them down and have a heart-to-heart conversation about our future. Because there’s no me without her.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Zoe

As we go through the obstacle course tethered to each other, I can’t stop laughing. Every time I switch directions or crawl under things, Jace’s hands end up on my backside. Followed up by an exaggerated, “Oops, I’m sorry. You need to watch what you’re doing.”

I can’t even pretend to be irritated with him, so I’m not sure our subterfuge of not being together is going to last all the way through the trip back home.

“Oh, no, here we go again,” Jace mutters behind me as we approach rows of rope that we have to army crawl under. Who thought up this activity? I glance at my mom and Landon. They’re still trying to navigate the climbing rope. We’re two obstacles ahead of them, and they’re in second place behind us, with two obstacles remaining until the finish line.

“Back up, cowboy.” I playfully swat at his chest. His eyes rake over me, which is crazy as I’m covered in sand and sweat is dripping between my ass cheeks, but this is the most fun I’ve had in ages.

His fingers curl around my wrist. “Darlin’, don’t tempt me. I don’t know that I can keep from smacking that ass.”

I laugh as I waggle my eyebrows. “Don’t lose focus now. We get another awesome prize for winning.” I don’t know what it is, but if it’s anything like the solo beach trip, I’m all about the prizes. I sigh as visions of all the things I’d like to do with Jace flash through my head. “So, try and keep up, and stop looking at my ass.”

“Oh, I think I’ve done just fine keeping up, don’t you?”

“Seriously? We’re going to flirt, right here?” I glance around him as my mom and Landon hop off the rope wall and run to the next obstacle.

He leans closer. “If I was flirting, you’d know it.” The low rumble of his voice sends a delicious chill along my body, causing goosebumps to break out on my arms. “Your nipples seem to want me to forget about the prize and take you back to bed.”

I whimper with a mixture of desire, frustration, and greed. It’s a struggle to decide which way I want to go. But Mom and Landon are gaining on us. “Stop.” I bat at his chest again. “Let’s go. And keep your eyes and hands off my ass. When we get back, and I’ve had a shower–”

“In the shower.” His chin tips upward.

I bite my lips together as butterflies do summersaults in my belly. I love him so much. It’s crazy.

Love? I love him. I mean, I know I’ve been obsessed with him for years, but that was a one-sided, unhealthy stalking type of thing. Okay. Not so one-sided, maybe. But love?

“Go.” He smacks my ass.

“Don’t you dare get me all hot and bothered.” I glare at him, spin on my heel, and crawl under the first rope.

“Nice ass, darlin’.” His hands slide from the sensitive spot behind my knee to my core. “Oops. I had sand on my face. I didn’t mean to grab you.”

I laugh harder while scrambling to keep ahead of him. His strong body is perfectly sculpted and tanned from our days at the beach. I don’t ever want to go back. I love his sexy exterior. His musical talents. The way his eyes dance when he forgets life has handed him a shitty deal too many times to hope for the future. The hope in his eyes that’s there now more than it’s not. His playful teasing.

And most of all, I love his attention to detail. I shake my head and keep crawling to keep from blurting out that I love him.

When we cross the finish line, he sweeps me into his arms and spins me around with the teether still binding us together. “You have a little sand on your backside. I know I wasn’t supposed to look.” He smiles sheepishly. “But I did.”

“Zoe!” I jump at my dad’s barking tone and spin around to face him.

“Dad.” I step forward, but the rope holding me to Jace tightens, knocking me off balance.

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