Page 104 of Reel Love

“Oh my gosh!” I shout once Stevens has the throttle lowered and we’re back on a straight course at a moderate speed.

“Hey.” His voice is calm and his eyes are soft when I do a one-eighty to face him. “You gave a whole new meaning to learning curve.”

He’s trying not to laugh, I can tell.

I bust into laughter, half-fueled by nerves, and he joins me.

“I could have killed us!” I shake my head.

“Not on my watch. You’re fine. Now, turn around so you can have another go at it.”

“What?” I look into his eyes. He’s smiling down at me with acombination of amusement and affection. That expression is my new favorite cocktail. “Are you out of your mind? You want me to driveagain?”

“I definitely want you to drive again. What made you jerk the wheel?”

“I saw a thing.”

He chuckles. “A thing?”

“Yeah. A shadowy blackish thing.”

“In the ocean?”

“Yes. In the ocean.” I pop my hands on my hips.

“Alana, you know there are dark shadowy things all over down there: sea otters, sea lions, dolphins, whales even. We have octopi, giant squid, and all types of fish.”

“See! And I didn’t want to hit it.”

His grin is so big it pops both his dimples and scrunches up those adorable lines next to his eyes.

“These animals navigate in the water. They will swim around you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. You won’t hit one. Not unless it’s already so sick it’s dying.”

“It would have been nice if you had told me before placing me behind a wheel.”

“Point taken.” He smiles again.

My belly literally flutters, like little happy fairies waking up and flitting around. They’re the Stevens fan club of fairies and there must be hundreds of them.

“Okay, so …” He gestures toward the steering wheel.

“Okay. Let’s do this,” I agree.

The second time behind the wheel, I do much better. Stevens lets me drive for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, and then he takes over.

“Joel has never had me in a life jacket because his boat is over twenty feet long,” I tell him as we switch places so he can drive.

“I never saw the need before today.” He winks again. Cheeky man.

We ride along in silence for a little while as the shoreline comes into view, breaking the spell. Only, unlike Cinderella, I apparently prefer my life of pumpkins, mice, and simple living. I’m in no hurry to resume princess status.

I look over at Stevens, he’s got this peaceful resting face, scanning the horizon, one hand loosely controlling the steering wheel. He catches me staring and smiles over at me.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks.

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