Page 14 of Faking It at Sea

I’d thought about it. Hell, I’d even had it tucked away in my suitcase for about twenty minutes before chickening out and putting it back in my nightstand. Just the thought of some random TSA agent digging through my things and pulling out the hot pink massager made me cringe.

“Overheating already?” Sutton asked.

I pressed the backs of my icy fingers to my flushed cheeks. “No.” When he arched a brow, I added, “Just a little nervous.”

“Does this tour use four-wheelers or side-by-sides?”

“Four-wheelers,” I answered, grateful for the change in topic.

“Have you driven one before?”

“Yeah, about a million times. That’s what we usually use to get around at emergency staging sites.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Maneuverability and stability. It makes sense.” Then his expression turned curious. “But if it’s not the ride, what are you nervous about? It’s not spending time with me, is it?”

I coughed out a startled laugh. “What? No.”

Okay, maybe a little, but he didn’t need to know that, let alone the real reason for the blush currently burning my cheeks.

His hesitant smile was impossibly charming. “You sure about that?”

I scanned the busy area around us for any excuse to avoid answering his question and sent up a silent thank you to theuniverse when I spotted the sign for the ATV tour company. “That’s where we need to go.”

Sutton sucked air through his teeth with a knowing look in his eyes, but he didn’t call me out.

Of course, the universe wasn’t entirely on my side. When the tour guides were lining us up next to our assigned four-wheelers, after giving us each a bright red, ill-fitting helmet, I was reminded I’d booked this trip with the hope that Missy would join me. Which meant I’d set it up so we’d both be riding the same machine.

Sutton took the news in stride, complete with a charming smile, but I didn’t miss the way his body stiffened.

“We don’t have to do this,” I offered. The trip was bought and paid for. We could bow out and the tour company wouldn’t be out anything.

His eyebrows lifted. “You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who would give up on an adventure at the first sign of discomfort.”

“I’m not,” I countered. “I just expected to be taking this trip with Missy. Or alone.”

“And the thought of being that close to me is enough to make you want to bail?”

Yes.

“No.”

His warm laugh sent a prickle of awareness through me. “Look, if you’re not comfortable riding with me, I get it. You can take the tour by yourself, and I’ll find something else to do until you get back. At least that way it’ll look like we spent the morning together.”

It sounded like the perfect solution, but I caught myself shaking my head before he’d even finished giving me the out. “It’ll be fine. We said were going to do this, so we should do it.”

“I don’t want to pressure you,” he said, looking concerned.

I glanced around, taking in the other couples climbing on their four-wheelers. Except it wasn’t all couples. There was a dad and his daughter. A teenage girl and her younger brother.

It’ll be fine, I repeated to myself.

I pulled in a deep breath. “We’re going, and I’m driving.”

His smirk both soothed and irritated me. “Is that so?”

“Take it or leave it.”

“You like that ultimatum, don’t you?”

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