Page 59 of Places I've Never Been

The strip of white masquerading as a swimsuit flossed Tina’s now slightly pink butt cheeks as she stormeddown the pier.

Cooper swore under his breath and took off after her. “Tina, wait!”

Mattie pulled her life vest off and handed it to Bayo. “Thank you so much, Bayo. I had a fantastic time.”

“My pleasure, Miss Mattie. Any time you want to ride, please stop by. There will always be a ski waiting for you.”

Mattie beamed at their guide. “I’ll do that.”

They started walking slowly down the pier to where the rest of the band waited for them, giving Cooper and Tina space by unspoken agreement. From the wild arm gestures and the way Tina stomped as she walked, their conversation wasn’t going well.

“He’s such a sweet man,” Mattie said. “Why does he go out with women like that?”

Adam shrugged. “He loves strong women, but he gets confused on where strength ends and bitchiness starts.”

“What’s the big freaking deal, they were making outanyway,” Tina shouted. “I want to go back to the room, Cooper. Now.”

Adam cringed at Tina’s use of the word “anyway.” If Mattie caught the meaning behind that, he was toast.

Tina spun on her heels and stomped toward one of the golf carts.

“Oh my God, she didnotjust do that.” Mattie spun around and started walking the other way as if she were going back out on the Jet Skis. “She told them we…we…oh my God.”

Mattie was more worried about the news of their kiss getting to the guys than she was about the implication that the entire day had been staged to get the two of them to do exactly what they did. Relief washed through him.

“Mattie, wait. Ignore her.” He ran to get in front of Mattie before she made it all the way to the skis and tookoff.

“What a spiteful, selfishbitch!” Mattie glared at the retreating golf cart.

“Total, complete bitch,” he agreed. “We should take her out on the boat so we can shove her off it.”

Mattie’s lips twitched. “No we shouldn’t.”

“She’d deserve it. She needs to cool off. Come on, let’s go.”

He slowed down as they reached the waiting group of guys so that Mattie got there first. From over her shoulder, he glared at them and dragged his index finger across his throat to indicate exactly what he’d do to each and every one of them if they mentioned the kiss.

LT pressed his lips together and blinked innocently at them.

“Hi, you guys. How was the cave?” Mattie asked.

Brandon grinned. “It’s really cool. You guys should go see it. Loads of coral, and a little hidden den inside to, uh, hide in.”

“How were the turtles?” Flynn’s smile was so wide it would crack his face if he didn’t rein it in.

“They are so amazing,” Mattie said. “You all really should have come with us. And we made a good start on the second song. We can go over it now if you want.”

Behind her, Adam shook his head.

“Uh, I’m supposed to meet Malika in a few minutes for a horse ride. How about tomorrow?” LT said.

“Yeah, it was a long day, and I need a shower,” Brandon said.

“Yeah, you do.” Flynn pushed Brandon away from him. “I’m surprised the sharks didn’t come after you on the way back.”

“A shower sounds great. Tomorrow, then.” Mattie said. She turned to the golf carts and hesitated.

There were only two left, but each would seat four people including the driver.

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