Page 8 of Operation Prom Date
Kate
My shoulders and arms ached, and my butt wasn’t doing so great, either, although the soreness there resulted more from the hard seat. At least the steady breeze wafting across the water kept me from turning into a sweaty mess, and the streaky white clouds made cool patterns in the vibrant blue sky.
One nice thing about starting school at the butt-crack of dawn was that we got out early enough to enjoy the sunny afternoons, but now I worried it meant Cooper planned on going until nightfall, and I so wasn’t going to make it.
“How long…” Row and a puff of air. “Do you usually…” Row, exhale. “Train for?”
“As long as possible,” Copper replied from his spot in front of me, not even short of breath, which made me think he could go for a really, really long time.
Whoa, that came out wrong.Even though it’d only been in my head, I felt the need to mentally add that I meant rowing. Probably because I’d already accidentally admitted to noticing he was ripped, and that wasbeforeI saw the way the muscles in his arms and back moved as he worked those oars. He’d made that joke about what he could do with his ripped-ness, but seeing it in action…Well, I thought playing football showed off guys’ muscles rather effectively, but rowing was a whole different ballgame.
Or a differentnot ballgame, as it were. I snort-laughed at that thought, and then my breathing was off, and my oars slapped at the surface instead of gliding through the water like they needed to.
“We’re getting off pace,” Cooper said, the gruffness in his voice drifting over his shoulder.
“Yeah. Newsflash: I haven’t done this for a while, and it was never a timed, race kind of thing.” I gave up on pushing the oars through the water and hooked the ends of the handles under my arms, using them to rest on and catch my breath.
“Hmm.” Cooper glanced at his watch. The watch I wanted to throw in the water, because he reset it and shouted out times every few minutes that meant nothing to me, but he didn’t seem very happy with them, which made me feel like I was failing.
Who knew that someone who strolled around like they didn’t have a care in the world could transform into someone so serious so quickly? He should time that attitude flip, because it was fast enough to win any race.
“I hoped we’d make better time,” he said, and I fought the urge to flop onto the floor of the boat for a quick nap.
“Well, I hoped there’d be less rowing and more relaxing and getting a tan.”
“That would hardly help me win the race.”
With him facing forward, clearly he wasn’t getting that I was only kidding—I mean I did hope that, but I definitely didn’t expect it, and hello, if that were my main goal, I would’ve worn shorts. I didn’t like not seeing his expressions, either, although now that he’d turned into Mr. Serious, it was probably better that way. “I wasn’t talking strategy, I was talking wants, and it was supposed to be a joke.”
Cooper finally spun enough for me to see his face, and his eyebrows were all scrunched up. “So you want to keep rowing?”
“I…” I blew my breath out past my lips, not caring that it made me sound like a horse. “I don’t know how much longer I can go—I’m actually questioning if I can even make it back to the shore, or if I should just start praying for a strong wind to help you.”
Cooper’s all-business expression remained, and he glanced at the damn watch again.
I nudged his hip with the toe of my shoe. “I’ll get faster and stronger, okay? It just might take me a week or so.” I had a feeling it’d take longer than that, but I didn’t want to kill any possible optimism that still might be hanging in the air, struggling to hold on to the idea that this might be fun.
“At least you don’t weigh much,” Cooper said.
“Thanks?”
“Actually, that might throw me off. If I get used to it, and then Jaden hops in, the extra weight will make me slower. Then again, he rows more effectively because of his years of experience, so…” I could practically see the wheels turning in his head.
“If you want, I can work up a story problem and then solve it so you can calculate exactly how much my weight and less experience will factor into your and his usual time.” Strands of my hair swirled in front of my face and I swept them off, vowing to bring my backup hair-tie tomorrow. “Of course if I die of exhaustion out here, I won’t be able to do it, and then I won’t be able to help. Mathematically, or with training. Just saying.”
Finally Cooper snapped out of it, his features softening. “I guess I shouldn’t let you die of exhaustion the first day. I’ll wait until right before Jaden is fully healed.”
“How very noble of you.”
He tipped his head and his dimples flashed in his cheeks. And then I might’ve checked out the muscles in his arms again, but only for a second—like a fraction of a second, really.
“You know, I didn’t think this through,” I said. “I pictured us facing each other. It feels like I’m hanging out with myself.”Well, myself and a super strong back, but I’m not going to focus on that, because it’s weird and why do I keep thinking about it?
Switching mental gears, I focused on the non eye-candy aspect. “But then I’d just have some mean rowing coach barking orders into my face.”
Cooper arched an eyebrow. “‘Mean,’ huh?”
I nodded. “Now I know why I skipped this sport. It had nothing to do with my lack of coordination. It was the barked orders and pressure to row until your arms fall off.”
