Page 65 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Her head whipped toward him. “I’m not falling for your pathetic attempt at reverse psychology, so don’t even start.”
“What? You think the gators can climb up the boat and hop on board? Even if they could, I’d fight ’em off for you. Remember how annoyed you are that I won’t let anything happen to you?”
She did this saucy head-tilt, pursed-lip combo. “No, it’s not the gators. I got over my fear of them long ago.” Her gaze drifted to the boat again and she bit her lip. “Have you even tested it? What if we get out on the lake, only to find it doesn’t float very well?”
Wow, her confidence in his skills was astounding.
Good thing he wouldn’t let a tiny thing like that discourage him. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Chapter Fifteen
Plumb crazy, that’s what this was.
She’d lost her mind because Tucker asked her to go for a ride in a beautiful boat he’d renovated.
At night.
With nothing but the moon and a mounted light that Addie had thought would be a lot brighter.
They pushed off from the shore, and she longingly eyed the solid ground as it drifted away, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.
For a boy, nonetheless.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like boats. It was that she didn’t care for the murky water and entire ecosystem taking place underneath her feet.
Including gators—yeah, she was a liar, liar pants on fire when she’d denied that factored into her firsthell noreaction.
Not that she’d admit that to Tucker. Everyone round these parts rambled on and on about how people weren’t an alligator’s first choice of a meal. That went to amphibians, birds, fish, and small mammals like rabbits and raccoons.
All fine and well, but she didn’t want to be theirlastchoice that they forced themselves to eat anyway, the way she did with Mom’s fake cauliflower potatoes.
Even swimming holes people claimed were fine sent her internal alarm screeching, and she preferred pools with water so clear you could see to the bottom.
Not this swampy lake water surrounding them on every side, and definitely not at night when she couldn’t see anything until they were right up on it.
Tucker thought she hated fishing. Much like an alligator making do with a human as a meal option, it wasn’t her number one pick for how to spend time, but she also felt it was tempting fate.
Catch a fish and see if a gator doesn’t come over and try to steal it while you’re reaching into the water for it. So fun!
But she’d been drunk on the drag of his callused fingertips.
The firing sparks had reignited when he’d wrapped his hand around hers, and she couldn’t tell if they’d been friendly touches or more, and both terrified her.
There was so much at stake, and he was one of her very best friends, and yet she swore that earlier today on the football field, right after she’d tackled him, that she’d felt…
You were straddling him. He probably couldn’t help it.
She’d been so mad at him for treating her like she was fragile, but now that her temper had cooled, a different type of heat rushed through her body.
She glanced at him, so comfortable and confident behind the wheel of a boat he’d redone with his own two hands, the wind stirring his hair. Her heart skipped a couple of beats and desire pooled low in her stomach.
Yep. I’ve definitely lost my mind.
Keeping a hand tightly wrapped around the top of the windshield, she tipped onto her toes and surveyed the spotlighted water.
“Havin’ fun yet?” Tucker asked as he slowed the boat, the engine going from a high-pitched buzz to a soft chug.
“So much fun that I think we should go back to shore. The boat didn’t sink, so yay, test run successfully completed.”
