Page 41 of Best Frenemies

I peek over my shoulder and realize we’re pretty far away from the coast already, and the people on the beach are still becoming smaller by the second. Mack’s college girl fan club, specifically, is watching us intently, but I can’t make out the expressions on their faces.

“Uh…like, how far are we talking?” I ask. “Because I prefer to visit Mexico by plane, you know. Plus, I don’t even have my passport.”

“Not too much farther,” he says through a chortle and stops paddling to reach behind him and gently squeeze my leg. “I promise we’ll be safe, okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Okay.” I take one last look at his groupies and turn back toward him in front of me. “Truth be told, the open ocean might be safer for me anyway. I don’t think the Barbie triplets are going to be too thrilled with me when I come back from riding shotgun in your kayak.”

“The Barbie triplets?” he questions with a laugh. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you. I was supposed to give you their number yesterday, but then I kind of took a trip to Looptyville.” I laugh lightly. “Seeing as I’m riding with you now, they probably think I withheld on purpose.”

Mack snorts. “College girls?”

“Uh-huh,” I mutter, wondering if the idea of younger women excites him. I absolutely loathe the fact that the thought of it makes me feel a little jealous.

“Huh,” he huffs, paddling us farther with swift strokes. “And here I thought you were the only one pulling attention from the college crowd this week.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Yesterday. Some college guys in the ocean couldn’t stop talking about how you were ‘fuck me’ hot.”

“Say what?” I practically chortle. “You are joking.”

“Nope,” he says confidently. “I heard it with my own two ears.” My heart trills in my chest in the silence of his pause. “They’re not wrong, by the way. Though I don’t know that I’d use the same descriptors.”

Mack Houston thinks I’m hot?

I don’t know if it’s the heat or the Vicodin I took this morning, but my heart feels all wonky inside my chest. Like it doesn’t know if it wants to speed up or slow down.

I swallow hard against the weird sensation and make myself take a long, slow breath of air in through my nose and blow it out through my mouth.

“Almost there,” Mack updates as he continues to move us skillfully through the water, conversation about the college co-eds long forgotten. Evidently, he’s about as interested in those girls as I am.

We’reveryfar out at this point, the coast feels like it’s forever away, but the water is calm and there are no boats disturbing our path. Truthfully, it’s almost serene being out here like this. Normally, my overthinking tendencies would have me on edge, but for some reason, I just feel calm. Relaxed, even.

Because you trust him.

“Okay,” Mack says and rests his paddle in his lap. “We’re here.”

“Uh…” I look around and see nothing but water. “This is what you wanted to show me?”

“Not exactly.” He grins at me over his shoulder and then pulls his cell phone out of the pocket of his board shorts. With a few taps to the screen, the opening beat of an all-too-familiar song starts to play loudly from the speakers.

“You brought me out here to listen to Donna Summer?”

He shakes his head and flashes a wink at me.

“Okay…?” I retort on an incredulous laugh. And I almost joke that this is how people end up on faded “Missing” posters, but I am rendered speechless when I spot a school of five or six dolphins swimming across the water not too far from our kayak.

“That’swhat I wanted to show you.”

Their silver fins sparkle and shine beneath the sun as their bottlenoses slice through the water with ease. Seeing them this up close is better than any nature documentary I’ve ever seen.

Frankly, I’m floored.Speechless.And it takes a good ten seconds before I can even form words at the sight.

“Oh my God, Mack,” I whisper, and my hand moves to cover my mouth of its own accord. “How did you know they would be out here?”

“I just happened to be playing a little music on my phone yesterday when I was paddleboarding, and it was like they could sense the vibrations or something. It’s either that or they’re huge Donna Summer fans.”

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