Page 20 of Until Forever

I raised my brows. “And where might that be?”

He cocked his head to the side, hesitating. “Well…you have to admit. You and Lana…”

“Admit what about me and Lana?”

“Oh, come on,” he smirked.

The longer I stared back at him cluelessly, the more he shrugged and started to stammer.

“You come on. What the hell are you acting so weird about?”

“Okay, if I’m being honest here…I did always wonder why you two never hooked up in high school. And now that she’s back and you two are working on this marina together…” He waved his hands and flashed a suggestive look.

It still took me longer than it probably should have to piece together what he was saying, and when I finally did, I thought I had to be mistaken.

“You think there’s something going on between us?” I asked incredulously.

My voice raised enough to reach the rest of the guys, which made them laugh even harder.

“Now I understand what’s so funny,” I said, shaking my head. “Because that’s the most hilarious thing I’ve heard in weeks. You know damn well that woman hates me.”

“Did you ever ask yourself why?” Derek asked. “Maybe you were a little too slow to make a move, and it offended her. I can’t say I blame her…with the way you chase after every other woman in town. It never made any sense to me why you didn’t go after the one you actually should have.”

It didn’t need to make sense to him, because it made perfect sense to me. For one, I didn’t want to marry some girl right out of high school like he did. I wanted time to roam and be free on my own before settling down. And even if I had been so impatient to couple up with someone for the long run, Lana Miller would have never gone for me. If she was attracted to me at all, which I highly doubted was ever the case, she would have had a fling with me at most, then took off to LA just the same, leaving me brokenhearted.

I had managed to avoid ever having my heart broken like that, and I intended to keep it that way. That meant staying away from women who I knew were too good for me. Women like Lana Miller. Or, maybe only her…since I had never really met any other woman I felt that way about.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told Derek as I opened the cooler and started tossing some cans into my insulated lunch box. “I can’t read Lana’s mind, so I have no clue why she hates me, but I can assure you it has nothing to do with having any romantic interest in me.”

“Hmm, I see,” he nodded thoughtfully. “I guess that’s why you always manage to get under her skin like you do. For no good reason.”

“I get under her skin because I can be a pain in the ass, and because everyone gets under her skin. She’s not exactly a people person. Have you forgotten your phone conversation with her before we made this deal?”

“But she did make the deal,” he argued. “Eventually, she came around. Not to me, but to you. And now she’s waiting for you down there on the bank. You’re about to sit down and have some beers together…”

“We’re business partners,” I defended.

“Okay,” he smirked, wrinkling his chin. I could tell he wasn’t buying it.

“Think what you want,” I grumbled. “But if you hear shots fired or the sound of a man tied to big rocks being tossed into the lake, just do me a favor and come save me. Will ya?”

They all erupted again, cackling like hyenas as I snatched up the cooler and some towels. I climbed back into the kayak to head down the lake to where Lana was waiting, muttering under my breath the whole way.

Derek had officially lost his mind if he thought anything could ever happen between me and her. And so had the rest of them.

I pulled up to the shore next to the big tree trunk and started unloading our stuff, then tossed a beer and a towel in her direction.

“Thanks,” she said, gracefully catching both the towel and beer in one swoop.

“Consider it your victory beer,” I told her, taking the seat next to her. “Seriously, you really did move like a beast out there on the water.”

“The balance and strength you need for kayaking isn’t really so different from surfing,” she replied.

I studied her for a moment, remembering again how drop-dead gorgeous she was. Imagining her surfing some big waves in the ocean? That only made her a hundred times hotter.

“It’s crazy to think of you out there doing that kind of thing,” I admitted. “Surfing. I’d like to see that some time.”

“I’d show you on my phone, but it’s all the way back at the tent on site.”

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