Page 29 of The Trolley Kiss
I follow him down to the water. “I didn’t sleep good,” I mumble as an excuse.
He steps into the water, pushing the jet ski out a little ways. “Who’s fault is that?”
He pats the seat, motioning for me to get on. He practically lifts me out of the water, grabbing my hips and setting me on the seat. “It was your fault,” I bite back. “Stop playing with me.”
He hops onto the seat behind me, pressing his chest against my back and squeezing his thighs around me. He leans forward, turning the key. His breath is warm against my neck as he leans his mouth closer to my ear. “You were the only one playing with yourself last night, Addison.”
I shove my elbow back into his stomach. It barely budges, but he pretends it hurts anyway. “Ow,” he complains, but there is playfulness in his voice.
“Moving on,” I say, wrapping my hands around the handles. “Show me how to actually drive this thing before I end up killing us both.”
“Easy now,” he laughs as he points to the ignition switch. “I always thought you were a grump in the morning because you were at work, but I see that also rolls into the weekends.”
“Being around you is the only other common denominator,” I say, rolling my eyes.
He grabs my right hand, placing it over the accelerator. “You just say the word, princess, and I’ll make all that stress go away.”
He wraps his arms around my waist, fully pressing himself against me. “Press down slowly. You do it too fast and you’re gonna flip us.”
Nerves actually build in my stomach. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. I’m not the best at operating heavy machinery. I can just watch.”
“Addison.”
His voice eases my panic. “Deep breath in,” he says, placing his hand over mine again on the accelerator and pressing down just enough to get us moving.
“Oh God! We’re moving! Wait! How do I stop it?” I panic even though we’re only going about one mile per hour.
Declan laughs behind me while he shows me the brake, slowing us back down to a stop. “You want to try again by yourself this time?” he teases.
I squeeze the accelerator again, ignoring him. I eventually make it up to a speed that I think is fast. Declan, not so much.
“What do you mean? The speed dial was halfway up.” I try to defend myself while he laughs even harder.
“I could have taken a nap back here,” he jokes as he hops off and pulls me a little closer to the shore.
“It probably doesn’t go as fast when there’s two people. You have been heavily taking advantage of donut Fridays lately.”
“Says the girl who pumps, what was it? Six? Seven pumps of creamer in her coffee every morning?”
“We all have our weaknesses,” I mumble, turning my head to hide my smile.
His hand wraps around my thigh, bringing my attention back to him. “Scooch back.”
“What?” I ask even though I do exactly what he asks.
He hops back onto the front, grabbing my hands and wrapping them around his waist. “Proving you wrong is my weakness.”
???
“So what exactly happened out on the lake?” Mack asks as he plops down next to me on the boat, dropping his arm behind my shoulders.
Declan smirks from behind the steering wheel of the pontoon boat. “Yeah, Addison. What did happen?”
I scrunch my face at him. “You pushed me in.”
“You were asking for it.”
Mack drops his head back, laughing. “Damn, Addy, when you said you guys didn’t get along at work, I didn’t realize you meant actual violence.”