Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mia
Ilet the boat’s rumbling motor fill the silence between Bower and me as I sat behind the windshield this time. I’d felt something on the dock just now. Maybe this could still work between us. The thought made me equal parts nervous and excited.
Bower was everything Archer wasn’t. He’d proved that again and again, and now again.
He wasn’t mad at me—at least not in the same way Archer would’ve been.
I would’ve gotten the silent treatment for days, whereas Bower had rescued me.
I’d caused the drama the other day, and still Bower hadn’t held it against me.
He might’ve still been upset, but he wasn’t about to take those feelings out on me.
We could talk like grown adults, like we’d always been able to talk, even when we were younger.
“Hold on,” Bower said from the driver’s seat.
I tried not to look over at him too many times on the way to the next bar.
The way he stood at the steering wheel, one hand on the wheel and the other on the gas, his eyes scanning the horizon.
He was very much in his element, and it had every molecule in my body buzzing.
I stood up to watch his landing. He was steering straight toward the shore of a sandbar in the middle of a lake.
There were boats already beached in a line, their passengers presumably at the straw-covered tiki shack in the middle of the small island.
I put my hand on the dash in front of me, bracing myself as Bower drove the boat straight into the sand.
Our bodies lurched forward before they rocked back, the boat losing its forward momentum.
Bower fell back into his captain’s chair right as I put too much weight on one foot. I tried to correct myself by crossing my other foot in front, but I’d already lost balance, my body making momentum of its own. My legs twisted underneath me, my knees bending.
“Ooph!” My ass hit something hard and warm.
I could smell him again. Cedarwood. I opened my eyes that had closed while I’d been falling.
Stupid reflexes. If I had fallen just a little to the right, I could have avoided his lap all together and fallen on the bottom of the boat behind his chair.
It would have been more painful but less embarrassing.
Bower had his arm wrapped around my waist. It was just a reflex to catch me. The hard length growing against my back was also just a reflex. I was a girl sitting on a guy’s lap. This was bound to happen. It was a natural response.
I sat there frozen for a second, feeling his tense body underneath me, his shaft still expanding along my hip. It still wasn’t done rising?
I stood up, brushing off my shorts that weren’t even dirty. Another reflex. A nervous one. I hadn’t meant to land on his lap. I hadn’t meant to make him feel that way, feel…that against me.
“Sorry,” I said, wincing. It felt like I’d invaded his privacy somehow, even though his body had welcomed me with an erection.
“That should stick for a little while.” Bower turned off the engine and pulled out the key.
He had an amused look on his face, like he was reveling in my embarrassment.
He adjusted himself in his shorts before he stuck the key into his pocket, looking along the sandbar we’d just pulled up to.
If he could pretend like that didn’t just happen, so could I.
The music was loud but good, a mix of classic bar songs and pop songs that were fun to dance to. People were dancing on the beach, celebrating that it was Thursday and it was sunny. What other excuse did they need? Like Bower had said, we only had so many summers.
The bar setup looked like a tiki bar with palm fronds on the roof and teakwood used to build the structure.
The entire bar looked like it could be rolled away.
It probably was during the winter months, carried away on a pontoon, but for now it was a perfect summer bar.
Chairs lined the beach, almost every one of them filled with people with drinks in their hands, an inordinate amount of pina coladas being served.
“Gill hangs out here?” I asked. It looked nothing like the bar we’d just left.
“The drinks are supposed to be good.” Bower shrugged before he leaned over and opened a compartment under the seats in the back of the boat.
I threw one leg over the side of the boat, ready to jump onshore and begin the search. Gill had better be here.
The crashing waves halted me. It was shallow water over here, but still water nonetheless, with sand just below. I watched the grains move back and forth with the pull of the water. My sandaled foot dangled over the edge. The likelihood of me jumping off the boat was becoming smaller and smaller.
“Here.” Bower held out a pair of yellow rain boots—the same type of boots from nine years ago that had protected my feet from the sand.
“How do you still…” I held them in my hands. The moment I touched them, it was like a vault had opened, all the memories of Bower rushing into me through the boots. He knew what I needed without being prompted. I never had to ask. He just knew. He knew me.
“Put them on,” Bower said.
I eagerly kicked off my sandals and pulled on the boots.
He jumped off the boat, water splashing as he landed. I leaned over the edge, anticipating the jump I’d have to make. The water was shallow, but was it shallow enough that it wouldn’t flood over into my boots? Bower waited for me, his arms extended.
I sat on the side of the boat, my boots hanging above the water, and let him help me.
He grabbed me under the arms and lifted me into the water.
My body crashed against his as he slowly lowered me down to the sandy bottom inch by inch, letting me feel every ridge and valley from his chest and down his torso.
I held my breath as I realized he could feel all my ridges and valleys as well.
I watched our bodies move against each other’s, my shirt riding up as I got closer to the ground.
Bower set me down gently, like I’d weighed nothing, my boots completely protecting my skin from the water and sand.
I pulled down my shirt quickly, looking away from Bower.
The bass of the speakers was thumping, vibrating my bones.
Girls danced on the beach in string bikinis and cutoff jean shorts.
The guys hung back, seated at the bar, a single elbow resting on the bar top as they turned to take in the view.
A large sign above the palm roof read The Sand Bar, an obvious name.
“Bower! Come over here!”
A male voice caught Bower’s attention. He grabbed onto my wrist, like he always did, and pulled me over to the bar, toward the voice that had called his name.
“I heard you were back. How come we haven’t seen you?” the man asked. He sat at the bar shirtless, in swim trunks and thong sandals. His tan skin told me he spent a lot of time in the sun, probably drinking at this bar.
“Hey, Josh. I’ve been busy with the resort,” Bower said. He was still holding my wrist.
I broke free of his grasp, pulling my wrist through the weakest point of his grip, between his thumb and fingers.
“Looks like you could use a drink,” Josh said. He called over the bartender before I could argue. Why was everyone buying us drinks? Bower tried to wave the bartender away, but Josh insisted on ordering us pina coladas. “What are you doing with Bower?” he asked me.
“He’s making me work on my vacation,” I said.
Bower rolled his eyes, using his entire head. “Hardly. Mia has enjoyed following me around since we were young.” He looked at me with a light in his eyes that wasn’t usually there.
The bartender delivered our pina coladas in plastic cups with a cherry on top. I took mine and greedily took a sip through the straw. It was cold and icy. Perfect for a hot day on the lake.
Bower left his drink on the counter of the bar. “We’re looking for my grandpa. Have you seen him?”
“No, I haven’t seen him here today,” Josh said.
We both let out a collective sigh.
Bower grabbed my wrist again and pulled me away from the bar. Josh held up his glass of beer toward us, and I did my best to do an “air cheers” as Bower was pulling me away.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“A friend,” he grumbled.
“Do all your friends buy you drinks?”
“Most of them do.”
“Mr. Popular,” I taunted.
Bower grunted an unintelligible response before he picked me up and set me on the bow of the boat.
I held on to my drink, keeping it upright as I landed in the seats.
The cherry in my drink bobbled slightly.
I took another sip once my rain boots hit the bottom of the boat.
Bower was right—they did have good drinks.
I lifted my boots onto the seat across from me, crossed my ankles, and leaned back, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face.
The resort was tie-dying T-shirts today—probably right at this very moment—all the cute kids running around with bottles of dye, their parents chasing them.
For once, I wasn’t sad I’d miss a resort activity.
This was not where I expected to be when I’d taken the paddleboat out.
I’d thought I’d paddle around the bay a few times, burn some of the guilt I was feeling out of my system.
It had never crossed my mind that I’d end up here, reluctantly hiding that I was having a great time with Bower, but now this was exactly where I wanted to be.
I took another sip as I watched Bower fling himself over the edge of the boat after he pushed us off.
He quickly made his way to the wheel, inserted the key into the ignition, and then paused.
I watched his jaw clench, accentuating his cheek bones, his chest stilling as he turned the key.
My toes spread in my boots as I prepared to go over and check on him.
I paused when, as soon as the boat started, Bower relaxed.