A Kiss Like This (14 page)

We fly through the tube, my arms wrapped tightly around Abby’s waist, hers securing us both to the tube. I grip her tight as we spiral down, her gasping squeals of delight with every plunge and turn we take in the dark tunnel.

Minutes—maybe only seconds—later, we shoot out into a shallow, waist-deep wading pool, water thrusting us out into the middle so the next tuber doesn’t nail us.

I reach up, squeezing the brim of my wet, backwards ball cap into shape, then begin paddling us out a little further.

We bob there for a few seconds before Abby cranes her head to look at me, embarrassed. “I guess I’ll just… get off.”

She hops down, the water pooling around her waist, and as she adjusts her bikini top, I readjust my hard-on.

Get off
.

Sounds about right.

~ Abby ~

The day has been amazing. Exciting. Blissful.

I’m floating down the lazy river with all the girls, while the guys are off doing… whatever they’re off doing. I haven’t seen Caleb since we went down that one ride together. Since he hopped down off the tube, scooped me out of the water and waded through it with me in his arms until the pool attendant made us leave the water slide dump zone.

I smile to myself and sigh, remembering Caleb’s arms tightened around my middle and how they continued to linger there even after we were shot out of the tunnel and into the wading pool, holding me against him. Brushing against my wet skin.

Double sigh
…

“What part of relaxing were they thinking about when they decided to put a damn
waterfall
in the middle of the
lazy
river? Lazy my ass.” Jenna’s voice breaks sarcastically into my daydream before she hops down out of her tube, walking it over to the edge of the manmade canal wall to stay dry. “A man must have designed this stupid ride.”

“This is freaking work,” someone else complains, joining her against the wall.

We all laugh good-naturedly, half of us getting soaked by the waterfall Jenna had taken pains to avoid. After we pass it, she climbs back on her yellow tube, smoothing her dip-dyed hair back into its sleek ponytail.

Once more, we’re drifting along contentedly, letting the current and a bunch of random kids float us around corners, through dripping caves, and over several rippling tide pools.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Chelsea asks lethargically, trailing her hand in the water as she bobs along, her question directed at Shelby.

Shelby lets out a yawn. “I was thinking game night? Or we could just hang out and relax; do a bonfire.”

A bonfire sounds awesome.

Not everyone agrees.

“I thought we were going out downtown,” Miles’s friend Angelica says with a frown, a shadow of displeasure marring her pretty face.

“Naw. Blaze and I were talking, and we didn’t think the downtown area here sounded like much of a nightlife. Too many little kids and tourists. Too many gift shops with souvenirs and not enough bars. So we thought we’d grill out and sit around the fire.”

“Sweet,” Molly says, paddling her feet and kicking up a small splash. Her thin gold ankle bracelet catches the sun shining through the overhead glass ceiling. “Wes and I love a good bonfire.”

We round a bend of the lazy river, arriving at the beach entry marking the end of the ride. I don’t immediately climb out of the tube like the rest of the girls. Instead, I let myself float idly by as the others stand and wade their way to the fake concrete shoreline.

My hands dip beside the tube, fingertips grazing the warm water, and I glance up to see Molly wading back toward me.

She paddles out in the shallow water, grabbing my yellow tube by the handle to steady me in place. “Hey,” she says. “How’s it going?”

I smile. “Good.”
Real
good.

“So, I heard there was some funny business going down in the living room this morning.”

“You’re not very subtle,” I tease.

“I wasn’t trying to be.” She splashes me with water and gives me a wide, toothy grin. “So? Give me a quick rundown.”

“We watched a movie last night after everyone went to their rooms, fell asleep, and he woke up grinding me with his morning wood. It was amazing. Satisfied?”

Molly lets out a loud laugh and splashes me again. “Holy crap, I didn’t think you’d actually tell me.”

“I think it’s easy with him because he’s like me. You know, we’re both… awkward. It’s not intimidating.”

Molly bounces up and down in the water next to me, still holding the tube. “Plus, he’s easy on the eyes.”

“Plus, he’s easy on the eyes,” I agree, throwing my head back and letting it rest on the tube. Staring at the ceiling for a few silent minutes, I let out another long, content sigh and dramatically cover my eyes with my forearm as I float peacefully in the concrete lagoon. “The gap in his teeth is divine. It’s one my favorite things about him. Swoon!”

“It
is
?” a deep voice asks beside me, the low rumble laced with amazement.

My eyes fly open and my body jolts, the motion so abrupt that along with the small waves from the lazy river, the gesture tips the tube and dumps me ass-over-teakettle into the water.

I go under and come up sputtering, tipping my head back into the water to get the hair out of my eyes before rising to a stand.

Why, why,
why
is this happening to me!

The water is waist deep, and we’re in it alone.

My head whips around, frantically searching for Molly, whose bikini-clad figure is quickly retreating out of the wading area. With a jaunty little wave, the brat leaves me stranded to fend for myself.

“Caleb!” Water drips from my nose, and I wipe it away, mortified. “Where did you come from?”

He points to the opening of a water ride not thirty feet away in the opposite direction, that’s shooting large quantities of rushing water and guests out of its tunnel to the same area we’re standing in now.

He’s gloriously shirtless, water dripping from his seriously powerful chest, wearing that backwards ball cap and biting his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling with his teeth.

He couldn’t
be
any hotter right now.

I lied before when I said he wasn’t intimidating. A big fat lie, because seeing him standing there soaking wet…
Guh!

“I think that was the last ride. Everyone is going to start getting ready to head back,” he says, stepping a little closer. “Unless you want to go down one more time?”

“I’m good.” Good, but dying inside from my earlier proclamation about his teeth.
Dying
. “We can go.”

He reaches out and grabs my tube, which had begun drifting away. I can’t help it; I watch his powerful biceps flex as he retrieves it, my blue eyes assessing him appraisingly when his ripped muscles coil inside his powerful arms.

Don’t even get me started on the rest of his body. Or the dimpled indentations in his back, above the waistband of his swim trunks.

I swallow and wipe the water out of my eyes, giving him a weak smile when he starts back toward me, clutching his tube and now mine.

***

Cecelia:
Molly just LEFT you in the lazy river with him? That tricky little matchmaker!!! This is the SECOND time she’s tried to fix her friends up. Although, I must say, her success rate is 1:1

Abby:
I did everything in my power not to hyperventilate or nervously giggle from the sight of Caleb in nothing but his swim trunks. Swim trunks and a baseball hat. OMG!

Cecelia:
I’ll have to take your word for it. Totally adorable that you went down a water slide together. Lucky duck, going to the water park.

Abby: Quack, quack…

CHAPTER 16

Caleb

“I have an idea,” Miles announces after the last of the dinner dishes are put away and everyone is gathered in the kitchen of Bear Claw. “Let’s play a drinking game.”

Some people groan, others cheer, because let’s face it, none of us are above juvenile fun, even at twenty-one years old.

“Which drinking game?” Cubby wants to know. “I brought my beer pong paddles.”

Blaze rolls his eyes. “This isn’t a
frat
party, Cubs. Let’s keep it classy but make it more interesting.”

“Like strip poker?”

Shelby laughs. “Not
that
interesting…”

“And since when is strip poker classy?” Molly snorts.

“What about Spin-the-Shots?” Angelica says from a chair in the corner, her dark eyes scanning the room. Rising, she walks to the center island, hips sashaying, and grabs a nearby beer bottle, setting it in the center of the kitchen counter. “You take both liquor and non-alcoholic beverages and put them in shot glasses. Then, you arrange them in a circle, and in the middle of that circle you put your spin bottle.”

“
Laaaame
…” Cubby groans, disappointed.

“I’m not done
explaining
it, Cubby.
God
.” Angelica skewers him with an icy glare and continues her explanation. “As I was saying, everyone gets a chance to spin. You drink the shot or choose someone around the table to make out with.”

“Who wants to play?” Shelby asks. “Show of hands.”

The majority of hands shoot up.

Weston grins and grabs Molly by the waist. “I’m in the mood for a sloppy make-out session.”

“Why do some of the shots have to be non-alcoholic?” Miles asks.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?”

Jenna rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, fine. We’ll make them
all
liquor. Are you happy?”

Cubby grins at her, wiggling his eyebrows seductively. “I’ll be happy when my tongue is down your throat.”

“
Gross
,” Molly whispers in mock horror at their display.

It takes a half hour, but we’re finally setup in the living room, the couches and recliners pushed to the far recesses of the room, with the big square coffee table in the middle. On the coffee table are two dozen shot glasses containing various boozes—dead center, an empty beer bottle.

We all take seats, crowding as best we can around the coffee table, barely fitting but not giving a shit.

“I’ll go first,” Blaze announces. “Since I’m the host.”

This earns him a few chuckles, and he steps forward, leaning across the table to spin the beer bottle. It only goes halfway around, landing on a clear liquid I assume is vodka.

“I’ll drink the shot. Bottoms up, dick lickers!” he announces before tipping the shot glass to his lips and downing it in one swallow. The glass slams back down on the table with a loud clatter, glass against glass. “Boom!”

“Oh, jeez,” Molly groans, amused. “You sure showed that shot who was boss, Blaze.”

“Damn straight I did.” He sizes her up. “Maybe next time I won’t take a shot. I’ll claim… a kiss!”

Molly crosses her arms and shakes her head with a laugh when he puckers his lips her way. “Forget it, buddy.”

Blaze may be licking his lips at Molly suggestively, but he quickly turns and lunges at Shelby, knocking her to the ground and pouncing on top of her. “Get off me, you idiot.” Shelby giggles as Blaze gives her neck a few playful nips with his teeth.

“
Okayyy
…” Angelica, the party pooper, huffs. “Guys, quit screwing around.” She puts the bottle upright on the table. “Chelsea, since you’re sitting next to Blaze, you can go next. We’ll just go in order around the table.”

Chelsea nods, moving to the table and giving the bottle a spin. “Ew, gross, that looks like the Goldschlager. I’m gonna have to steal a kiss, from…” Her voice trails off and her eyes dart around the room, passing over Stephan. “Weston! Come here, you freakin’ panty melter.”

“He is
so
a panty melter,” Jenna agrees.

Weston blushes and shuffles to the other side of the table, puckering his lips theatrically for Chelsea. The entire room erupts into fits of laughter as the two kiss briefly, awkwardly pressing their lips together before wiping their mouths afterwards in mock disgust.

“Ew, get off. You repulse me.” Chelsea pushes him away by the chest with a wink.

“Yuck.” Weston makes sputtering sounds, returning to a bright red Molly.

After Chelsea, it’s Stephan’s turn. He grabs the shot, pounds it down, then spins around, grabbing Chelsea by the shoulders and sticking his tongue down her throat. Cubby does the same when he’s up, drinking his shot and then pulling Jenna playfully to the ground with his hulky body.

Spin-the-Shots is a full-body contact sport. Who knew?

“Kiss me, you sexy bitch,” Cubby teases Jenna, yanking her to his broad chest. She tips her chin up and lets him devour her mouth right in front of the entire room.

Breathlessly, when they come up for air, Jenna puts a hand to her lips. “Wow. That was…
whew
!” She fans her face with her free hand.

That’s all the encouragement Cubby needs, and his meaty arm snakes around her waist, pulling her into his side and planting a loud, wet kiss on her temple. “That’s the Cubby Effect,” he informs her loudly. “Pleasing the ladies since 1993.”

Everyone groans.

Molly goes next, taking the shot, much to the disappointment of her adorning boyfriend. She is followed by Weston, who has us all keeled over laughing when he kisses a sputtering, indignant Cubby. After his turn, Miles grabs a revolted Shelby, planting a wet kiss on her disapproving, compressed lips. Jenna, who doesn’t even bother to spin the bottle for her turn, locks lips once again with Cubby.

They continue making out, leaning over the coffee table, until Angelica declares, “Hey, knock it off already, you two. It’s my turn!”

A knot of unease forms in the pit of my stomach as her bottle spins and spins, landing on vodka. She glances up, a sly grin across her perfectly shaped mouth. “I’m claiming a kiss,” she says, staring straight at me from across the table. “Caleb.”

I shake my head and cross my arms. “I’m not kissing you,” I firmly disagree, crossing my arms over my chest stubbornly. She eyes me like a female lioness, stalking her prey.

“Why not?”

“You
know
why not.” Because I can barely tolerate being in social situations to begin with, let alone showing PDA to someone I’m even remotely interested in. No way in
hell
am I going to kiss someone else in front of Abby.