Chapters (16)
I loved it.
And I loved Noah. But, man, I so wanted to beat him right then.
I was pulling ahead; he was about two steps behind me when I dared to glance back at him. The sand was becoming damper and more solid—I could win this race, easy. My feet were almost at the water’s edge now too…
…until Noah breezed past and spun to face me from the water, smirking, the sea around his ankles. I stopped in my tracks at the shore, shocked at losing at the very last second.
“No fair.” I pouted.
He laughed provokingly. “I won fair and square, Shelly,” he said teasingly. “You owe me.”
I took a couple of steps, the water licking my feet. “Ah, but we never agreed on a bet.”
He scoffed, still smirking. “We both know there’s a big fat IOU with your name signed at the bottom,” he teased. “Although we also both knew you were going to lose, so it wasn’t really much of a race.”
“I nearly won.”
“Sure,” he said, in such a way that I started to wonder if he’d let me pull ahead and think I could win.
I felt a scowl tugging at my forehead, but then I smoothed my expression to give him a small, flirty smile. I stepped closer until there was only about an inch of space between us, my arms slipping round his shoulders.
I saw the tiny twitch of his eyebrow going up expectantly, waiting for me to kiss him, and that trademark arrogant smirk of his slipped onto his face again. I went up on my toes, leaning in slowly…
…then shoved him as hard as I could.
It only worked because I managed to catch him so off guard. It was still like pushing a brick wall, though—a brick wall with some seriously hot abs. His eyes widened a little and his mouth formed a tiny circle as he toppled back, off balance, caught totally unaware.
He landed with a massive splash!
The cold water soaked him completely, and I cringed, shrieking a little, as it splattered me wet and cold too.
“That,” I told him, “is for throwing me in the pool on our first night here.”
Laughing, Noah pushed himself up and shook the water from his hair.
“Sounds fair.” And he pulled me into a kiss, one that sent sparks through me, giving me that mind-blowing fireworks feeling.