Page 59 of Villainous Summer

“B-U-I. Boating under the influence. BUI.”

A brow raised, I assessed him. “That’s responsible.”

He shrugged. “Well, I’m an adult. Plus, I have precious cargo.”

He winked at me, and a flutter flared between my legs. If I were reading it in my historical romances, I would have used “loins.”

He handed me another drink.

As I took it, I noticed it was my favorite flavor of a small craft brand. This wasn’t one you could buy at any store but would have to drive to the next town and get it from their taphouse.

“I bet you say that to all the girls.” I took a sip of the huckleberry-flavored drink.

“Only the ones I can’t stop thinking about.” A grin crossed his lips, a playful glint in his eyes.

I gulped the cold drink, trying in vain to cool myself down from the heat of his gaze.

“Don’t play with me, Van. I’m serious. I’m not some silly girl for you to jerk around.”

“Who’s playing?” He leaned forward. His feet planted on the floor of the boat, his elbows on his knees as he grew serious. “Seems to me you’re the one in charge here. Walking onto my boat in those little shorts and that smart mouth that’s begging to be kissed.”

“I don’t want to kiss you. What happened the other night was a—”

He shook his head at me, tsking. “No, we won’t do that. No lying to me, okay?” He moved to the bench and leaned over me.

Moving my ankles from the bench, he placed them on the floor, my feet touching his upper thigh.

I should’ve told him to move away from me. This was perilous. I wouldn’t want him this way, not now. But I couldn’t bring myself to back down.

I tugged my shorts down over my legs and tossed them onto the pilot seat. My eyes bored into his as he watched me, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a small grin.

I shrugged. “Okay. No lying. Got it.”

Leaning closer, he braced a hand on each side of me. My head fell back against the padded rest. Poised over me, his thick thighs wedged between my own, his breath hot on me.

Only my thin suit and his board shorts separated us.

My face inches from his, I stared into his determined eyes as he said, “I mean it. Promise me that, whatever happens, we won’t lie to each other.”

I couldn’t think of words. His muscles flexed between my legs as he held himself over me.

“Now, if you don’t want to tell me something, that’s fine. Tell me it’s none of my business, and that will be it. But don’t lie.”

“Same for you.” My words were more solemn. “You don’t tell me what I want to hear. Or whatever it would take to get into my pants.”

He threw his head back, laughing, the long cords of his throat straining.

Against the blue and white of the sky, he looked like something out of an early aughts ad campaign for an All-American clothing brand.

“Sunshine, I wouldn’t have to say a word to get into your pants.”

Most women would giggle at that, bat their lashes, blush. But I squared my shoulders, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

The twinge between my legs manifested into a ticking bomb. I resisted the urge to close my legs. I wasn’t about to give him that satisfaction.

“You think I’m that easy?”

An edge of challenge laced my tone.

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