Page 33 of Winging It with You

How mortifying.

Both Asher and I leap to our feet. Gratitude for our lost-at-sea adventure being over has quickly replaced any momentary embarrassment from having to be rescued in such a dramatic manner.

Standing front and center of our mid-ocean extraction is Jo, a worried crease growing between her brows even though she appears to be doing everything in her power to hold back a smile. “Seriously?” she yells, as we are thrown a rope by a rather annoyed-looking guardsman. “The Argentinian coast guard?”

Asher is pulled up over the side of the boat while several other members of our ragtag rescue crew secure our sailboat to the side of theirs. A rough hand then reaches for mine, pulling me up as well and delivering me next to a waiting Jo.

“We were worried about you two idiots,” she says, pulling usboth in for a hug the moment we are safely standing on the deck. “What the hell happened?”

Asher and I exchange glances.

“Weren’t you the one who wanted chemistry?” I say as she grabs both sides of my face, shaking her head. “Well, chemistry happened.”

“Mm-hmm,” she mutters, a sly little grin returning to her face. She lets go of her mama-bear grip on me and pulls out her tablet. Clearly, she’s already begun teasing the whole ordeal online, because when she pulls up our social media feed and points out that #Thasher is trending, clip after clip of Asher and me sitting side by side on the boat appear on the screen. In more than one instance, expertly altered memes of the infamousTitanicshot of Rose and Jack floating on the door with our faces Photoshopped onto their chilled bodies fill the frame, leaving me both in awe and utterly terrified of the power of the internet.

“Wait…how?” I ask, wondering where this salvaged footage came from.

“The camera set up on your boat was streaming video back to our computer. So, we were able to get a nice little chunk of today’s challenge up until you two threw it overboard—Arthur’s livid, as I’m sure you expected,” she adds, and I can’t help but laugh. “Nice work, you two.” Jo nudges Asher with her hip, but he doesn’t pay her any attention—his eyes haven’t left mine, and for the first time, I feel like he’s made the intentional decision to be okay with someone else seeing him. Truly seeing the quirks and the scars and whatever it is that goes on behind those questioning eyes of his. In the middle of the ocean, where there was not a soul around but us, walls that had been sofirmly rooted by their foundations were lowered, even if momentarily.

Our boat speeds off back toward the shoreline where today’s challenge began. Asher’s eyes are on a constant scan of the horizon like I’d instructed earlier, and he’s bathed in the soft, pale glow of the moon’s light, every nook and crevice of this man now illuminated so clearly. The salty air fills our lungs, and for the briefest of moments, there’s no more hiding.

I can’t pinpoint thewhator thewhybut whatever curiosity or intrigue or even just baseline attraction I’ve felt toward the man I’m supposed to be dating is now inching its way toward an unignorable part of my brain.

The part that is starting to blur what is just for the show and what will break all our rules.

10

Asher

Mio Buenos Aires Hotel—Ballroom C

Buenos Aires, Argentina

“When we return, we’ll reveal the team America has decided to save.”

Camera one on Dalton still…and cut.

There were a lot of annoyed glares when Theo and I finally made it back to production’s staging area, where the rest of the contestants were waiting in various states of exhaustion under the bright production lights. Even Ellie looked like she was ready to strangle us. In fact, the only person who seemed at all concerned for our well-being was Jenn. She practically threw herself at us, angry-whispering how worried they’d all been.

Judging by the fact that Bianca and Jackson have been staring daggers at Theo and me since we stepped off the dock, I highly doubt that. From the safety of Jenn’s embrace, I have the urge to stick out my tongue at them. And when I do, I’m met with an award-winning eye roll from Bianca.

Dalton drones on and on, and I can’t help but steal glancesat Theo’s profile. He’s all smiles, per usual. It’s uncanny how the explosion I’d been bracing for after the whole rudder ordeal never came. How he never once allowed whatever frustration he was feeling, if any at all, to surface. He shifts his weight from foot to foot next to me, bored or anxious, or maybe planning his great escape from the personal hell I’ve inflicted upon him.

My chest tightens because as much as every relationship I’ve been in has conditioned me otherwise, Theo might just be the exception. Someone capable of not sweating the so-called small stuff. Who never goes to bed angry and would probably always kiss his partner goodnight.

He flexes his hand in mine as if he can read my thoughts, and the more I think about it, the more I believe Theo might have some superhuman ability to know what everyone around him is thinking and adjust his actions accordingly.

And then there is the kiss.

Well, thealmostkiss.

The kiss I didn’t know I wanted but now can’t stop thinking about. Theo’s big hand on my waist, pulling me tight against him. The way my mouth watered as it lingered in limbo waiting to connect with his. It was unexpected and entirely for the cameras—as he’d pointed out—but dear lord, it was hot as hell. And honestly,almostkissing Theo was unlike any otheralmostmoment I’ve ever had. Certainly not like kissing Clint, which surprisingly makes the whole thing even hotter.

Camera two, roaming. Camera one, back on Dalton.

My body is flooded with a new kind of energy—a raw, sensual, and curious buzzing that twists my stomach into knots and makes my brain do all sorts of mental gymnastics over how to get Theo’s hands back on my hips and his lips on mine. Forreal this time. I fail to remember when I’ve felt this big of a sexual urge for someone else. I sneak another glance at Theo before Dalton’s irritating voice floods the space around us.

“Welcome back, trekkers,” Dalton says directly into the camera in front of him. “Before the break, we recapped today’s challenge, which, unfortunately, wasn’t smooth sailing for all our competitors.” He looks directly at us as he issues yet another jab at Theo and me from behind a row of luminous veneers. “Let’s take a look at the leaderboard.”

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