Page 63 of The Exception

She silently glared at him for another minute before threading her arm through Emma’s and pulling her back toward the cabin. Trav followed a few steps behind, listening as they talked about plans for the day, including waterskiing which he was excited about. It had been years since he’d done that and he was looking forward to being out on the water.

But mostly, he was looking forward to being anywhere Sonya was.

Twenty-five

Water activities had never really been Sonya’s thing. She much preferred sitting on the shore with a fruity mixed drink and a good book. So why hadn’t she stayed back at the cabin with Cat and Emma? Oh, that’s right. Because she’d somehow transformed into a sixteen-year-old who wanted to spend every free moment with her crush.

God, she needed help.

Said crush was still enjoying his turn on the water skis, and Sonya was certainly enjoying watching the show from behind her dark sunglasses.

Trav said it had been a long time since he’d water-skied, but you’d never know that from watching him out there. He was no expert by any means, but he handled the skis well.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason her eyes hadn’t left him the entire time he’d been in the water.

She’d known Trav had a nice body in abstract—by the way his clothes fit, by the way he’d felt when she’d practically climbed him like a tree during their kiss—but seeing it in all of its glory was something else completely. He was all lean muscle, defined in all the right places with a smattering of hair on his chest that she thought about running her fingers through.

He also had a few more tattoos across his shoulder blades, wings this time, and she wanted to find out the story behind them.

Tattoos, hard bodies, and hairy chests had become turn-ons for her and honestly, Sonya was starting to have a hard time recognizing herself.

“You watch him any harder, he’s going to spontaneously combust.”

Sonya blinked away from Trav’s abs and looked over to Dani who was sunbathing on the seat next to her.

“What are you talking about? I’m reading my book.”

She held up the paperback she was holding as if that proved her point, but Dani just chuckled.

“That page must be really interesting because you’ve been on it for the last ten minutes.”

Sonya sighed. There was no point in trying to hide it. Somehow Dani seemed to have a weird sixth sense about her current situation. Might as well go with it while Dylan was busy driving the boat and Josh and Adam were acting as watch at the other end.

“He’s… very nice to look at,” admitted Sonya in what was undoubtedly the understatement of the year.

“You can say it, Sonya. Now that you’ve seen him practically naked, you want to grab a handful and see how it feels.”

She swatted Dani with her book.It was a good thing the motor was loud enough that the guys couldn’t hear her.

“That’s not going to happen.” For the first time, Sonya felt a slight pull in her chest when she said that. Before, it was just a fact. Now, saying it out loud felt like a punishment.

“I know you have all these plans for how you see your life playing out, but what if he’s the exception?”

Dani adjusted her cleavage in her bikini and Sonya started to wish she’d packed something a little sexier than a plain, halter-top one-piece.

“That sounds like something Em would say.”

Dani shrugged. “I guess it’s sunk in over the years. Osmosis or something.”

A yelp followed by loud splashing and the boat slowing down pulled Sonya’s attention back to the water where she saw skis floating, but no Trav.

Oh no. Where is he? Is he okay?

Sonya’s heart pounded in her ears and she was about to jump up to look off the side when he popped up out of the water laughing like a little kid. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until it came rushing out.

Josh extended his hand to help Trav back onto the boat, laughing like they hadn’t just scared the crap out of her. “Man, that was an epic wipeout.”

Trav ran a hand through his wet hair and grinned. “It was pretty awesome, right?”

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