Page 64 of The Exception

Dylan made his way to the back of the boat and congratulated Trav with a high five after Josh and Adam described what had happened.

Sonya rolled her eyes. Only men would consider almost killing yourself on some damn water-skis “awesome.”

Dylan tugged Dani’s ponytail. “You’re up, Dani-pie.”

Dani rolled over on her stomach and settled in. “Nah. I’m good right here.”

Dylan pretended to wrestle her into the water while Dani threatened his life.

“You want to give it a go, Sonya?” Adam asked, ignoring their friends’ vaguely violent flirting.

Sonya groaned. “I’m starting to think that we need to plan a trip to Wintergreen this year considering how obsessed y’all are with skiing.”

There was no way that she was going out there. First, she’d never done it before and second, she’d have very little control of the situation once the boat started moving. Her brain was practically short circuiting as it calculated all of the potential risks.

Josh spoke up. “You know you had fun on the jet skis.”

“I survived the jet skis, and like I said then, being a nurse does not allow me to save myself from drowning.”

Dylan slapped Trav on the back. “But that’s a non-issue because now we have a paramedic.”

“Almost.” They’d said it in sync and when Sonya’s eyes met Trav’s, her grin stretched to match his.

Adam chimed in, “C’mon! You’re always skeptical at first, but you end up having a good time. Besides, you’re the most athletic one out of all of us. You’ll be fine.”

“Peer pressure doesn’t work on me, Adam. You know this.”

Trav moved between Sonya and the guys and held up his hands. “Guys, come on. If Sonya’s scared, we shouldn’t make her do it.”

Sonya folded her arms over her chest. “I didn’t say I was scared.”

“Oh. Are you worried that I might finally be better at something than you?”

She snorted. “Definitely not.”

“Prove it.”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”

“No,” he said, that damn twinkle back in his eye. “But you want to.”

Damn it. Peer pressure may not work on her, but challenges did. It was her weakness and Trav already knew that about her and was apparently not afraid to use it.

“Fine. But if I die, I’m coming back to haunt you, soldier.”

A few minutes later, Sonya stood still as Trav strapped her into her life vest, trying not to be affected by his hands on her. She was already sweating and it wasn’t because of the heat. Hell, he’d been carrying her that morning and this wasn’t even close to that, but it seemed more intimate somehow. Maybe it was because she couldn’t stop thinking about what Dani said about her wanting to see how it felt?

She literally had to clench her fists at her side to stop herself from touching his pecs.

Trav's eyes met hers as he tugged on the last strap.

“You know I was only kidding. You don’t have to do this.”

“Who’s worried about which one of us is better now?”

“I’m serious, Sonya.” He punctuated his words with another firm pull on one of the straps.

“You should know by now that I never back down from a challenge.” She moved away from Trav and walked to the back of the boat where Josh and Adam were waiting with the skis.

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