Page 46 of You're The One
“Not yet, but I think I want one.” I hear the lotion click open, then close.
“Oh yeah? Of what?”
“Not sure yet. If I knew, I’d have one already.”
“Fair.”
He rubs in the lotion, the cool bite fading into heat as his fingers move over my shoulders, down my back, and along my sides. When his hands work their way back up, they nearly engulf my neck, his thumbs pressing into the sensitive spot where my neck meets my shoulders. A shudder runs through me, and my skin prickles with goosebumps.
“Shouldn’t Emma be ready?”
He clears his throat. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he says, but doesn’t move to go get her.
“Hey, Dominic.” Summer turns toward us, abandoning her guitar at the foot of her lounger, finally saving me from whatever is happening here.
I take the opportunity to reposition, now facing Summer with Dom to my left.
“Hey, Summer.” He nods toward the instrument. “Don’t stop on my account.”
“I’m not. It’s just not flowing today.” She smiles, a little coy. “Got any inspiration for me? Any feelings you want to share?”
Dom chuckles. “You’ll be the first to know when I’m ready.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, right.”
I should give them a minute alone, I tell myself. But in reality, it’s me who needs a minute. I stand a bit too quickly, my head swimming, likely still from the aftereffects of too much wine.
“Be right back,” I tell Summer, and she gives me only a subtle smile in return.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Dominic calls as I walk away.
“Have fun on your date,” I toss over my shoulder.
SIXTEEN
I’m startingto understand Logan’s complaints about helicopter dates. Is this karma for suggesting he ask Hannah—who’s terrified of heights—to be his girlfriend in a setup not unlike the one I find myself in now?
Emma seems perfectly calm. Me? Silently losing it. I spend half the year flying on the team jet, and I’ve taken my fair share of vacations, so it’s not planes. Or heights. It’s this tiny death trap. There’s no way something this small and flimsy should be carrying me, my date, a cameraman, and the pilot. And don’t get me started on the propellers. I swear I could snap one in half.
I run my hands down my thighs, but when that stops working, I grip them, hoping to squeeze out some of the tension in my muscles.
“You okay?” Emma asks, her voice soft and steady, even through the headset.
I nod, mostly because I’m glad she’s here with me. We haven’t had much one-on-one time, but I feel drawn to her. She’s got this easygoing energy, and a smile that I can’t get enough of. We’ve got things in common, and her quiet calm balances out my tendency to run my mouth.
Her blonde hair cascades in soft waves around her pretty face as she looks at me with concern.
If Mia were here, I probably wouldn’t be thinking about plummeting to my death. I’d be too busy trading barbs with her to notice.
“We’ll be landing shortly, folks,” the pilot announces over the radio.
Oh, thank God.
Emma squeezes my hand, still clutching my thigh, and I loosen my grip in favor of intertwining my fingers with hers. She smiles shyly, and I do my best to return the gesture while taking deep breaths as the helicopter lowers to the ground.
Which, by the way, whose idea was it to land on a literal cliff’s edge? One wrong move and we’re crashing straight into the Pacific Ocean.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Logan had a hand in planning this as some kind of sick payback.
