Page 65 of Payback
IT’S A GORGEOUS SUNNY DAYin London when Roan parks his car at the Victoria Park Boating Lake with a curious expression on his face.
“Are we row boating?”
“We are!” I exclaim, grabbing the picnic basket I put together and hopping out of the vehicle. I hurry over to Roan’s side and yank him toward the dock by the boat rentals. “This place is one of my most vivid memories of London before I moved away, and I’ve been dying to come back.”
“You’re skipping again,” Roan says, smiling in that special way he’s been smiling at me lately. It’s almost like he has a secret that he’s not telling me, but it’s the good kind of secret. Not the“I have a sex video of you’” kind of secret.
I’m too scared to ask him what his smile means, so I just keep enjoying his dazzling eyes because whatever causes them to sparkle makes me want to jump his bones.
I shrug. “Get over it. It’s my thing.”
It’s been three weeks since the infamous Harris Shakedown. After that, I pretty much quit trying to hide my happy skipping. Things between Roan and I have been wonderful. Whether it’s because I let go of that extra baggage I was carrying or because we’ve been spending more time together, I have become totally smitten by this man.
Mac teases us mercilessly whenever he’s around. He says that we’re like two stray cats in heat. No matter how hard we try to stay apart, we end up prowling around for each other.
The guy is not wrong.
And because Roan has completed his last match of the season, his schedule is free. So free that he’s been threatening to show up at my place of work to take me out to lunch. I told him he cannot do that until I talk to my boss about us. Since we’re still supposedly just casually dating, I see no need to involve Niall in our business.
We check out a boat and load up, decked out in really sexy life jackets. Roan’s actually looks fine on him considering he’s wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. I didn’t really think the bright orange life jacket part through when I put on my navy blue split dress this morning. At least my legs aren’t covered, though.
Roan rows us out onto the calm lake while I admire his arm muscles as they flex and contract with each stroke. His caramel skin is growing tanner as the summer heats up, and all it does is make those stunning pale brown eyes of his pop even more.
He catches me slack-jawed and staring and says, “You liking the view?”
I sit back in my seat and lift my chin up like a proud princess. “I’d like it better if you took your shirt off.”
He barks out a laugh. “You’ve been hanging out with the Harris women too much.”
“Not that much!” I retort and then my face twists up, revealing the lie on my lips.
I’ve been out with the girls a few times since the Harris Shakedown. And every time we’re together, I feel like their intention is to give me a fast-tracked lesson on how to handle an athlete.
I lick my lips seductively and lean toward Roan, trying to show off the cleavage that I so painstakingly tried to put on display before this horrible life jacket entered my life. “I’ve been spending plenty of time with you, though.”
“Not enough time.” He gets a wicked look in his eyes as he glances down at my chest and my exposed legs that are on full display in my centre slit. “Maybe you should takeyourshirt off. It’s been a few hours since I’ve seen your breasts, and I bet they miss me.”
I roll my eyes like I’m offended, but the pleased smile that spreads across my face indicates otherwise. I turn away, taking in all the people who are soaking in the sun on the grassy areas surrounding the water. It’s so much fun to be living in such a metropolitan city like London yet have this bit of oasis that makes you feel like you’re far away from it all.
“I was seven years old when I came here with the Harrises,” I state, looking around and realising that not much has changed. “Gareth had just gotten his license, and he and Vi thought it would be fun to bring me here with Camden, Tanner, and Booker for my birthday.”
Roan’s brows lift. “No adult supervision?”
I shake my head. “No. I suppose they were still kids then, but they travelled in a pack, so they were never scared of anything.”
My mind drifts back to how close they were to each other even then. They finished each other’s sentences and knew exactly what each other wanted to order at a restaurant. They would be physically assaulting each other one minute and hugging the next without any interference from a grown-up. Now that I’m thinking about it, not much has changed, even though we’ve become adults.
“They always seemed so mature and grown up to me. Well, except for the twins on the maturity front,” I state, pointing to a manmade fountain spray that’s shooting out of the centre of the lake. “That is where Tanner tipped his boat.”
Roan chuckles. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Because it’s Tanner,” I reply with a fond smile. “He and Camden were standing in their rowboat while Vi yelled for them to get down from her boat with Booker. Gareth was rowing with me, and I remember him telling me in the deepest, calmest tone that they were going to tip. Sure enough, into the lake they went!”
Roan laughs heartily and I join him because I can still picture the two nut-jobs trying to turn the boat over.
“I’m surprised Gareth didn’t go crazy on them,” Roan says, steering the boat toward a small channel. “He can be scary as fuck when he wants to be.”
I nod and smile. “He really can be. But he also has a calmness about him, even in chaos. He always said that finding trouble was a fact of life for Tanner and Camden, and it was easier to help them clean up their messes than to stop them from making them.”
