“Ryder! You saved me!” I ran over and threw my arms around him. He twirled me around, the scent of sweat and blueberries washing over me. For the first time since he’d left me on that boat three months ago, I was completely and unabashedly thrilled to see him.
“Of course I saved you. Did you really think I’d let you lose?”
“Not even for a second.” Well…okay. Maybe for a second. Angel and Diablo had been very convincing about Tanner’s intentions. But staring up at him now? I believed that he only had eyes for me. I was so happy that if he asked me right this second if I was stalking him in that sexy voice of his, I’d probably just say yes.
He put me down and brushed a loose strand of hair out of my face.
Please kiss me.
I thought he was about to, but then Cole cleared his throat.
Freaking Cole!
I looked over at him, trying to come up with the perfect snarky comment to sum up his epic failure. Not only had he lost, but he’d lost by telling me exactly where Chastity was hiding. What a dumb-dumb.
Before I could come up with a more eloquent phrase than, “You lose, dumb-dumb,” Tanner cut in.
“Man,” said Tanner, stepping towards his vanquished foe. “I have to admit, that was an epic showdown. Well played. And sorry that things got a little heated there in the swan boats. Sometimes I’m a bit too competitive.”
Wait, why is Tanner suddenly being so nice to Cole?I kind of liked how much they fought over me.
Cole nodded and gave him a fist bump. “No worries. It was about time someone gave me some real competition.”
“Well look at you two, suddenly being so mature,” I said.
“Come on,” said Tanner. “Let’s get back to camp so we can celebrate.” He scooped me up and carried me over to the cart. Then he turned back to Cole. “You need a ride?”
Cole shook his head. “Na. You won fair and square - you’ve earned some time with her. But don’t let it go to your head. You may have won the battle, but you’re going to lose the war.”
“We shall see,” replied Tanner. He hit the gas and sped off.
“We did it!” I yelled as the wind whipped through my hair. For the first time since I’d realized that Cole was trying to bang me in front of everyone, I felt like I could actually breathe.
“Youdid it,” corrected Tanner. “One question though…why was Cole so wet?”
“He caught me sooner than I thought he would. So I had to improvise a bit to make sure we’d have enough time to track down Chastity.”
“And…?”
“And I pushed Cole off the cliff into the lake.”
Tanner burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”
“Yup.”
“You know you could have killed him, right?”
“It seemed like a risk worth taking. He was gonna spit roast me with some rando!”
Tanner suddenly got serious. “So, about that…”
“What?”
“Um…well…”
I shoved his arm. “Spit it out.” I didn’t know what he was about to say, but I had a feeling I wasn’t gonna like it.
“Don’t be mad, but…” He paused.
