In Your Dreams (Blue Heron #4)(47)

She went down like a narcoleptic kitten. Then again, she probably weighed as much as fog.

“Sorry!” Em said, guilt flashing immediately.

“No, no. Don’t worry,” she said. Was it Em’s imagination, or did the woman look relieved?

“Incoming,” Jack said, turning around. Couple number two didn’t wait; the man took a dive before Emmaline even touched the woman.

“Oh, come on, Randy!” Naomi bellowed.

“Yeah, come on!” Kevin echoed.

It dawned on Emmaline that no one wanted to compete with the happy couple. Indeed, Naomi seemed a little ticked that the other two couples were already swimming for the stairs.

“How badly do you want to win?” Jack murmured.

“I don’t really care.”

“Well, I do.” With that, Jack surged forward, and Em gave a little shriek. Oh. This was almost sexy time. Would it be wrong to ask him to do that again? Because the feeling of his head against her—

Then Kevin and Naomi were right in front of them. Naomi’s savagely beautiful face was right in front of her in what Em could only describe as a snarl. “Don’t mean to scare you,” the trainer said, “but Kevin and I have never lost. Right, Kevster, babe?”

“Right, babe,” he answered obediently.

“Neither have we,” Jack said.

“Well, you’re about to,” Naomi said. “The only difference between ‘try’ and ‘triumph’ is a little ‘umph.’”

“You deserve to lose for that alone, Naomi.” There was a smile in Jack’s voice.

“I never lose,” she said. Then her hands were on Em’s shoulders, and she shoved, hard.

Em locked her feet around Jack’s back to keep from falling—she might’ve been choking him to death with her thighs, but you know what? She didn’t care all of a sudden. All she wanted was for Naomi to lose at something, and she leaned in, grappling with Naomi. And really, this was idiotic. Why not just put Naomi in the Hunger Games and let her kill everyone else, but damn it, Emmaline was not going to lose.

Even so, she couldn’t help but admire Naomi’s gorgeous shoulders.

Then Jack stepped to the side, possibly because he was desperate to breathe, and Em leaned forward, using his momentum, and pushed. Hard. Naomi wavered, and Em imagined her as a threat to those adorable Cabrera kids and pushed again. She wasn’t a badass cop for nothing.

There was a splash as both Naomi and Kevin fell.

“That wasn’t fair!” Naomi shouted, smacking the water with her fist. “You can’t use your body weight like that.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said, a sulk in his voice. “Obviously, you weigh a lot more than Nay does.”

“What am I supposed to use?” Em asked. “A sword? My crossbow?”

“Shake hands, kids,” Jack said. “Remember, humble in victory, gracious in defeat.” He grinned up at her. “I feel very humble, don’t you?”

Uh-oh.

She was having...feelings. That smile. Those eyes. The fact that he hadn’t once complained about how heavy she was.

Then he dumped her, and she was under the water. She surfaced, pushing the hair out of her face. “Thank you, mighty steed,” she said. “That was more fun than I thought it would be.”

He was still smiling. Then his eyes dropped to her chest, and his smile faltered. “Uh...Em, you seem to be...deflating.”

She looked at her boobage. “Shit.”

One breast was plumped up and coconut shaped, same as when she’d left her room earlier.

The other was normal.

Which meant...

Panicking, she looked around. Where was it? Where was it? Maybe it just slipped... She groped herself, patted her stomach to see if it had slid...no. It wasn’t there.

Where was her Ta-Ta Ta-Dah?

“Uh...is that what you’re looking for?” Jack whispered.

Kevin and Naomi were talking in low voices, still in the pool, Naomi hissing, Kevin apologetic. And there on his beautiful shoulder blade, like a giant leech, was the Ta-Ta Ta-Dah.

“What the hell is that?” Jack whispered.

A seagull cried out, circling over the pool, then hovered. Em knew that pose. That was the “I see dinner” pose.

She lunged. Jack lunged. The seagull dived, snatched the breast booster off Kevin’s shoulder, causing him to scream in surprise, which would’ve made Emmaline laugh if her Ta-Ta Ta-Dah wasn’t in the seagull’s beak. But it was too heavy for the poor thing. The bird’s head wobbled; it opened its beak and the silicone slab fell with a splat back in the pool.

She dived for it, but Jack was faster. He grabbed it and turned to her.

“What the hell was that?” Naomi asked.

It might be time to commit suicide.

Jack surfaced next to Emmaline.

“Is this raw chicken?” he whispered.

“Sh! No! Give it to me!”

“You guys cheated,” Naomi said.

“How is there cheating in Partnership Water Celebration?” Jack called. “Don’t fuss, kids. Drinks are on us.” He turned back to Em. “Here,” he said more quietly, giving it to Emmaline. “I’m so glad I’m not a woman.”

“I want a rematch!” Naomi demanded.