Operation Prom Date (Tactics in Flirting, #1)(26)

I laughed and swam closer. I reached down and grabbed her leg, laughing harder when she squealed. She kicked me and stuck out her tongue. “Jerk.”

Unlike when she called me Coach Jerk Face earlier, this time there was a lighter, joking tone to her voice.

Suddenly she lurched toward me, her arms wrapping around my neck. “Okay, for reals, I just felt something slip past my leg.” Her gaze skimmed the surface of the lake. “I’m telling myself it’s just a fish, but it felt like a really big fish.”

“There are some pretty big fish in here.” I paused for dramatic effect. “Then there’s the alligators.”

“I know there aren’t any alligators,” she said with a click of her tongue, but she still searched the area around us.

“Okay, but I know for a fact that the police caught a couple last year.” It was true, but they were little ones, and the police concluded they were pets someone had abandoned. If the owners had done any research, they’d know the water was way too cold in the winter for alligators to survive it. But I wasn’t going to tell Kate that quite yet—messing with her was too much fun. “Do you see the way the water’s parting over there? I thought it was a log, but a log doesn’t move like that.”

She practically crawled up me, her grip on my neck nearing chokehold levels. “Not funny.”

I was going to tease her some more, because we hadn’t even covered snake territory yet, but then I noticed the soft press of her curves, and how if I looked down, I could see her skin and her polka dot bra through her shirt. And then I couldn’t stop looking and noticing, even though I knew I shouldn’t be.

My breath grew shallow, and for a couple of seconds, I forgot I needed to continue to tread water, and we started dipping lower.

“Okay, I think that’s enough enjoying the lake by being inside of it today. I’m ready to get back to rowing.” Kate let go of me and swam toward the boat, and as she climbed in, I noticed a few other things I shouldn’t. Namely her legs and the way her clothes molded to her body, every curve on display.

Get it together, Callihan. Still, I couldn’t help thinking she was right earlier when she said I didn’t slow down enough to enjoy the actual lake. I was in such a hurry to be on the water as much as possible before my time ran out that I forgot to actually appreciate the ability to get lost out here. The sense of calm it brought to my life, and how it felt more like my home than my house sometimes.

I lifted myself into the boat and returned Kate’s smile. Goose bumps covered her skin and water dripped from her hair and clothes into a puddle on the boat floor. The bit of makeup she’d had on was long gone, and the last rays of the sun spotlighted her natural beauty and those features I was starting to crave seeing.

Kate wadded her hair in her hands and wrung it out. “Did you want to tell me how I was right about how fun it can be to slow down once in a while now, or later?”

I could think of so many girls who would’ve yelled at me for pulling them into the water fully clothed, and how there’d be talk about ruined clothes and hair and makeup. Kate had to be freezing, but she was sitting there all smug, grinning like she’d just had the best adventure.

While I was slowing down and enjoying things, I figured I should add the time she and I had left together to that list, too.



By the time we made it back to my truck, we were both cold and tired. Kate was still in a happy mood, but I worried she’d catch pneumonia or something, like every person over the age of forty threatened kids they’d do if they didn’t cart around big coats 24/7.

I cranked the heater and looked behind my seat. “Jackpot.” I handed my hoodie over to Kate.

“But what about you?”

“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring the squish of my jeans against the seat as I moved to start the truck. “Just put it on. Please.”

She nodded and tugged it over her head. Unfortunately, with her wet clothes, I knew she’d still be far from warm. The twenty-minute drive to her house didn’t usually seem like a big deal, but that long being cold and wet—not to mention all the time we’d spent on the lake that way—was adding up fast.

My house sat behind us, a dim outline against the setting sun.

Wednesday meant Dad played golf this afternoon, and he almost always went drinking with the good old boys after. Since his current case left his stress level high, things were tenser at home between him and Mom as well right now, so most likely he’d stay out late.

“This is crazy riding around in wet clothes like this,” I said. “Why don’t we go dry off and warm up at my place, and then I’ll drive you home later?”

Kate hugged her arms around herself as she cast a quick glance at my house. She nodded, her teeth chattering together. “Okay. I’ll just text my mom and let her know.”

Her eyes widened when she took her phone out of my glove box. “Mick texted me. He actually texted me! I figured it was a long shot, or that he’d take days, but”—her voice pitched higher—“he texted me!”

She tapped on the screen and her happy expression morphed into one of confusion.

Was it wrong to hope he’d said something extremely stupid or jackass-ish? Something that would land him way past the ten spot on her Kanye Douchebag Scale, so he’d look a lot worse than me.