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I knew he was just joking, but I started pedaling my ass off.
“Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Max gave me amused side-eye and started going harder on his pedals.
“Hell yes, it is,” I countered, and it wason.
The paddleboat had two separate propulsion systems, which meant that it was absolutely possible to see who was paddling faster because one side of the boat jutted farther ahead than the other. Our little vessel looked asinine as he and I pedaled as fast as either one of us had ever pedaled before.
My spin instructor would be proud as fuck.
“Keep trying, sunshine, you’ll get there,” Max said—well,panted, actually.
“It’s like your eyes don’t work or something—my side is clearly beating your side.”
“Optical illusion, Soph. Look again.”
Fuck.“Hold up, hold up, hold up—time-out,” I said, breathing hard as I reached out a hand to grasp his thigh so he’d stop pedaling. “The footwear makes it unfair. We’re both going to take off our shoes and start again.”
He frowned. “Why would I take off my shoes when they’re perfectly fine?”
“Because it’s unfair that you’ll be wearing athletic footwear when I will be barefoot.” I looked to my right, and suddenly he was grinning. I continued with, “That makes it a level playing field, unless you’re so pathetic that you need an unfair advantage.”
“Oh, no,” he said, still beaming, and I wished I could see his eyes behind his shades. Ilovedthe way his eyes looked when he grinned. Not only did they have that whole mischievous twinkle thing going on, but they crinkled in a way that made it impossible not to smile back at him. “My mere existence is advantage enough.”
“I just threw up a little in my mouth.”
“Quit puking and let’s go, kid,” he said, and then he started removing his shoes.
One of my favorite things about him was the way he was able to just roll with the punches. Max was willing to jump headfirst into anything without getting rattled, and compared to Stuart, who lost his mind when things didn’t go perfectly according to his meticulous plans, Max was a total free spirit.
When we were each down to bare feet—which wasn’t a particularly comfortable way to pedal a vehicle—I gave him a countdown. “Three. Two. One. Go!”
Max
“What do you think that was?”
I glanced over at Sophie and shook my head, torn between wanting to laugh and also wondering how much one of these stupid boats could cost. They appeared to be old models, like they’d floated around this little man-made lake for decades, but that didn’t mean they were cheap to replace. “If I had to guess, I’d say we snapped a drive belt or something.”
And it was totally her fault. We’d been pedaling our asses off, pedaling ridiculously hard to the point that I was probably going to fall on my face when I stepped onto the dock with jelly legs, when Sophie jerked the steering handle.
In our chaotic rush to out-pedal each other, we’d completely ignored the boat’s steering capabilities. But as soon as she moved it and we realized we could mess with direction while hyper-pedaling, all bets were off.
Honestly, my abs were nearly as sore as my legs because we’d been cracking up the entire time we raced. (Technically it wasn’t racing since we were driving the same vessel, but also it was totally a race because it was.)
Until something snapped, and now we were sitting still with inoperable pedals.
“What are you doing?” I asked as she lifted her phone to her ear.
“I’m calling the park, so the kid who loaded us into this pink boat can find a way to come retrieve us.”
“His name is Dewey,” I corrected. “And I was just going to holler across the lake. Your way seems more efficient, though.”
“That’s because it is,” she muttered, obviously listening to something, because her eyebrows were up and her eyes were narrowed.
She was so pretty that it kind of took my breath away, and I was glad I was wearing sunglasses so she couldn’t see how much time I spent looking at her.
Because her pretty had layers.
Her red lips, brown eyes, long lashes—she was gorgeous. But her beauty was amplified by how smart she was and how fucking funny she could be. She was fascinating to be around, as in all I wanted to do was listen to her and learn all the weirdly wonderful ways her mind worked.
