“Thankfully all my fingers are intact, so I can still type.”
If I ever get another idea, that is.
Eli took my hand in his before turning it over to inspect it. “Did they rewrap it?”
“Uh huh,” I choked out, jarred by the electricity I felt where his fingers grazed my skin. “This morning.”
Eli dropped my hand as a loud clatter turned everyone’s attention to the end of the table. Sofia and Grant had arrived and she had just sat down so forcefully it shook the table. She glared at Eli and me before turning to sulk and stare out the window.
“That should make the rest of our time here enjoyable,” he said, his breath tickling my neck.
“Can you get over it already?” Rachel snapped at Sofia. “It’s not like you lost a soulmate.”
“You don’t know that,” Sofia barked.
“Don’t be dim. You don’t even know him,” Rachel pushed.
“You don’t have any idea what our relationship was like.”
“We didn’t have a relationship,” Eli pointed out calmly, picking up his mug and taking a sip of coffee.
Sofia set her icy glare on Eli. “You’re impossible.”
Grant cleared his throat. “Um, hello? I’m right here. Your partner, remember? Am I really that bad?”
“Yes,” Rachel said.
Grant pouted and pretended to cry into his napkin. I caught Trace’s eye and we exchanged an amused look.
Everyone simmered down as soon as Brady and Shay entered the room. Brady made a beeline for me, as Shay leaned in to whisper something in Danny’s ear.
“How’s the hand?” Brady asked, as if he actually cared.
“It’s fine.”
“Good,” he breathed. “You really scared everyone yesterday. We can’t be having too many injuries on set.”
“What did you need?” I nearly jumped at Eli’s cold voice. Turning, I found him shooting a dirty look at Brady. He must not be too fond of our captors—I mean, producers—either.
“Everyone needs to hurry up and finish eating. A storm might roll in, and we need to get the challenge filmed before that happens. Calla,” he said, shifting his attention to me. “This challenge involves the water. Your bandage isn’t technically supposed to get wet, but?—”
“Then she shouldn’t do it,” Eli interrupted.
Brady’s jaw flexed subtly, but his focus remained on me. “As I was saying, it shouldn’t get wet, but we’ll have a medic standing by to redress it as soon as the challenge is over, so you should be fine.”
“We’re swimming?” I asked, barely masking my horror.
“There will be swimming involved,” Brady answered.
“Shoot,” I said. “I can’t swim that well.”
Eli shook his head, irritation creeping across his features. “You really weren’t kidding when you said you weren’t adventurous.”
He might not have meant them to, but his words stung.
“Calla can’t swim,” Eli called to Shay who stood on the other side of the room.
“I didn’t say that,” I hissed. “I saidI can’t swim well.”
