Page 30 of The Other Room

“Try the bacon. It worked on me.” I smiled and slid my sunglasses into place. “Where to?”

“Come on.” Matt ushered me down the stairs and we climbed into his truck. We both rolled down our windows, and he drove down the road toward downtown Sister Bay.

The warm summer breeze blew in through our open windows as I rode along in silence, wondering what his goofy brain had concocted today. Matt was the king of adventures, always planning something that would have my cheeks hurting by the end of the day from all the laughter. Life was filled with fun when I was at his side, and I only realized now how boring my life had been without him in it. Lonely even. With Jake and Cassie shacked up together, and me not wanting to be a third wheel, I’d spent most of my time bartending and watching Netflix. But like the breeze blowing in through my window, Matt had whooshed back into my life and shaken it up again.

In a good way.

“We going fishing?” I asked when he pulled up in front of the Sister Bay Marina.

“Better.”

“Better than fishing? That’s saying something when it comes to you.” I peeked over the top of my sunglasses.

“Come on.”

The excitement radiated off him and I felt it building up inside of me. What were we doing? Grabbing my purse and towel, I followed him down the sidewalk to the boat rental kiosk.

“Hey, Ted!” Matt called, waving at Ted who was reading a book behind the little glass window.

“Hey, Ted,” I echoed.

“Hey, Matt. Hey, Jo.” Ted set his book down and pushed himself off the chair. “Try to have it back by five.” He tossed a set of keys out the window and Matt caught them with ease.

“You got it, Ted. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

“If you’re going to work here, you need to know the ins and outs of all the equipment. Consider it training.”

“My kind of training! We’ll be back later.”

Ted gave a little wave. “Have fun, kids.”

“Thanks, Ted.”

I walked behind him not knowing why he was thanking Ted. When we reached the dock below, a white and blue jet ski bobbed in the water and answered my question.

“No way.” I laughed, looking over the sleek machine.

“Yes way.” Matt looked over his shoulder and grinned. “You. Me. A whole day jet skiing around Door County.”

“Okay... this is a pretty good idea. I seriously haven’t been on one since we were kids.”

“We’re long overdue.”

We reached the smaller dock the jet ski was tied to, and Matt held out his hand. “Hand me your purse and towel. I’ll put it in drybag in the cubby, so they don’t get wet.”

After handing him my stuff, he shoved them in the waterproof bag. Nerves crackled inside my stomach, and I tried to quiet them down. Just yesterday I’d never wanted to talk to Matt again, and now I was about to spend the day in close contact with him. Very close contact.

“One big difference this time. I’m driving.” He waggled his eyebrows, and I scoffed my response.

“Hell no. I’m driving,” I protested, but he shook the keys in my face.

“Not this time, Jo.”

Before I could argue, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt, yanking it up over his head. Those tanned muscles came into view, and I swallowed. Hard.

Shit.

There was a reason I’d insisted on driving the jet ski all those years ago. The thought of wrapping my arms around the boy I’d wanted to kiss since I’d discovered kissing had been more than this girl could stand. Especially since I’d been trying to convince myself of Matt’s friend-zone status. And now that he was all grown up, so were his muscles. If I’d thought it would be difficult to suppress my attraction when I was wrapped around him back then, one look at him today had me quaking in my flip-flops.