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I pull up beside him. “Turn off the engine,” he yells to me.
I listen and the Sea-Doo and surrounding water start to calm. I reach my hand out for him. Zayn shakes his head and explains, “I have to get on through the rear. Don’t start it up again until I’m on. Okay?”
“Okay,” I say breathily.
He holds the back and slowly climbs aboard, fumbling behind me, as he makes his way back onto the seat.
He says, “Alright, I think I’m good now.”
“Okay, great.” I let out a chuckle. “Uh, sorry about that.”
“I should’ve known that within the first minute, you’d have me booted off this thing.” He lets out a large belly laugh. When he catches his breath, he gives our friends a thumbs up. “Okay, everyone. We’re back in business.”
“Where should we go?” I ask.
Ryker raises his hand and says, “I’ll lead the way. You guys follow me.”
We all nod in agreement. Ryker takes off, and Natalie follows behind.
“Wait,” Zayn says. “Before you start it back up, you know how do it now?”
“Yes, I got a bit more practice while you went for a swim.”
He scoffs at my sass. “Oh, real nice. I forgot how badly I wanted to take a leisurely swim today,” he says as he slowly places his hands back around my waist. “Heads up that my hands are chilly now.”
“Oh, shit.” My whole body shivers and I instinctively grab at his hands. Our fingers intertwine and a shock bolts through me. I look back at Zayn, but don’t say anything. Instead, we both sit in this moment together.I wonder if he wants me just as bad as I want him right now.
“You guys coming?” Mason shouts from the back of his watercraft, ahead of us.
“Yeah,” I say, releasing my hands from Zayn even though I don’t want to. I grab onto the handles, steering us closer to our friends.
We ride around for a while, laughing as we all watch Ryker scare the shit out of Taylor with his so-called tricks. Zayn shares with me that he and Ryker have only been on jet skis a few times back when he finished EMT training. Despite him and Ryker not growing up with money, he goes on to share that a few of the guys they hung out with did so they had the chance to experience life on the water other than just fishing.
The hour passes quickly. We return to the woman at the rental tent, still smoking and reading her book. Dropping off the keys and life vests, a few of us thank her, but she only throws up a hand and nods.
“I’m literally starving,” Mason says dramatically.
“We brought enough food for everyone,” I say. “I’m so ready to chill for a bit. It’s been a fun day, but I’m wiped.”
“Me too,” Zayn says, reaching for my hand. I accept and our fingers interlace as we walk along the beach with our friends.
Mason gives me a smirk from the side, and I pretend not to notice.
Once we’re back by our stuff, everyone settles in chairs and on beach towels underneath the tent that Ryker brought. I pull out the food—sandwiches, chips, dip, and some fruit kabobs I made.
“Wow, this looks delicious,” Taylor comments. “You really took the time to prepare all this.”
“Nah, it’s no big deal. But you can thank Zayn for his amazing packing skills.” I point to Zayn and smile. My smile moves my oversized sunglasses down the bridge of my nose, so I push them back against my face with my finger.
“Thank you, both. Seriously, this looks bomb,” Mason says.
“Dig in,” I say.
Everyone eats their sandwiches quickly. Zayn gets up and heads to the cooler to grab me a water.
“Can you get out the French Onion dip?” I ask him.
He nods and grabs the dip and a bag of chips next to it before taking his seat next to me on our beach towel.
