“Spill.”
I huffed out a laugh. “That’s what my friend always says.” I paused when Teddy wobbled up the ramp to get onto the catamaran. Sadly, he regained balance.
“I don’t know,” I said, back to uncomfortable. “I threw candy at him at a family function when he said it would go right to my hips, I wiped all the crap off his desk when he refused to tell me where he’d been the night before—just crazy stuff. They weren’t my finest moments.” I withheld the final bout of violence with the window. And the final embarrassment—after running out of rocks, I’d started snatching lemons off the tree in the front yard and hurling those in, too. That was so overboard people were still talking about it.
“Did you ever throw a drink in his face?” Brad asked as we neared the ramp.
“Why are you interested in this?”
“I find it hilarious.”
“You wouldn’t find it hilarious if it happened to you.”
“I would assume I deserved it if you did any of that to me. And then I’d apologize.”
“You would, huh?”
“Some women are overly dramatic purely to get attention. You seem to have a rage problem that I find endearing.”
I turned back to him while on the ramp, letting my disbelief slide over my face.
“Careful there,” he said, grabbing my arms and turning me back. “This would be worse than falling off that stool.”
“My rage problem is endearing, is it?” I laughed as I took the crew member’s hand. He directed me forward and then I had two options—the bench on the right or the left. Teddy was on the right.
Obviously I went left.
Unlike Brad, Teddy wouldn’t be endeared by tales of my rage problem.
“Guys like your ex,” Brad said softly, following me, clearly trying to keep the conversation going between us, “dick women around as a normal course of affairs. My guess is he was cheating on you. Am I correct?”
“I have no proof.”
“I bet he was, and I doubt he’ll ever stop. So he plays games and manipulates to keep control. You don’t seem like you enjoy others having control over you. You like to war and fight. You want someone to go into battle beside you, not someone to lead you. Am I right?”
Cold dripped down my middle, replacing the fire and heat from earlier. “You’ve known me for, like, a day…”
“I’ll take that as a yes. But you like a strong adversary. You want someone to try and take control, so you can then wrestle it away. You want a challenge. I bet that’s what attracted him to you. The challenge. But he was playing a different game than you. A dishonest game.”
“What are you, the woman whisperer? The dating guru?”
He smiled. “Old enough to know better, too young to care.”
“Ahead of me, then.”
He laughed. “You’re too honest for a man like him, I’m betting. Too trusting. I bet you’ve learned your lesson, though.”
“Oh, have I ever learned my lesson. I am steering clear of relationships, that’s for sure.”
His look turned uneasy. He opened his mouth to say something, but the employee of the catamaran started talking, discussing the various safety elements and the route they’d take. He gave the drink options, specifying that they had mai tais on tap.
“Okay, look,” I said as soon as the man was done. I turned to Brad with my face contorted into a super-serious look. “I haven’t eaten much all day. Like, hardly anything. I’d planned to take it easy on the drinking while eating, then have a couple after I had a base. I thought this was a dinner and drinks situation, not just a drinks situation. You might be wondering what this means?” I paused for his brow to scrunch. It didn’t erase the budding smile, though. “It means that I’ll end up like last night if I’m not careful. And since I get carried away at the best of times, you should steer clear when I start getting ridiculous. Just get up and wander away. I won’t take offense.”
“I’m not wandering anywhere.”
“Scooch, then. Scooch down the way. Seriously, tomorrow I’ll thank you for it.”
“I’m safer with you.”
“Safer? Do you not remember the story about me sitting on someone for not talking to me?”
He laughed as we were asked for our drink selections. “Two mai tais,” Brad said, not looking away from me. His smile was taunting. “This time we’re starting on equal footing. And after this, I expect those drinks you owe me.”
“You’re twice my body mass. I hardly think it’s equal footing.”
“No, you’re right, not equal. You have the upper hand. I’ve never sat on someone to get a response.”
“I think you are a little touched in the head.” I couldn’t help a shy smile. I didn’t know what that look meant, but I wanted to melt into it. Melt into him.
And then the mai tai was delivered. A preliminary taste told me the thing was delicious. And would go down like water. Faster than water, maybe.
This would end badly.
Seven