Page 10 of On the Line

“Yes.”

“Pretty good, right?”

She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “I was going to say we should probably set some boundaries.”

“That sounds less fun.”

“Liam.”

“Delaney.”

She narrows her eyes at me, and I drink my coffee.

“You kissed me like you meant it,” she says.

“I take my duties as your fake boyfriend seriously.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

A smile stretches across my face. “Maybe… but you like it.”

Her eyes drop to my mouth. She averts her eyes. “You’re doing that thing again.”

“What thing?”

“Looking at me.”

“You don’t want me to look at you?”

She shakes her head. “Not like that.”

I take one step closer. “Like what?”

Her lips part, and I’d swear she wants me to kiss her again. Then feet hit the floor upstairs and somebody starts down the steps, and Delaney jumps back so fast she almost hits the counter. I pick my coffee back up.

Good timing. Also terrible timing.

The group of friends discuss their plans for the day. Apparently, they’d attempted to book a boat and none were available.

“I have a boat,” I say.

Their heads swivel to look at me.

“Didn’t Delaney tell you? I live in Mercury Ridge. And I have a boat. I can go get it. Meet me at the cabin’s dock in an hour.”

This worked out perfectly, since I also need a change of clothes and a toothbrush.

An hour later I’ve brought my boat around from my place across the cove and everyone’s ready for the lake. I hadn’t thought about how amazing Delaney would look in a bathing suit.

Think about baseball stats… anything to distract from how much I fucking want her right now.

“You okay?” she asks.

“Fine.”

“You look uncomfortable.”

“I’m great.”