Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“That’s because I believed that it was more fun to get away with something if everyone knew it was you. Why pull a prank in secret? And I didn’t care about the punishment. It was always worth it.” He hit the button and turned to face me. “Except the last time.”
I sighed. “Just don’t get me arrested tonight, please.”
“Relax,” he said as the doors opened.
“Have you ever been arrested?” I asked as we stepped into the empty elevator.
He hesitated. “Once.”
“For what?”
“I got into a fight with an off-duty cop who was being a real dick to his girlfriend at a bar.” He shook his head. “That night did not end well for me.”
“I can only imagine.”
“But I promise, you will not end up in handcuffs tonight.” He grinned delightedly and leaned closer to whisper in my ear. “Unless, of course, you’d enjoy that.”
Heat bloomed at the center of my body and spread to my extremities like a nuclear blast. “Pretty sure that would violate the look-but-don’t-touch policy.”
He straightened up. “Oh yeah, that. I promised to behave tonight, didn’t I?”
“You did.” But I gave him a wicked smile.
“Well, then.” He checked his wristwatch. “Good thing it will be tomorrow soon. Is it true what they say about a prom dress at midnight?”
I laughed as the doors opened. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
“Dallas, this is crazy!” I whispered as we ran across the lawn of the huge house on Lake St. Clair where he’d grown up.
“Shh! Don’t talk until we get to the water,” he whispered back.
I struggled to keep up with him, although at least I’d ditched my heels in the car after he’d warned me there might be running involved with his idea. He’d left his jacket and dress shirt in the car and wore only a white T-shirt with his jeans. He was barefoot, too. The moon shone down on us like a spotlight, and I tried not to think about the signs we’d seen saying PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESPASSING.
“Who lives here now?” I asked as we neared the seawall.
“No idea.” He pulled me over to where a dock jutted into the water. A small Boston Whaler bobbed in the water next to it, as well as a wooden dinghy, two oars lying on the bottom. “Holy shit, this is perfect.”
I stopped when he tried to lead me onto the dock. “Dallas, no! We are not stealing a dinghy,” I whispered. “You said we were just going to go night-swimming at your old house like we used to!”
“We’re not stealing a dinghy—we’re borrowing it.” He looked up at the massive house, which sat back about two hundred feet from the water. “And the house is totally dark. I bet the owners are out of town.”
I glanced back at the house, too. It did look pretty deserted, but still … could we really take a boat that didn’t belong to us for a spin?
“Come on.” Dallas tugged on my hand. “Live a little. When’s the last time you misbehaved, goody two shoes?”
“I can’t remember,” I shot back. “But it was probably with you.”
He moved closer, so close I felt his breath on my lips. “Then come on. Be bad with me one last time.”
My insides tightened. The list of ill-advised things I was doing “for old times’ sake” was growing longer by the minute, and I was a bit concerned about where it would ultimately lead.
Not concerned enough to go home, though.
“Okay,” I told him. “But if we get caught—”
“I’ll say I kidnapped you.” He jumped into the boat, steadied himself, and reached up for my waist. “Look at all my tattoos, I’m obviously a pirate,” he said. “Now come on.”
After I let him lift me into the boat, I took a seat on the bench at the back while Dallas untied the ropes tethering it to the dock. I shivered, although the night was warm and I was slightly sweaty from running.
The water was relatively calm but my nerves were choppy as hell as Dallas rowed us away from the dock. What on earth were we doing? And tomorrow, would I be okay with it? Would I have the closure I wanted, or would being with him set me back again?
“You’re looking very serious,” Dallas said over the wind that whipped my hair around my face.
I opened my eyes and smiled. “Just taking it all in. This is a lot to process.”
“What is?”
“Seeing you. The prom. Nautical larceny.”
“Ah.” Dallas rowed us into a tree-lined cove tucked into the coastline where we used to hang out and swim during the summer we were together.
There was no one around so late at night, and it was much quieter out of the wind, sheltered by trees. Dallas dropped the boat’s small anchor into the water as I looked around. “God, I haven’t been here in years.”