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“Hey!” I shout as he grabs me at the waist and scoots me until I’m in the middle seat. He reaches over to grab my seat belt and buckles me in.
“I was fine being in that seat.”
“I wasn’t.”
I press my lips together as I fight a smile.
Comments like that make me wish things were different between the two of us.
Like, I don’t know, where would we be if I’d slowly stopped hating him and this all happened naturally between us?
But I know it would never have happened. If I hadn’t been forced to be near him, I’d never have given him a chance.
His hand smooths over my thigh as the driver pulls away from the resort, and it stays there until we reach our destination.
I don’t mind it one bit.
“Holy shit,” I say as we stand in front of the waterfall. “This is incredible.”
“It’s damn impressive,” Preston says.
The guide nods to us and then steps away.
“Where is he going?” I ask as he keeps walking farther and farther away. “Oh, god, is he going to leave us out here? Is this how we die?”
Preston chuckles, and I smack his arm.
“This isn’t funny. Where is he going?”
As his hand slides around my hips, he says, “He’s not going far. Just far enough to give us some privacy as I requested.”
“Oh.”
All right, well, that makes sense.
Preston’s hand moves to mine, and he pulls me toward the waterfall.
“What are we doing now?”
“You’ll see,” he says and keeps tugging me along until we are under the waterfall and out of sight from anyone else who might come up here.
“Wow, this is beautiful,” I say, slowly turning in a circle to take in the view around me. “I’ve never stood under a waterfall before. Actually, the only one I’ve ever seen is the one in Lovers.”
It’s a little loud, so I have to speak louder than normal for Preston to hear me.
“Seriously?”
I nod. “My dad wasn’t big on trips.”
“I thought you took one every summer?” Preston asks, and I shake my head.
“I’ll rephrase my answer. My father wasn’t big on taking family trips. Trips for him to go see his many, many mistresses over the years? Huge fan.”
The whole concept is still hard for me to believe sometimes, but I’m in the spot I’m in because of my father.
“This is a much overdue question, but ugh, have you talked to him? Do you want to talk to him?”
I think over Preston’s question, letting my head bob side to side.