Nobody But You Read online

  And not on purpose.

  From the beach rose a collective “Ooooh…”

  Kenna winced and shook her head. “That’s gonna hurt.”

  Jacob whipped the boat around with impressive skill and hit the gas hard to get back to his brother quickly.

  “Progress,” Kenna said. “In the old days, the harder they wiped out, the harder the other one would point and laugh.”

  The boat pulled up alongside Hud, who vehemently shook his head.

  “He doesn’t want to get back in the boat,” Kenna translated. “He wants to go again.”

  “So he’s crazy too,” Sophie said.

  “Crazy as they come,” Kenna said.

  Jacob stood up from the captain’s chair, strode to the stern of the boat, and started pulling Hud in by the tow rope.

  “And as you can see,” Kenna said dryly, “Jacob disagrees with Hud.”

  From in the water Hud yelled something at Jacob.

  Jacob kept towing Hud in.

  So Hud let go of the rope.

  Kenna laughed softly. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where the Kincaids get their stubborn-ass reputation from.”

  On the boat, Jacob tossed up his hands and returned to the boat’s controls. A minute later, Hud was back up on the surface of the water, once again hotdogging it behind the boat.

  “Remember that time we sneaked out and borrowed a friend’s boat?” Kenna asked Gray.

  “We were all punk-asses,” Gray said with a fond smile.

  “Hud tried for a flip on the water,” Kenna told Sophie, “and face-planted instead. Jacob had to dive in and save him, then ride him to the ER on his bike’s handlebars. At that time we were being raised by Char, Aidan and Gray’s mom. She yelled at us something fierce when she finally got to the ER and then burst into tears.”

  “We thought we’d gotten off scot-free,” Gray said.

  “But hell no,” Kenna said. “Char’s got a softie side, but she’s also got a spine made of sheer steel. We were all grounded from life for a month.”

  “I got two months,” Gray said. “Because I was oldest and supposedly knew better.”

  Kenna laughed.

  Gray smiled ruefully. “Yeah, I never knew better.”

  “Still don’t,” Kenna said.

  Five minutes later the boat had made a huge circle on the lake, stopping too far out for them to see what was going on. They’d shifted positions, Sophie realized. This time Hud was driving.

  Jacob was now behind the boat on a wakeboard. He was wearing a life vest and board shorts that were wet and clinging to his body, plastered against him from the wind and speed. Going what seemed like a hundred miles an hour, he maneuvered right into the boat’s wake and…popped up in the air like he’d been shot out of a canon, his body fluid as he literally flew up, up, up and then…holy crap, executed a three-sixty before landing lithely back onto the surface of the water.

  Stunned, Sophie stood there gaping.

  “I used to be able do that,” one of the guys playing Frisbee golf said from his wheelchair, voice nostalgic.

  Kenna reached for his hand. “Don’t even worry about it,” she told him. “Girls will like you better now that you’re not a show-off.”

  The guy slipped an arm around her with a shy but hopeful smile. “Want to prove it by going out with me tonight?”

  “Absolutely,” she said. “First round’s on me.”

  The other guys groaned, and someone whispered, “Ah, man, I didn’t know we could ask her out!”

  Mitch, who was standing close by, looked at Kenna for a long beat, his jaw a little tight, his smile definitely not matching the fire in his eyes.

  “Sorry, boys,” she said to everyone else, although her gaze was locked on Mitch. “You snooze, you lose.”

  Mitch swore, strode straight for her and yanked her into his arms, planting a hard kiss right on her mouth. When he pulled back an inch, he said, “The move has always been yours, since the night you let me into and then kicked me out of your bed, and you know it.”

  “Hey, man, sorry,” the guy in the wheelchair said. “I didn’t know. She’s all yours.”

  Kenna narrowed her gaze on Mitch. “We both agreed that night was stupid and that we’d never tell another soul.”

  “The move is yours,” Mitch repeated. “Use it or lose it.” And then he walked away.

  Kenna stared after him.

  “You going to use it?” Sophie asked.

  Kenna was still watching Mitch go, her expression filled with both longing and fear. “I can’t.”

  Sophie reached out to touch her, but Kenna shrugged her off. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I need a moment.” And then she, too, was gone, leaving Sophie sure of only one thing.

  She wasn’t the only chicken in Cedar Ridge.

  Chapter 27

  When the sun began to sink in the sky, Jacob lit a bonfire and then sat with Hud and Chris. He was feeling a little sunburned and a whole lot tired, but also pumped up, like he’d been a part of something really great today, something that had reached deep inside to the heart he’d kept locked up as tight as he could get it.

  He and Hud had nearly killed themselves behind the boat earlier, trying to best each other, and it had felt so much like old times that he could hardly believe it.

  How had he stayed away so long?

  Why had he stayed away so long? It was getting so that his reasons no longer made any sense at all.

  And having Chris here today meant the world to him, showed him that in spite of not being able to see it for so long, there was life after combat.

  And he wanted that life, badly.

  His gaze sought out Sophie, who was with Kenna—and shit, Hud was right: That combo was guaranteed trouble. The two of them were directing what looked like a very serious competition of horseshoes.

  As if she could feel his gaze, Sophie turned her head and unerringly found him. Right in the middle of her horseshoe game, she cocked her head at him and silently but effectively asked across the span of one hundred feet, What’s wrong?

  Was she kidding? She’d given him this. Chris. Laughter with Hud. The feeling of being important to her.

  Don’t let your glass be half empty…

  Remembering that, he shook his head and smiled at her. In response she sent her best, sexy, happy, two-hundred-watt smile before she turned back to her game.

  A local band that was donating their time had set up on the dock behind them and was warming up. More food had arrived and was being barbecued and spread out for dinner. They all ate together, laughing at the pics Sophie had gone around and taken during the day and then projected with her laptop onto a makeshift screen of canvas she’d commandeered from one of the tents.

  She amazed him, completely amazed him.

  “You should marry her,” Hud said, coming back from the food table with his second plate, sitting next to Jacob with their old ease. “Because if you don’t, I know at least two guys who would.”

  WTF. “Who?”

  Hud grinned at him.

  “Who?” Jacob demanded.

  “Mitch and Chris, for starters.”

  Just because Mitch was an old family friend who’d become invaluable to the resort over the past few years wouldn’t stop Jacob from pounding him into the ground if he made a move on Sophie.

  Chris would be tougher to beat, but he’d find a way.

  The band had kicked into play and more than a few people were dancing. Chris tugged one of the resort workers out there and made a move, pulling her along to the music. Gray did the same with Penny.

  Mitch approached Kenna and Jacob braced for Kenna to punch the guy, but to Jacob’s surprise, she stood up. “You want to dance with me?” she asked.

  “Actually,” Mitch said, “I want to date you until you’re convinced you’re mine, something I’ve known forever. And then I want to put a ring on your finger so the whole world knows. But yeah, I’ll settle for a dance for now.”

  Kenna s