She snorts and I lead the way, and once we’re out in the sun again, Jacey turns to me.

“For the record,” she says sassily, “I might have let you sign my boobs back then… back before you became cocky… when you were an ‘unknown’ normal person. It’s okay to be ‘normal,’ you know.” And with that, she flounces down the gangway and onto the bright yellow boat. I stare after her and she looks back over her shoulder with a grin.

“Coming?”

“Babe, when I come, you’ll know,” I spout back. She grins and I grin back, like we’re both normal people with dirty senses of humor, and I follow her onto the boat.

When we sit down, she slips her hand into mine, her fingers small and slender. I startle for a minute at the familiar and intimate gesture, but then the boat engine starts up and we rip across the bay with the wind in our faces. All of a sudden, it feels perfectly normal to sit with her like this, with her hand in my lap.

It’s a thought that scares the shit out of me, like literally scares me. My pulse beats faster, it’s hard to swallow, and my palms get clammy.

When I can, I pull my hand away and tuck it into my pocket instead.

I’m not normal, so there’s no way in hell I should pretend to be.

Chapter Twelve

Jacey

I fight not to roll my eyes at Dominic as we glide over the top of the lake in the speedboat. He yanks his hand away from mine so fast you’d have thought my palm was burning him. I was just being friendly. Jesus. And seriously. He’s the one who showed up at my house out of the blue. I didn’t ask him to come, and I certainly didn’t ask him to invite me here on this… date? Is this a date?

I don’t know what the hell this is, to be honest.

The tour guide speaks into his mic excitedly, probably just happy to have Dominic on his boat. He stands at the front while we lounge in the back. Since there are at least twenty empty seats in front of us, I feel kind of silly.

The driver of the boat races through the bay and out onto open water, spinning in huge circles and causing a spray of water to drench me.

“Did I mention that I’m glad you wore that T-shirt?” Dominic asks with a grin. My T-shirt is white. And wet. And perfectly transparent at this point. I sigh.

“You’re sort of a dog, you know that?” I ask him.

I’m just getting ready to ask about the girl he was with in the parking lot the other night, when suddenly the tour guide points toward another tour boat. Dominic and I turn to look and find it speeding up to get closer to us. All of the passengers are standing, craning their necks to see in our boat, cameras in hand.

“I think you’ve been spotted,” our tour guide says apologetically.

I look immediately at Dominic and his face has tightened. He looks pissed as he nods curtly.

“Can you take us back to the pier? If we don’t head back, they’ll chase us around the lake. We can get off this boat a lot faster than they can all get off theirs.”

The captain nods and whips the boat around, speeding once again toward the shore. I look over my shoulder to find the other boat chasing us. My stomach does a somersault. To me, it’s a little exhilarating because this isn’t something that happens to me all the time. They’re right on our tail and excitement snaps in the air around us.

I mean, someone is chasing us. Oh my god.

But as I look at Dominic, I can see that excitement is the very last thing he’s feeling. His chiseled features are twisted into a scowl and he just looks… tired. Beautiful, sexy… and tired. I swallow and feel guilty for being excited because this must be frustrating for him. It must happen everywhere he goes.

“When we dock, we’re going to have to run, okay?” Dominic tells me quietly, his dark eyes stormy and focused on my face. “Seriously. Just follow me.”

I nod, fascinated by this entire situation… by the novelty of it, by the annoyance Dominic feels, by the rush of wind over my face as our boats race toward the shore. We’re going so fast that we slam into the water as we crest each wave, jarring my teeth. But we’re back at the pier within a minute.

The large boat nudges the bumpers against the dock, and almost before it stops moving, Dom has leapt from the boat, grabbing my hand and helping me climb out. And then we run.

Ducking through the crowds, we weave in and out of people until we’ve made our way to the iconic Ferris wheel that stands proudly against the Navy Pier horizon. Dom glances at it, then heads straight for it. Throwing some money at the guy manning the line, Dominic utters, “Tell them we went the other direction.”

The guy stares at Dominic in surprise, but then recognition and understanding quickly flood his face and he nods, ushering us through the little gate, and we drop onto the seat of a gondola.

As the large covered gondola lifts into the air, I peer over the edge, my face pressed against the glass. I can see a couple of passengers from the tour boat running around, looking about, but the gondola operator comes through for us. He points in the other direction and the fans take off, hunting for any sign of Dominic.

It seems that we made our escape. I settle into the seat and stare at Dominic.

“And I really wanted to take that tour, too.” I smirk, but he grimaces.

“I’m sorry,” he tells me seriously. “And I’m sorry that you had to run in those shoes.”

I glance down at my feet. Honestly, it hadn’t bothered me. I’m a chick who wears five-inch heels all of the time. I can run in flat sandals.

“Not a problem,” I tell him. “And I’m fine with ditching the boat. No biggie. I’m sorry for you—I know you were looking forward to your fast boat ride.”

He shrugs, then grins. “That’s all right. I’ve still got a shot with a fast woman.”

I roll my eyes, shaking my head. “I don’t know what you think about me, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got it wrong. I’m not a slut. Do I like sex? Yeah. Of course I do. Do I fuck everyone I come into contact with? Of course not.”

He slides around the seats of the gondola until he’s sitting next to me. Even though the gondola is large, having all of our weight balanced on one side tips the car a little and I grab the edge, panicked.

Dominic laughs. “Afraid of heights?”

I shake my head, staring over the edge again. “No. I’m afraid of falling to an early death.”

“Oh, I won’t let anything hurt you,” he says smoothly and slides his arm around my shoulders. For a minute, the mood changes and I believe him. I can feel the muscle of his arm pulled taut against my back, and I know that if he wanted, he could protect me from all harm.

But it’s hard to say what Dominic wants… his mood changes with the wind.

“Why did you come to my house?” I ask him curiously, staring up at him, still nestled in the crook of his arm. He’s mere inches away, which makes it hard to concentrate. His thigh is pressed firmly against mine, sexiness exuding from every pore. I try seriously hard not to be impressed with him, but shit. He’s Dominic fucking Kinkaide. And he’s here with me.

Right now.

If I think about it, it’s daunting. So I try not to think about it.

He stares at me, laughter in his green eyes. “Why? Can’t I be spontaneous every once in a while?”

“Of course you can.” I sniff. “But you don’t even like me. You think that I got you into trouble with that pot and I’m the whole reason that you’re stuck in Chicago. I didn’t, by the way.”

“It doesn’t really matter anymore what happened,” he answers easily. “It could’ve been Sin, for all I know. All that matters is that I’m stuck here. And since I am, I felt like making the most of it this afternoon. I was in the mood to have a little fun.”

“And has your mood changed?” I ask curiously. Getting chased by a boatful of rabid fans could understandably do that to a person.

He levels a gaze at me, one full of dark and naughty things, and I take a quick breath.

“No.”

With that, he reaches his other arm around me, his fingers playing with the hem of my frayed denim shorts, his skin on mine. “I’ve been wanting to do this since you bent over in front of me in your bedroom,” he whispers. “Your ass was bare and tight and I just wanted to plunge my dick into it.”

The world freezes and I inhale sharply as I stare into his eyes. Did he really just say that?

“Into my ass?” I ask breathlessly.

He nods. “You’d like it,” he answers knowingly, reaching around to slide his fingers under my leg, cupping my ass as he pulls me closer to him.

His fingers are strong, and long and for a minute I think about the naughtiness of what he’s suggesting. Why I’m not moving away from him, I don’t know. But I’m planted firmly in this seat and I don’t want to go anywhere.

I swallow hard. “I’ve… um, never done that.”

He laughs, a velvety sound. “Babe, I could show you a bunch of things you’ve never done. And I guarantee you’d like every one of them.”

For some reason, I have no doubt of that. It’s an exciting thought.

He bends his head and nips at my neck, then soothes the bite with a soft suck. His lips, so soft and smooth, ease the pain of the bite away. His nearness is intoxicating, and everything about him screams that he is capable of so many things… things that would please me… things that would embarrass me in the light of day.

But still, I don’t move. I stay right with him, my gaze frozen on his.

Keeping his eyes on mine, he slowly dips his head and plunges his tongue into my mouth, completely plundering it, consuming me yet again. It’s like he can’t kiss me without devastating all of my senses at once, annihilating my thoughts and causing my blood to throb as it all races toward one destination… the V between my legs.

Right where I ache for him.

He’s like a drug… and one taste just isn’t enough.

I open up my mouth and breathe around his lips, sucking in air, grasping at his back and pulling him closer. He reaches back and grabs my hands, holding them together at my wrists and pinning them over my head against the Plexiglas gondola cage. I’m trapped here with him, yet there’s no place I’d rather be.

The energy around us now is primal and raw… and it’s exhilarating too, because we’re out in public. Every time the gondola swoops along the ground before it begins its upward ascent, anyone could look in and see what we’re doing. They could see Dominic pinning me against the wall, and his other hand buried in my crotch, if only they looked closely.

Honestly, I think he might like that idea.

“What are you doing?” I finally manage to whisper, pulling away just ever so slightly.

His eyes are a little unfocused, his pupils dilated. “What would you like for me to do, Jacey?”

He knows. Oh, god, he knows. He knows exactly what I’d like for him to do. I can see it in his eyes. I can feel it in his hands as he releases my wrists and slides both of his hands down, over every curve and plane of my body.