Stand-In Saturday (Love For Days #2) - Kirsty Moseley Page 0,37

from my eyes and spot my banana buddies a little ways away. The other four managed to hold on, and they’re all now practically wetting themselves with laughter. Grinning wildly, I swim over to it.

Theo’s eyes are shining, and his grin is so big, he gets little dimples in his cheeks as he shakes his head. “She wasn’t readyyyy!” he teases.

I burst out laughing, watching as he scoots back to the last spot and motions for me to sit in front of him this time. He holds down a hand, and I grip his wrist tightly, as he does mine. With my free hand, I reach for the strap, and with Theo’s help, I manage to drag myself back onto it in an extremely unladylike fashion. I don’t even care. This is my new favourite thing.

As I settle back onto it again, Theo scoots closer to my back. “You have to hold on. Squeeze it with your thighs,” he says, reaching around me and playfully pressing on the outside of my knees to show me how to grip it.

“Oh, you have to hold on?” I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes as we both snicker.

“Ready?” the guy on the boat calls again.

Again, we all cheer. This time, I manage to stay on longer.

When our time is up, I’m exhausted. It was much harder work than I’d expected it to be. Sometimes, I managed to stay on, but a lot of times, I flew off—we all did. The corners were the worst, and I swear the driver was doing it on purpose just to watch us all try to clamber back on board again. Wicked bastard.

When we’re back on dry land, my legs feel like jelly, and my arms ache from hauling my body weight back on board. At one point, I even regretted putting on those extra ten ice cream pounds Aubrey and I added after my break-up. I’m in reasonably good shape, I go to spin classes and do hot yoga, but I also follow them up with Chinese and a glass of wine. It’s all about balance.

I sigh contentedly and smile over at Theo as I attempt to re-bun my wet, snarled hair. I’ve had the time of my life here today. I’ve loved every second of it.

He returns my smile and rubs the small of my back. “Are you okay? You did great. I mean, I was only concerned for your life for, like, the whole time,” he says dramatically.

I chuckle and slap his life jacket with the back of my hand. “I did do great. My legs are like limp noodles now though. Damn, what a workout. I’m having extra dessert tonight because of that.”

“Yeah, I’m shattered.” He roughly rubs a hand in his hair, sending water droplets in all angles, some of them hitting me in the face. His hair is a mess after. Weirdly, I sort of like it. “Are you thirsty? We could get a drink.” He nods back at the hut, where they serve ice cream and cold drinks.

“Are you kidding? I think I swallowed half the loch. At this point, I’m ninety-five percent water.” I unclasp my life jacket, pulling it away from my throat so I can breathe a little easier. I can barely move in it; I feel like the Michelin Man.

“What do you want to do now? I’m too tired for waterskiing. Do you still want to do the paddle boarding, or maybe if you want something more chilled, we could go back to the hotel and lie on the beach for a bit?” He looks somewhat hopeful when he suggests the beach.

“Ooh, the beach sounds good.” I nod eagerly. That sounds perfect, and my muscles rejoice at his suggestion. “And we can get some lunch. It must be time to eat. My stomach is starting to digest itself.”

“Probably all the water you swallowed.” Theo laughs and casually slings his arm around my shoulders, leading me back to the changing rooms. “We don’t have to leave to get our flight home until, like, one thirty on Sunday. If we have time, we can come back and try the paddle boarding in the morning before, if you want.”

I grin excitedly and nod along like a bobblehead.

After managing to pry myself from the wetsuit (it’s slightly easier to take off, thank God), I use the towel to try and dry some of the water from my bikini before putting my clothes over the top of it. My hair is unsalvageable, so