Anything but Minor - Kate Stewart Page 0,16
I needed to get me out of the slump I’d been in.
“Rafe,” I said in a whisper.
“We’re here,” he said as he parked the Jeep.
“Read my lips. No.”
“Listen, Alice, I’ll have you harnessed in. I won’t let a thing happen to you.”
I clenched my thighs together as the driver of the boat looked over my half-bronzed, bikini-clad body. His expression as he observed me bordered on laughter. I looked a total mess in my solid pink, two-piece swimsuit. Rafe had refused to let me keep my shorts on, and I’d stupidly agreed.
“Rafe, I can’t do this. I’ll scream the whole time!”
“Feet in,” he barked as he pulled the straps up my legs and clasped them around my body.
“Aren’t you a pilot, woman?” he snapped as he cupped my face and brought us nose to nose. Wide-eyed with panic, he waited on me to calm down a bit before he spoke gently.
“You’ve got this. Thirty seconds in the air, and if you hate it, I’ll bring you down.”
“Right into Jaws’s mouth.”
“Alice”—Rafe chuckled—“I’ve got you.” The driver started the boat and began whipping through the waves as Rafe egged me on with encouragement while he sat me at the edge of the boat, making sure I was properly strapped in. I’d never Googled parasailing. I had no idea how safe or unsafe it was. I knew absolutely nothing about it, and I hated that fact.
“Okay.” I pulled the last of my Red Bull into my mouth and crushed the can before throwing it at his feet. I bowed up to Rafe in my harness, fists clenched, teeth gritted, with a quick, “Let’s do this.” Rafe howled with laughter as I threw air punch after air punch in front of him to psyche myself up.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he asked, incredulous.
“Haven’t you seen Rocky?”
“Oh, Jesus,” Rafe mused as he checked my gear one more time.
“I’m going to make this my—Oh my GOD!!” Rafe pushed me just as I was lifted and rocked me back with a wink. As soon as I began to rise, a stream poured from between my legs. There was no stopping it.
I peed when I was nervous, excited, or scared.
Like a dog.
I peed.
And I was pretty sure I’d just slapped Rafe in the chest with it. I looked for and saw his reaction as I hovered above, screaming like a banshee, and he poured bottled water all over himself. I didn’t care how scared I was. I was never coming down.
Agonizing minutes later and after fighting a bout of humiliation induced nausea, I focused on finding my center. Once I’d managed to open my eyes, I sighed in awe. The sea was beautiful as the blooming sky lit up the water in oranges and yellows. I floated above, completely confident as realization struck of what a baby I’d acted like. Rafe gave me a thumbs up, and I shot it right back as I drifted in the air above him. My confidence slightly restored, I took in my surroundings in new appreciation. I shouted down an “I love it” that I wasn’t sure he could hear, and a silent thank you to the clouds above and the sea below for the show they gave me.
Like all good things, my ride came to an end. I couldn’t look Rafe in the eye as I was lowered back to the boat. My whole face flamed and it was from more than the result of my first hour in the sun.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly as he freed me from the restraints. “I should have warned you.”
“About what? Your R. Kelly moment?”
“Yeah, when I get really nervous—”
“You give golden showers? Some men subscribe to that. I’m not one of them.” I kept my eyes averted. How could I ever look at him again? Rafe chuckled as I quickly scrambled for conversation. “So are you going next?”
“Yeah, I’ll see you in a bit.”
I looked up to see Rafe enter the water on a surfboard fastened to his feet and a bar clutched in his hands. Seconds later, he was jumping waves as he caught the wind with his kite and gained at least thirty feet in the air. “The wind is killer today. He’ll be at it all afternoon,” the boat driver said as he handed me...a beer.
Great.
Instead of trying to find ways to entertain myself, I sat mesmerized by his skill as he floated above before he crashed down, coasting on wave after wave.
In the boat, we followed a