Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,238

towards me. "And this position would be ideal too, because I don't have to see your face. Maybe we can add a gag to the mix and-"

"Shut up, dickhead. We need to focus," I snapped. "We can discuss the finer details of you fucking me in the ass while I choke on a ball gag later."

He barked a laugh and I grinned to myself too. Sometimes hating him was kinda fun.

He moved forward and I scooted back until my ass really was pressed against him and he curled a strong arm around my waist to hold onto me while I leaned out over the water to retrieve my oar.

I practically had to stand up, my ass pushing right back into him as I leaned all the way out and he leaned the other way to keep us balanced.

The moment I snagged the oar, Chase tugged me upright again and we started paddling without another word.

The heat of his broad chest behind me and the feeling of his breath on the back of my neck made my skin tingle, but I ignored the sensation in favour of focusing on the island ahead of us and the sound of victory calling my name. And Chase's I guessed. But I was sitting on the front of the raft, so who was really going to be the winner here?

My heart raced with adrenaline at the sound of more rafts getting closer to us, but I kept my eyes on the prize.

The front of the raft finally bumped onto the sandy shore of the island and I yelled out in triumph as I leapt off of it and raced up the beach towards the dude who now stood there holding the little plastic trophy ready to give to the winners.

Chase was right behind me and I threw my arms into the air, leaping on him and whooping our victory to the sky as he was forced to grab hold of my ass to hold me up while I wound my legs around him like a monkey.

"Fuck yes!" I shouted and Chase shook his head at me like he was indulging a child, but he was fighting off a grin too.

"Actually," the dude behind us said a little sheepishly and I glanced at him where he held my trophy out of reach. "The rules said you had to include all four barrels to build the raft, so unfortunately the two of you forfeited the race."

The smile fell from Chase's features in the blink of an eye as my excitement dropped like a stone to the pit of my stomach.

"Bullshit," I said defiantly. "I never heard that rule." Though to be fair, I hadn't been listening to the rules at all, so it was perfectly plausible. Fucking perfect.

"Well, then you should have paid more attention," the little jobsworth piped up and I practically snarled at him as Chase set me down on my feet in the sand.

"I'm sorry, what was that you just said?" Chase asked darkly, stalking right up to the guy and taking hold of the front of his bright yellow polo shirt. "Because it sounded like congratulations to me."

"I...what?" the dude gasped.

"I'm pretty sure you were just congratulating my girl and giving her that prize," Chase growled in a deadly tone. And shit, I kinda liked it when his bossy wasn't being directed my way.

"But-"

"Did I fucking stutter?" Chase demanded. "Congratulate her. Now."

"C-congratulations," the guy said, his gaze swivelling to me as he held out the crappy plastic trophy and a little golden envelope which presumably held my winnings.

"Good boy." Chase slapped his cheek a couple of times patronisingly. "Give the asshole a tip, Rogue," he added, glancing at me.

"I suggest you stop being an asshole," I said to the dude who looked mildly tempted to piss his pants.

"That's a damn good tip," Chase said, smirking at me before shoving the douchebag away from him hard enough to knock him on his ass in the sand.

I grinned widely and threw my arms in the air, resuming my victory celebrations as I clutched onto my trophy and kissed it dramatically while shoving the cash into my pocket with the rest.

The guy scrambled away and made it to a microphone where he called out to announce that we were the winners and Chase shook his head as he watched me running victory laps across the sand.

I looked out over the water and my happiness grew as I spotted Fox and JJ yelling at each other while