"Whose idea was it to rent the jet skis again?"

"It was mine!" Harper raised her hand after paying the hotel manager. "Great idea right? We always say we'll do it when we come here and never do. This time it's happening!"

The manager grabbed two sets of keys from a locked tin before we followed him to get the skis.

"What's wrong, Karma?" Lanie asked. "You don't sound excited. I thought you were into this."

"I am into it. I guess I'm just surprised." Shrugging a shoulder, I added, "It was like you said, we never followed through with it before."

Harper chuckled as the manager set them up in the water. "Well there's a first time for everything."

Seems like a lot of firsts have been going around lately. If I was being honest, spending the day on the water with the girls sounded like it was exactly what I needed right now. A girl's day. It's just that I've always been—

"Do you remember everything I went over with you girls?" The manager asked.

Harper nodded. "Absolutely. And we'll make sure to be back in three hours."

Wow, three hours? That was actually a decent amount of water time. I listened closely as the manager went over the rules and safety info, and something he said caught my attention. When he left us alone with the skis, I looked at my best friends with confusion.

"Um, why are there only two? Are two of us pairing up? Because if that's the case, I don't mind—"

"Didn't you hear the manager?" Lanie asked with a frown. "It's required for two people to be on one jet ski so no one is riding alone."

Now I was even more confused. "But there are only three of us."

Just as the horrible truth dawned one me, I heard his damn voice from behind me.

"Hey, girls. Who's ready for some fun?"

Somehow I managed to keep a straight face. But in my mind I cursed my apparent rotten luck. After the steamy—albeit awkward—night in the hot tub last night, I wasn't expecting to see Nathan today. Especially since we agreed that this was going nowhere.

"I'm more than ready," Lanie answered. "So Harper and I will ride on one. Karma, you and Nate can pair up and take that one."

Of course we could. "Sounds good," I said with a fake smile.

Harper squealed and clapped her hands together. "This is going to be awesome! Lanie, come with me to grab my sunglasses? I left them upstairs."

"Sure, no problem."

After my two best friends disappeared into the hotel lobby, I really wished I went with them. But the shock of Nathan showing up and the fact that I was so paranoid about watching what I said so I didn't give myself away to Lanie and Harper had me standing here stoic.

"Hello, gorgeous."

Hearing that nickname again sent a shiver down my spine. Finally turning towards him I muttered, "I thought I told you not to call me that."

Nathan held up his hands. "My bad, Karma. So are you ready for this? It should be fun."

"This is all your doing, isn't it? I swear, Nathan, if you set this up after telling me that you—"

"Slow down, Karma. I had nothing to do with this. Harper asked me if I would be the fourth musketeer for you guys. It was her idea. Ask her yourself."

I rolled my eyes at that last part. "You know I can't ask her. She'll want to know why."

"I guess you gotta take my word for it then." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of sunscreen. "Need some?"

Out of spite I wanted to say no. But being in the sun for three hours with no sunscreen was going to give me one hell of a sunburn. And I didn't put any on before I came down here because Harper interrupted me as I was getting my bag together to tell me she had a big surprise and I forgot my bottle upstairs.

I guess I could wait for them to get back and use Lanie's, but I knew Nathan would get a good laugh out of that. So I opted for the obvious answer.

"Sure. Thanks."

When I reached for the bottle he pulled it away. "I'm going to do it."

Oh, no he isn't. "Nathan—"

His voice dropped low, and there was something in his eyes that had my throat closing up. "Please, Karma. Let me do it."

Since talking was impossible, I nodded.

Nathan popped the top off the bottle and squeezed a little bit of the white cream into his hand. After sliding the bottle back into his pocket, he met my stare.

"Close your eyes," he whispered.

After a slight hesitation I did as he said. My heart started pounding in my chest as I waited. Confusion and uncertainty where Nathan was concerned were feelings that were quickly becoming way too familiar.

The first touch of sunscreen on my cheek was cold. He rubbed some onto both of my cheeks, then my forehead, my nose, and my neck. He took his time smoothing it into each area, running his fingers gently over my skin.

By the time he was finished, I could barely form a coherent thought. This was dangerous territory. I knew it immediately but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"You can open your eyes now, Karma."

When I looked up at him, there was a unique expression on his face. It reminded me of that day at the bowling alley. If I had to put a label on it, I would say it came close to adoration.

"Thanks," I murmured. What the hell else was I going to say?

Thankfully Lanie and Harper returned right after that and it wasn't long before the pair of them were suited up with their life jackets and situated on their jet ski. As they argued over which way they wanted to go, Nathan and I were dealing with our own predicament.

"Do you want front or back?"

I shifted nervously on my feet. "Um, I'm not sure. Front?"

"Okay, cool. You know how to drive it then?"

Damn. "Not really."

Unfortunately, I've never been on a jet ski in my life. But I really didn't want to sit in the back. I knew this wasn't a good idea.

"If you can't drive then you should probably ride in the back," he stated. "I know how to drive."

Uncomfortable, I brushed my hair back. "I'm kinda, um, scared of riding in the back. I really don't want to fly off that thing." And get eaten by a huge shark...

Nathan stared at me for a second before glancing at the jet ski. "Okay. You ride up front and I'll ride in the back."

"But you said—"

"I can take care of it. Get on, Karma."

I straddled the jet ski and slid as far up as I could. Nathan got on behind me, rocking the ski a little as he slid up close so he could reach around me to grip the handlebars. The lifejackets put a little space between our upper bodies, but his legs were pressed against mine.

"You guys ready?" Lanie called from their jet ski.

Nathan gave her a thumbs up and I nodded. He waited for the two of them to shoot off onto the water before following suit. As nervous as I was, I couldn't help but laugh as the mist of the ocean hit my face.

"Fun isn't it?" Nathan asked loudly over the sound of the motor.

"It's incredible!"

It was actually pretty freeing. The faster and farther we went, the more the stress from the past few weeks seemed to melt away. And given everything that happened with my mom after my failed college tour, it was a lot of stress.

"Faster, Karma?"

As I gripped the front of the jet ski tighter I yelled, "Faster!"

I squealed with excitement as Nathan accelerated, taking us further away from the shore. When this first started, we stayed within a safe distance behind Lanie and Harper. But when I gave Nathan permission to go faster, we whizzed right by them. Now they were nowhere in sight.

"Where are the girls?"

He glanced around before slowing the jet ski and then stopping it. "They started heading back towards the shore not long ago. You okay? Want to go back?"

I looked all around us. Nothing but vast ocean. When I careened my head to look around Nathan, I could barely see the shore. Everyone looked like little tiny ants.

"Uh, no. We can keep driving."

"You got it." He turned the key and the jet ski made a weird noise. So he tried again. And once more. "Shit."

"What is it?" I asked, thinking he was playing with me.

"It's not starting."

"Very funny."

He tried it again. "I'm serious, Karma. Something's wrong with it."

My head whipped in his direction. "Nathan, this isn't funny. Are you trying to tell me we're stuck out here?"

The dire expression on his face said it all.

"Yeah, Karma. That's exactly what I'm saying."

***

Oh no! Stuck on the water. Part two is a big deal for Nathan and Karma (even though they might bot realize it yet)

Part two will be up on Sunday!!

And if you haven't already, check out the playlist for Heartstrings on Spotify! Info below.

Xoxo

🖤