Page 65 of Shut Up and Drive

“Don’t be gone too long. You won’t want to miss dinner and the bonfire at the beach!” Bash hollers after me as I disappear down the trail.

I’m lost in thought when I happen upon Sera and Brad, arguing in the woods. I dive behind a bush and eavesdrop, because that’s how desperate and pathetic I’ve become on this trip.

“I can’t believe the way you’ve been treating me in frontof my family. You show up unannounced, and humiliate me in front of Thane, and I’m supposed to give you a second chance?” Sera shouts. “I’m so embarrassed. Thane and my brother think I’m dating a guy who treats me like garbage, Bradley.”

When he laughs, I want to launch myself out of the bushes and punch his teeth out. “You’re being a bit dramatic, don’t you think? It was ajoke!”

“It’s not funny.”

He moves closer to her and pulls her close. “I’m sorry, I’ll behave from now on,” he says, and moves in to kiss her.

My eyes divert as a gut instinct, but as I begin to look away, her body stiffens, and the peck she allows him to give her is about as passionate as when I was forced to kiss Great Aunt Ida on the cheek as a kid.

His hand moves to her butt, and he holds her tighter and tries to kiss her again. I shove down the urge to forcefully remove his hands from her body. Hell, I want to remove them fromhisbody.

“Brad, please stop,” she says.

“You know I hate being called that. My mom named me Bradley. Use it,” he says, releasing his grip on her. “I’m not sure why you’re being so sensitive. I was going to wait until we were alone in Bimini to explain that that woman you saw me with was just a colleague I was schmoozing for a sales deal. But for whatever reason, you don’t trust me.”

“You looked cozier than colleagues normally do.”

“She’s European. They’re all touchy-feely,” he says.

I’m not sure if Sera is buying his story, but I’m not giving one red cent to it.

“Besides,you’reabout as affectionate as acactus. It’s no wonder she looked like she was crossing a line to you.” When she pushes away from him, he frowns. “Why are you being such a prude?”

Her eyes shift toward the lake house and I’m afraid I’ve been spotted. I hold my breath and squeeze my eyes shut.

“It’s thatThaneguy, isn’t it?” Brad insists.

My eyes widen at the mention of my name.

Sera is a horrible liar, and my focus zooms in on her tell. She holds her breath and she bites her lower lip.

It doesn’t matter what words come out of her mouth as she tries to explain away any history we have together. I see it in the way her fingers weave into each other until her knuckles are white. I see it in the way she overshares and talkswaytoo fast. But Brad doesn’t. He accepts her explanation and marches away. It’s when she lets out a big, reassuring breath and closes her eyes in relief that I know for sure.

Serafina Spencer still has feelings for me.

I crouch behind that bush, grinning like a fool. Nothing she says can change my mind now. She still feelssomethingtoward me, and it’s affecting her relationship with that meathead.

Good.

My chest swells with rejuvenated reserve to keep trying, and the torch I’ve carried for her all these years apart goes from a flicker to a blaze. She jogs away, and when she has disappeared down the trail, I stand and dance like an NFL player who just scored the winning touchdown.

An older couple wanders past and gawks at my weird dance in the bushes.

I freeze mid-booty-shake. “There was a bee,” I say sheepishly, and trudge back to the trail.

They shake their heads and give me a wide berth as they pass. I squelch a laugh and realize I’ve got to do something about all this excited energy breaching its banks inside of me. I wait a few minutes until Sera is far enough ahead of me, then follow her back to the lake house.

Bradley took off somewhere, so it’s now or never. I near the porch and see Sera through the window prepping some kind of dough for tonight’s dinner. I glance around and find an old rusted ax leaning up against the house and get an idea.

I find a fallen tree and drag it strategically in the yard where I know Sera can see me through the window. Then, because this is supposed to be an attention-grabber, I pull my shirt off over my head in slow motion and flex my arms and chest muscles a few times for dramatic effect. I glance over my shoulder at her, and she’s staring, lips parted, at me out the window. I pretend I don’t notice and pour a bit of my water bottle down my chest to “cool off.” I’m confident I’ve got her on the hook, so I raise the ax and bring it down hard.

As soon as I start slinging, I’m filled with regret. Not only is it harder than the guys on social media make it look, but the head on the ax flew off after only a few strikes—sailing above my head, forcing me to run for cover. It hits the ground with athud,and I look up at her hoping she didn’t just see the whole thing happen. She’s laughing hysterically as she opens the window.

“You’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that to make me swoon, Donnelly!” she shouts.