Page 24 of Resisting the Fall

“Fine.” I gently set her down in front of me. “But don’t think about running.” Folding my arms across my chest, I planted myself between her and her only escape.

I got my second eye roll of the day, but she crossed her arms, took hold of the bottom of her tank-top, and pulled it over her head, revealing a yellow swimsuit that showed a strip of her stomach. My heart rate increased, and I forced myself to look away while she unbuttoned her shorts and stepped out of them.

It didn’t matter that she was exceptionally hot.

We were just friends.

And she was Carson’s little sister.

I glanced back at her to see if she’d finished, right as she attempted to dart around me. I took hold of her arm, pulling her against me. “That’s what I get for being a gentleman?” I shook my head and walked toward the edge of the dock with her in a bear hug. “Big mistake.”

“Wait! Wait!” Maven was now giggling so hard she could hardly speak. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

I paused, tightening my grip so she couldn’t squirm away. I didn’t trust her one bit. “What sort of deal?”

“You don’t throw me in, and I’ll…” She bit her lip, contemplating, and my gaze settled on the spot.

I swallowed, forcing my gaze upward and my thoughts away from the strange, momentary lapse in judgment that seemed to consume me.

She smiled, knowingly. “What do you want?”

Without permission, my gaze dropped to her lips again. Friends certainly didn’t kiss. And that’s all we were—friends. But my brain had gone blank, and I couldn’t think of anything else.

“What are you two doing?”

My gaze flew to Carson in the water. He had apparently just arrived at the dock with Tate, both out of breath as if the two of them had been racing. Zoe was a ways behind them, clearly taking her time. “Nothing, we were just…” I looked at Maven, still wrapped in my arms, as though she might help me out of this situation.

She wore a satisfied little smirk. “What are we doing, Ben?”

Reluctantly, I released her. “She said she was going to head home, so I was trying to get her to stay.”

Carson’s eyebrows rose and his gaze flicked to his sister. “I can see why you thought that method would work.”

Maven’s chin dropped and she glared at her brother.

My gaze shifted between them. Did Carson mean what I thought he did? I turned toward Maven, my smile growing. “Wait. Do you have a crush on⁠—”

Before I could get another word out, she bounded forward, shoving her hands into my chest and sending me backward off the edge of the dock.

When I breached the water, everyone was laughing. Besides Maven, that is. She stood on the dock with her hands on her hips, wearing a victorious look. “I always thought you were quicker than that, Ben.”

Was she referring to the shove, or was she confirming that she had a crush on me?

Before I had time to figure it out, she grabbed her discarded tank-top and shorts and took a backward step. “I’m headed home, Carson.”

That girl was the most infuriatingly stubborn thing I had ever met.

And I was pretty sure she had a thing for me.

“Don’t you have to get home?” Carson asked, pouring himself a tall glass of milk before returning the jug to his fridge.

I spun a quarter that had been lying on the Prices’ counter. “Yeah, I do.”

He took a swig, then watched me over the brim of his cup. “But…?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

After another few gulps of milk, he set his empty cup on the counter, and a smile crept onto his lips. “Maven should be home from her violin lesson any minute.”