Tyed to You (3 page)

She realised that Ty still had a hold of her hand. She began to pull away but he tightened his grip. “Come on. I saved you a seat at the front. These assholes can ride in the back.”

“God, can we get this show on the road already?” Saul groaned. “I’m ready to shred some water.”

“All you’re going to be shredding is your face when you face-plant in the water. Like you do every time,” Freddie scoffed, punching Saul in the shoulder with a sharp jab.

“Knock it off, dick! I’ll throw you in!”

Jasmine was suddenly grateful to be sitting up front with Tyson. He started the boat and, flashing another smile in her direction, pulled away from the dock. Once they were out of the no-wake zone, he threw open the throttle—the momentum lifting the front of the boat as it gained speed threw Jasmine back into her seat. She laughed at the thrill of it, despite her earlier reservations.

They reached a relatively uninhabited area of the lake and Ty shut off the motor. The guys set to work rigging up the tow line on the back of the boat and Saul fished out a wakeboard from beneath the donut-shaped inflated raft otherwise known as the ‘air biscuit’.

“Prepare to be stunned by my awesomeness on the water,” Saul said to Jasmine with a rakish wiggle of his eyebrows before jumping into the water with the wakeboard. She glanced at Ty, who only rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

Once Saul had got into position, Freddie, serving as spotter, said, “Hit it.” Ty started the motor, throttling up almost immediately. Jasmine turned in her seat to watch Saul cruise back and forth on the wake created by the speed boat. She felt a light tap on her thigh and looked at Ty questioningly.

“Watch this!” he yelled and veered sharply to the right. Jasmine held on for dear life while she watched Saul go flying in the opposite direction, having lost his grip on the tow line.

Tyson laughed and turned the boat back around to pick up his fallen friend.

“Dude, he’s so pissed,” Freddie crowed.

Seeing the look on Saul’s face as they approached, Jasmine was inclined to agree.

“What the fuck, man? You did that on purpose!” Saul shouted.

“Sure did,” was Ty’s cocky response.

“That’s fucked up,” Saul muttered as he hauled himself onto the boat. Then he leaned over the side, pressed a finger against one nostril and blew hard out the other one to clear his nose.

“Gross,” Jasmine said, wrinkling her nose. Saul merely winked at her. She didn’t know what his definition of awesomeness was, but it certainly didn’t include ‘farmer-blowing’.

“All right, it’s my turn,” Freddie said. He took off his sunglasses and tucked them into the cubby at the front of the boat, leaning across Jasmine to do so. “I ain’t losing this pair to the lake, they’re Oakleys.” He paused a moment longer to blatantly ogle the view offered by his close vicinity to Jasmine’s chest, causing her to feel a bit self-conscious. “Not bad,” he murmured.

“Uh…thanks?” Jasmine didn’t quite know what to say.

“You gonna get in the lake now, or do I need to toss you in, Freddie?” growled Ty.

Saul laughed. “Haha, yeah, no macking on Ty’s—”

“Saul!”

“What, Ty, I was just gonna say, ‘Ty’s sister’s friend’. Because she’s a guest, and all? Geez, don’t be such a girl.”

Jasmine took in the expression on Tyson’s face, and if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve sworn he was blushing. His ears certainly looked red.

“Freddie, get in the fucking water. Saul, you’re spotting.”

“Goddamn, okay…” Freddie grumbled, jumping in the water.

They were soon off again, cruising around the lake as Freddie skimmed the current behind them. This time, however, Jasmine found herself watching Tyson at the wheel. The muscles in his arms flexed as he steered the boat, the sun gleaming off the sheen of sweat on his skin. His eyes were concealed behind sunglasses that did not detract from his roguish good looks. And as if he could sense her eyes upon him, he glanced over at her, flashing another smile before turning his attention back to the lake.

God, but he’s heavenly
. The thought escaped Jasmine before she could forbid its passage.

After Freddie let go, deciding his arms needed a rest, Saul took another turn. This time Ty didn’t purposely turn hard to make him crash and Saul managed to stay up much longer on the wakeboard.

After Saul, Ty decided he wanted a turn on the water. He turned off the motor and turned to Fred. “You’re up at the wheel, my man.” He stood up and waved Saul in. “Hey! My turn!”

He fastened on a black and grey neoprene life vest and took off his sunglasses, grinning at Jasmine as he placed them in a small storage bin by driver’s seat. “You don’t want to know how many pairs I’ve left at the bottom of this lake before I finally learned it’s best to just leave them here in the boat.”

“I would imagine so,” Jasmine agreed with a laugh.

“I’m going in, Fred. Don’t let him throw me around, eh, Jassy?” Ty joked as he headed towards the back of the boat. The craft suddenly shifted as Saul hauled himself up over the back deck of the boat and Tyson dived into the water. While he got situated, switching the wakeboard for the slalom ski, Freddie leaned over to Jasmine. “He’s into you, you know.”

“He’s what?” Jasmine asked, surprised. “Nah, I think you’re mistaken. We’ve known each other since he was barely out of kindergarten. I’m like a big sister to him.”
Except for that time we made out,
Jasmine finished in her head. But that was due to alcohol and his teenage hormones. Wasn’t it?

Freddie laughed. “Ha, no. Trust me, you are the furthest thing from a big sister to him.” At that moment, Ty indicated he was ready to go, with a shrill whistle and a thumbs-up, so Freddie fired up the engine, rendering the private conversation over.

As Jasmine watched Ty, she mulled over Freddie’s sudden revelation. He had to be wrong. Tyson was a young, gorgeous specimen, newly minted with a college diploma and ready to take on the world. He could have his pick of any girl his age. And she…well, she already had one failed marriage in which she couldn’t manage to hold her husband’s attention. She was about ten pounds heavier than she wanted to be, and in three months she was turning thirty which, to a twenty-two year old, was practically over-the-hill. No, Freddie had to have pegged that one wrong.

After an impressive display of slalom skiing during his few laps around the lake, Ty let go of the tow line and allowed himself to ease to a stop, falling gracefully into the water. Freddie pulled around to retrieve him and when Ty hoisted himself on to the boat, he asked, “Do you want a turn, Jasmine? You used to wakeboard all the time back when you’d come hang out here with Laurel.”

Jasmine shook her head. “No, thanks. I’ve sobered up some, but I don’t think I’m up for that.”

Ty pursed his lips. “What about the biscuit? We can tie it onto the tow line.”

“Ehh…”

“Come on, the water feels great. I’ll go with you.”

The suggestion gave Jasmine pause. “Oh, I don’t know…” she hedged.

“Come on, take a ride with me. Fred will drive, so there’s no crazy stuff, right, Fred?”

Winking conspiringly at Jasmine, Freddie nodded. “Absolutely. Just a fun little ride around the lake. You should do it,” he added with a sly smile.

Annoyed, Jasmine decided then that she would do it, if nothing else but to prove Freddie wrong at his theory. “Okay, fine, I’ll go on the biscuit with you, Ty.”

“Excellent.” He grinned.

Jasmine didn’t miss the knowing look that Freddie and Saul exchanged, and it succeeded in worrying her some. She was committed now. Once Ty tossed the tethered inflated raft out to the water, she jumped in, gasping at the briskness of the water. The day was uncharacteristically warm, so the water
did
feel pretty good once she’d adjusted to the temperature.

Ty dived in and got positioned on the raft, then helped her get situated, showing her which grips were hers to hold for the ride. They were seated snugly side-by-side, with Ty’s arm around her to hang on to the grip behind her. “Ready for this?” he asked, his eyes alight with excitement.

“As ready as I’m gonna get,” she replied, trying to ignore the butterflies exploding within her stomach at their close proximity.

Ty raised a hand to give his friends the thumbs-up before putting his hand back down to the grip again. Freddie fired up the boat and they were off. Jasmine held the grips tightly as the biscuit slid over the wake, catching air every now and then which would make the biscuit land with a thud. Somehow, she ended up positioned even tighter into Ty’s side.

Suddenly, Freddie veered too sharply in one direction, causing them both to topple off the biscuit into the water. Jasmine sputtered and coughed from all the water that went up her nose and in her mouth. She felt strong arms circle her while she tried to clear her passages. She cast a brief glance down her front to make sure her bikini top had held fast.

“Are you all right?” Ty asked, his voice raspy from his own bout of coughing.

She looked up at him, surprised by how close his face was to hers. “I…
cough
…I’m okay. Just a little…
cough
…water in the wrong tubes.”

Despite her reassurances, Ty didn’t let her go, instead he pulled her even closer. Ty had hugged her before, but this was…different. Jasmine struggled to not read too much into it, but the way he casually circled his arm around her bare waist took everything she had within her to resist wrapping her legs around his hips. She concentrated on treading water and made a poor attempt to make light of the situation.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Freddie did that on purpose.”

He cocked his head, grinning at her. “Oh, really? And what makes you say that?”

Jasmine blushed and turned her gaze away from Ty. “He thinks you have…feelings for me. I told him he was clearly mistaken, of course.”

“And why would you tell him that?” Ty raised an eyebrow, almost as though in challenge.

“Because you don’t.” Jasmine paused. “You, uh, you don’t… Do you?”

“What if I did?”

“Oh, come on, you’re yanking my chain.” Jasmine hadn’t thought it was possible to blush any more than she had been already, but her face felt even hotter than it had before.

Ty lowered his face, touching his forehead to hers. “What if I told you that I have been dying to hold you in my arms like this since the moment I saw you this afternoon?”

Jasmine laughed self-deprecatingly. “I’d say that you were full of shit. Seriously, you can stop teasing now. Or at least wait until we’re back on the boat so your friends can get in on the joke.” Speaking of which, Freddie was taking an awful long time circling around to pick them up.

“Joke? Seriously? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what happened in the garage that summer you and Laurel graduated college. I know you were a little drunk, but I thought you’d at least remember.”

“Of course I remember!” Jasmine snapped. “I felt awful about it. You weren’t even of age!”

“It was one of the best nights of my life,” Ty said quietly. “I didn’t realise you regretted it.”

Jasmine was shocked to see that he actually looked hurt. “Oh, Ty, that’s not what I meant!” She lamented. “It’s just that…I’ve felt so bad for taking advantage of you. You were too young. Drunk or not, I should have known better.”

“You didn’t take advantage of me, Jasmine. If anything, I took advantage of you. I’d only had a couple beers that night, and I found a prime opportunity to kiss the girl I’d been dreaming of kissing since I entered puberty.” He angled his head to rub his nose lightly across her nose. The intimate gesture reawakened the butterflies in Jasmine’s stomach. “I’ve been dying for another opportunity ever since.”

Jasmine was so close to angling her head just a little more to the right, his lips were so close to hers, but that was when the sound of the boat’s engine grew closer. She attempted to pull away, but his arms were still locked around her waist. “This conversation isn’t over, Jasmine. I know you feel it too, and I’m not letting you run away this time.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jasmine said.

“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” replied Ty. He turned to address his friends who’d, finally, reached them with the boat. “Jesus, did you guys take the scenic route or what?”

“You two looked as though you were having a rather intense conversation, we didn’t want to interrupt.” Freddie smirked. Jasmine glared at him, as he continued, “It’s a shame I wasn’t given an opportunity to place a bet on what the subject of that discussion was. I’m pretty sure I’d have come out ahead on that one.”

Chapter Three

They stayed out on the water for a few more laps, each of the guys taking one more turn on the wakeboard before heading back to the dock. Jasmine remained mostly quiet for the rest of the ride, and after a warning shake of the head from Tyson, his friends left her alone.

Once the boat was moored, Jasmine hurried to disembark, nearly losing her footing on the slick edge. This time it was Freddie who caught her, holding on to her a moment longer to urge, “Give him a chance, okay? Everyone sees the chemistry between the two of you. Don’t let a few years’ age difference kill the shot at something that could be really cool.”

Jasmine just gave him a brisk nod of acknowledgement then quickly went inside the house.

Laurel called out at the sound of the sliding glass door opening and closing. “You guys have fun?”

Jasmine found her lounging on the couch with a book. “I need to talk to you.”

Laurel’s smile quickly changed to a look of concern. “Uh-oh, what happened?”

Jasmine shook her head. “Not here, the guys are coming in and I need to talk to you alone.”

“Okay…how about the guest room?” At Jasmine’s nod, she stood and followed her to the room and shut the door behind her. “What’s going on?”

Jasmine took a deep breath. “We’ve never really talked about it, and for that I’m grateful, but I need to talk to you about it now, because…well…”

“Is this about you and my brother?”