25. Jake

The week of wedding games ends today, and we're neck and neck with Jesse and Andi. Of course, my sister and her husband had to be the ones trying to steal the win from us. We're all positioned in the harbor, shoved into little row boats with our partners. I'm in the back, and Caroline is in front of me. She's got on a sweater and has her hair pulled up in a ponytail.

She looks back at me over her shoulder, the setting sun flashing on her green-rimmed classes. "Those muscles aren't just for show, right?"

"I rowed in college for a while," I say. "Jesse tried it and hated it. They're screwed."

"Good. Because my idea of cardio is when I have to walk up the stairs at the BB. If this involves much more exercise than that? Well, you're on your own."

"I got this," I say, eyes focused on the far end of the harbor. "It's maybe 2,000 meters. In college, I could've crushed this in about six minutes."

"Did you have a beautiful dead weight in your boat back in those college days?" Caroline asks.

"Well… no. But you're not a dead weight. You're going to be awesome." I have a few minutes while Paisley bumbles around, trying to find the "official starting gun thingie" she ordered online and has misplaced. I guide her through the proper stroke technique. I don't point out that Andi briefly got into rowing when she heard I was competing. For a while, she was getting pretty good. I look over and see she's rolling out her shoulders and cracking her neck like she's preparing to kick ass.

I reach up, massaging Caroline's shoulders a bit to loosen her up. "Remember," I say in her ear. "Catch, drive, finish, and recover. Just focus on those four parts of the stroke, and we're golden."

"Sorry, what? That feels so good I think I blacked out for a second."

I smile, even though I really wish she had her eye on the prize right now. Then, an idea strikes me. "If we win this race, we can pick this massage back up after Walker's asleep tonight. With less clothes. And a happy ending."

"Oh. Oh," she says a moment later as understanding dawns on her. "I hope this isn't how you motivate your teammates, but I think it's working for me."

Paisley never does find the starting gun. She settles for popping a balloon she found. Except she can only find one of the small ones, so it takes her a few minutes of violently sitting on it before it gives with a weak pop.

All the boats take off. Immediately, the boats with me, Nolan, and Jesse pull ahead of the pack.

Our boat starts to pull ahead of the others, but I realize it's partly because Nolan and Mia are steering toward us. What the hell?

"You guys are drifting!" I shout, raising my voice over the sound of splashing oars and rushing wind.

"Attack!" Mia shouts, pointing one arm forward as Nolan pumps the oars like his life depends on it. I realize his plan. He's going all out right now with no intention of saving energy for later in the race. They're trying to sabotage us to help Andi and Jesse win.

"Cheaters!" Caroline shrieks.

"Keep pulling," I urge. Our best chance to avoid their boat, which is streaking diagonally toward us, is to pick up speed.

I push until my legs burn and the muscles in my arms stand out. We're slicing through the water, but Nolan's face is red, and his eyes flash with deadly intent.

Mother fucker. I'm going to get him for this.

"A real winner does whatever it takes!" Jesse shouts from our right side. He's a little ways behind, but I can hear him fine enough.

"You're dirty cheats. You don't deserve the wedding games cup!" I roar. Admittedly, I can feel myself taking this all a little too seriously. But damn. These assholes are supposed to be my teammates. Is this how Julius Ceasar felt? Et tu, Nolan?

Caroline is too busy angrily shaking her fist as Nolan and Mia's quickly approaching boat. They ram us with about as much deadly force as a toddler head-butting its mom's leg. I'm laughing triumphantly when I realize the real plan.

"Nice try!" I shout. "But you didn't tip us!"

"That wasn't the plan!" Nolan shouts back.

Nolan grabs one of my oars, and Mia grabs one of Caroline's, tossing them far out to our left. I'm still watching in disbelief when Jesse and Andi slip in from our right and steal the other pair of oars.

They both row off, cackling and shouting taunts over their shoulders as we're left dead in the water.

Our boat rocks gently from side to side and it's a few moments before we're left in relative silence, nothing but the sounds of my heavy breathing and water lapping at the sides of our boat to keep us company. The slower couples drift past a minute later, giving us an occasional curious look.

I'm fuming. Partly, it's because I really wanted to win. The other part is that I know being so upset over a meaningless competition is stupid.

"Sorry," Caroline says, breaking the silence. "I should've maybe rowed harder instead of shaking my fist."

"It's alright. It's just a game for fun."

"You wanted to win, though."

"I did," I admit.

Caroline carefully gets up, bracing herself on both sides of the boat so we don't tip as she turns around to face me. She lifts her head, looking over her shoulder toward the harbor's shore. I turn my head to look, and I'm surprised by how much distance we've already covered. The people watching from town look like specks of dust from here. They probably can't even see that we lost our oars and wonder why we're stopped.

"I want to make it up to you," she says, eyes flicking down to my waist as she bites her lip. "Since we're stuck here for a little while, maybe I could keep you entertained."

I look over my shoulder again, but who am I kidding? I won't pass this up, even if there's some distant chance that somebody back there can see. "What did you have in mind? Were you going to sing for me? Dance, maybe?"

"I was thinking about sucking your cock, actually."

Her directness makes me instantly hard. "If you want to so badly, I guess I won't stop you." I'm teasing, expecting her to flirt back and try to play hard to get.

Instead, she just crawls toward me, the boat rocking dangerously each time she moves. She pauses, smirking as we roll side to side. Once the boat steadies, she takes another move toward me.

Fuck. She is so damn sexy.

She pauses with her head poised above my lap and pushes her glasses up with a fingertip. I'm wearing athletic shorts, so I lift my ass as she reaches for the waistband, tugging them down to my thighs along with my briefs. My cock, already diamond-stiff, swings out in a way that makes her grin.

"Somebody's ready."

"You have no idea," I breathe.

She gips the base of me, her hand looking small as she can't even completely circle it. She just studies me for a moment, almost like she's fascinated. "I've never done this in a boat."

"Believe it or not," I say. "This will be a first for me, too."

"Good. I like being your first." She plants a delicate kiss on the side of my shaft, letting her tongue tease me as she kisses her way slowly and tantalizingly up. I almost lose it immediately when her soft lips reach the sensitive tip. It's so damn good.

I close my eyes, stretch out my legs, and wonder if this is what heaven must be like. Then, I realize that might be a sacrilegious thought. Are angels allowed to give blowjobs? Sorry, God. Pretend I didn't just wonder that. The second one was definitely sacrilegious.

I put one hand on the back of her head, fingers slowly squeezing as I take her hair in my fist. I drive her head down, head arching back as a groan rips itself out of me. "Fuck, Caroline. That's so damn good."

"Mmm," she says, and the sound of her soft moan sends a vibrating ripple through me.

She positions herself over my outstretched leg and starts to gently rock herself against my leg, getting herself off in a needy way that just about undoes me. I can feel the heat of her arousal straight through her shorts as she grinds on me harder as her hand tightens around me, head bobbing up and down now.

"Holy shit," I hiss. "Slow down, or I'm going to come right now."

Instead of slowing down, she speeds up, taking me in deeper.

She's moaning as she rocks into me, driving her heat against my leg like she's riding my cock. The combination of her need and the wet warmth of her mouth is too much.

Stars float across my vision, heat surges, and I feel my balls pull tight.

"I'm coming," I grit out, wanting to give her a warning so it doesn't half-drown her while my cock is at the back of her throat.

Instead of pulling off, she pushes me deeper in her mouth, moaning hard as I fill her.

She swallows it all, sucking until I have to pull her off because it's too sensitive. She smiles, biting a corner of her lip and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"God damn," I breathe. "Get over here. It's your turn."

She only has a moment to show her surprise before I pull her into my lap, her back to my chest. I slip my hand down across her belly and under the elastic of her shorts–beneath the thin fabric of her panties.

My fingers slide over the swell of her mound, finding the crease of her slid and the swollen shape of her clit.

She squirms at my touch, finding my free hand and clutching it to her chest tightly.

I circle her, slowly at first, loving the way she's moving and the sounds she's making. The boat is rocking a little concerningly, but if her aggressive blowjob didn't tip us, my circling fingers won't, either.

"I love the way you sound," I whisper. "The way you feel."

"Mmm," she moans.

I move my hand farther down, slipping inside her as I continue stimulating her clit with my thumb. I can't decide if I enjoy her getting me off more or if this is even better. I love the feeling of having her at my fingertips–of driving her absolutely fucking crazy with nothing but the pad of my thumb.

I love the simplicity of it.

When we're like this, my fingers inside her and her whole body at my mercy, none of the other shit matters. It's just chasing the feeling. Following our natural urges. It's the only time I think we're completely, one hundred percent honest with each other.

And there's no lying about how badly she wants to come for me.

I see the other competitors have turned around, and they're growing larger on the horizon. I lick my lips. "I want to feel you squeeze me as you come. I want to feel your need."

I pick up my pace, pumping my hand in her as my thumb mirrors the motion, rubbing her relentlessly as she bucks against me, squeezing my hand until her fingernails dig into the skin.

"Oh God, Jake. Yes. Yes."

She shudders and lets out a sound like relief, and then all the tension in her melts away as she curls up against my touch, smiling with closed eyes and finally sighing. Then she notices the approaching boats.

She scrambles to get back to her spot so fast that the boat finally has enough.

It tips to the left. We both panic, trying to correct by leaning right. But we over-correct. It completely topples, sending us into the cold harbor water.

"Oh my God," Caroline says, teeth already clattering. "We're going to die like Jack and Rose from The Titanic."

"Rose didn't die," I say, clinging to the boat with one hand and helping hold her afloat with the other. It's cold, but we should be fine. The approaching boats are only a minute or so away now.

"You watched The Titanic? Did you cry?"

"What?" I ask. "This is the question you're asking me at a time like this?"

"Yes. Distract me. I don't want to die. Not like this."

I pull her into me, holding her against my body tightly. "I've got you. And no, I didn't cry. Movies never make me cry. If I did cry, though, it would've been when Jack sacrificed himself because Rose refused to make room on that piece of wood that was big enough for both of them."

She shivers. "It was a romantic sacrifice."

"Never… let… go…" I say, adding some dramatic emphasis as I pretend to lose my grip on her slowly.

"Jake!" She says, laughing but looking a little worried. "Don't you sink, even as a joke. There could be… harbor sharks or something down there."

"Never… let…" I let go of her and let myself sink below the water. A split second later, I feel her hand scrabbling for a hold as she yanks me back up, face scrunched up in annoyed fury.

"If I was Rose and you were my Jack, I wouldn't let you make a romantic sacrifice. So you're stuck here, helping me change diapers."

She says it like it's a threat, but I can't lie. Part of me doesn't think that sounds like such a bad thing.