Free Reluctantly in Love by Niecey Roy Page A

sorts of trouble growing up.
    I huffed through my nose.
    “Don’t worry. I’ve got the canoe. You’re safe,” Chase said.
    I took my eyes off the precarious-looking canoe and met Chase’s gaze. He held on to the back of the canoe while the river rushed around his hips. His eyes were warm, the tone of his voice meant to relax me. He probably used it on his patients. Whatever—it worked. I didn’t even know him, but I trusted what he said. Maybe because he’d taken the Hippocratic Oath? Or it might have a lot to do with his biceps.
    Whatever it was had me stepping forward to take Leo’s outstretched hand.
    The canoe rocked under my weight and I sat heavier than I meant to. Bracing my hands on either side of me, I looked up at Leo on the bank. “You better hope nothing happens to me. You’ll have to explain my being fish bait to your parents. They love me.”
    Leo laughed. “True, but I’d be more scared of your mom.”
    “Yeah, her too.” The alcohol in my stomach sloshed with the rocking of the canoe.
    “If I have to do this canoe thing, you do too,” Lexie said from the front seat of her and Leo’s canoe. She held on to the bank with one hand, a wine cooler with the other.
    “You weren’t even worried about it until Roxi brought up piranhas,” Gen said, then tipped a beer up to her lips for a drink.
    “Piranhas?” Leo raised a brow, and Matt laughed.
    “Piranhas?” Chase asked.
    “It’s nothing. Rox has a wild imagination,” Leo said, and I flipped him off.
    “You have a cooler full of booze, you’ll have fun.” Gen lifted her pinky finger off the can she held and pointed it at the pink cooler bungee corded in behind me. “You’ll have fun.”
    “You make me sound like a lush.” My gaze was on a suspicious bit of foam swirling in the water near the canoe.
    “You are a lush,” Gen said. “I’ve seen you drink grown men under the table.”
    “You aren’t getting any S’mores tonight; I just decided,” I said, and she crossed her eyes at me.
    Leo sat down in his canoe. “Mutant fish are the hungriest in the afternoon. We better get moving.”
    “Not funny,” Lexie said with an eye roll, and Leo laughed.
    “You’re such an ass,” I said.
    “First one to the ramp at Jonak’s gets dibs on the only air mattress we have.” Matt shoved away from the riverbank and their canoe drifted into the current. He dipped his paddle into the river. “Last ones have to hunt for firewood.”
    “That’s not fair!” I called after them. “I don’t even know where this ramp is!”
    “Better keep up then,” Matt said over his shoulder.
    “I want that air mattress,” Leo said, paddling after Matt. “Sorry, man,” he called back to Chase. “You got the short end of the stick with Rox.”
    “You’re lucky I’m scared of this water, or I’d take you down,” I said, but they were already a canoe length away.
    The canoe rocked and dipped toward the water. After a nerve-wracking moment, the canoe stabilized and so did my breathing. I craned my neck, careful not to move the rest of my body, and gave Chase a severe stare.
    “You should have warned me, sheesh!”
    “I thought you were in a hurry.” He gave me a cocky smile. The canoe drifted, and he dipped his paddle in the water, stroking backward. The canoe lurched forward. “Unless you want to lose so you can get me all to yourself out in the trees after dark.”
    “Um, no.” But now that the idea was planted, making out with Chase in the dark would be the best part of this camping trip.
    “All right then, we better catch up with everyone.”
    I faced forward in case he had some kind of superpower, like mind reading. “Right. I want that air mattress.”
    I stroked through the water with my paddle, trying to talk my nerves down. The quicker we paddled, the sooner this canoe trip would be over. “This isn’t so bad.” A little of the tension eased from my shoulders. “Do you canoe a lot?”
    “I grew up on this river, so you