Love Rush (LarssonSiblingSeries#4)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Tilly

Levi surprises me again this morning with an hour pass into the activity park. We woke up early, still dizzy from the night before, not able to keep our hands off each other. After ten minutes of making out in the bed, we got showered - separately, grabbing a quick round of toast for breakfast. Levi booked us into the water rafts, telling me that we'd have to build our raft to sail across the big, open lake.

I pick up the thick rope and try my best to help Levi tie it around the rubber tubes, hoping that it joins them together. "Is it tight enough?"

Levi slides his fingers through the rope and shakes his head. "Nope, this is gonna fall to pieces."

"What are we doing wrong?"

He tugs twice on the rope. "I have no idea."

"Need any help?" the guide assistant says, fluttering her long lashes Levi's way.

I noticed her eyeing him the moment we stepped foot in the activity centre.

"No," I bark the moment he says, "Yes, please."

The guide stops, glancing at me. "Are you sure? You seem in a pickle."

Levi drops the half-finished raft on the floor. "We can't seem to get the rubber tubes to stay together."

"Are you knotting the rope?" she replies, rushing over to him.

My feet plant to the ground, watching as they start to build the raft. I move my gaze to wherever Levi is looking, trying to get his attention. But, it doesn't work. I attempt to quiet the unhelpful and toxic thoughts from circling my mind, hating that I always think the worst.

They laugh four times, almost slip in the mud twice and not once does Levi glance over my way. And then, wanting to prove me wrong, he looks over here, trying to source me out, smiling when he finds me.

"Tilly, sweetheart, come here."

I step over to them, trying to hold up the back of the tube tight. "Am I doing this right?"

The guide nods. "Yeah, if you can keep that end still, we'll be able to get a better grip on the knots in the rope.

"Okay," I strain my muscles when things get heavier my end. "It is quite heavy."

"Can you manage?" Levi shouts, looking to struggle with the weight himself.

The guide yanks the poles, causing me to fall forward, the mud slippery under my feet.

"Watch it!" Levi says, glaring her way.

"Sorry, honey," she replies, not sounding sorry at all.

Levi takes over. "We can handle it from here. Thanks."

The apples of her cheeks turn a pinkish shade. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

My boots are lathered in sticky mud when I walk towards Levi, the ground total mush. "Did you get an idea of what we need to do?" I say, when the guide wanders over to the other couples.

My eyes seal shut when he reaches out to touch my face, fingers gentle and warm. "I reckon so. You okay? You didn't strain anything did you?"

I laugh, picking up the rope the guide left us. "I'm fine. Do we have much more raft to build?"

"No," he glances down with a deep-set frown and then to other peoples rafts. "I don't know, to be honest. It's harder than I thought it would be."

The rope burns my skin when I try to feed it through the hole in the rubber pole, the fibres sticking into my skin. "Come on, we can't just give up."