Cinderella Steals Home by Carly Syms Page A

holding. The cooler drops down onto the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of sand. He shoots me a dirty look because he hadn't let go of his side yet, but I barely notice.  
    My brother walks away to get more of the stuff he brought with us out of the car, and leaves me standing alone awkwardly near the boat. I look around, trying to find something to do so I don't look out of place, but there's nothing -- and no one -- I recognize.  
    "Let's get that on board."  
    I spin around, heart instantly in my throat. Sure enough, Doan's crept up behind me and I hadn't noticed him coming.  
    "What?" I say, stomach twisting just at the sight of him.  
    He lifts an eyebrow, then points down at the ground without taking his eyes off of me.  
    "The cooler," he says like my idiocy amuses him, and probably it does.   "We want that on the boat. Help me bring it on."  
    "Fine," I snap, my tone harsh mostly because I'm embarrassed. "You don't have to talk to me like I'm five."  
    He shakes his head but says nothing, and we both lean down to grab an end. I look at the boat floating easily in shallow waters and don't see any kind of ramp or dock to get on.  
    "How are we going to get this on there?" I ask.  
    "Boy you're on a roll today," he says, and I suppress the urge to let go of the cooler and give him a kick where it'll hurt. "See the boat? See the really shallow water? You walk through it. And there's a ladder on the other side."  
    I glare at him. "How am I supposed to know that?"  
    He laughs. "Don't be so testy, Holls. I'm just messing with you."  
    "Yeah, well, maybe I don't want to be messed with," I mutter under my breath. He isn't supposed to hear me, but he lets out a low chuckle anyway.  
    "And that's what makes it so much fun for me."  
    I shake my head. Every time he does something to make me think maybe he isn't the total asshole I pegged him for on day one, he does something else to bring me right back to my initial conclusion about him.  
    And it bugs me that I still can't let it go, let him go, that I can't tell him to piss off and let me forget him. He does just enough to keep me dying to know his story. Walking away is the right thing, the smart thing, and yet it's the only thing I can't figure out how to do.  
    And it's making me kind of crazy.  
    I'm wearing flip-flops and a sundress so wading through the shallow, wonderfully cool waters is no big deal. Doan glances back at me after we take a few steps in as if he expects me to protest or complain, but the water feels nice and refreshing lapping at the skin around my ankles hot from the sun.  
    "What, not too cold for you?"  
    I shake my head. "It's perfect."  
    "Surprising."  
    "Why?"  
    "I thought girls like you always squeal when you get in the water," he replies. "'It's too cold! It's too cold! I can't get in there!'"
    "Don't go into acting," I tell him as I try not to laugh at his terrible impression of a girl. "Your falsetto isn't exactly impressive."  
    He wiggles his eyebrows at me, and it's like all the tension he caused me just minutes ago disappears. He has an uncanny way of doing that to me. It's that damn hook again.  
    And that makes me kind of crazy, too.  
    "If that's the least impressive thing about me, then I think I'm doing okay," he says, and that shuts me up pretty fast. I have no idea how to respond.  
    He leads me through the rest of the water and right around to the back side of the boat that wasn't visible from the shore, and sure enough, there's a ladder going straight down into the water.  
    "Pass me the cooler and climb up," he says, and I do. When I'm securely on deck, I turn around to take the cooler from him.  
    He's reaching over to me with it and I grab for it, but it must've gotten wet or I don't get a good enough grip because it slips out of my hands and tumbles down into the water. It floats there for a second or two, then sinks, but the water's so shallow that the top of the cooler doesn't submerge