Page 72 of Best Vacation Ever

I must have used too much force because Lori covers more ground than I anticipated, her arms flailing as she tries to keep her balance. “Ahh!”

Dean grabs her waist and releases her once she’s steady. “We really need to stop meeting like this,” he says, giving me a curious glance.

I wave innocently at him and leave them to their flirting, feeling triumphant that at least one of us is making progress with their crush. I barely get a few feet before Dylan practically runs me over.

“Hey, there you are!” He turns around and squats. “Hop on.”

“What?”

He hitches his thumb over his shoulder to point at his shirt, where over half the boxes are checked off, then he turns to face me. “Alessio, Kellan, and I are competing to see who can get them all ticked off first. I’m still missingpiggyback ride,kiss someone, andbody shot. You’re helping me with one of them, so take your pick.”

Letting Dylan do a body shot off me, kiss him, or be carried around? It’s a no-brainer.

“Get lower.”

He complies quickly and I hop on his back, my arms wrapping securely around his broad shoulders. He wastes no time charging toward where Alessio and Kellan are standing near some pool lounge chairs.

“Ha! Piggyback!” Dylan exclaims, letting me down. “Check it off!” He hands me a marker and I check it off for him, then turn around so he can check mine off too.

Alessio rushes over. There’s urgency in his voice. “Faye! Drop your pants!”

“What? Why?”

“We need to switch pants. I’m only missing switching an article of clothing and body shot, then I win!” He gets his shorts down a few inches before I grab his arm to stop him.

“Whoa! I’m not switching my pants with you; you’ll stretch them out.”

He frowns. “If you don’t take your pants off right now, I’m going to lose. Do you want to be responsible for me losing? Can you live with yourself if I lose, Faye?”

Every time he says the wordlosehe gets a little more intense, and I take a step back while stifling my giggles. “I think I’ll be able to sleep at night, yeah.”

“Leave her alone, Alessio,” Kellan says, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer. The butterflies that make an appearance every time I’m near him start up in my stomach and my breath hitches.His arm is over my shoulders. His side is pressedup against mine.

“You just want her for yourself to check off the body shot!”

Alessio says before spotting Anaya walking by with some other people. “Hey, Anaya! Take off your pants!” he yells, rushing to her.

“He’s going to end up getting slapped.” Adam appears, looking grumpier than usual, sitting down on one of the lounge chairs with his beer. He doesn’t acknowledge me, and I don’t acknowledge him, and that’s fine with me. I’m still upset with him about last night, and he probably feels the same way, so if he wants to ignore me then so be it.

“What do you still have left?” I ask Kellan, and he turns around for me to see that all tasks are checked off except body shot and kiss someone.

“Dylan and I are tied right now, both needing the same things,” he says, walking backward to the bar. “But I’m about to win.”

He turns and makes his way through the crowd, leaving us all staring after him. The white shirt stands out against his smooth, tan skin, and his dark hair is all purposefully ruffled.

He’s the hottest guy here by a long shot and judging by the way my heart pounds in my chest, it knows it too.

“What? How did he check off swapping a piece of clothing?”

Dylan asks Adam. “Literally no one is wearing clothing here!”

Adam shrugs. “We swapped flip-flops.”

“That’s not an article of clothing!”

“It definitely is,” I tell Dylan.

“Well shit,” he says, grimacing. “I could’ve done that instead of swapping shorts with that random guy.”