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“It is.” She grins. “It’s coming up at the end of July. It lasts all weekend, so make sure you get at least one day off. People dress up, the movie theater hosts a sci-fi film festival, there’s a fair, stuff like that. Oh, and the Mayor gives UFO tours.” She nods toward the ridge again. “Takes people on a midnight hike to show them where he and his friend saw the flying saucers.”
“Oh, we have to do that.” I liked the Mayor, and I think a UFO tour with him would be fun. Now I’m excited for this festival. “You believe in UFOs?”
She tilts her head, considering the question. “It’s funny. You’d think growing up here, I’d have an opinion, but I think most people around here are just glad it put the town on the map. But if there were little aliens traveling from light years away, I’m not sure why they’d come to Welkins Ridge, of all places.”
“Well, the view sure is pretty,” I reply, but I’m looking at her.
Little spots of pink that have nothing to do with the heat appear on her cheeks. She points at a building by the lake below us. “Look, that’s the Grand Lodge Hotel. It’s where my friend Bailey is getting married in August.”
I peer down. “Cool. Nice place?”
“Gorgeous. It was built back in the early 1900s when people from the city would come up here and stay all summer. It’s a really beautiful old building, and there’s a nice bar and a fancy restaurant, and a lovely garden. You should check it out sometime.”
“Maybe we should check it out.”
She gives me a funny sideways glance. “We should probably be careful about being seen together.” She sounds like she’s picking her words carefully. “I don’t want people to think we’re dating. It might look weird, considering we’re in competition for the Addison.”
Is local politics the reason she doesn’t want people to think we’re dating, or is it something else? We’ve clicked on the physical level for sure, but she’s cautious in other respects, like she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s sort of funny, seeing as I’m the one coming off a disastrous relationship, but maybe the very disastrousness of it showed me what I really wanted.
Blaze and I may have gone full steam ahead on the physical level, but if she wants to keep things light for now, that’s what we’ll do. I’d like to take her out and show her off and otherwise act like a normal dating couple, but okay. I can play it cool.
“Maybe when the whole thing is over, then.” I reach for the backpack I asked her to carry. “For now, the fanciest I can offer is ham sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs.”
“Good. That hike made me hungry.”
We find a spot in the shade. I fill up a bowl with water from my Thermos for Jackie and give him a couple of dog treats while Blaze unpacks our sandwiches. They’re basic, but between the comfortable shade, the good company, and the amazing view, they taste pretty delicious.
“These are really good,” she says after a few bites, echoing my thoughts.
“Worked up an appetite, huh?”
Her eyes sparkle. “That’s not the only thing I worked up an appetite for.”
I chuckle. “You’re insatiable, woman. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
“You know, I’ve never had sex outdoors,” she muses. “You could be my first.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously, I’ve never had sex outdoors.”
“I mean, seriously, you want to have sex here?”
She pouts innocently. “Oh, well, if you don’t want to…”
“Oh, I’m not saying the idea doesn’t appeal. I’m just picturing the headline: Welkins Ridge Fire Chief and Head Librarian Caught in Act of Public Indecency. Seems like we might be better off just having dinner at the Grand Lodge.”
“Thing is, the Grand Lodge will be full of people, whereas right here?” She looks around. “I don’t see anyone except us.”
I’m a little concerned about the potential for getting caught, but now that the idea of taking Blaze out here in the wilderness is in my head, it won’t take much to convince me. The possibility of getting caught might even make it a little extra spicy.
I’m already a goner, but I decide to play hard to get a little longer. “What about poor Jackie? I don’t want to scar him for life.”
“He won’t watch. He’s too much of a gentleman.” She smiles, slow and seductive. “The question is, how much of a gentleman are you?”
I lunge for her, pulling her down onto the bed of pine needles beneath us, her soft, warm body pressed beneath mine. She’s a wicked temptation under any circumstances, but the extra thrill of the forbidden makes this even more exciting.
“Oh, babe, I’m not a gentleman at all.”
