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“Yeah.” He nods to the left. “We’ll park just up there and hike down. There’s a trail down the side of the bluffs that leads to a hidden beach. The only other way to get there is by boat so there’s hardly ever anyone here.”
“So, we should be alone,” I observe, nodding thoughtfully as Nick parks the car in a patch of shade. “Guess I could have left my bathing suit at home then.”
The look Nick casts my way is too shocked for me to keep a straight face.
“I’m kidding,” I say, laughing. “I don’t skinny-dip in the daytime. Or at night, really. The closest I’ve come to skinny-dipping is swimming in my panties in the baby pool in our backyard when I was five.”
“You’ve never been skinny-dipping,” he says, huffing as he hits the trunk release button. “Wow.”
Before I can respond, he’s out of the car. I lean over to grab my swim bag from the back seat, straightening in time to see Nick pulling a beach blanket and picnic basket from the trunk.
“You brought a picnic?” I say, delight at having snacks momentarily banishing my curiosity about what he meant by with that ‘wow’ a second ago. “You’re brilliant. Food makes every good thing better.”
Nick beams, clearly pleased. “Yeah, well, it’s not anything close to your cooking, quality wise, but I did my best. I got the good cheese.”
“Good cheese is one of my favorite things in the entire world.” I reach for the blanket. “Here, let me carry that.”
“No, I’ve got it.” Nick slams the trunk with one elbow. “You’re going to need your hands free when the trail gets steep.”
“What about you?” I ask. “Won’t you need a hand free?”
“Nah. I’m part goat. I don’t need hands.” He sighs. “But I do need to circle back around to the previous topic.”
“Previous topic?” I echo, though I have a pretty good idea what he’s talking about.
“Yes. You. Water. No clothes,” he says in a husky voice that makes my skin prickle all over. “How has this never happened? And what are we going to do about it?”
Chapter 14
Melody
His eyes sparkle when he looks into mine.
Instantly, I feel warm all over, and the sunshine and humidity have very little to do with it.
“Seriously,” he continues. “You’re twenty-two, and you’ve lived within twenty miles of three lakes your entire life, and you’ve never gone skinny-dipping? How is this possible?”
I shrug and fall in beside him as he starts toward a trailhead that wasn’t noticeable until we got out of the car. This beach really is going to be private…or so I hope.
I’m already having fantasies about stretching out next to Nick on that blanket and getting another taste of his lips.
“I don’t know,” I say. “It just never came up, I guess. I’m sure a lot of twenty-two-year-old girls in Bliss River have never been skinny-dipping. Lots and lots.”
“But you’re not other girls,” he says.
I shoot him an appreciative look out of the corners of my eyes. “Thank you for noticing.”
“I notice things about you, March,” he says, his voice making my skin go tingly again. “All the things.”
We hike the rest of the way down the trail in companionable silence, separating when the trail grows too narrow and coming back together near the bottom. By the time the beach comes into view, we’re holding hands, and I’m wishing it was a little farther to our destination.
It’s nice walking through the woods with him.
But, so far, it’s nice doing just about anything with him.
“This is it. What do you think?” he asks in a loaded tone I don’t understand until he adds, “Look like a good place for your first skinny-dip?”
My eyes go wide. “Um…no way.”
Nick laughs as he sets the basket down by a tree and spreads the blanket on the grass a few feet from where the pebbled beach begins. “Why not?”
“It’s daytime. You can see things in the day.”
“Not here. Not if no one’s around.”
“You’re around,” I say, my cheeks flushing hot.
“Well, I’d be around if it were nighttime, too,” he says. “And I see very well in the dark. Ate all my carrots as a kid.”
“Is that right?”
He nods, and his tongue sweeps out across his bottom lip. “All the carrots.”
“How are you making carrots sound sexy?”
“Easy. I’m thinking about skinny-dipping. As long as you’re thinking about skinny-dipping, anything you say will sound sexy. Try it.”
“I am disturbed by the idea of being naked in the sunshine,” I say, surprised to find he’s right. Even stressful thoughts sound sexy when you’re thinking about getting naked.
“Don’t be disturbed,” he murmurs, taking my hand. “Be brave. I know you’ve got it in you, Mel. I’ve seen how brave you are, so don’t try to hide it now.”
I nibble my lip, wondering if he’s right. Am I brave? I think I am. But am I “naked in broad daylight” brave? “What if someone I know boats by?”
