By the time I finish the pontoon and wash up, the sun is dropping lower, turning the water gold. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Rayna all day, and I’ve made a decision.
I’m going to shoot my shot, whether she’s determined to just stay for the season or not.
I drive my boat back over to Mercury Slice again, and I immediately spot her carrying one pizza box tightly in her hands. She looks steadier on her feet now.
I watch as she delivers the pizza to a couple of college-aged guys in a john boat. They grin at her, and she smiles back at them. A feeling of jealousy rolls over me. I quickly tie off my boat and hop onto the deck.
“Hey, Rayna!” I call, walking over to her before I can talk myself out of it.
She turns away from the men, and I feel a sense of smug satisfaction when the smile she was wearing stretches even wider at the sight of me.
“Hello, again,” she says.
I nod toward my boat. “You ever been out on the lake at sunset?”
Her gaze shifts past me. “Not yet.”
“Free tonight?”
She hesitates, then nods. “I get off work at seven.”
“I’ll pick you up here.” Then I turn back to my boat, grinning like an idiot.
At seven, Rayna comes down the dock in cutoff shorts, a soft blue tank top, and strappy sandals. Her hair is down now, falling around her shoulders, and she looks less like the girl who spent the day running pizzas and more like the kind of woman a man wants to spend the rest of his life with.
I offer my hand to help her into the boat.
She takes it.
This time, she doesn’t let go too fast. Her soft hand lingers in mine a moment before she lets go and takes a seat.
The engine turns over, low and steady, and I guide us away from the dock, out onto open water. Behind us, Mercury Sliceglows with string lights and noise. Ahead, the lake stretches quiet and wide, the sun sinking toward the tree line.
Rayna sits beside me, one hand lifted to hold her hair back from the breeze.
“This is beautiful,” she says.
“Yeah.”
I’m not looking at the lake.
She notices.
Her cheeks turn pink, but she doesn’t look away.
And for the first time all day, neither do I.
Chapter Five
Rayna
Ishouldnotbeon this boat.
Joel’s hand felt so good in mine when he helped me aboard. And now he is standing at the wheel in the low afternoon light, one hand steady on the controls, the other resting near his thigh, and I cannot stop looking at him.
This was a terrible idea. The last thing I need is to catch feelings for a local.
The lake spreads out around us, gold and blue andendless. The air is cool on my skin as we speed away from the dock. And I have to admit, it’s the most content I’ve felt in a really long time.
