“I was.”
“Rae, how are we getting back to shore?”
I looked around at the quiet lake and Jacob’s house, about a half mile away from us now. “We could kiss some more to pass the time? Floating close enough to shore is going to take a bit. Unless…you’d like the swimming lesson a little sooner than later?”
TWENTY-TWO
I yankedoff my jacket and rolled up my sleeves. My stomach dotted with beads of sweat. We drifted in the middle of a lake with no way to get back to the edge, thanks to my poor attempt at reckless abandon.
It’d happened fast, pressing my lips to hers. When Rae matched my energy, and the tension in my back finally unwound. Her body weighed me down in the comforting way sleep may tug you into freshly washed sheets. I was heavy with the need to touch her. To be with her. And giving into that had stranded us both.
“Talk about a bad omen,” I muttered under my breath as Rae leaned over the side, finally focused on retrieving one of the barely floating paddles.
“This isn’t a bad omen,” she said through a strained voice as she stretched. Her fingers barely grazed the edge of the paddle, nudging it farther into the vast water.
I clung to the back of her sweater to make sure she didn’t topple in. My frustration wouldn’t allow me to admire the slightest bit of skin revealed above the waistbandof her jeans. But I couldn’t ignore the hint of orange underwear peeking out.
“Is that…a pumpkin?” I tilted my head to the side. It was, indeed, a pumpkin, and it was smiling back at me. “Are you wearing themed underwear?”
Rae pulled herself back into the boat. “That’s quite an intimate question for someone who’s only kissed me twice. I like to give out underwear details after I’ve been told I’m someone’s sun and moon at least three times.”
Rae mistook my frown for staunch disapproval of her joking (and not the frantic wondering of how I’d have time to do all that for her and more). She rid herself of her smile, replacing it with the determined look of a lead investigator who was born to problem solve.
“Option one,” she started. “We use our hands as paddles and try to maneuver closer to one paddle.”
I took a breath and looked at the water. “That could work…maybe. And what’s option two?”
“I strip and dive in,” she offered.
“And catch some long-gone plague.” I scoffed at the idea. “I don’t think so.”
“Three: call for backup.” Rae pulled her phone out of her back pocket.
“Now we’re talking. You have Jacob’s number.”
She frowned. “No, why would I?”
I blinked and laughed. “Why wouldn’t you? You basically became his friend overnight.”
“I don’t just go giving my phone number out to anyone, Octavia.” She tsked.
“Fine. Maybe we can wait for someone to come sit on their back porch and see us waving?” I scanned the empty lake and the dark houses that lined it.
“Sure, but it’s Monday, and though I know you countryfolk are early risers, aren’t you also go-getters?” she asked. “I don’t see anyone interested in lounging by the lake in the morning unless they’re retired.”
I let out a heavy sigh. I could smell her sweet gloss on my breath, and with that trigger came the fresh memory of her hard nipple underneath my thumb.
Rae looked so steady and immovable. Under my touch, she was this delicate thing. Lace that deserved to be handled with the utmost respect and care…and properly folded.
“Calling would be the best move,” I decided. “Which person on your team will give us the least amount of grief?”
“Jonah,” she said without thinking as she pulled up his contact. In less than a minute, she had her intern sworn to a vow of silence and on his way to borrow a canoe from the Rainwoods and then pick us up. Rae told him to tell our grocers it was for fishing. She was getting good at anticipating small-town gossip.
“So, you lied to me,” Rae said after the quiet of the lake and our kiss wrapped itself around us in a hold that was almost too tight.
“Excuse me?” I frowned, flipping through everything I'd said to her this morning. My search slowed down at the memory of her legs entangled with mine.
Rae tugged on the gloves that fit her so perfectly. I’d knitted them years ago when I was going through a crafting phase. They looked better on her.
