Page 31 of Somebody To Love

I laughed, appreciating his sense of humor. “Your imagination is clearly running away from you.”

He shrugged and put his eyes back to the road. “Say what you want, but I know a tongue in my mouth when I feel it.”

“Are you sure that it wasn’t your own tongue?” I said, holding back a giggle.

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” he said dryly. “Now you’re a comedian.”

I sat there self-satisfied until we pulled up to a lake. To my surprise, there were other cars there.

“Other people do night kayaking?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty popular,” he looked at me quizzically then. “Don’t tell me you thought we were going to be all alone?”

“Well, I—”

“Dating safety one-oh-one, Piper: never go out to a place you’ve never been before with a stranger. Stranger danger and all that.”

I wanted to kick him for mocking me.

When we got to the pier, the entire area was lit up with romantic lighting, courtesy of the little lights strung through the trees and I could see other couples making their way across the large lake that was picturesque with the half crescent moon sitting above it.

“This is beautiful,” I said once we were finally on the water.

“Peaceful, right?”

“Definitely,” I said, watching little fire-flies dancing in the air. “How did you find this place? Or do you bring all the ladies here?”

He chuckled. “I actually don’t date that much. I work a lot.”

“What kind of business are you in?”

“I run a small start-up. It’s doing really well, but I’m always looking for ways to expand.”

“I wish I was more business minded,” I said wistfully. My partner had handled all client relations and marketing, so I felt a little bit like I was drowning now that he had retired.

He frowned. “I’m confused. Don’t you already have a business? Like a very successful one from what Danny tells me.”

“Do you think Danny and Meredith spend all their time talking about us to each other?”

“Yep. I would say sixty-eight percent of their time.”

“What an exact number.”

“I’m an exact kind of guy.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. Ignore what’s coming out of my mouth. It’s just nonsensical mush. This is what happens when I date someone that I’m attracted to on more than just one level.”

I was surprised by his honesty. So much so that I didn’t know what to say.

Instead, I just rowed. From there we didn’t talk much. We focused on rowing across the water until we made our way back to the dock. Within walking distance from the dock was a little restaurant and he took my hand and helped me walk up the steep stairs to the platform where the outdoor restaurant was located.

I could hear laughing and people talking just above us.

This is such a cool little place, I thought as we seated ourselves at a table only illuminated by a lantern.

For a second, I felt as if he had transported me to a Caribbean island. The evening was breezy and I could smell the water from afar. I looked at Ty and noticed that in the dark, his eyes seemed more mysterious, which made him even sexier to me. Not that he needed any help in the looks department.