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“Ah, I get your drift.” She shot him a wry look. “For the record, I would have gotten more except someone called and woke me up this morning.”
Spotting Jessica, she stopped walking and turned to look at him, eyes huge. “What are those?”
He grinned. “Kayaks.”
“Kayaks?”
“I borrowed them and the trailer from Jeff.” When she still looked clueless, he added, “He works in the lab.”
Ah, that Jeff.
She continued to stare at Jack a bit in awe. “As in borrowed for us to get in and float around?”
He chuckled. “That’s the idea so don’t go all Titanic on me.”
“Kayaking,” she mused. “That’ll be another first for me.” Climbing into Jessica, she exhaled a deep breath. “Hope I don’t ruin your day by totally screwing this up. I mean, I won’t purposely Titanic Jeff’s kayak, but what if I accidentally sink it? I’ve never been into sports or athletic kind of things. If this requires skills of any type, I’m going to disappoint you.”
“The only way you’ll disappoint me is if you let the voices in your head keep you from giving this a go,” he told her. “I enjoy watching you do new things, showing and teaching you new things.” He stood next to the passenger side of the Jeep, brushed his hand over her cheek and grinned at her. “Besides, I’m not worried. You’ve got this.”
Jack really was good for her, so nurturing and positive. She’d been trying new things since her divorce but being with Jack made those new experiences seem like baby steps. Then again, she’d had to start somewhere, and baby steps had been huge at the time.
She flashed a big smile that she hoped conveyed how much she appreciated him, then ordered, “Get in Jessica, Jack. You promised brunch and I’m dying of hunger.”
Laughing, Jack got in the Jeep.
* * *
“That was amazing!” Taylor gushed as she helped pull her kayak out of the river. They’d driven about thirty miles to a rather rundown-looking shack where they’d loaded up their kayaks and themselves on an equally rundown-looking bus without air-conditioning. Kayaks strapped down on top, the bus carried them, along with a dozen others, upstream and dropped them off for them to make their way back to the base where they’d started.
“You know I’m going to want to go again,” she continued, amazed at how good her body felt, how good she felt.
Exhilarated. That was it. She felt exhilarated.
“I’m counting on it,” Jack assured her, winking at her before turning his attention back to the kayak.
She glanced toward where he’d repositioned her kayak on the bank and tingles of awareness hit as she took in his baggy wet shorts, life jacket that covered a sleeveless T-shirt that had to be plastered to his chest, and a backward-facing baseball cap on top of his head to semi-contain his hair that curled and snaked to just past his shoulders. A scruffy shadow beard shadowed his face.
His arm muscles bulged as he gave the kayak one last tug forward.
When he turned toward her, Taylor didn’t attempt to hide her thoughts. She doubted she was that good an actress anyway.
The blue of his eyes darkened as he stared into hers. So much emotion in those depths. So much everything, she thought.
His brow lifted in question.
She’d already been caught and wasn’t sure she cared that she had been. Lowering her gaze, she slowly took in all of him. From the width of his shoulders to the scrumptious chest hidden beneath his life jacket, to his narrow waist, hairy legs, and water-shoe-clad feet.
Sexiest river rat she’d ever seen.
A small smile twisted her lips as she met his eyes again.
“Whatever you’re thinking, hold that thought forever,” he ordered, his dimples dug deep into his cheeks.
Forever?
She hoped not.
But for the next month before he left for new adventures, yeah, she just might.
