AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hello.
I get a little breathless—until the boat jolts. Dash quickly looks back and steers us around a fallen log.
“So, where’s our feathered friend hiding?” he says, conversational again.
I swallow hard. Right. Because the point of this little adventure isn’t to drool all over him, I remind myself. “You know, I should probably check if Lorelei has remembered to feed Marlon Brando,” I say quickly.
Dash arches an eyebrow. “You’ve been hiding a dead movie star from me all this time?”
I laugh and explain about my late aunt’s parrot. He looks interested. “Macaws are really cool.”
“Tell that to Brando,” I sigh. “He clearly takes after his former owner.”
“You didn’t get along?”
“Nope. There’s a reason her parrot is an absolute menace. Not to speak ill of the dead, but… She was officially the worst.”
Dash chuckles. “What about the rest of your family, are you close with them?”
I pause. “Yes, and no. I love them and have no doubt that they love me, too,” I say slowly. “We’re just… Very different people. They all stayed close to home,” I explain. “My sisters got married young—my oldest was barely out of high school—and started having kids, just like my parents did. Which is great for them, really, they’re all like scarily efficient super-moms,” I add. “But that’s just not the path I want to take, and it sometimes feels like they don’t understand. Or even try to understand me.”
“Your ambitions?” Dash asks, and I nod.
“Every time I visit, they just ask about who I’m dating, and if I’ve met anyone yet. As if that’s the only thing that could matter in my life.”
“Gee, I wonder what that’s like,” Dash says, teasing.
I laugh. “Seems to be a theme, doesn’t it? I wonder what it is about us that screams, ‘In desperate need of a partner.’”
“If you figure it out, let me know so I can fix it.”
“Hey, at least I’m open to love,” I chide him lightly. “You’re clearly running from any kind of meaningful relationship.”
“I don’t know…” Dash pauses, meeting my eyes again. “I guess I just haven’t met anyone who fits just yet.”
“You mean, in your high-falutin’ fancy world?” I ask.
“No, I mean… with me. Someone I can just kick back with and be myself. Who doesn’t care about all the VIP trust fund bullshit,” Dash says, with a rueful shrug. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m so busy playing the bachelor game, I’m missing out on something real, you know?”
I do.
I also know that my heart is suddenly beating faster, the longer this gaze holds. Is he feeling the same flutterings I am now, despite our plan?
Or, you know, the manly equivalent of flutterings.
But before I can say anything, Dash shields his eyes with his hand and squints at a nearby patch of swamp. “There! I think I see something!”
He snatches up his binoculars, and peers. “Where?” I ask, moving in beside him, because damn, if his excitement isn’t contagious.
And also, the feel of his solid shoulders pressed against mine isn’t too shabby, either.
“There.” Dash hands over the binoculars. “Look straight ahead, near that fallen tree, on the edge of the water. See?”
He puts one arm around my shoulder, pointing. I inhale. “Can we get any closer?” I ask, trying to focus on the bird—and not the smolderingly hot guy standing next to me.
He starts up the motor. “We can try.”
He steers us over, moving slowly so as not to startle the bird. It perches there regally, its feathers gleaming purple in the sun. Dash grabs his phone, and starts snapping photos, and I watch him, enjoying the unguarded enthusiasm on his face.
