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“Yes, you can,” he said, tipping up my chin playfully.
After we unloaded the car—getting out the ice fishing poles, the auger drill, and the tackle, bait, and scooper in our buckets—we geared up in bibs. They were kinda like floating snowsuits, just in case we happened to fall in, which I wasn’t planning to do.
Plus, when I’d stopped in the local bait shop before I swung by to pick up Austin, I’d asked them how ice conditions were this morning and if we’d be okay to fish.
We were on the grassy area, just before where the lake began, when Austin placed a hand on my arm. “How do you know it’s good to go fishing right now? That conditions are acceptable?”
“You mean, the ice? When I got those maggots at the bait shop before I picked you up, I asked them.” I scrunched my face, looking at the maggots in the white Styrofoam container. “They said that the ice is twelve inches thick today. Five inches is the minimum.” I shrugged. “I think we’re good.”
He tilted his head, assessing me. “How do you know all of this?”
I smiled, all cheesy. “But of course, Google and YouTube.”
I turned and stepped on the ice, and he followed.
“Okay, here’s perfect,” I said, dropping my bucket.
He frowned, unsure. “Not farther in?”
“Nope. YouTube said fifty to a hundred feet from the shore.”
“How many times did you watch that video?” he asked, amused.
“I memorized the video and have it up on my phone right now, just so you know.”
His expression softened, and he stared at me in that adoring way that made my cheeks heat, even in the frigid cold. “This has to be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“Whatever,” I said, laying out the gear on the open ice. “That’s really hard to believe.”
“It’s true.”
“I think you’re just saying that to get into my panties,” I sassed.
He smirked in that devilish way that no longer pissed me off, but made me want to throw myself at him. “I want in your panties, too, but I’m not saying that to get in them.”
I was glad the humor was back in his tone.
I lifted up the auger drill. “You know how to drill a hole?” I shook my head. “Never mind.”
Taking the drill from my hands, he tipped his chin. “I know how to drill real well.” He tipped over the bucket and sat down. Leaning in so close that the frost of his breath hit me in the face, he said, “I wasn’t talking about ice fishing, just so you know.”
Goodness gracious, I was falling for this man. He was not how I’d expected him to be—he wasn’t the typical playboy I had originally coined him as. I was surprised how easily we fit together. Though he was a massive man compared to my small frame, when he held me close, when his hand slipped into mine, we just fit.
A shiver ran down my spine. To dim the heat in me, I shoved my phone in his hands. “I, for your information, was talking about ice fishing. Watch the tutorial, and let’s get this started.”
After about thirty minutes, we were both seated on our buckets, and our lines were in two separate holes.
“I’m pretty darn proud of myself here,” I said, hugging my center. It was oddly colder than normal, and I shivered.
“This is amazing, Sydney. Really. If I didn’t know better and about your YouTube searching skills, I would have thought you’d done this before. Did you ever go fishing with your dad?” Austin asked.
“Not really. I mean, he was never the fishing type. My dad loves to travel, which is what he’s doing now. So, we’d go on vacations. He liked visiting state and national parks. He did like camping, but just so we could sit around the campfire and hang out.” I smiled and wiggled the pole a little to see if I could get a bite.
“And your mom? What would you do with her?”
My eyes met his. “She worked a lot, but she still managed to spend time with us. Each of us. She was girlie, like Brooke, so she’d take all of us to get our nails done while Alec was on his iPad. She’d get ice cream with us. She loved to bike, and so we’d go on long bike trails and have a picnic in the park.”
My eyes teetered to the horizon, to the other side of the lake, to the enormous luxury houses that surrounded it.
