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“The weather’s so nice, you should roll up your sleeves. Loosen the tie,” I tell him. “Breathe a little.”
His look is incredulous. “I’m okay,” he says, “let’s go down here.” He leads me down the tiered deck and onto a small paved walkway that turns into gravel and then to impacted earth. “Up that trail is Alec’s house. But over here is where it’s at.” We enter another trail that’s thick with brush and canopied with leaves and vines overhead.
“Grapes,” he says. “This black variety grows well here. The harvest is over, but we can still enjoy the leaf cover for a few more weeks.”
The leaves are already turning gold, accented by scrolling tendrils. It’s magical walking under them, the pungent, sweet scent filling my nose. We travel the path and soon it narrows so that I have to walk behind him. Which I don’t mind. I’m a red-blooded American woman, and there’s nothing wrong with taking in the retreating form of a handsome man once in a while.
Except, where is he taking me?
“Just a little further.”
Now each side of the path has both tall hedges and aspen trees cloaking us. It’s our own secret garden. The scent of the lake is stronger and I hear the waves lapping the beach. But the vegetation is so dense, I can hardly catch a glimpse of it.
I inhale sharply when I see it. A swing, hanging from a large oak that cuts off the path. It’s got two ropes hanging from a wide branch and the seat is narrow, the wood painted a rust color.
I run to it and kick my flats off. I sit, clasp the ropes on either side of me, and throw my head back in a laugh.
“When’s the last time you hit the swings, Sebastian?” I say as I start to pump my legs back and forth. Except the whole thing feels stiff and unused, and I’m not making much progress.
He just shakes his head, his scowl and the lines on his forehead intensifying.
“What? You don’t come out here very often, do you?” Where Oliver’s skin tone is the appropriately sun-kissed look of someone who lives in a lake town, his is not nearly as tanned.
“Someone has to put out all the fires. I can’t come out here and swing.”
“And yet, here you are!” I giggle as the wind picks up my awful, half-permed mop. The branch groans a little as I move back and forth, but the ropes seem to be strongly secured.
I see his lips twitch and for some reason, that movement emboldens me.
“I want to go higher. Push me?”
Chapter 12
Sebastian
The scene before me is so unexpected, I find it hard to believe my eyes. Elianna is no longer my friend’s little sister.
Her legs are strong, her feet pointing as her body leans back when the swing moves forward. Then, her body sits parallel to the ropes as she flies backward, her knees bent. She squeals and laughs.
She’s asked me to push her, but I panic. Not because I don’t want to. But because I’m the boss around here. Someone has to have some decorum. Physical touch is a no-go.
But here with Elianna, with her wild, blonde hair going every which way, I’m met with a strong desire to give her a push, like she’s asked. I’d love to touch her.
I surprise myself with that thought. Ethan would probably slug me if he knew. “I’d better not,” I say, trying and failing to offer it in a cheery tone.
“Oh, come on. I can only get so high by myself.” She cranes her neck as she flies toward me. “I’m trying to see the lake over the grape vines.”
I just smile and continue to watch her. She’s let go of one side and is shimmying her shoulder. The seat wobbles but she returns to grasping the rope.
“What are you trying to do?” I ask.
She jolts in the swing and for one brief moment, I think she’s going to fall right out of it. Instinctively, I reach my arms out to catch her, but she regains control. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“It’s hot in this blazer,” she says.
“Why don’t you hop off before you remove your blazer?”
She shakes her head. “I’ve got this. I’ve spent many a time swinging back in my day.”
