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“Do you want to ski again?” he asked her.
Talulah didn’t bother to answer. Her mind was on something else entirely—all the times in the past few days she’d talked herself out of calling Brant, and yet here she was with him anyway. That effort had turned out to be a waste. It hadn’t changed anything. She still wanted him as badly as she ever had.
Almost before she knew what she was going to do, she leaned over and brushed her lips against his.
He looked shocked when their eyes met afterward, and everyone on the boat started cheering. “What happened to keeping it a secret?” he asked as he started to laugh.
She didn’t have a good answer. “I don’t know. I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you glowering at me from inside your truck. I guess I acted impulsively.”
“That’s fine with me. I actually prefer full transparency. If anyone has a problem with us being together, they’ll just have to get over it,” he said and, ignoring the fact that they had an audience, he grabbed her by the life vest with both hands, hauled her up against him and kissed her soundly.
Brant had never had so much fun. After they quit skiing, they docked the boat and had a barbecue on shore, where he grilled hot dogs and burgers and Kurt pulled a potato salad and a fruit salad he’d purchased at the local grocery store out of the cooler.
“We should all have brought something,” Talulah said as she sat next to Brant on a tree trunk, her plate in hand.
“We have everything we need,” Brant said and leaned over to whisper something else. “Kurt took care of it all. In case you couldn’t tell, he’s trying to impress Kate.”
She gave him a sly smile. “After watching them together today, I think it’s working, don’t you?”
“I don’t know. It can be hard to tell with a woman.” When she elbowed him in the ribs, he laughed and said, “Ouch! Here I am, nice enough to take you back, and you dothat?”
“You’re lucky to have me back,” she said, shooting him a sulky look.
She was obviously teasing, too, but Brantdidfeel lucky. He was also grateful that they had this time away from town, that they were with people who had their best interests at heart and that they didn’t have to worry about all the drama that’d caused Talulah to shut him out.
After they finished eating, Talulah got up and went to the edge of the water to wash her hands, since Kurt had forgotten to bring napkins, while Brant remained on the tree trunk, unable to take his eyes off her.
“If that isn’t a dreamy expression I don’t know what is,” Jane said, sitting down beside him.
He slid over to give her more room. “I can’t believe you and Kurt planned this out in advance. What a dirty trick.”
“We had to do something! You were both being so damn stubborn.”
“I’m glad it worked out.”
“So am I.”
She picked up a stick and began to draw in the dirt. “So...you have two weeks before she has to go. Will that be enough?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll think about what comes next later. At least I have two weeks. That’s more than I had this morning.”
“I’ve never seen you like this,” she said, looking mildly bemused.
He didn’t like other people getting involved in his business, so he usually held his cards much closer to his chest. It wasn’t entirely clear to him why he hadn’t done a better job of that when it came to Talulah. She’d taken him by surprise somehow—in every way. “Yeah, well, let’s hope I don’t end up like Charlie.”
“Mad at her, you mean?”
Seeing Talulah shake the water off her hands and start back toward them, he lowered his voice. “Mooning after her for the rest of my life.”
Jane chuckled. “If anybody can convince her to stay, it’d be you.”
“You might have too much confidence in me.”
Jane looked from Talulah to him and back again. “I don’t think so.”
“What are you two talking about?” Talulah asked, grabbing her beach towel so she could finish drying her hands.
“I was saying that the world is full of possibilities,” Jane said with a wink and went to get more food.
