Chapter Ten #3
Tyler double-checked his life jacket and threw himself overboard, then Gwendy, Bill, and Lulu tipped into the water.
The cool water was a pleasant shock on Lulu’s skin, over-warmed by the sun and exertion.
She stroked languidly downriver, keeping up with the raft.
Bill splashed Gwendy playfully, and she retaliated with a vengeance.
From the boat, Oscar chatted about the medicinal properties of some of the trees and pointed out a tiger heron fishing in the shallows, while Ariana snapped photos of the swimmers.
Relaxed as could be, Tyler lay on his back in the river, floating in his life jacket. “You ever see any peccaries around here?”
“Nope,” Oscar retorted. “Only river crocs.”
Tyler tossed a weak splash of water toward the raft and scoffed, “Yeah, right.”
Lulu caught Oscar’s glance. With stealthy strokes, she swam a wide circle around the back of the raft. After gulping a big breath, she ducked underwater, swam up behind Tyler, and yanked the back of his life jacket.
He was still shrieking when her head popped up.
Splashing a spray of water her way, Tyler said, “You know I didn’t fall for that for one second.”
She splashed back. “I got a bunch of witnesses who say otherwise.” Lulu giggled, surprising herself with the lift in energy she got from reviving this long-dormant, playful Lulu.
“Rapids ahead!” Oscar called. “Come on,” he commanded. Lulu stroked madly to get to the raft, just in case the guide had overestimated their swimming speed.
She scrambled over the edge and tumbled into the boat. Then she and Bill reached over to grab Gwendy and drag her over the bulging side of the raft.
“I got it.” Gwendy shrugged them off. “Leggo! You’re making me feel like a walrus after an all-you-can-eat sea lion buffet.” She dumped herself over the edge. “See?”
With all of them in the boat, they resumed their positions and paddled, sweeping long, deep strokes in the water until Lulu saw the river froth and foam ahead. “There are two rapids here,” Oscar said. “This one’s called Rodeo. The next one, which we’ll get right into, is called Palomitas. Popcorn!”
Lulu had the passing thought that if she could name the rapids, she would call them something like bubble bath or hummingbird so as not to freak out the paddlers.
But with the swirling power of the river tugging the raft in circles, Lulu found herself digging hard.
Fun and terror mingled like an adrenaline cocktail in her veins, and her mouth dried with nerves.
Oscar’s commands had them stopping as the raft twirled in an eddy, getting down in the raft for the drop, and leaping onto the raft’s lip again to paddle.
“Back right. Forward left. Stop,” the guide shouted.
And then they were out of the first rapid, churning and bobbing in the white-capped swells, the raft spinning more lazily now, like a balloon losing air, in the calm waters.
Lulu still buzzed with exhilaration when Oscar said, “Okay. Paddle hard. This is another class four.” His voice rose above the rush of the roiling waters.
“Hard forward, left side!” and then they were paddling toward the first drop.
She rowed hard into the waves, which seemed to fall beneath her oar without making contact, and she paddled fruitlessly at vacant air.
Then, at the next stroke, her hand was swallowed by the river.
“Get down!” came Oscar’s calm, clear command.
Heart in her throat, Lulu bent toward the center of the raft. Beneath her, the river bounced her like a carnival ride. And the next instant, the swell tossed her toward the bottom of the raft, but someone else had been jettisoned there already.
She had landed fully splayed on top of Tyler.
Her chest heaved against Tyler’s taut pecs, and she was acutely aware of every spot where their bodies connected.
She check-listed the bulk of his strong thighs, the ridged board of his stomach, her soft chest against his hard…
everything. Her face dripped rivulets of water onto his lips and her hair fell slick against his neck. His eyes smiled into hers.
A need as intense as breathing descended on Lulu Gardner; she wanted nothing more than to kiss him.
She wanted to make a sandwich of his mouth and hers.
She wanted the full meal deal. And add his fries and a Coke, besides.
And from the way his gaze pierced hers, his pupils expanding like the universe but faster, he was thinking the same thing.
Luckily, before she could ask for ketchup and mayo, Oscar hooked the back of her life jacket and tugged her off Tyler. The rapid had coughed them out, and the boat spun twice before slowing to a placid float on the flat water.
“You okay?” Oscar asked her.
Numbly, Lulu nodded and arranged herself back onto her seat. Fries and a Coke! What had she been thinking? Must have been the adrenaline. Must have been.
“Good,” Oscar concluded, back to business. “That was the last of the big rapids. You all did great. Everybody in position? Slow forward.”
The rowers, still humming with the rush of victory, grinned at one another while Oscar directed them forward. Turning to look back at the churning rapids, Lulu shook her head at the contrast. The calm after the storm.
Slowly, still coming down from her close call with that tempting picklepro, Lulu paddled forward. But her brain reeled backward. The drops of water falling on Tyler’s lips. His eyes. His hips. His thighs.
And the full meal deal.