Chapter 12
12
I ’d been enjoying our morning walk through the forest until Nathan stops beside a lake and raises his eyebrow.
There’s no guessing what he intends.
I pull my hand from his and cross my arms. “ No . This is not my idea of romance.”
It’s a beautiful day, maybe even skinny dipping weather, but I’m not eager to get naked in front of Nathan. Don’t ask me why, but I’m feeling strangely shy after everything we spent most of last night and this morning doing.
“Okay.” Nathan shrugs.
I watch him kick off his boots, step out of his pants, and walk into the lake, seemingly the end destination in our walk.
When he reaches deeper into the water and starts paddling, he turns to face me. “Get in the water, peach. We have a lunch date later, so we don’t have long here.”
I angle my head, studying him curiously. “A lunch date?”
He floats on his back, arms outstretched. “Yep.”
“Where?” I hadn’t thought there was much to see or do in Hardin. We passed through the tiny Colorado town so fast I didn’t even see it.
“You’ll find out later.”
“Why not tell me now?”
“Because what is romance without a little mystery?”
I hide my smile as I watch him float.
I have no intention of getting in the water. But the longer I stand beside the lake, the more I realize it’s perfect floating in a lake and staring up at fluffy white clouds in the sky weather.
“You know you want to.” Nathan tempts me further.
“Okay. Fine. But no funny business,” I warn him. “I don’t want some tiny fish to get confused and swim up my hoo-ha.”
Nathan is laughing as I step out of my pants.
By the time I’m easing my shirt over my head, he is no longer laughing.
I take one look at him and I back away from the edge of the water. “No.”
“We’re just going to have a quick swim,” he says with his eyes glued to my breasts.
I don’t have much to excite a guy in the chest department, but for a guy who likes to call me peach because of my ass, Nathan sure does seem to have a thing about my breasts.
“If we were just going to have a swim, you would not be looking at me like that, Blackshaw.” My tone is accusatory, but Nathan’s gaze is so hot and hungry, it’s making me wonder if maybe I can live without this lunch date he promised me was coming.
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you looked at me during breakfast.” When eating breakfast suddenly took a backseat to screwing each other's brains out.
He drags his gaze from my breasts. “We’re just here to talk.”
“About?”
He shrugs. “Whatever you want.”
I don’t believe him. But I’m naked, the water looks good, and he keeps saying things that make me curious, so I wade into the water, releasing a soft sigh when it’s as cool and refreshing as I hoped it would be.
Nathan returns to floating on his back. “I used to waste hours just like this when I was a kid.”
I join him in floating with my arms outstretched. “You did?”
“Yeah.”
“You sound like you stopped.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Not sure. Guess I grew out of it.”
My mind flashes back to growing up in my pack. My parents used to say if I could have been a wolf all the time, I’d have done it. All I wanted to do was lose myself in the forest. “You’re lucky to have this lake. I didn’t have one in Ohio.”
“Ohio?” He turns his head toward me.
“Was home.” I track a fluffy white cloud across the sky. “Until it wasn’t any longer.”
I try to keep the pain out of my voice, but it bleeds through, just like it always does when I think of my family.
“What else did you like to do?” Nathan surprises me by not pushing to know more about my pack.
I turn to look at him. “Why does that matter?”
“I’m romancing you, and that means we talk about the stuff that matters.”
“Because?” I feign disinterest.
“Because I happen to like you, Clara Vincent, in case I haven’t made that clear.”
“I pushed you down a mountain,” I remind him, ignoring how pleased I am to hear him admit it.
He snags my hand and tugs me closer, pressing a kiss on the inside of my wrist. “It was more of a hill. Favorite color.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“We’re getting to know each other. What’s your favorite color? Mine is green.”
I’m not sure if I want to laugh or splash him. “Purple.”
“Light or dark.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, hiding my smile. “Light.” As we float, he laces his fingers with mine. “Blackshaw…?”
“Wouldn’t want you floating away.” He sounds innocent, but if I were to angle my head his way, I’m positive he’d be grinning.
“Right.”
“What do you like to do for fun?”
I turn my head to look at him. “I feel like I’m on a date.”
“Do you? How interesting.” A smile twitches his lips. “I like to run. The rabbits are less fond of me running since most of the time I’m a wolf chasing them.”
“The poor rabbits.”
“And squirrels. My wolf likes squirrel.”
I laugh. “You can’t tell a girl on a date that you like to hunt and kill cute squirrels.”
He tugs me so suddenly, I hadn’t known he’d stopped floating until he pulls me into his arms. As expected, he’s grinning. “You do if the girl also likes to hunt cute squirrels.”
I roll my eyes as I loop my arms around his shoulders. “No, I don’t.”
He kisses me. “Yes, you do. We’ll do that later. In… stage four, I think.”
“Stage four?”
“Of my romancing Clara Vincent plan.”
“So, number one was breakfast?”
I slide my legs around his hips as he kisses me. “It was. Number two was fun in the water. I was determined to make you laugh.”
Which he definitely achieved. “Number three is…”
“Feeding you again.”
“Ah. This lunch date you promised. And four?”
“A run. Maybe a night under the stars.” He kisses me again. “Maybe something more.”
There’s no guessing what that something more is.
“Let’s go.” He pats my ass. “Time to feed you.”
“That ass pat has to go, Blackshaw,” I warn him.
It turns into a caress. “Does it?”
“Hmm. Maybe not yet,” I concede as he delivers a massage I wouldn’t mind lasting a little longer.
His smile fades. “Something more is fun. But I want more with you than just that. Come on.”
I think about his words as he leads the way out of the lake to our clothes. We don’t change there. We head back to my cabin and grab a towel to dry off first before we walk to the farmhouse.
As promised, Marshall fixed up Nathan’s gray Honda. The scratches are gone from the metalwork, and he looks to have cleaned it as well because it’s gleaming.
“Marshall did a good job,” I say, admiring his car.
Nathan grins at me. “I think he was looking for a reason to get out of the house for a bit. Jenna’s due date is approaching, and she now sees him as the source of her back pain and swollen ankles.”
I recall the heavily pregnant strawberry-blonde woman when I arrived. She looked tired and fed-up.
“Come on.” Nathan opens the passenger door for me. “Time to go.”
He drives down to Hardin for our promised lunch. Along the way, he points out which land belongs to which local, and I realize just how lucky they are to have so much forest to roam in with no possibility of running into any locals.
Hardin is quiet as Nathan parks up near the diner.
It’s also small. I’m not surprised I missed it, and I understand why Nathan wanted to stop at a mall on our way up here. There’s the usual stores anyone would need: a bank, grocery store, boutique, doctor, dentist, and hairdresser. Other than a couple of stores too far to identify from where Nathan parks, it’s a one road town.
Most locals must live out of town or there’s a suburban part of Hardin I’m just not seeing.
As we get out, the grocery store door swings open and a guy in his mid-twenties hauling a massive hiking bag emerges.
His smile is bright, and he has dark brown curls and sparkling blue eyes. He has a lean build with long ropy muscles, so either he works out more than he looks like he does or there are more light things in his bag than there are heavy for him to be managing it.
“Oh, hey! You’re new.” He grins at me.
I slam my car door. “I am new.”
His eyes flick from me to settle on Nathan, who’s stepping up beside me. “Hey, Nathan.”
“Hey, Fisher. Going for a hike?”
Nathan stops close beside me as Fisher throws his bag onto his back and yelps when he nearly goes down under the weight of whatever is inside.
Laughing, I grab his arm before he can fall and straighten him. “What have you got in there?”
“Thanks. Supplies.” He grins. “Probably too much, but I’d rather have too many than not enough. You didn’t tell me your name.”
“Clara.”
“I’m Fisher.” He points his chin at the grocery store. “I work there with my dad, so if you stick around Hardin, you’ll see me around more often than not.”
Nathan is quiet as I shake Fisher’s hand. As I pull my palm free, I glance at Nathan. His expression is blank. Too blank. I can only think of one reason why it would be.
He can’t possibly be…
No.
“So, are you staying in Hardin, Clara?” Fisher asks, distracting me.
Nathan moves so close, his shoulder bumps mine, confirming what I suspected but hadn’t wanted to believe. He’s jealous. He thinks Fisher is in to me and he’s jealous.
“For now. Nathan is showing me around.” I lean my shoulder against his.
Nathan gives me a searching look and his shoulders relax, then he’s back to smiling again. “I promised her lunch and I aim to deliver.”
“Well, have fun,” Fisher says, waving as he turns away.
“And have fun on your hike,” I call back as Nathan leads the way to the diner.
“So…” he drawls.
“For one second back there, I thought you might’ve been jealous.”
He stops and looks at me. “ Did I have a reason to be jealous?”
“Of Fisher?” He was cute, but I have no interest in him. I shake my head. “No.”
He holds the door open with a flourish, enveloping me with the sweet scents of baking and tart cherries. “Then how about I introduce you to Trick’s cooking? He owns the place, and he makes just about the best cherry pie in the state.”
I brighten. “And I get to pick whatever I want?”
“Anything,” he promises.
I arch a brow at him. “Why do I think your mind is in the gutter?”
“Not the gutter.” Right in the doorway of a busy diner, he kisses me.
And right there, in front of a diner full of people probably looking, I kiss him back. I couldn’t even tell you why.