Chapter 28
COOPER
After my conversation with Kaylee, the thought of seeing Stephanie again is making me more nervous than I’d like.
Did I say or do something that is going to complicate things again?
I run my hands through my hair, feeling uncomfortable and out of my element.
I usually have all the confidence I need when it comes to how to act around women, but nothing about Stephanie has ever been what I would consider normal.
After a few minutes of walking, Kaylee looks at her phone.
“Her pin shows that we’re really close—it looks like she’s right on the water’s edge.
” Kaylee must have called Stephanie, because she brings her phone up to her ear.
“Hi, we’re here. Where are you, exactly?
” There’s too much noise around us for me to hear Stephanie’s reply.
“Oh! That’s great. We’ll be right there.
” She hangs up and puts her phone away. “She wanted to see the bats from the water, so she rented kayaks for us! This is going to be awesome.”
Kaylee quickly walks down a hill and toward a boat ramp, where a company rents kayaks, but my feet take their own sweet time.
“Kaylee!” Stephanie’s voice calls out, and I track the sound until I see her at the end of the boat ramp, holding the rope for two kayaks already in the water.
She looks amazing. She’s swapped the boardroom armor for something a lot less formal—a sleeveless, teal romper that wraps across her chest and anchors behind her neck.
I can’t decide what I’m more drawn to: the way it leaves her shoulders completely bare or the massive bow at her waist that highlights every curve she has.
It tapers into jogger-style cuffs, ending just above her bare feet.
From her hand dangles the same tan, red-bottomed heels from this morning.
I have no idea where she got the clothes—I never saw her return to the guest house to change—but I’m not complaining because she looks incredible.
My fingers unconsciously curl into fists as I remember the heat of her palm on mine this afternoon.
I could barely concentrate for the rest of the meeting.
Kaylee was already about twenty feet ahead of me, but when she sees Stephanie, she speeds up and leaves me in the dust. I watch as Kaylee reaches the end of the boat ramp and the two hug and begin chatting like they’ve been best friends for years—not like acquaintances that met last night.
I’m about ten feet away when Stephanie notices me. She stops talking and momentarily freezes, eyes flickering wide. I can only manage a small, hopeful smile and a quick wave.
“Mallory, was I supposed to know you were coming?” I start overanalyzing everything about her tone of voice, word choice, and body language to gauge what she thinks of me showing up.
Her head is tilted to one side, hip is popped out, and eyes appear to be assessing something—while one eyebrow is elegantly cocked up and the corner of her lips hint at a smile.
Kaylee speaks up before I can. “Sorry I didn’t mention it. My car battery died, and Coop came to my rescue. I hope you don’t mind that I dragged him along.”
“I don’t mind at all—the more the merrier.” The curl at the corners of her lips becomes a full smile. I let out an audible breath as I realize that she’s not upset about me crashing their party of two.
“The problem is . . . I got the last two kayaks. They don’t have any more.” She looks back and forth between Kaylee and me.
“That’s not a problem.” Kaylee pushes her hand through the air as if waving off Stephanie’s words. “You two can share a kayak, and I’ll take this one. It will be easy.” She takes the rope out of Stephanie’s hand and begins to pull the kayak flush with the dock so that she can get in.
I take a step toward Kaylee. “Why don’t you and I go together, and we can let Stephanie have one to herself.”
“No way, Coop.” Kaylee is adamant as she quickly lowers herself down into the kayak. “You and I have a history around water that I’m not keen to repeat.” And just like that, she pushes off the dock and paddles away.
“Kay—”
“No protests, little brother.” She paddles off without a backward glance.
Stephanie and I stand watching, and I don’t know what to do.
I turn and look at her. “Steph, why don’t you go out on the kayak, and I’ll wait here on the dock. I’ll be fine.”
She shifts her weight and squints at me. “You scared of getting in a kayak with me, Mallory?”
My eyebrows fly up to my hairline. Stephanie wants to kayak with me?
In the same kayak?
In the same one-person kayak?
My mood gets an instant boost of endorphins.
I hold out my hands as if placating her. “Not scared. I just didn’t think you were up to the challenge.”
Her eyes lock on mine. “Game. On.” She steps to the edge of the dock and signals to the kayak with a nod of her head. “You first.”
I wait for a beat and realize that she’s not backing down, so I carefully climb down and get seated. “How do you want to do this?”
“Take my hand,” she reaches down with her hand, and I take it, “and then I’ll just . . .” She steps down with one foot, but the kayak tips precariously. She tries a different angle, which ends in the same result. Finally, she lets go of my hand and takes a step away, assessing the situation.
“Would it help if you used my shoulder to balance on?” I offer.
She nods in agreement and puts one hand on my shoulder, grips my other hand, and begins again. Her position is awkward at best, but she keeps trying until her foot slips, she loses her balance altogether, and she unceremoniously falls onto the kayak.
The impact causes the kayak to violently rock back and forth, and we both have to fight to stop from going into the lake. As the kayak steadies, we remain still. Somehow, we’ve maintained enough control to stay dry.
I survey our predicament, and one thing I know is that we cannot kayak like this.
Stephanie is sitting on my lap, her legs hanging off to one side with both feet dangling over the water.
Her arms are wrapped tightly around my neck, and I have one arm firmly around her slender waist and the other possessively around her shoulders, pulling her snugly into me so that we don’t tip. Our faces are whisper-close.
Even though we’re no longer in danger of flipping, neither of us move.
Her eyes drop to my lips for the briefest moment, quickly returning to my eyes, and she licks her lips.
The tiny movement makes the side of my mouth tick upward.
I’d give anything to be able to read her mind right now.
“Sorry,” her eyes drop to my lips again and then slowly rise up, “you have . . .” She releases one of her hands from around my neck and starts to bring it up to my face, but changes her mind and pulls away.
“I mean, there’s something . . .” She brings her hand back to my face and lightly brushes my upper lip with her thumb.
“You had a crumb there.” Her hand goes down as fast as it went up, and she looks away, flustered.
I grin. There wasn’t a crumb. When you have a beard, you frequently check for captured crumbs, and I checked before I got out of Kaylee’s car.
And her touch on my face . . . It wasn’t intended to be intimate, but the effect on me was almost instant. Heat spreads through my body, and my eyes drop to the curve of her lips.
Do I want to kiss Stephanie?
Okay, dumb question. Let me rephrase:
Is this the best time and place to kiss Stephanie? Unfortunately the answer is no.
I take a moment to remind myself: Take your time. Build a friendship. Make sure she likes you for you first.
I’ve kissed women in the past that were fueled only by physical attraction, and I’m not interested in that again. I want more.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m ready to kiss Stephanie for way more than my physical attraction to her, but Stephanie is still sorting through the fact that I’m not a two-faced liar, so I decide to not try anything—no matter how tempted I am.
Instead, I decide to address our current situation. “Do you think you can slowly turn around?” My voice is raspy and comes out in a whisper, side effects of the fact that we are still holding each other very closely and all of her curves are pressed up against me.
She nods and carefully shifts her weight, moving in tiny increments. We each adjust our hold on each other, but we don’t completely let go until she’s facing forward.
“Let’s try and catch up to Kaylee.” I reach around Stephanie and try to paddle, but she’s sitting up and away from me, so I can’t get a good enough stroke to make us move.
“Stephanie, for this to work, you’re going to have to lean back on me.
” She reclines a little; now she’s in more of a crunch position.
It makes me smile that she’s trying to avoid leaning back on me when less than a moment ago she took a hungry look at my lips.
“Lean all the way against me,” I gently pull her into my chest, “and I’ll have enough space to paddle.
” Our new position literally pins her against my chest and between my arms. I regrip the paddle in front of her and take a few strokes, and we finally start to move.
I have never loved kayaking more than I do right now.