'Yes,' she said. Incredibly aware of the interested gazes of the people around them, she couldn't admit that she'd been thinking about him, too.
Every single living second.
'Have fun.' Lorissa took their cups away. 'Be careful.'
They walked to the parking lot. Jack opened the passenger door for her, but instead of sliding in, she looked up into his eyes. 'I thought of you, too.' She shut the door on his surprised expression.
When he came around to the driver's seat, he didn't say a word, thank God. He didn't have to, his smile said it all.
Right. Only there was no way she could she do both at the same time, not with this man.
The carnival was abuzz with preopening activity. Jack stared at their booth. 'She really meant it.'
Sam laughed. There were wild rides and row upon row of games, where you could lose as much money as you wanted, and more. There were arts and crafts booths as well, and a wide variety of food stands selling high-fat fast food. On the walk to their booth Jack had been stopped a few times for autographs, and though he did it happily enough, he deflected any personal questions, private as always.
Music filled the salty air, blaring out of speakers set up at the end of every row. Sam found herself grinning with anticipation and excitement as she eyed the dunking booth in front of them. A large tank of water sat beneath a bench that looked rather like a diving board, and above it, a bull's-eye for people to throw softballs at. When one hit the mark, the seat-with one of them on it-would drop. 'Look on the bright side,' she said. 'That's a long throw and a rather small target. No kid is actually going to be able to hit that. We'll be dry all day.'
'Yeah?
'Oh, no,' she said, laughing, backing up a little at the wicked look in his eyes. 'You should go first.'
'And why is that?'
'Um…' To see if he looked as good wet in the daylight as he had by moonlight? 'To make sure it's safe,' she came up with brilliantly.
He laughed knowingly, and when his cell phone rang, he flipped it open. 'What now, Heather? Uh-huh… listen, didn't we just see you three minutes ago sitting on your throne at the ticket booth collecting money?' His eyes shot to Sam's. 'You're opening for business and you need my butt on the hot spot? Gee, thanks. Yeah, yeah, love you, too, but I wouldn't sleep with both eyes shut tonight if I were you.' He snapped the phone shut, slid it into his pants pocket and looked at the dunking booth with what could only be dread.
Sam had to laugh. 'I know you're not afraid of water.'
He cut his gaze back to her as he kicked off his shoes and then tugged off his sweats. Beneath he wore knee- length dark blue swim trunks. 'I'm not afraid of anything,' he said, and pulled off his shirt.
She worked on not swallowing her tongue. As she'd seen the week before, the man hadn't lost any of his muscle tone in the year since he'd stopped playing. She'd made it her business to look up and learn about his career this past week. He'd been a true athlete, one of the best, until multiple knee injuries and the subsequent surgeries had taken him off the top of his game. He claimed not to be afraid of anything, but she knew better-because he'd told her himself. 'Except commitment,' she reminded him. 'You're afraid of commitment.'
His shirt hit her in the face. When she pulled it away, after first gulping in a big breath to catch his delicious scent, he lifted a brow.
'Isn't that a bit like the pot calling the kettle black?'
She lifted her chin.
'Fine,' he said. 'Neither of us like to admit being afraid of anything. We're big, bad toughies with an impenetrable surface.' He walked toward the ladder that would take him to the hot seat. 'But I'll bet your sweet ass that my impenetrable surface is going to freeze right off if anyone manages a hit.'
'Don't worry,' she crooned, struggling to hold back a laugh at the look on his face as he sat there, tanned and sleek and shirtless, his long legs dangling down nearly to the level of water, looking like he'd rather have an enema. Poor baby. 'I'll bet that water isn't that cold.'
'I'll be sure to let you know.' He eyed the crowd now running in from the main gates. Before another minute passed, there was a long line of kids waiting to dunk Jack Scandal Knight.
Secretly, Sam hoped someone got him. She wanted to see that finely honed-to-perfection body all wet and gleaming. She wanted that a lot.
The first kid was a young girl, maybe seven years old. Sam took her tickets, and in return gave her two softballs. 'Dunk him,' Sam said. 'He can't wait to hit the water.'
The girl's first throw fell short of the tank. She thrust out her lower lip and looked up at Sam with determination in her eyes. 'I wanna dunk him.'
Sam pulled the girl over the line, and a good five feet closer to Jack. 'Try again.'
'Hey,' Jack protested.
Sam smiled sweetly at him. 'Hey, back.'
The girl missed again.
Sam thought she heard Jack's relieved sigh flutter over the air.
The next kid was a young teen and looked to have a good arm on him. Sam handed him two balls. 'Dunk him.'
'I will,' he promised, and his first ball hit the very edge of the target, but bounced away without releasing the seat.
'Come on, you can do it,' she said, avoiding looking at Jack while the kid wound up for ball number two.
'Sam?'
This from Jack.
The kid paused in his throw.
Sam looked at Jack.
'For every kid you encourage to dunk me,' he said silkily, 'I'm going to buy a ball when you're up here, and believe me, I'm not going to miss, not once.'
Everyone in line laughed.
Sam's stomach dropped to her toes. 'That might be expensive. And besides, I wouldn't want you to throw like that. You might hurt your shoulder. In fact, I'll make a warning sign because, now that I think about it, retirees shouldn't play at this booth. Too dangerous to their health.'
More laughter.
Jack's face broke slowly into an extremely evil smile. 'Oh, don't you worry about my health, sweetheart. I might be retired, but I'm still in full working order.'
Sam's hormones jumped.
The young teen threw his second ball.
And down Jack went. The splash he made had the kids hooting and hollering, and when he surfaced, he tossed back his wet hair and looked right at her. He continued to do so as he effortlessly pulled himself back up and reset the seat.
Dripping wet.
Glistening.
Looking like the pagan god of sin, with water streaming down his body and those glittering eyes on hers, he smiled at her with pure wickedness.
She swallowed hard. 'Next,' she squeaked.
A young woman stood there, clearly as in awe of Jack as Sam was. She licked her lips and made sure she was as close to the line as she could get. 'I'm standing here until I dunk him,' she told Sam. 'I don't care how much money it takes.'
It took five bucks.
And this time when Jack climbed back up, he looked at Sam and mouthed, 'Two.'
She blinked.
