No doubt, straight to a heartbreak, she warned herself. But even with that warning inside her head, while he was still showering, she quickly chose a suitable hiking outfit: a pair of denim shorts and a plaid shirt. She braided her hair.
Then she looked at herself in the mirror, hoping she had achieved a nice, casual outdoorsy image. Good grief. A little too Daisy Mae? But it was too late; she could hear him emerge from the shower.
He came out of the bathroom with a towel tucked around his waist and water beaded in the strands of his hair, turned dark gold from water. Her helpless eyes trailed to the perfect, muscled body.
He paused and looked at her. He smiled. “Hey, you look awesome in braids. Very wholesome.”
A reminder to them both that they were in totally different leagues?
He got his clothes out of the dryer and put them on. It was his business attire from yesterday—minus the suit jacket—and yet he looked like a poster boy for an outdoor excursion being featured in Men’s Fitness. There was nothing Li’l Abner about him, except maybe for the broadness of his shoulders.
Considering what had occurred between them last night, did she want to look wholesome? Considering that, wasn’t it the safest thing? Considering their mission today—an engagement ring—wasn’t it a good thing he was setting the tone by treating the hike as the main event?
Soon Chance was loaded into the back hatch. The dog was over the moon to be having an outing with them.
As they took to the highway, Krissy felt some tension leaving her. It was that perfect kind of day that only late June had: warmth without too much heat, the crispness of summer, spring freshness still in the air, the world bright green with growth and lushness that sang of possibility.
The vehicle filled with the heady scent of his shower-washed body.
He glanced at her, smiled that smile that made her feel cherished, as if she mattered to him. “Cat got your tongue, Krissy?”
She didn’t think any talk of tongues was a very good idea right now!
“Tell me something wonderful about your week,” he said to her, and she loved it that he had sensed her awkwardness and was prepared to work at easing it.
Well, there was the picnic. And then there was something quite wonderful crowding out all the other wonderfuls.
“Something I don’t know about,” he said softly, reading her mind. “Maybe something from work.”
So Krissy found herself telling him about Georgie, her very adorable five-year-old class miscreant.
“He brought worms for show-and-tell. Then he chased Emily all over the class with one. I think it’s the five-year-old way of saying I like you. But then, when I told him to lose the worm, he ate it. I think his chances with Emily are over for good now.”
“Note to self—don’t eat worms in front of the girl you are trying to impress.”
Krissy gulped. Was that girl her? “I think you’re way past the eating worms stage of impressing a girl,” she said. She thought of his mouth. Way past.
“You are way overestimating the sophistication of the male species,” he said, and the laughter that rose up between them was deliciously comfortable and companionable.
“What about you?” she asked. “Best part of your week.”
He gave her a lazy, sexy smile that turned her insides to mush and made her happily aware there was no question about what had been best about his week.
“I acquired a resort about a year ago that’s been an extraordinary challenge. It’s in the Florida Keys, more run-down than we thought it was going to be. Usually, I have a pretty good sense of how the resort will feel specialized, but for this one every single thing about it has been a grind, including the mission statement. But it all came together last week. I haven’t run a resort in conjunction with a charity before, but one of my executives is a military veteran, and he was telling me about some of the challenges military families have during—and sometimes especially after—their service.
“So we’re going to work with veteran’s groups, and provide getaways for these really stressed and sometimes not very well off families.”
Krissy could not even look at him. She was sure the admiration she had for him—the growing sense of connection, the desire to know this man, completely, to be a part of his life—would just be too evident in her face.
“You should come,” he said after a moment, “to the opening.”
She nearly quivered with pure longing. He had just opened the door to a future beyond this, and beyond the weekend with his family.
“Wouldn’t that be, um, kind of complicated?” she asked, trying to strip the helpless sense of longing from her voice. “It would mean extending the charade, wouldn’t it?”
They needed to address that. Didn’t they? The charade part?
She was hoping he would say it wasn’t a charade, not anymore. But he didn’t.
He frowned. He sighed. “Yes.” And then almost to himself, “It’s not as if I didn’t see it coming. Complications.”
The silence between them did not seem comfortable anymore.
The town that was their destination was a village, much like Sunshine Cove, only smaller. The day was cool enough to leave Chance in the vehicle with all the windows open, but now that they were actually in front of the tiny jewelry store, sandwiched in between a bookshop and an antique store, Krissy felt reluctant to go in.
“Are you sure you want to leave the vehicle unsecured?” Krissy said. She suddenly did not want to do this. It was too personal. Too crazy. Too much a lie. There was too much potential to feel things she did not want to feel. Especially after last night.
Like her growing attachment to Jonas. There was this sense in her of wanting to know him so completely. And that was without the further complication of the fact that she couldn’t look at his lips without thinking of kissing him. Of his hands
