Reluctantly in Love (10 page)

I laughed and pictured him screaming. In my imagination he looked gorgeous, even while crying like a baby. “Thanks, that makes me feel better.”

“I better go get the canoe. We’ll get it upon the bank.”

I glanced around us at nothing but nature. The river stretched for miles, and so did the pasture and trees. “And then what?” I asked.

“And then we hike it from here.” He must have seen the alarm in my eyes because he reached out and squeezed my hand. “There’s a farm not too far from here.” He looked down and my gaze followed to his feet. “I still have my sandals on, so I’ll carry you on my back.”

I wiggled my bare toes. I’d lost my flip-flops in the water. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Gen mentioned you were kind of accident prone.”

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “I am not.”

“I think it’s cute,” he said before jumping off the bank.

I followed him with my gaze as he waded through the water toward the canoe beached in shallower water just a few yards from where I capsized us. He dragged it onto a sandbar a few feet away and then turned it on its side to empty the water.

Oddly, the cooler was still in the canoe. I could see it from here.

While Chase dragged the canoe back through the water to the riverbank, I unbuttoned my shorts and peeled them down my legs. I wrung them out and draped them over a low-hanging tree branch.

“Did we lose the oars?” I called out.

“Yeah, they’re gone.” He grinned. “But we still have the cooler.”

“It’s a canoeing catastrophe miracle,” I said, and leaned down to take hold of the canoe. I pulled on it with a grunt. “Holy hell, this thing is heavy.”

He bore the brunt of the weight, muscling the canoe onto the bank. “It’s all your booze,” he teased.

“It’s not that much,” I said. It was a lot.

“It’s a lot.” He laughed. “Let’s get the cooler out and get the canoe flipped over.”

“I can get the cooler. It’s the least I can do.” I squatted on my haunches beside the cooler and fumbled with the bungee cord. “I’m sorry you lost your hat in the water. I’ll get you a new one.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got more hats at home than I need.” He knelt on the other side of the canoe and reached for the other side of the bungee cord wrapped around the handle of the cooler. “Here, let me help with that.”

“I think I got it.” I tugged one more time. The bungee sprang loose on my end, flew through the air, and smacked Chase in the middle of the forehead.

He grasped his forehead with one hand. All I could do was stare back at him, horrified. Could this day get any worse? I was pretty sure he was imagining all the places he’d rather be right now—like, not with me—because he was speechless too.

My mouth opened and closed a few times while I worked on something appropriate to say. Finally, I settled on, “I think there’s something wrong with that bungee cord.”

He burst into laughter and I let out a breath of relief and flashed him a toothy smile of relief. His hand dropped from his forehead and he shook his head.

“Are you okay?”

He lifted the cooler out and set it on the grass beside the canoe. “I’m fine.” He touched a finger to his forehead and the big red welt left on his skin. “Why? Do I look bad?”

Never. Not even with the bruise he’d probably be wearing tomorrow. I shook my head and forced my eyes not to dip to the sexy V of his stomach that disappeared under the waistband of his clinging, wet shorts. “No. No, you look fine.”

More than fine.

Chapter Eight

Being carried on a gorgeous doctor’s back was great in theory. In my imagination, this scene was hot. In real life, though, there was nothing sexy about sweaty skin chafing together. I was pretty sure I would have a rash on my inner thighs. Plus, I worried that I smelled like river water, and that with every step Chase was getting a big, juicy, unpleasant whiff of me. His heroism was sure to stoke the sexual passions in my writing, though, so I did my best to breathe through my mouth and not my nose, in case our smelly predicament quashed the muse.

The sun blazed over us, turning my black hair into a shiny mass of weight as hot as tar. Sweat beaded at my hairline and rolled down my forehead and into my eyes. I blinked against the sting, and every now and then had to unlock my arms from around Chase’s neck to wipe it away. If I was overheated, Chase had to be miserable.

“Maybe I should walk for a while,” I said, clinging to his back.

At first, having a hundred and twenty-five pound woman ridding piggy back hadn’t fazed him. About a quarter mile through the knee high beans, his breathing sounded tired. The sweltering heat didn’t help. It was like being in a damn sauna with a blazing sun on our backs. I didn’t normally burn, but I was pretty sure my shoulders were fried.

“You might step on something and cut your foot open,” he said on a labored breath. “The fence is up ahead and the farm is just around the corner.”

I had spotted the fence, but no gate, and wondered if we’d be adding fence-jumping to our adventure. Now, this was roughing it. This was like being the star of my own show,
City Girl Meets Nature.
If television bought it, they’d add another spin, like
Naked City Girl Meets Nature.
I imagined us naked, with me riding him piggy back. If my legs weren’t sore with the threat of a sweat rash between my thighs, I might have gone wild with a sexy daydream.

He walked, and I rode in silence.

When we reached the fence, I hopped down from his back. I groaned out relief and stretched my limbs. I lifted my arms above my head and arched my back, the muscles stiff.

“Well, everyone was right—this is a blast,” I grumbled. “What I wouldn’t give for a cool shower right now.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t pack any water in that cooler.” He wiped at his forehead, his hair dripping with sweat. Bet he wished he hadn’t lost his hat in the river.

“No one told me we were visiting the middle of nowhere.” My skin was sticky and grimy, and I should have been too irritated to think naughty thoughts, but Chase had popped into my shower daydream. “In desert-like conditions.”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t call this desert-like conditions.” He ran his hand along his brow, wiping the sweat away. “But it is hot as hell out today.”

“I knew I should have stayed home. Those jerks tricked me into coming. They said we were going camping in a
cabin.
With
air-conditioning.
”

“That’s not camping.” He stretched his arms up and the muscles in his chest rippled.

“Nope,” I said, distracted by his flexing muscles. “Which is why I love the cabin.”

“Didn’t you ever camp with your parents? We live in Nebraska. Camping’s the cheapest form of family recreation in this state.”

I shook my head. “No. My mother’s allergic to nature too.”

“In normal circumstances if someone were to tell me that, I’d say they were being dramatic. But after spending an afternoon with you, I think this nature allergy might exist.”

“Dramatics has nothing to do with it,” I said, and he chuckled.

“Here, I’ll hold the wire so you can crawl under.” He gripped the taut barbed wire and lifted it, leaving me enough room to crawl under.

“Your turn.” I brushed my hands together to knock of the fine dirt clinging to my sweaty palms. That didn’t work so I rubbed them off on my jeans shorts.

He said, “Just a sec. There’s a rock in my shoe.”

He bent down to shake the rock loose from between his foot and the sole of his sandal. I glanced over him to the cornfield he had carried me through—we’d come a long way. A dirt road ran alongside the cornfield hugging a thick grove of trees on the other side. Everything was green out here—pretty, even under a blazing sun.

Something zipped past my head and I jerked in reaction. I caught sight of a black wasp, the biggest I’d ever seen. It darted around the fence post near us before landing on the top of the weathered, wooden post.

“There, got it,” Chase said, and I tore my gaze from the wasp.

I pulled the barbed wire up for him.

“Better hurry, there’s a wasp.” I nodded in the direction of the wasp. Except, there wasn’t just one, there were two more flitting around the one walking the top of the fence post. “A bunch of wasps.”

“Don’t pay attention to them. They won’t sting you,” he said as he crawled underneath the barbed wire.

I kept a wary eye on the wasps, because now they were all in flight, swarming much too close for comfort. “Hurry,” I urged Chase.

Just then, the wasps zipped over my head, and one dive-bombed me. Screaming, I let go of the barbed wires and they sprung back into place. I took off running away from the wasps, waving my arms around in the air in hopes of scaring them away.

“Shit,” Chase grumbled, and I skidded to a stop on the dirt road. A cloud of dust billowed around me, sticking to my skin.

I coughed, my mouth parched and dry. I waved the dust out of my face and glanced down at Chase easing out from underneath the fence. When he stood, his back to me, there was blood smeared on his back and an angry red welt across his shoulder blade.

“Oh, shit,” I breathed. I jogged back to where he stood. Pressing my fingertips lightly to the skin just below the deep scratch, I said, “Damn it. I’m so sorry, Chase.”

He turned around to face me, and my eyes went straight to the welt on his forehead, already bruising around the edges. I swallowed hard.

“Let me guess, you have a fear of mutant wasps?”

“
Three
mutant wasps. Big suckers,” I said. My hair had fallen loose from the knot on the top of my head. I pushed the damp tendrils off my face and neck. I probably looked like hell.

“Big suckers, huh?” Despite his bleeding wound, his tone was amused. At least he wasn’t pissed. “Are you allergic?”

“No allergies to insect stings. But I did watch a really bad horror flick about killer wasps . . .” I shook my head. “Never mind.”

Chase chuckled. “Come on. The house is just up that road and on the other side of the trees.”

“Thank God,” I said. “I need water.”

“Hop on,” he said, turning.

I placed my hand to his back, careful not to touch the scratch. The blood had already congealed and dried. Plus, I’d already done enough damage. I was pretty sure he’d be safer if he kept his distance.

“I can walk,” I said. “The dirt is soft on this road.”

He turned, his lips pursed in disapproval, as if he were about to object. I shook my head to cut him off. “Seriously. I’d like to walk a little while. If my feet start hurting, I’ll let you carry me.”

His brow furrowed in consideration. After a moment, he nodded. “Okay, but just to the end of the access road. Then I’ll carry you to old man Fredrick’s driveway.”

We walked the rest of the way mostly in silence. His mouth had to be as uncomfortably dry as mine. All I wanted was a shower, my own bed, and a gallon of water. Lucky for us, the farmer was home, and he was more than happy to drive Chase anywhere he wanted. I sat between the men on the bench seat of the old Chevy truck. The windows were down because there was no working A/C.

The farmer was a nice old man. He knew Chase and his siblings all by name. They talked high school football for most of the drive to the pasture where a pickup and trailer were parked. I had no idea who’d dropped it off, but assumed it was someone Matt knew—maybe his dad or brother. They had a farm somewhere nearby.

As the old man slowed the truck to a stop, I spotted Matt pulling their canoe out of the water and up the dirt ramp. I had no idea how long Chase and I had been in the water, how long we’d been walking before reaching the landing point. Out here, time had no meaning. All I was certain of was the relief that this disastrous canoe trip was over.

“Thanks for the ride,” I told the old man, who winked at me.

“My pleasure.” He nodded over to Chase, standing outside of the truck and holding the passenger door open. “You keep an eye on that boy.”

I returned his smile. It seemed unnecessary to point out the fact I had no reason to keep an eye on Chase since he and I weren’t together. Instead, I said, “I’ll keep a real close eye on him.”

After saying good bye, I slid across the vinyl seat and hopped out of the truck. By this time, Gen noticed us. She jumped up from her seat on the back of the trailer to trot over.

“What happened?” she asked. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of us in all our disheveled glory. “Chase, your forehead.”

He touched his finger to the welt and glanced over at me. “We had a few accidents.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip. “I kind of flipped the canoe.”

She looked back and forth between the two of us. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “Uh, yeah. In a bad way.”

Matt stepped up beside Gen. “What happened to your forehead?”

“It’s going to be a really bad bruise,” Gen said, squinting against the sun to peer at the bump.

Chase cocked his head as he gazed at me. “Oh? I thought you said it wasn’t bad.”

“It . . . wasn’t that bad. Then.” I dug my toe into the dirt under the long blades of grass. “But it’s kind of bad now.”

“The knot's the size of a ping pong ball,” Gen said.

“That’s kind of an exaggeration, don’t you think?” I asked, but my voice lacked conviction. Mostly because a ping pong sized knot was a pretty good analogy.

“She hit me in the forehead with a bungee cord,” Chase said, and all eyes turned to me.

“It was an accident.” I grimaced. “It kind of just flew out of my hand.”

“And then she stuck me with barbed wire,” Chase added, and turned to show them the deep scratch in his back. At least the cut had stopped bleeding.

“Holy crap, Roxanna Leigh!” Gen shook her head, her eyes wide with incredulity. “You were supposed to hit it off, not beat him up.”

“You are something else, Roxi,” Matt said before turning to head back to the trailer. He shook his head, laughing. “I’m going to strap the canoes down. You should ice that huge welt on your forehead, Chase.”

I glared at Chase, whose smile could only be described as an amused smirk. “You’re making me look bad.”