Page 34 of Caught in the Middle

Cam inched his tube closer to hers as he laid his chin on the edge. “I can tell.”

“I know it makes me petty, but–”

“No it doesn’t.”

That caught her by surprise. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.” He gave her that boyish grin that made her want to run her fingers through his wet hair and brush the floppy front bits back.

“You don’t have to agree with someone else’s outlook on life and way of living. It doesn’t make them wrong in thinking differently and it doesn’t make you petty for disagreeing.”

She chewed on that for a second. “I just don’t like feeling belittled. I’ve gone ziplining a dozen times and that’s nothing compared to jumping out of an airplane or standing at the edge of a cliff where one wrong step would mean an unbearable death.” He winced at the thought of her standing there. “Whenever he came along, he wouldn’t shut up with the cautionary warnings like I was a child, and whenever I went without him, he wouldn’t stop with the lectures long enough to hear my stories.”

She looked up to see Cam smiling at her. “What?”

“I didn’t say anything,” he said.

“But you’re thinking something.”

He laughed. “You’re a bird meant for flight, not be encaged to look pretty and sing for an audience.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” But the metaphor made her smile. “But I still look good,” she added.

Cam’s laugh reverberated through her. “That you do.”

They grew quiet for a minute, both letting the water slowly move them further down the shore. Emma laid her head back, soaking in the warmth of the sun. This vacation was proving to be more enjoyable than she thought it would, even before she dragged Cam into the folds.

“Can I ask you something?” It was something that had been eating at him since that first night he met her.

She hesitated, then did her best to sit up a little better in her float. “Sure.”

“Why haven’t you dated since the breakup?”

She was quiet for a moment.

“You don’t have to answer if it’s too nosy,” he said.

“It’s not that,” she said. “I was just thinking.” Emma sat up in her tube and slid off the end, noting that Cam stuck a hand out to steady it for her so that it didn’t go shooting out from behind. She gave him an appreciative smile, then sunk under the water and popped up in the middle, copying the way he was floating.

“Better?” He grinned.

“It was getting hot out of the water,” she admitted, now aware of how much more intimate this felt, both of them at eye level only a few feet away.

That distance shrunk as Cam inched closer. Emma laid her chin on her crossed arms at the front of her tube, letting her feet dangle in the water behind her as he placed a hand on her float so that they wouldn’t drift apart in the water.

“It wasn’t an intentional decision,” Emma said, answering his earlier question. “I did go on a few dates, but nothing exciting. No sparks, I guess.”

He nodded, his eyes on hers. “Are you looking for sparks?”

Emma could feel her heart picking up pace under his intense gaze, the closeness, how private it felt way out here by themselves.

“It’d be nice,” she said. “Is that silly?”

“I don’t think so.” His voice was both soft and rough to her ears. “Did you have sparks with Asher?”

Her brows furrowed as the question hit her. She’d never thought about it. “I don’t think so, not like you read about in books or see in movies.” Or that she felt with Cam. The thought came out of nowhere. She tried to ignore it. “He was my first serious relationship, and I think I was tired of dating and he was stable in a world where I was chaos.” She frowned, having never realized how true that was until she processed it out loud.

Cam watched her as she spoke. The moisture still ran in droplets off the bottoms of her ears, the small dribbles of water over her forehead, and the way her skin glistened in the sunshine. He found himself wanting to feel the line of her nose with his own, tuck her wet hair behind her ears. Instead, he let her continue and he listened.

“But there were always red flags I chose to ignore. Clashes in our personalities, you could say. But by then we were comfortable and I don’t think I’m good at opening up to new people. I think it was just easier to maintain what I had than to consider something else. At the end of the day, Asher is a good guy.”

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