Page 71 of Soldier Cowboy
He ran a hand down his face, grinning, wiping away rivulets of water. “Yes, when it comes to you, I am.”
Well, that sounded kind of sweet actually. She made him feel like a kid. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.
“Youarefar too serious most of the time.”
“Let that be a warning to you. But I also forgot to tell you about the snakes here.”
“Snakes thatswim? Wh-what kind of snakes?”
“Water snakes.” He made a sound like,duh, city girl.
“Do…t-they like to swim? Inthisriver? Is—is that what you’re telling me?”
“No, they like tohike.What do you think?”
“Don’t make fun of me, Colton! You and Riggs can make all the jokes you want about Los Angeles, but we don’t have water snakes inmycity! And that’s the way I like it.”
Close to terrified, she wrapped her legs around Colton’s torso, surprising them both.
He quirked his now famous (to her) brow. “This is going far better than I had planned.”
Even in this cool water, a warm rush of heat pierced her. He’d moved his hands to her behind and slid her a decidedly devilish smile.
“What do you mean?”
“All I wanted was to tease you but now you’re in my arms through no fault of my own. I’ve told you that I’m not going to try anythingwith youand if you want to touch me, you better be the one to do it.”
“Funny. That’s what I did last night, and you turned me down.”
“Yeah, well. Things were moving too quickly, and I needed to slow myself down.”
“Why?” And then suddenly she remembered what had stopped him. “It’s because you still have some underlying loyalty to Cherisse. You can tell her we’re not actually engaged. When I’m gone maybe you two can get back together.”
He swore. “I don’t want that. She and I arehistory.”
“Are you sure? She was your first love and I know how powerful that can be.”
“Not for me, it isn’t. And it wasn’t.”
“Jackson came back for his brother’s wedding too, and he and Eve reunited.”
“So what? That’s not going to happen for me.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s the last thing I want. I don’t love her, okay? Someone wise once told me, ‘when people show you who they are, believe them.’ She doesn’t know the first thing about real loveorloyalty. We were never a good match. You’ve heard there’s a lack of women in my town. Maybe it’s because she was available to me that we were even together in the first place. Did you ever consider that? Don’t make us into some romantic Romeo and Juliet from a romance book.”
“Well, that’s a tragedy not a romance.”
“Whatever.”
But Jennifer let the knowledge settle. Maybe two people who were thrown together due to circumstance might confuse love with a simple fondness. They were quiet for several minutes.
Colton was tall enough to stand in the water and for the next few minutes they floated together, her in his arms. She leaned her body and head back to study the blanket of sunshine dappling through leafy trees, giving them cover from the sun.
Then she worked up her nerve and faced him, hands plunked on his shoulders.
“Sometimes I feel like you’re stuck here with me and just trying to make the best of it.”
