Page 42 of Just One Season
“This feels heavenly.” I ignore him and strip my boots and socks off. “I’m going to soak my feet—they’re killing me.” I struggle to roll my jeans halfway to my knees and stretch my toes, rejoicing at the freedom. Kellen steps to me and holds out a hand. I take it and he pulls me to my feet, dropping my hand as soon as I’m upright. Which makes perfect sense, because why would he keep holding my hand?
I step past him and toward the gloriously cold lake.
“So you didn’t want to swim in the waterfall, but you want to put your feet in this freezing cold lake?”
“Yes, exactly—” I gasp at the first touch of frigid waterand dig my toes into the soft, wet sand. “It’s perfect, despite the numbness, which makes my heels feel better, actually. Come on, get in here, live a little.”
He shakes his head but finds a rock to wedge Bear’s leash in between and takes off his boots and socks.
“That is very cold,” he says when his feet meet the water. He easily folds up his pants—clearly I shouldn’t have worn jeans—and comes my way, stopping next to me.
The water is murkier further out. I don’t know why this bit isn’t muddy and gross, but I don’t question it.
Bear barks from the shoreline, startling me, and I spin to face him, fully expecting to see a black bear or mountain lion about to eat him. Or us.
It’s nothing.
“Maybe we should head back?” I say. I take a step toward the shoreline, but my other foot has sunk too far in the sand, and I lose my balance. My arms flail wildly, and I see the disaster unfolding as if I’m hovering above my body.
With horror, I realize there’s no fixing this.
I can’t get myself upright. I’m going to fall and get soaking wet in six inches of water. Kellen moves to catch me, and I reach for him and grab his arms, but it’s too late.
I twist and the sand releases my foot, allowing me to land with a splash and a thud on my back in the icy cold Colorado lake. Water immediately soaks the back of my tank top, and a split second before I comprehend what just happened, Kellen is falling right on top of me.
He thrusts his hands out on either side of my shoulders, splashing water onto my face but stopping himself before he lands flush against me.
“Oh my god,” I gasp. Kellen’s face is about twelve inches from mine, his warm torso hovering above my chest, his bottom half sprawled out on mine.
The cold registers quickly, and my breath catches. I’m an ice cube on my back half and on fire on my front.
Kellen pauses for a second more than is strictly necessary, and I feel every bit of him that’s touching me. His hard knees digging into my shins. The heavy weight of his pelvis that makes me want to pull him down even further, take his face in my hands and bring it to mine. There are all sorts of feelings rushing through my body. Warm ones. Cold ones. Wet ones. Ones where I want to strip off all my clothes.
A laugh bubbles up and out of me.
“Shit!” Kellen leaps onto his feet, then leans down to swoop his hands under my torso, lifting me out of the water as if I’m a child. “Are you okay?”
Dripping and laughing, I stare at him, not sure if I should cry or scream or continue laughing. I probably look like a wet dog. Speaking of dogs, Bear is barking like crazy, about to rip his leash out from between the rocks.
“I’m so sorry,” I manage after the giggles fade, shaking my hands and spraying water on the ground. “I’m the clumsiest human being on the face of this planet.” Water drips down my back, but the front of me has stayed mostly dry aside from the splattering of water when Kellen’s hands hit the lake. Kellen isn’t in as bad shape, but his pants are half wet from the knee down.
“You are very wet,” he states, his eyes roaming down my body in a way that feels way more sexual than it should. It shouldn’t at all, of course.
“You are also not very dry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.” I reach up and touch my dripping hair, which is spotted with patches of rough grains of sand. I’m an absolute mess.
“It’s no problem. My pants will dry fast. Your jeans, however…” Kellen’s smile is bright and sweet, like I didn’t just ruin the hike by dragging him into the cold lake. “So you really did want to go swimming. I knew it.”
I attempt to shake sand out of my curls, but it’s hopeless. Addthis to the list of ways I’ve embarrassed myself in front of Kellen Bassey.
“At least our shoes are dry?”
“At least.” Kellen grabs my hand and pulls me to shore. I let him lead me out of the water. His hand on mine feels so lovely and warm and right.
I can’t stop smiling.
CHAPTER 12
Fake Dating Planning Committee
