Page 51 of Never Date A Player
He grins, sliding his free hand to my lower back until he’s guiding me. “Zach mentioned he told you we’re part Washoe. How much do you know about our tribe?”
They talked about me when I wasn’t around? “Nothing.”
He nods, the noise from the party subsiding to a low murmur as we move farther down the beach. “Up until a couple hundred years ago, the Washoe migrated during the summer to Lake Tahoe. They came here.”
I point to the sand. “Here?”
He smiles. “Maybe. Camp Richardson is in an area where they used to gather. They collected winter reserves from the lake and plants, and mingled.” Emphasis on mingled.
“What kind of mingling?”
“Visiting old friends, games, races… canoodling.”
“Canoodling? That’s a very mature word.”
He gives me a sidelong smile and leans down until his mouth is right above my ear, his breath heating my skin. “I’m a mature kind of guy.”
Yes, yes he is. Which is different from most guys his age, or any man I’ve ever known. I wait a beat until I’m sure my voice won’t waver. “What kind of canoodling are we talking about?”
His gaze flickers in the direction of the party. It’s barely audible from this distance, a faint glow across the sand and shore marking its location. “Not much was allowed before marriage, but if it had been, the gatherings probably would have looked a lot like what’s going on back there. Flirting, and other stuff.”
“Other stuff?”
“Only on a more serious level.” He gestures behind us. “In there, people maneuver for intimacy.” How polite of him. I would have used a different word. “My ancestors were looking for spouses. They exchanged gifts between families when an agreement was made.”
“Ah, the old gifts in exchange for a bride. Did the bride’s family hand over cattle as a dowry?”
“Marriages were all mutually agreed upon, but…” He grins boyishly. “Rabbit, pine nuts, maybe an antelope or two—no cattle around back then.”
“Exactly what a lady wants,” I say, a smile on my face. “A dowry of rabbits really boosts a lady’s self-esteem.”
He laughs, and the pleasure that courses through me at the sound is like a drug. I want more. I want to make him happy and have him laugh with me all the time. “Hey, rabbits and pine nuts were like gold back then,” he says. “And the gift exchange went both ways. The groom’s family gave up prime pine nuts with their men.”
“Okay, we need to end this conversation right now. It’s degraded to a topic about men and their nuts, and can only go downhill from here.”
Lewis chuckles and turns up the bank to a log thicker than the both of us. He takes off his coat and lays it in front on the sand. “Sit?”
“On your suit? Don’t you want to wear it again?”
His eyes sparkle. He rubs the chin I’m intimately aware has a light bristle and glances down my body. “After you’ve sat on it. Yes.”
My face heats. Where did this naughty Lewis come from? He doesn’t throw sexual innuendo around willy-nilly, and it’s incredibly hot.
Canoodling.
I plop my ass on the coat and tuck my legs to the side.
He sits beside me and leans back as if to gaze at the dark water, but watches me instead. “What happened at the cascades? Why did you push me away?”
My attraction buzz dies a quick death.
I cross my arms over my middle as if to protect myself from the truth, but the topic can’t be avoided forever. “You called me Genevieve.”
He says nothing, waiting.
Waves on the lake reflect light from the moon like metallic shards, sharp and jagged. “No one calls me Genevieve, except my mom. Drake learned I’m a Genevieve instead of a Jennifer when we first met. That’s all he’s ever called me. When you and I were together, I heard him say it instead of you.” I brush sand off the edge of his coat and scoot back until my rear hits the log. “You caught me off guard, is all.”
His silence has me worried, and I glance over. “Try it,” I tell him.
