Page 3 of Give In To Love
The path mostly followed alongside the creek, but here and there, it snaked its way across to the other side. We stopped at such a crossing, assessing the best way to get to the other side. The creek was wider here, and it appeared our best route would entail stepping from one flat rock to the next. I watched as he stepped on the closest rock, then the next, balancing as the stone wobbled beneath him.
He turned back to look at me, those blue eyes twinkling as he flashed me a lopsided smile. “You coming?”
I was quite possibly the least brave person I knew, but as he shot one brow up in challenge, I set my jaw and took the first step. He nodded, his smile growing impossibly wider, before turning back to face the direction of the next rock. We continued, with him leading the way from stone to stone while I followed in his footsteps. He paused, and I looked up to see why, my eyes widening when I saw the distance between the final rock and the creek bank. I looked behind me, assessing whether it would be possible to return the way we’d come, but the rock I was currently standing on was small, leaving no space to turn around.
I turned back, but the question I’d been about to ask died on my lips as my…companion sprung into a leap, legs extended in a midair split before gracefully landing on the bank. He turned back, his ever-present smile lighting his features as if he were trying to give the sun a run for its money.
“I’m a dancer,” he said with a small shrug while I stood there gaping at him.
“Well, I’m not,” I said, finally finding my voice. “How the hell am I supposed to get over there?”
We scanned the water, looking for alternative options, but as far as I could tell, there weren’t any. “Maybe I can just?—”
Before I could finish the thought, he was shucking his shoes and socks and stepping into the creek, heading toward me. The water was clear and shallow, only about calf-deep, making it easy for him to pick his way carefully over to the rock I was standing on, my mouth agape. He turned his back to me, crouching slightly. “Climb on.”
“Seriously?”
He looked at me over his shoulder, a twinkle in his eyes. “Why not?”
Letting out a breath, I climbed on, feeling as awkward and clumsy as ever, like a baby giraffe taking its first steps. He wasn’t a bulky guy, but he was strong, easily taking my weight as he stood to his full height. He made his way carefully through the water as I tried my best not to notice the way my dick was pressed against his lower back or the feel of his bare shoulders, slick with sweat, under my arms where I held on.
“Relax,” he said. “I’m not going to drop you.”
If anything, his words did the opposite, my back going ramrod straight as he took the last couple of steps onto the bank of the creek. I loosened my grip, preparing for him to let me down, but he tightened his grasp.
“Thank you, but you can put me down now,” I said, trying to make my intentions clear.
“I don’t know. I kinda like this.” His thumb stroked the side of my thigh where he held on, my traitorous cock thickening against his back. He had to be able to feel it pressed against him. “I think you like it too,” he said as if he could read my thoughts.
I didn’t know what to do with such an overtly flirty comment. The only guys who’d ever shown me attention like that had been my mother’s boyfriends. Which had always left a sick feeling in my gut.
“Please put me down.” My voice was small, almost pleading, and he must have caught onto my discomfort because he immediately set me on the ground, turning to face me with concern in his eyes.
“Hey,” he said, his voice gentle. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my center, averting my gaze. “I’m not… I just don’t like…thatkind of attention.”
He stepped closer, though he didn’t touch me. “Has someone hurt you? Is that what’s got you so sad?”
“Not like you mean, no. Can we just…go? I think I’ve had enough adventure for one day.”
I saw the disappointment in his eyes—crazy that I could read him, though I’d just met him a couple of hours ago—but he nodded and turned back toward the path. “I think if we keep going this way a little farther, there’s a split in the trail that’ll take us back to the road.”
I started to follow, but he paused, waiting until I was next to him before continuing down the path. I was curious to know how he knew the forest so well, considering I’d lived in Astaire my whole life and had never seen him before. “How come I’ve never seen you around?”
“I live in Omaha, but my grandma lives here in Astaire, so we come out for visits. I guess our paths just never crossed. I take it you live here?”
“Yeah. My whole life. I’ve never been much of anywhere outside of Brinkley or the occasional field trip into the city.”
“Never?”
I shrugged, feeling defensive. “Travel requires money, which we aren’t exactly rolling in.”
I thought about the empty house waiting for me at home, devoid of furniture except for the lumpy recliner no one ever sat in and the beds that were older than we were. Mom had stripped the house of everything else when she left. Another wave of despair washed over me, threatening to steal my breath, but I resolutely fought through it, practicing the breathing my brother’s childhood friend had taught me.
“I want to travel, see the world. Or at least the rest of the US. I’m going to be on Broadway someday.” He said it with all the confidence of someone who knew exactly who he was and what he wanted. I couldn’t imagine ever feeling so resolute about something like that. But I had a feeling he’d find a way to make his dream come true.
“That’s…um, great,” I said lamely.
