Page 54 of Please Send Snow
14
JAKE
Ilower myself into the hot tub, barely holding back a groan at how good it feels. After this morning’s run, and a day spent pacing my office, my muscles are in ecstasy in the simmering water.
Steam lifts from the surface and Margo is nowhere to be seen. As a matter of fact, there are no lights on in any of the cabins. Everyone must be in the lodge for the group activities.
I didn’t really think people were into that kind of stuff anymore, but Dylan was really happy to have something fun to do, and even the older couple looked like they were totally charmed by the whole thing. The influencer girl and her cameraman were there too, like they thought something post-worthy might happen in that tired lobby.
I’m not much of a holiday guy, but the view out here is pretty. Someone has strung those twinkly Christmas lights all around the pavilion and even in the trees on the edge of the woods.
Speaking of pretty… where’s Maddie?
I heard a little shuffling around coming from the direction of the ladies’ changing room before, but now I’m alone and it’s silent again. Hopefully she found the stuff they left for her.
I glance down at the suit they provided for me. They got the fit just about perfect, except that my arms are practically bursting out of the sleeves of the rash guard.
I was sort of surprised that they even included a shirt. It’s not like we’ll be doing any surfing and I’m certainly not worried about getting too much sun. It’s just a nighttime soak in a hot tub.
But I put it on anyway, figuring that covering up a little might make Maddie feel more comfortable after our conversation this morning.
A twinge of guilt has me wincing at the thought of it. I’m not proud to admit to myself that it’s more than just shame at the fact that I made her feel uncomfortable. It’s the knowledge that Iamattracted to her, and that deep down I’m starting to feel like my feelings might go beyond just simple attraction.
The door to the women’s changing room opens and Maddie comes out, obliterating all my other thoughts.
If I thought I was going to catch a glimpse of her charms, I was wrong. She’s bundled up like a mummy in what looks like at least three towels that cover her from head to toe.
And the look on her face… I always thought it was just a cliche to say that someone looked like a deer in headlights, but right now Maddie looks like she might just bolt into the woods if I startle her.
Is she shy about her body?
I want to make her feel better by looking away. I really do.
But my eyes are glued to this scene. It’s not even about attraction. It’s just that the sight of her inching toward the hot tub, her mind clearly working overtime to figure out how to get in with all her towels is just too funny.
She manages to shimmy up the little steps with the towels still in place. But as she’s lowering herself into the water, the breeze picks up and her towel-skirt lifts.
Without thinking, she lets go of everything else to hold it down.
Of course, all three towels fall right into the water, which weighs them down so that she’s just holding about two inches of them against her knees and leaving the rest of her exposed.
And it becomes immediately obvious why she was feeling shy.
I was given a suit that could double as a cycling uniform.
Poor Maddie has the equivalent of a single handkerchief of fabric divided into three tiny triangles and held on by dental floss. She’s as gorgeous as any of the women in the swimsuit editions of those sports magazines that used to blow my mind when I was a kid.
But she’s a thousand times more beautiful because along with all the usual ingredients of a man’s wildest dreams, she’s wearing an expression of vulnerability.
That only lasts half a heartbeat though. The next thing I know she’s sunk down in the water up to her nose, and I can’t see her body or her expression.
She blinks at me once from her submerged positionlike a frog or a turtle coming up for air, and suddenly something is bubbling up in my chest that I can’t hold back.
I roar with laughter that echoes off the tiles of the pavilion, feeling younger than I have in years.
When was the last time I really laughed?
But as I wipe tears from the corners of my eyes, I can see that she’s glaring at me, which is fair enough. She didn’t ask for that suit.
