Page 54 of Between Hello and Goodbye
But because she was Faith, her inner light came back to full intensity a moment later. “Your precious nephew was talking up Waimea Canyon the other day. I was thinking of heading there tomorrow. Do you think I can cut it, or is that too advanced for me?”
“You could do it,” I said. “But I have other plans.”
“Oh, I wasn’t suggesting you had to take me—”
“I have other plans for you.”
Faith froze for a moment, then tried to flash me a coy smile, but there was a tremble in her voice that went straight down my spine. To my crotch, specifically.
“You have plans for me?”
“For us.”
“Us.”
“Snorkeling,” I said, my voice thick now too. I coughed. “You can’t come to Hawaii and not snorkel. It’s a law somewhere.”
“So it’s more of a necessity for me than something you want to do.”
“I want to. I haven’t been in a while.” God knew I was fucking dying to see this woman in a bathing suit, but that was beside the point. “A buddy of mine takes small charters out to a wreck off the south shore. I was thinking we could tag along with him tomorrow morning.”
Faith took a sip of lemonade, then ran her finger along the lip of the glass. “My ankle is just starting to feel better. Putting fins on seems like a bad idea.”
“No fins.”
“Then how?”
“Leave it to me. I got you.”
If I could’ve snatched those words back, I would’ve. Too late, they hung between us, and I watched Faith take them in.
“By the way,” she said softly. “When I said that I wasn’t suggesting you take me to the Canyon, that was a lie. I was one hundred percent hoping you’d take me.”
“I know,” I said in a low voice.
She toyed with her fork as her eyes rose to meet mine. “Are we in trouble, firefighter?”
I understood her meaning. Because I could read her, and she could read me, and neither one of us wanted to do much else besides figure each other out.
“Not yet,” I said quietly. “But we’re getting there.”
