Page 57 of The Soulmate Theory

Warmth bloomed, starting in my chest and stretching all the way through my toes until every molecule in my body was buzzing with it. He’d never called me that before. I liked it. No, I loved it. I settled into my position, looking up at him. Looking through the lens of his camera that covered his eyes and seeing him through it. I didn’t move my mouth. I left it relaxed, but I was smiling. I knew he could see it underneath.

“Stunning,” he breathed. After that, I couldn’t keep my face straight anymore. A smile spread throughout my cheeks, and a giggle burst from my throat. The camera dropped at his chest and he matched my smile. “Come here.”

I stood up, feeling even colder as the air pricked my skin. I stepped toward him, but he was quicker. As soon as I was standing upright, he was scooping me into his arms. His chest was warm against my soaked skin. He carried me past the trail we’d come down from, and up a smaller, more secluded one that led around the backside of the waterfall.

He set me down on a large rock, which was almost sizzling from the heat of the sun. It instantly relieved me of the shivering. I splayed across it, trying to soak up as much of the warmth as I could. Leaning over me, he grabbed the bottom of my sweater and began to pull it off me. His hands were steady as his fingers brushed along my stomach, over my ribs, and around my breasts. I was propped up against the rock on my elbows, watching him. He was only watching his arms as they moved my clothing, exposing inch after inch of my skin. I sat up as he peeled it up my arms and over my head.

He laid my sweater out on the rock next to us, along with his shirt and jeans. I realized, for the first time, that I was laying out in front of him in almost nothing at all. He was wearing nothing but wet underwear. He must’ve realized it too as he said, “This is not what I had in mind when I was hoping to get you naked on our first date.” He slung a backpack off his shoulders and onto the ground.

“Is this a date?”

He laughed, tossing a dry sweatshirt at me. “I do realize that risking hypothermia may not have been the most ideal way to go about it, but yes. That’s what I had intended originally.”

“Did you plan on taking pictures from the beginning?”

“Of the scenery, yes. I’ve had Opal Creek on my list for a while. It’s a hidden gem. The pictures of you, however, were not planned. Not until I watched you step into the water. Until I realized how much you were distracting me anyway. The only thing that was capturing me—captivating me—was you.”

He leaned back on his hands in the grass below me, his eyes closed as his head tilted toward the sun. “Are you going to try and sell any of the photos of me?”

He shook his head. “No, those are mine.”

A chill raced through me, but I knew it wasn’t because I was cold.

“I’m going to go grab the rest of my clothes.” He stood up and brushed his hands on his knees. “Your leggings are in the backpack. You should put them on. Lay your wet clothes in the sun to dry. I packed a picnic. Oh, and there is some sunscreen in there, too,” he added as he trudged back down the trail.

I rolled my eyes.

“I can hear your eye roll, Pep. Put the damn sunscreen on!”

My laughter echoed throughout the trees.

Chapter Twenty

Carter

HERFEETSTARTEDTODRAG about a mile into the hike back to the truck. Two miles in, she was beginning to yawn. With only a half-mile to go, she started to complain. Now, less than a quarter of a mile from where I parked my Bronco, she was getting testy– irritable.

I was several paces ahead of her when I stopped. “What is it, Penelope? Are you tired, or are your feet sore?”

“Both,” she muttered, catching up to me.

I turned around, slipping the backpack off my shoulders and holding it out to her. She looked me up and down with a scowl. “You take the backpack.”

“Why?”

“I can’t carry you both.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, sticking out a hip in defiance. She had such a typical posture when she was readying to throw a fit. She’d done it ever since she was a kid. She didn’t do it often, but when she did, she always stood the same. As if her crossed arms were protecting her from the words of others– or maybe others from her. Her extended leg was giving her extra foundation to hold her ground. “You do not need to carry me.”

“I’m not letting you ruin our date because you’re cranky.”

She pouted. “I am not cranky.”

I snorted, dropping the backpack at her feet and turning around. I dropped my hands at my sides, then held them out slightly. I beckoned her with a wave of my fingers, telling her to jump onto my back. She sighed, but I could almost hear the smile that accompanied it. The gravel crunched from behind me, hard and swift. A second later, I felt her leap onto my back. My arms scooped underneath her knees as I hoisted her up behind me piggy-back style. She wrapped her legs around my waist as her arms clasped lazily around my neck.

She planted a soft kiss on my temple. “You are insufferable.”

“Me?” She snickered, biting on my ear. I groaned. “Save that for later.”

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