He gave me an exasperated look before clearing his throat. “Alright. Now softly caress my cheek.”
There was a brief pause in whatever lesson this was for both of us to bend over in laughter, his robust and mine embarrassed and wheezy, before he brought us back, this time, his left hand landed on my waist.
I sucked in a breath, trying not to linger on the feel of his fingertips scorching my skin. “This is the worst.”
“Try running your hand through my hair.”
“I would never do that.”
“Tuck.” His voice was rimmed in exasperation. I imagined he’d never had to try this hard to get a girl to touch him before. A small part of me appreciated that thought.
“Fine.” I drew my eyes up to his and immediately regretted it. I could maybe get through this lessonif I didn’t have his brown eyes staring directly into mine. It was disconcerting. I was disconcerted. Discombobulated. Disoriented. All the D words, actually. I was one D word away from running like the wind back to my cabin and locking the door.
“This is really weird,” I said, still not moving to touch him. “What do I do again?”
“You have three lessons tonight. Caress my face. Then run your hands through my hair. And then we play to ten. There is only so much I can do for you like this.”
“We’re not playing lightning?” That was our usual basketball game of choice. It had been a few years since we’d played last, and I was itching to put him in his place.
“Not tonight.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
“You’ll see.”
His gaze had softened to something that looked out of place on Jake. Maybe not out of place with a different girl, but…out of place for me.
“TUCKER.”
I placed my hand back on his cheek, this time noticing the light scruff underneath my palm. It had a manly feel. His whole face had filled out since high school. Light laughter lines crinkled near his eyes, and his brown hair had been kissed by the sun, lightening the top strands just enough to give him his signature boyish look I loved.
Liked.
Enjoyedabout Jake.
Slowly, I dragged my hand down his cheek, curling my fingertips slightly as I did so, until I hit the bottom of his chin. It felt like I had been given a moment to imagine what this might have felt like in a different life. A life where Jake and I existed with no boundaries between us.
I blinked and realized that neither of us had laughed for about ten whole seconds.
“Are you officially swooned right now?” I asked, attempting to bring us back.
“Just hoping the claw marks add to my manliness.”
I dropped my hand immediately, looking for marks. “Did I hurt you?”
He put my hand back, smiling. “No. You did fine.”
“Fine. Wow. Thanks.”
“You can’t expect to nail it on your first try.”
I tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ears. “So is caressing cheeks a new flirting technique I don’t know about?”
“It usually works best when you're kissing.”
My eyes flew up to his in a panic.
He chuckled before he motioned impatiently at his head. “Hair. Come on. Time’s wasting. I’m a single dad, and my kid wakes up before the sun.”