“No. I’m… I don’t have my swimming suit,” I sputtered, waving him away.
He crowed like a chicken, stopping only to grin at me when Sophie quickly joined suit.
“Come on, chicken!” he called.
There was something about this homey scene in the water that I couldn’t look away from. There was a yearning attached to the feeling for me, and it turned out it wasn’t something I could resist.
“Fine, but I’m only getting my feet wet,” I relented, leaning my camera bag against a tree.
As a kid, I would have dove in without hesitation, usually racing Jake the whole way into the water. This new-and-improved me, based on irrefutable evidence of attraction from key people in my life, was definitely someone who sat on the edge of the pond, her feet resting in the water while her hair stayed dry, straight, and perfectly glossy in a loose ponytail.
This new Shelby would not be getting her day-one hair wet.
Jake eyed me curiously as I sank gingerly on the bank of the pond. Then I watched delightfully as Sophie suddenly launched forward toward Jake, splashing and kicking her feet and drenching him from all sides until Jake dove under to escape his daughter.
Jake popped his head out of the water, and though I told myself to look away, I sat entranced as he shook his hair out,water droplets flying everywhere. This new manly way he had filled out was definitely not unappealing.
“Can I help you?”
A laugh bubbled out of me even while my face flushed at both having been caught and Jake’s knowing grin in my direction.
“From the looks of it, you definitely saw something you like,” he teased cheerfully.
“What? A bad farmer's tan?”
He held his arms out wide, giving me all the permission I needed to scan the rest of his body. “Nope. Must be the farmer.”
He was teasing me. This was why he’d invited me to stay. He probably had a lesson about flirting in the water ready to go. In a natural retaliation, I cupped my hand in the pond and sent a stream of water his way. It was a direct hit. He hadn’t even tried to move out of the way as the water pummeled him across the face.
I stilled. Watching Jake’s eyes go from surprise to disbelief to…something tinged with revenge…had me and my day-one hair jumping up and ready to bolt at a moment's notice. I had swum too many times with Jake in my life to know he wouldn’t let this go easily.
He stood slowly in the water, the broad, bare chest that got me into this mess now glistening in the glow of the sunset, highlighting the lines and curves that I shouldn’t be looking at. Jake had a grin tugging on his lips. We faced each other, both poised, waiting for an invitation.
“Get her, Dad!” Sophie called out.
“Jake!” I protested with my hand in front of me while he grinned and took a step forward. “You can’t throw me in! This is day-one hair!”
His brows furrowed, though he still took another casual step toward me. “Huh?”
“Stop! I can see you still moving!” My tough-sounding words were unfortunately muffled by my deranged laughter as I retreated backward. I tried pleading with his rational side. “Listen, I straighten my hair every three days. It takes an hour in the morning. An HOUR. I just did it today. So if you throw me in, then it will all be wasted.”
Jake looked over at Sophie, who was watching us with a cautious air of anticipation. “That doesn’t seem like our problem, does it, Soph?”
Instinctively, I knew that if Jake throwing me in the water would bring a smile to Sophie’s face, I’d allow it. Though, one more quick glance at the arms that repeatedly roped cattle, hauled hay bales, and threw his daughter in the air, had me wondering if I would have much choice if he caught me.
“Tuck, getting thrown in a pond by a guy you like is flirting 101,” Jake said, stepping out of the water.
“Yeah, but that’s not what this is,” I said, fighting for one last bit of reason. He ignored me, no doubt propelled forward by the sound of Sophie’s excited squeals.
I wasn’t sure how he got to the edge that fast. My eyes drifted downward, noting his bare feet, before calculating the distance up the dirt hill to the gravel pathway. There was a chance I could?—
Suddenly Jake bolted forward, causing me to panic and flail up the mountainside with mud-crusted feet and octopus arms.
We were both laughing by the time he caught me, but I wasn’t this tall and strong to fold like a deck of cards. He turned me around to face him and pulled, my heels digging in the soft ground toward the pond. My hands found a branch from a tree and clung as hard as I could before Jake tickled my armpit, causing me to laugh harder and drop my grip.
He picked me up, swung me into his arms, holding me cradled in front of him. His sudden warmth and his fingers onmy legs had me blurting what I hoped would at least buy me some time.
“Easton asked me out, and I accidentally said yes.”