“I’ve wanted to do that all afternoon,” Josh said quietly, kissing me on thehead.
“Is everyone looking?” I asked, too embarrassed to raise my head and lookmyself.
He chuckled and stepped back, forcing me to look at him. “Let them look. I want everyone to know you’re finally mine.” He smiled at me and reached for my hand, guiding me out of the bakery and into the street. “Come on,” he said. “I know just the place for a boatride.”
We walked back toward the hotel, stopping to drop the shopping bags off at the reception desk. Walking down to the lake, we saw there was a hut at the water’s edge where you could rent small boats. While Josh was organizing the rental, I looked around in awe. Hundreds of trees lined the edges of the river, and beyond the greenery, buildings of all shapes and sizes made up the Austin skyline. Looking out over the water, there were quite a few boats like the one we were getting, as well as people canoeing, kayaking, and paddle-boarding. The bridge to the right of us was filling up with people, and I wondered what they were all lookingat.
“Ready sweetheart?” Josh asked, his arm snaking around my waist. I nodded and walked with him to the edge where the boats were. He climbed into the wooden boat and held his hand out to me. “Be careful,” he warned as I began to climb in. Sitting down, I watched as he slipped his sweater off and passed it to me. “Put this on Sav, I don’t want you to getcold.”
“Thank you,” I told him gratefully. There was a slight chill in the air, more so on the water, and the sunlight was beginning to fade. I pulled it over my head, still able to feel the heat from his body, and I inhaled deeply, his scent enveloping me. Looking up at him, I saw him smiling at me, and I smiledback.
He took the oars and began rowing us out into the middle of the lake. I couldn’t help but stare at his arms and chest as he rowed, his muscles flexing and tightening under his t-shirt, and with each movement of the oar, my mouth watered as I watched him. I was exhausted after spending the afternoon walking around town, but watching him now, I couldn’t wait to get him back to the hotelroom.
Dragging my eyes off him, I looked around, seeing other boats heading in the same direction as us, and after a few minutes, everyone stopped. Josh clipped the oars to the boat and looked over at me. “What’s going on? Why is everyone stopping here?” I asked, glancing around to see people in the other boats waiting withcameras.
He smiled. “Wait and see,” he saidmysteriously.
“See what?” I asked, looking around. “Tell me Josh!” I exclaimed. I wasn’t the most patient person and generally hated surprises, I didn’t like being the last to know. Josh burst out laughing and I tried my best to give him a dirty look, but he looked so sexy sitting there in his tight t-shirt, his gorgeous laugh washing over me. I found myself laughing with him and I reached over the side of the boat, scooping some water in my hand and throwing it at him. He gasped, and I watched as the water soaked his white t-shirt. Licking my lips, I gazed at his abs through the now see-throughfabric.
“My eyes are up here Sav,” he joked, the amusement clear in hisvoice.
“I know where your eyes are Josh, I’m just enjoying the view a little farther south at the moment,” I told him with awink.
“If we weren’t in the middle of this damn lake…” He growled, his eyes raking overme.
“Well whatarewe doing in the middle of this lake?” I exclaimed, forcing my eyes off him to look around again. Turning toward the bridge behind us, I heard a rustling, followed by hundreds of bats flying out from under the bridge in what seemed to be a never-ending cloud. I gasped as my head swung from side to side in an attempt to try to see them all. I had never seen anything like it; there must have been thousands. “Wow Josh, this is incredible. I’ve heard about the bats in Austin, but never realized it would be this amazing!” I told him, still in awe of what I was seeing. Glancing over at him, I saw that he was staring at me rather than thebats.
“You don’t mind them flying all around you?” he asked, a little unsure. “I didn’t know if you’d hateit.”
“Ah, so that’s why you were asking about bats,” I said, his weird questioning from earlier suddenly making sense. “I grew up on a ranch, so I’m pretty used to bugs, insects, and even the odd bat,” I told him with a smile. “There must be thousands of them!” I exclaimed, gesturing to the bridge where the bats were still emergingfrom.
“Try over one and a half million,” he said, finally looking away from me and up at thebats.
“One and a half million! That’scrazy!”
He nodded. “They live in the supports under the bridge. The pregnant females migrate here to have theirbabies.”
I looked at him in surprise. “How do you know all that? You sound like you know a lot about it, have you beenbefore?”
“My dad used to bring me here when I was a kid. We’d always rent a boat like this one and sit and wait for them.” He looked sad and I frowned, reaching across and taking hishand.
“You never said anything to me or Brody,” I said, puzzled as to why he’d never mentionedit.
He shrugged his shoulders. “It was always something me and my dad did together. Every few weeks, he’d take a Saturday off work and we’d come here. My parents worked so hard when I was young, my dad especially, and I barely saw him. I spent most of my time as a kid at your place, and I thought he just liked being at work. The older I got, the more I began to realize he had to work the long hours to pay off all the medical bills from when I wasill.”
I squeezed his hand, feeling the tears welling in my eyes at the mention of his illness. “You have a great dad. He obviously loves you verymuch.”
He nodded and smiled at me. “I know it probably seems like a strange thing to do on a first date, but this place means a lot to me, and I wanted to share it with you. I always hoped I’d be able to bring my kids here one day, to show them what my dad showed me.” He looked sad again and my heart broke forhim.
“Well now you can,” I whispered, waiting for him to look at me. “You’re going to make a great daddy.” His face lit up with a smile and I smiled back athim.
“Thank you, Sav,” he whispered, bringing my hand up to his mouth and brushing his lips across myskin.
“What for?” I asked him, puzzled, goose bumps erupting up my arm as he kissed myhand.
“For giving me a chance. I know I’ve hurt you in thepast.”
“I can’t pretend I’m not scared of getting hurt again, but I love you. It’s only ever beenyou.”