CHAPTER FIVE
JADE
When Baxter kisses my cheek, I nearly moan. I want his mouth so badly. After all his anti-love talk, he was unexpectedly sweet. I still can’t believe he’s going to spend his vacation with me.
We’re sitting shoulder to shoulder in the booth together and I expect him to go back around to his side. Instead, he pulls his plate over and nudges mine closer to me. “Let’s eat,” he says.
Even with the distraction of his large body so close and his hair-roughen calf sliding against mine, my appetite returns. I polish off my burger and fries in record time.
His husky chuckle vibrates his leg against mine and looking over at his plate, I see he’s only halfway done with his. “Hungry, huh?” he says around a bite of fry.
I grab one off his plate and grin. “Yup.”
“You’re welcome to more,” he offers, sliding his plate over to me.
Heat burns in my cheeks, and I busy myself pulling out my phone. “Were you serious about doing things together?” I ask, keeping my eyes fixed on the resort’s activity list.
“I am.”
Biting my lip, I turn my screen so he can see. “The resort has tons of things to do.”
Baxter plucks my phone out of my hands and squints at it before enlarging the screen. My teeth sink into my lip harder to control a wild giggle. He needs reading glasses! I’m dying to ask him how old he is, but I don’t want to upset what we have going on and have him change his mind.
“So they do. Well, go big or go home. What’s the first thing you want to do?”
“Archery,” I say with zero hesitation.
“Hmmm… Okay, says they have it at two, four, and six. Which session?”
“Two,” I blurt out before he’s even finished asking. “If that works for you,” I tack on quickly.
He raises his brows and glances down at the phone again. “That gives time for a brief detour back to our cabins. I need a shower.”
No, he doesn’t. I love this rumpled look of his and don’t even mind the tang of alcohol still clinging to his skin. I can’t imagine him looking more attractive than he currently does.
***
Thirty minutes later, when we meet in front of his cabin, I change my mind. Rumpled Baxter was hot. Baxter, fresh from the shower with his curls damp and shoved back from his forehead, is positively mouth-wateringly sexy. He even took the time to shave that scruff which also shaved years off him.
“How old are you?”
He grins and some laugh lines flare out from the corners of his eyes. “Thirty-eight. I’m afraid to ask how old you are.”
Ahhh… so it wasn’t only me concerned about the age difference. “Twenty-three.” I slide my sunglasses on, hoping it will hide the worry in my eyes. When he doesn’t say anything, I ask, “Too young?”
His bark of laughter has me flinches back. “No, it’s the other way around. I’m too old for you.”
I take a step closer and, after a brief internal debate, put my hand on his chest. The feel of the strong defined muscles under my palm causes my breathing to hiccup slightly. “You’re not too old for me,” I say, raising my chin to meet his stare, even if I am a coward to do it behind the safety of my sunglasses.
“I hope not.” He takes my hand and together we walk to the open field where archery lessons are taking place.
On the walk, the clean air and mostly the company invigorates me. Once more I see the Mountain Ridge Resort for the magical place it has always been in my head. It’s July and back home the temperature would be in the mid-eighties. Here it’s the high eighties, yet the breeze makes it very comfortable. Everywhere I look there are bright colorful flowers and quaint wooden cabins tucked back among the trees. It’s everything I dreamed it would be and more.
My gaze goes down to the strong male hand holding mine, and I know I owe this happiness to Baxter.
A bubbly blonde lady waves when we walk into the clearing. “Hi, I’m Georgia, the activities director,” she says with a cheerful smile.
I admire her energy and in no time she has us outfitted for archery.