“Girl, you kill it on karaoke nights.”
She smiled at him. “I’ve heard your pipes as well. Not bad.” She nodded her head.
“We should do a duet next time they break out the machine,” he suggested.
She laughed. “What would we sing? ‘Islands in the Stream’?”
He laughed. “Naw, how about…” He narrowed his eyes as he thought. “‘Summer Nights’?”
“FromGrease? I love that one.” She started singing and he watched for a moment as her hips started moving as she danced around. “I played Rizzo in high school,” she said between moves.
He laughed and easily joined in until they had sung the entire song. He was a little breathless and was sweating profusely thanks to the outfit he’d worn out to dinner with the guys before returning to the camp. But he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun.
“Okay, girl, you got me all sweaty. Now it’s time I went home and showered and got some sleep.” He took her hand, and they started walking again towards the parking area.
When they stopped next to her car, she looked up at him.
“This isn’t going to be all weird, is it?” she asked, motioning between them.
“No,” he answered with a grin. “No.” This time, he leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. “Friends first, coworkers second, and whatever comes next… we’ll figure it out together.”
“Promise?” she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“Yeah,” he said and kissed her again until he felt more centered.
“See you in the morning,” she said, and he watched her climb in her car and leave.
“Dayammm,” someone said from behind him, making him jump. Carter walked out of the shadows towards him, and he groaned.
“Dude, what’ll it cost to keep your mouth shut?” he asked as he shook the man’s hand. Carter was easily Damion’s match physically. They both spent plenty of time in the gym together and could lift the same. Where Damion spent more time in the water, Carter spent time on the back of a horse or mucking out stalls.
Carter laughed. “It’s about time you made your move on Julie. You’ve been pushing the rest of us off from making our moves on her for years.”
That was true. How many times over the years had he overheard Carter, Dean, or one of the other full-time employees talking about asking Jules out? Each time he had heard them, he’d warned them away with some excuse. In the end, the rumors had started amongst the guys that he had a thing for her.
“How much?” he asked again.
Carter slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “Cover for me on Tuesday and I’ll let it slide.” He nodded.
“Tuesday?” he asked with a groan.
“Just the morning ride. I’ve got this… thing in the morning,” Carter said, glancing back down the pathway.
“Fine,” he groaned. It wasn’t the first time he’d taken over a morning ride for Carter. It wasn’t that Carter was irresponsible in his work, but a lot of times his duties at the sanctuary got in the way of the scheduled morning horseback rides that guest booked.
Usually Scarlett took over, but with both Elle and Hannah being pregnant, Scarlett and the other Wildflowers were filling in for the pair a lot more.
“Cool, then your secret is safe with me… for a while,” Carter joked. “The way the two of you were going at it, it won’t be long before I’m not the only one getting a show.” He wiggled his eyebrows, slapped him on the shoulder again, and then disappeared into the parking lot.
CHAPTERSIX
Jules changed outfits at least six times. Normally, she wouldn’t have cared so much about her attire. After last night, everything had changed.
She’d tried her standard one-piece swimsuit with a flowing cover-up covered in flowers. But that outfit covered too much. So she’d changed into her tiniest bikini and cut-off shorts and a white tank top.
When she looked in the mirror, she realized she looked a little too… desperate. She’d changed into several other swimsuit and cover-up combos before finally settling on a light purple bikini top with high-waisted pink and purple floral bottoms and her white and pink floral kimono-style cover-up.
Since she’d lightened her hair a few weeks earlier, the soft colors of the outfit made her skin practically glow. She threw her straw hat into her beach bag, pulled on her water sandals, and rushed out the door, hoping she wasn’t too late.