my tone would make me sound more like a grizzly bear than a twenty-one-year-old guy.
Initially, I couldn’t gauge her reaction, because rather than answer me, she opened and closed her mouth a few times, blinking as if trying to clear her vision. Then, with a sudden shake of her head, she whispered, “Oh.”
That one sound was enough to hook me.
A scarf of deep embarrassment wrapped around her neck and covered her face. She slid her bare foot along the wooden slats beneath her as she prepared to stand. “I’m so sorry.”
I quickly set the cooler down—no longer caring about the cold beers I’d craved not ten minutes earlier—and crouched in front of her. It was the only thing I could think of to keep her from getting up and leaving. “What are you sorry for?”
Without breaking my stare, she pointed toward the boathouse. “The sign says no trespassing.”
I couldn’t stop the smile from taking over. It seemed it had been the sign after all.
She placed her palms flat on the wooden decking and pushed up in an even bigger—and more obvious—attempt to stand. The thought of her leaving sent a wave of panic through me, and without a single thought, I held her knee. She stilled, her body stiffening beneath my touch. And suddenly, I began to panic for a whole new reason. I didn’t want her to go, but I also didn’t want to frighten her.
In the softest voice I could muster, I said, “You don’t have to leave.”
Fear morphed into confusion when her wide eyes narrowed and the lines in her forehead deepened. Yet she remained mute—eyes lingering on my face, waiting for me to say something else.
“I mean, you’re here, so stay and watch the fireworks. That’s why you came, right?”
“Yeah,” she answered in a soft, timid voice that ran through me like a slow breeze on a cold day. Then she slowly readjusted her position until she once again sat with her back pressed against the railing, one leg dangling off the side.
Feeling like I could finally relax and breathe again, I settled against the post opposite her so I could see her as we talked. Granted, that was a bit presumptuous of me, but I wasn’t opposed to going after something I wanted. And I wanted a conversation—I didn’t want to be alone.
“Are you staying at the resort or just passing through?”
The beginnings of a confident smirk toyed with one corner of her mouth. “I’m staying here—got in this morning.”
I really wanted to find out which cabin she was in, but even I knew that would be a creepy thing to ask. So I did the next best thing. “What’s your name?” With that piece of information, I could look it up without scaring her off.
“McKenna.” A last name would’ve been helpful, but I wasn’t about to complain.
“Are you here with anyone, or are you staying by yourself?”
Her light eyes narrowed the slightest bit. It must’ve been an involuntary move, because it only lasted a split second. As fast as it came on, the fleeting concern dissolved, and an almost unnoticeable excitement colored her fair cheeks. “By myself.”
Suddenly, I understood her reaction. The last thing I wanted was to make her think I was a stalker, although I felt safe in the assumption that she didn’t. But that didn’t stop me from explaining myself anyway. “Oh, I was just curious why you were down here alone. I thought maybe you were trying to get away from family or something.”
“My cabin faces the wrong way, and the restaurant was packed. The only available space they had left was to stand at the bar, which also faces the wrong way. I started walking, heading toward the lake, and I ended up here. I didn’t expect anyone to show up, so I thought it’d be fine.”
She must not have noticed the large deck around the back of the bar, where everyone would eventually gather once the celebration began. But I wasn’t about to tell her that and risk her leaving. So instead, I pointed to the cooler I’d set down next to her and asked, “Mind shoving that this way?”
She slid it toward me and then relaxed a little more against the railing. Her right leg—the one not dangling off the dock—was bent at the knee with her bare foot pulled close to the apex of her thighs. She had on a pair of cuffed khaki shorts that could very likely give a few things away with the