No Matter What (The Billionaires of Sawgrass #4) - Delaney Cameron Page 0,68
could decide he wants to be a boat captain.”
She tried not to smile and failed. “Trust you to remind me of that.”
* * * * *
Reece wasn’t all that excited about the scavenger hunt until he realized it was an adult event with couples as teams. Kait’s parents were taking their three grandchildren along with Owen to the labyrinth. This meant it would be just him and Robin for at least an hour. Things were definitely looking up.
The lists were distributed along with a brown paper bag to hold the items they found. Robin looked over the list, and then handed it to Reece.
“They made it easy on us,” she said. “I’ve been on hunts where you’re given clues, and you have to figure out what it is you’re supposed to find.”
“The only scavenger hunt I ever did was in high school. We had to go to different places around town and take pictures of ourselves doing stupid things. I got stuck with getting a girl’s phone number using a British accent.”
“That should have been a slam dunk for you.”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? It actually took me three times. What’s our strategy? Easiest things on the list first?”
“Yep.”
As soon as the whistle blew, he and Robin set off down one of the trails. It didn’t take long to collect ten blades of grass, a yellow flower, five different leaves, a rock with spots, a pinecone smaller than a thumb and a stick longer than a hand.
“What’s next?” she asked him.
“Something that starts with an ‘M’.”
“I’m drawing a blank.”
“The only thing I can think of is mud.” He stopped walking. “Let’s head back to the lake.”
She looked skeptical. “We’re seriously going to get mud?”
“Unless you can think of something else that starts with an ‘M’.”
She thought for a minute. “Okay. Mud it is.”
They turned around and started walking in the opposite direction.
“Before today, I’d only seen this park from the air,” Reece said. “It’s nice to see it at ground level.”
“The world must look very different when viewed from the clouds.”
He shot her a quick, sideways glance. “You’ve never flown before?”
“I never had a reason to. There’s our recycle item.” She pointed to a soda can lying under a palmetto bush.
Nearby a girl squealed, but it wasn’t the kind that indicated fright. Male laughter followed, and then a telling silence.
Reece bent down to get the can. “Something tells me they’re not worried about winning the scavenger hunt.”
She held out the bag so he could drop in the can. “That’s what happens when you use couples as teams. It’s easy to get distracted. We don’t have to worry about that.”
He chuckled. “Speak for yourself. I find you plenty distracting.”
Pretty pink color flooded her cheeks. “You do?”
The hopeful disbelief in her voice had the breath hitching in Reece’s chest. His body instinctively shifted in her direction. He’d dreamed about this for months, imagining how it would feel to have her look at him like this. As if she wanted him to kiss her.
His hands moved upward to span her waist as his head lowered the few inches necessary to reach her mouth. Her lips were warm from the sun and tasted of the strawberry shortcake they’d eaten for dessert. A few seconds of exposure was sufficient to heat his blood hot enough to melt flesh and bone. At the slightest pressure of his fingers, she moved closer to him, her hands sliding up his chest to rest on his shoulders. That was the final nail in the coffin as far as his tenuous grasp on reality was concerned.
He’d known kissing Robin would be intoxicating as well as world-altering. He’d expected to find the experience physically stimulating and emotionally satisfying. What he hadn’t been prepared for was the feeling that he was losing part of himself in the process. A part he couldn’t get back. Since this was something he’d never encountered before, he had to think being in love is what made the difference.
* * * * *
The squawking of birds in the tree overhead ended what had been the most intense, toe-curling, mind-reeling kiss Robin had ever been part of. Flustered beyond description, she hastily removed her arms from around Reece’s neck (she didn’t even remember putting them there) and stepped back. This was the perfect moment for the invisibility superpower she’d always thought would come in handy. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t the only one out of breath. And it didn’t speed her return to normalcy to know that