heaved my fat ass into the rubber ring. I was out of breath by the time I got settled in, and then yelped when the water hit my lower back through the hole.
“You lied! This water is freezing!”
“You get used to it really quick,” Noah promised.
“Tell that to my dick if it ever comes back out.”
Noah blinked at me before bursting into laughter. “I knew this was gonna be fun!” Once he settled down, he effortlessly lifted himself backward into his raft so that we were seated facing the same direction.
“Showoff,” I grumped, crossing my arms. Noah snorted a laugh and kicked off of the stairs, sending us into the current.
“Ahh,” Noah sighed as he burrowed down into his float, resting his head on the thick rubber. “This is nice. Are you comfy?”
“Not too bad.” I was resting most of my weight on my ass and shoulders on each side of my raft so there wasn’t much pressure on my back.
“Good.” He gripped my hand and rested our linked fingers on the rubber between us.
We both closed our eyes and enjoyed the quiet peacefulness of nature as we gently floated down the river. A warm summer breeze rustled the leaves of the trees surrounding us and birds chirped in the distance as the sun warmed my face. It was the most relaxed I could ever remember being, and I had Noah to thank for it. Even though we weren’t speaking at the moment, I enjoyed just being in his company. By his side was my happy place.
My sappy thoughts were interrupted by Noah’s gasp. My eyes flew open and I blinked until I was used to the bright sunlight. I whipped my head to the side to see what was wrong, but just found Noah inspecting his arm with a huge grin on his face.
“Look, honeybear! They just landed on me.” He nodded his head towards his forearm, where two dragonflies sat, connected together heads to tails. “They’re hooked together in a heart! Isn’t that sweet? A dragonfly heart on our date!”
“You know that means they’re fucking, right?”
“Aww!” He slowly raised his arm to his face. “Look at ‘em go! I can see his little thrusts.”
I tipped my head back as laughter ripped out of me. “I didn’t know insect porn was part of our date, Sunshine.”
“Hey, you said yourself that I was full of surprises.” I laughed again and the dragonflies flitted away. “Aw, bye guys. Have fun!” God, I love this sweet, silly man. “Hey, look up there!” Noah pointed to the path in front of us.
“What? Are a couple of birds going at it or something?”
Noah snorted. “No, there’s a rock ledge. Wanna jump off with me?”
“I’m not looking to break my back again, thanks.”
“The lady told me it was safe when I bought our tickets, remember?” Actually, all I remembered was being so swept off of my feet over Noah paying my admission again, I was imagining all of the dirty ways I wanted to thank him.
“I believe you, but I’m still not interested.” I looked at the tall cliffside and sighed. “Even if I could make it up there, I don’t think I could handle the sensation of falling.”
“Oh shit, I didn’t even think of that.” He squeezed my hand. “That’s okay; I’m having fun just floating with you.”
I gave him a long sideways glance. “No, you want to jump. Come on, I’ll watch you.”
I did a terrible job of paddling us to the edge of the river, but once I managed to get us to shallower water, Noah leapt from his tube and pushed me the rest of the way to the edge. He thankfully gripped my hand and hoisted me from my own float, because I was sandwiched in there good. He tossed our rafts onto the river bank so we wouldn’t lose them during our swim break.
“And you’re sure you don’t mind?” Noah trapped his bottom lip between his teeth and looked between me and the cliffside.
“I’m positive.” He still looked unconvinced, so I cupped his cheeks so his eyes remained trained on me. “I don’t want to hold you back.”
“Brooks, I’d never think that!” he insisted quickly.
I gave him a little smile and brushed my thumbs over his cheeks. “I appreciate you planning out these incredible dates and choosing places that we can relax together, but I also want you to have fun. Even if I’m not able to do all of the things you can, I enjoy just watching you.