want to come, that is.”
It warmed my heart that he wanted to share this experience with me.“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Thank you.” He picked my hand up to kiss my knuckles and my heart skipped a beat. “What’s your absolute favorite song? I want to make sure and sing it for you.”
Is it possible to die from happiness? It’d never been a concern before, so I wouldn’t know. I thought long and hard before giving him a nod. “The Gambler.”
“Kenny Rogers?” he asked as his smile spread. “That’s a great one. Okay, should I open or close with it? Your choice.”
Nope, apparently it’s not possible or I’d be dead already. “Save the best for last, Sunshine.”
“You got it.”
As we floated, we chit-chatted about his song lineup, wardrobe, and my duties as his personal bouncer in case anybody got too friendly. Well, I talked about that last one as Noah just laughed and shook his head. He could write it off as a joke if he wanted to, but I was serious; not that I could physically remove anyone if they did get too close to him, but I could give them one hell of an ass-chewing.
Before long, we reached the end of our river trail. A man in swim trunks and a yellow polo was waiting alongside a concrete ramp that rose from the water, flagging us to the side. Beyond him, I could see where the current picked up and created white water caps as it splashed over rocks. It definitely wouldn’t be comfortable to go over in a thin rubber tube.
Noah jumped from his float and pushed me the last several feet of the trail to the man in a polo. He held the tubes steady and Mr. Polo helped me out of my rubber doughnut. He wasn’t nearly as gentle as Noah had been when he helped me out earlier. Sunshine heaved our rafts up the ramp as polo man so helpfully pointed the way. When we were at the top of the incline, Noah unclamped the strap between our rafts and wound it around his wrist again.
“How was your trip?” another polo-clad man asked as he collected our tubes.
“Great, thank you,” Noah smiled.
“Glad to hear it. If you guys want to step over there to the covered patio, a bus will be around soon to get you and take you back to the ticket center.” We nodded at him and walked to the patio he’d pointed out.
“So, would you like to go again?” Noah asked once we were in the shade. “Or are you getting hungry? There’s a snack bar by the shower house; I’ll get you a hot dog or something if you want.”
His thoughtfulness made me smile. I’d smiled more the past two days than as long as I could remember. I wrapped my arm around Noah’s waist and he instinctively laid his head on my shoulder. “I’m okay for now unless you’re hungry. But I do think I’d like to go one more time.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do, honeybear.” He turned his head to receive a quick kiss and nuzzled his cheek against my shoulder once more.
After a short bus ride back to where we started, Noah grabbed us two new rafts, linked them together, and we were on our way again. The river was more crowded the second time around, as the afternoon sun grew hotter and more people sought relief in the cool water.
The swimming hole and jumping cliff were busier as well, and Noah had his own cheering section as he did complicated flips off of the rock. It was hard to be jealous of the groups of giggling girls applauding for him when I got celebratory kisses after every jump.
After our river journey and a crowded bus ride full of screaming kids, I decided I was done with people for the day. Noah was fine with not going for a third float, and said that he was getting hungry anyway, so we decided to shower off and get some food at the snack stand.
The hot water of the shower felt amazing, and scrubbing the river stink off of my skin felt even better, even if it was with the generic shower gel provided in the shower stall. It wasn’t my preferred woodsy smell, but it would do. I was rinsing the last suds from my body when I heard the curtain to my stall open and shut.
“Hey, what the fuck do you think you’re-” my words cut