says, stepping back. “I’m here with someone.”
“Really?” I whisper, lowering my hand from cupping her cheek.
“Yeah, really. And I’m having a great time with you too, but that wouldn’t be fair to him.”
I step back, the moment over.
Her gaze shifts up and she points. “There it is! I was right.”
She jogs down the beach and up to rows of trees with orange globes shining under the moon.
Hell, I know she’s with someone, but it’s been so long since I enjoyed my time with someone like I am right now. I guess I’ll have to deal with being friend zoned. If anything, it keeps me out of that damn party. I follow her to the orange orchard, hoping we get lost for a little while longer.
Chapter Four
SAIGE
“Looks like you’re going to have to get in that water tough guy.” I turn around and face him, still pointing at the water.
He casually strolls to meet me at the edge of the orchard then reaches up and grabs an orange, pulling it from the tree before he bites into it to start the peel. The whole thing comes off as manly and sexual I realize that I’m turned-on by a man who isn’t my date.
It would’ve been so easy to kiss him back there on the beach. I’m clearly attracted to him and his laid-back attitude is intriguing. But I came here with Jaron though it might not go anywhere with him after tonight. Maybe if Aiden wants my number, I’ll give it to him.
That doesn’t make me super slutty, right? Then again, it’s not as though Jaron has been attentive tonight.
He nestles the rines by the tree stump and pulls apart the slices of orange. “Do you want some?” He holds out a piece and I take it from him.
It’s so juicy, it drips down my chin when I bite into it. “So good,” I say.
He makes an animalistic noise in his throat that makes my lady bits buzz like I just flipped on my favorite vibrator. I clench my thighs together to dull the ache. “It’s funny you know. I come down here and everyone stereotypes Wisconsin with cows, cheese, and Packer fans. While everyone from Wisconsin razzed me about being down here with oranges and sunshine.”
I put out my two hands like I’m weighing the options.
He chuckles. “Yeah, I know, but you have no idea what a fresh pack of cheese curds tastes like.”
“Like my bowels blocking?”
“Well Miss Idaho, how do you like your potatoes?”
“Hey now, we have mountains, and we are called the gem state because it’s the place to mine for gems.”
“I’ll have to remember that. So, mining for gems while having an unlimited amount of starchy carbohydrates or eating oranges from a tree while hearing the ocean waves crashing on the shore?”
“After a week, I felt like I was home,” I admit, although a month later when my boyfriend broke my heart, I could’ve upped and returned to my hometown. But I can be stubborn and a bullheaded and I would never prove my parents right by admitting to them that my ex was a no-good loser.
He nods. “Yeah.” His gaze goes toward the ocean. “I really like the water. I mean we have Lake Michigan, but it’s not the ocean.” He shrugs.
“Okay then, answer this. Let’s say you have kids someday, where do you want to raise them?”
“Kids?” His voice comes out all squeaky like I kicked him in the balls. “Things are moving so quickly. We haven’t even kissed, and you want to bear my children?”
I laugh and steal another slice of the orange, walking down the orchard row.
“I’ve never been orange picking. The trees are so high.”
He holds out his hand and I take another slice. “Apple picking is big up in Wisconsin.” His neck cranes when he looks up at the trees and I catch sight of his Adam Apple. “They are pretty tall.”
We walk two more rows, talking about hometowns until we come to the end, the mansion in the distance. Aiden pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Eleven,” he says and tucks it back in.
“Are you counting down the minutes?”
“I was. This isn’t my scene.”
“But walking in an orange orchard and along the beach with a woman you don’t know is?”
He huffs. “Truth is, probably. I’m not a big crowd person.” He stops walking, so I do too and turn to face him. “I’m about to be real forward with you.” He reaches for my hip but then clenches his