“Gotta be quicker than that, cowboy,” I teased.
He chuckled while repeating my words in a mocking manner and opened the back door to his truck to grabsomething. When he shut the door, I noticed a wicker picnic basket, a thick quilt, and a lantern in his hands.
My heart fluttered with a mix of excitement and nerves as I pictured our date, a hazy image forming in my mind. He’d planned a picnic just for the two of us. I swooned internally at the thought he had put into this night. When Max put his mind to something, he sure went all out.
“Hop on,” he said, crouching down so that I could jump onto his back. He carefully set the wicker picnic basket down on the soft grass, motioning for me to climb up onto his muscular frame. I looked at him with slight fear in my eyes and he chuckled.
“You don’t think I can carry you?” He teased.
I huffed and put my hands on my hips while shaking my head in exasperation.
“It’s not that I don’t think you can carry me. It’s that you have other things in your hands and I’m afraid you might drop me.” I said with a slight air of trepidation.
He stood up and turned towards me, putting his hands on his hips, mocking my stance. He clearly was getting comfortable around me enough to know that he could joke around like this.
“Trouble, I throw around hay bales that weigh twice as much as you do. I’m pretty sure that I can carry you on my back for the fifty yards it’s going to take to get to where we’re going.”
I blushed at the insinuation that he could easily throw me around. A wave of acknowledgement at how it would feel to be manhandled by Max coursed all the way down my spine and settled between my thighs.
I shifted gently on my feet, and Max caught the movement. Even in the dim light, I could see his pupils dilate, darkand wide with an urgent need, his breath catching in his throat.
Clearing my throat and avoiding the incessant desire coursing through my veins, I conceded, “Fine, but if you drop me, it’s your funeral.”
I turned his shoulders away from me so I could gather the courage to hop on his back. I don’t remember the last time someone had given me a piggyback ride, probably grade school. It was juvenile, but the thought of Max carrying me to our date made me feel carefree.
As Max steadied himself in a crouched position, I grabbed hold of his shoulders and hoisted myself onto his back. My raging hormones registered every sensitive part of me pressed against the muscular planes of him, and I adjusted myself for a comfortable ride, minimizing bumps and grinds.
Slowly, and with the grace of a man wearing nothing heavier than a simple backpack, he leaned down and picked up the picnic items. He hefted the basket into the crook of one elbow and used the other to band around my thigh and keep me secured to him.
I laughed loudly at how silly this must look, and I was thankful there was no one around to see when I inevitably fell on this trek.
But, true to his word, Max carried me the fifty yards to our destination and set me gently on my feet. Looking around, I saw little of anything, but the air was cooler and I could hear the faint trickle of what sounded like a stream.
It had gotten remarkably darker as we’d ventured deeper into the woods, so Max lifted the lantern between us.
He reached out a hand in offering, and without hesitation, I placed my palm in his. His rough calluses rubbed against thesoftness of my fingers, but the warmth and prickle of electricity soothed the grit.
Holding the lantern in front of himself and guiding me forward, we reached a dense portion of the forest. Again, a wave of icy air washed over me, and an involuntary shiver ran down my spine.
Max pushed aside the leaves and branches, their surfaces cool and slick with dew, leading me into a clearing bathed in an almost unreal light.
Dense tree cover concealed a small stream, its banks lined with lush grass and interspersed tiny white wildflowers. My breath caught in my throat. I’d never seen a sight more beautiful. The air was humid but cool and it was quiet except for the soft trickle of water flowing through the small brook.
Without warning, Max cut the lantern, and I gasped, turning towards him in fear. His arms, warm and strong, encircled my waist as he leaned in, his breath ghosting across my ear.
“Shh…” He hissed, stroking his thumb across my hip bone. “Just wait.”
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, tiny flickers of light blinked around us. Tiny yellow stars, each a pinpoint shine, winked in random spots and moments, their appearance sporadic and unpredictable. I felt Max’s smile as his lips grazed the shell of my ear.
“Welcome to Firefly Cove,” he whispered reverently.
SIXTEEN
max
The lookof pure wonder on Stella’s face was worth all the planning, secrecy, and the dramatics.
Bringing her to one of my favorite places in town was actually an idea from Ray. She’d suggested doing something that let her get to know me on a deeper level. I already knew so much about Stella and her past, but I felt like she was just scratching the surface of mine.
