“I bought it for the view. I thought Big Daddy would like to sit in that rocking chair sippin’ on his sweet tea taking it all in.”
“Did he?” she asked, looking up into his face.
He nodded wistfully. “For a short time, anyway…”
***
There was no one on the lake. It was, after all, a Monday. All the weekenders had gone back to work in the suburbs leaving the expansive 2,775-acre reservoir all to themselves. Katie lazily floated in a hot pink inner tube, leaning her head back on the plastic, allowing the sun to penetrate her exposed skin. The water was cold, but refreshing in the late-September southern heat, her fingers conducting a silent symphony, running back and forth across the lake surface.
“You need another beer, baby?”
She looked up at the dock shading her eyes with her hand and smiled at Clay sitting on the edge with his feet in the water, a rod and reel in his hands. He wore colorful board shorts and dark Ray-Bans, his tanned, bare chest glistening with beads of sweat. His smile melted her heart.
“Sure. If you’ll bring it out and kiss me,” she teased.
His lips turned upward into an immediate smile, and his arm muscles bulged as he hoisted himself up. He leaned the fishing reel against the boathouse and took off his sunglasses before pulling two ice-cold cans of beer out of the small Styrofoam cooler sitting in the shade. Taking three giant steps, he leaped into the water right beside her sending a wave up and over the inner tube, dousing her. She shrieked, inhaling quickly as the tube flipped over. When she came to the surface sputtering, Clay was swimming next to her, laughing, water dripping from his face and hair.
“Oh my god, Clay! It’sfreezing!” She clung to his warmth, wrapping her bare legs around his waist.
Gripping the two cans of beer in one hand, he swung his other arm over the inner tube holding her steady. She wiped her hand across her soaking wet face and shivered, trying to come to grips with the cold water.
“Get back in the tube. Your lips are turning blue,” he chuckled.
She struggled to lift herself up and felt his hand splayed on her bottom helping to push her into the center of the circle. The hot sun felt good beating down on her goose-pimpled flesh as she started to thaw.
“Is it always this cold?” Her teeth were starting to chatter.
“Oh, yeah. Feels great on a hot summer day. Here.” He handed her the can of beer.
They both flicked the tabs and clinked cans before drinking. Clay rested his chin on the edge of the tube bobbing up and down in the water. She reached her free arm around his neck and played with the back of his shaggy, wet hair.
“This is the life, huh?” He grinned up at her.
“I’ll say.” Taking another pull of beer, she looked up into the sky, noticing the long contrails left in the wake of an airplane. Absent-mindedly, she wondered where they might be headed. Were the people on that plane as happy as she was? Were they going somewhere exotic? Maybe a honeymoon in Paris or Italy or a business trip to Chicago? She blushed, noticing Clay watching her intently.
“What were you thinking about just then?” he asked, lifting the wet can to his lips.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. When I see a plane in the sky, I automatically wonder where they’re headed. It’s something I’ve always done since I was a kid.”
“Hmmm.” Clay squinted up into the sky. “I like that. So where do you think that plane is going?”
Looking up again, she pursed her lips. “I’m gonna say… New York.”
He nodded. “That’s a possibility. It’s headed north.” Taking a big gulp of beer, he paused before running his finger up the string that tied her bikini behind her neck. He tugged on it until it loosened. “Where do you think this is headed?” he asked, his eyes following the string he had just untied as it slipped into the water, floating on the surface.
Katie shivered, feeling the fabric loosen around her breasts and pull away slowly by the up and down motion of the gentle waves. She was exposed, her nipples pebbling in the heated breeze while a familiar fluttering started between her legs. Her chest was rising and falling as she lay there, allowing Clay to stare at her nakedness.
“I want to be with you, Clay,” she said boldly.
He quickly looked from her chest to her eyes and nodded. “I want to be with you too. So bad.”
She offered him a slight smile before reaching around her back and tugging on the lower string of her bathing suit. When the tie released, she tossed the bikini top to the dock. Clay slowly shook his head and breathed in through his nose.
“You have no idea how gorgeous you are with the sun shining down on you like that. I sure hope the neighbors aren’t watching.”
Katie sucked in a surprised breath and crossed her arms in front of her exposed chest. The sudden movement caused her to teeter precariously before the inner tube flipped her over again. She felt a steady hand grab the inside of her arm and pull her up to the surface. Sputtering and laughing at the same time, she wiped her face pushing her hair out of the way.
“Neighbors? Are you serious, Clay?”
He was laughing right along with her and grabbed her beer can that was floating upside down in the lake water and tossed it to the dock. “Come here.”
The water felt like velvet sliding across her bare chest as she swam the short distance between them. They were nose to nose, bobbing up and down in the lake.
“Put your arms around my neck,” he insisted with a low, sexy voice. The droplets on his eyelashes sparkled in the hot sun.
She wrapped her arms around him, the heat from his chest penetrating her exposed skin and the movement of the water causing her nipples to rub up and down against his flesh. They looked at each other before he leaned in and gently kissed her, his mouth cool and hoppy from the beer. They were wrapped up in the moment—their bodies tangled together beneath the surface, their emotions circling overhead like a plane, ready to land. It was real and pure. Katie’s senses were on overload as she tried to come to grips with the blatant truth that shocked her like the cold water of the lake. She was falling in love with him.
