The raft hit another rapid and spun again, before sliding down, finally into calmer water.
Right here, a burst of irritation spiked in my chest. Disappointment that the rapids were behind us. All we had to do now was steer down the river for another kilometre or so before we were finished. I would have liked nothing more than to drag the raft back up and do it all over again. And again.
We would, but not until tomorrow. Right now, that seemed like an eternity away.
"That was fun." Leah stretched her long legs out in front of her, her hands resting to either side of her, on the edge of the raft. The sun caught her dark hair, bringing out hints of auburn and mahogany as it quickly dried.
"I knew you'd think so." The paddle trailed in the water beside us, keeping us on course in the centre of the river.
"Is that so?" She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Absolutely," I agreed.
I'd yet to take anyone out here and then have them say they didn't love every minute of it before booking to come back again. Everyone here, except for her, was a returning customer. A handful came for the summer activities and then returned in winter to get their adrenaline rush on the snow. Those were the customers who kept us in business.
"Has anyone told you you're cocky, Riley Crane?" she asked.
That drew a snort-laugh from Seth Winterstein, who sat on the opposite side of the raft. Another of our staff who'd been with us for a long time. A blow in from Ontario, he'd come to take tours with us and also never left.
Leah laughed. "I'm guessing that's a yes."
"Seth, you're fired," I told him jokingly.
Seth laughed and turned to make conversation with the woman who sat beside him.
"He never takes me seriously," I grunted.
"Poor baby." Leah leaned over to pat my knee.
I took one hand off the paddle to cover hers, her skin soft and smooth under my calloused fingers.
Fingers I would happily have slid inside her and made her come. Even in front of all these people. I'd never thought about having an audience before, but the idea made my cock twitch.
"Maybe you should come and work for me instead of him," I said without thinking.
Her smile faded and she pulled her hand back, flattening it out beside her.
"I just meant…" I started.
"I know what you meant," she said. "I wish I could."
She turned away to face ahead, toward the river as it became more and more glassy. From here, a section drained into the lake, while the rest disappeared down the mountain, into the ocean.
Every so often, I thought about Coral Clarke, and where she must have ended up. When we first started working out here on the rapids, I kept looking for her. As if somehow we'd find her after all this time, when no one else had.
Yeah, I know it was dumb, but what happened to her could have happened to any of us. It still could. I could fall off this raft right now and disappear. Except I wouldn't, because Connor would jump in after me. Plus, I was wearing a lifejacket like everyone else.
I pushed those morbid thoughts away and steered the raft over to the side of the river, where we let everyone off and pulled the craft up and out.
While everyone mingled and talked about how much fun they had, we dragged the rafts up onto the back of a truck, ready to be driven back to the top of the river.
"You need a hand?" Leah asked. She'd undone her lifejacket and left it hanging open over her blue tank top.
I wanted to make a joke about her hand on my cock, but I caught the look on her face. The set of her jaw and the stubborn determination in her dark eyes. Her body wouldn't stand the rigours of this job, but she wanted to prove she could at least do this. I could tell her no, but she'd help anyway.
Fuck, the woman was stubborn.
"Sure. Grab on to the rope. On the count of three, we tug it up." I grabbed on myself and nodded to her. "One. Two. Three." As one, me, her and Seth pulled the raft up on top of the others, before Seth started to tie all of them down.
