When We Met (Fool's Gold #13)(44)

“There’s my macho soldier.”

She patted his arm. After that brief kiss, he wanted her touching him in other places, but they had a long day ahead of them. Work first, play later.

He guided her to the two boats tied up by a low dock. “What do you know about kayaking?”

She looked at him. “Really? You don’t trust me?”

“I’m getting information for safety reasons.”

“That’s what they all say. All right—kayaks come in different sizes for different purposes. Some are better on open water and some are better on lakes. There are also larger kayaks for overnight trips, which makes no sense to me. It’s way too much like camping.”

Angel held in a grin. As he’d suspected, she’d done her homework. He respected that. She told him the basics of maneuvering, moving to and from shore and the best way to get in and out of a kayak.

“It’s all about center of gravity,” she told him. “What they mean is your butt. Get your butt safely in the boat, and the rest will follow. From what I saw on the videos I watched, getting in seems a whole lot easier than getting out. Want me to demonstrate different paddling techniques?”

“Maybe later,” he told her.

He picked up the small cooler he’d brought. There was a light lunch inside. Then they walked over to the dock.

“We’re going downriver a few miles,” he said. “I walked it yesterday and it’s pretty calm. Just remember, this is snowpack runoff. It’s cold.”

“So I shouldn’t fall in.” She studied the water for a second. “You know this only flows one way. How do we get back to our cars?”

“We’re being met at the other end. I make a call and a guy meets us. We load the kayaks and drive back here.”

“We could just drive both ways and admire the view outside the window.”

“We could, but we won’t.”

“I didn’t think so.”

He stored the lunch in his kayak, then handed her a life jacket. She slipped it on. He did the same with his, then put one foot on her boat to steady it.

“Ladies first,” he told her.

“Lucky me.”

She sidled up to the kayak, then paused. After shaking her head, she sat down on the dock, parallel to the boat, then grabbed the sides of the kayak and swung her butt over until she was nearly in the center. She dropped into place. The boat barely rocked. She pulled her legs in, shifted to get settled and grinned.

“See?”

“Beginner’s luck,” he said, and handed her the paddle. He untied the line. “Wait for me.”

She grinned. “You think I want to be floating down this river by myself? No way.” She put the paddle across her knees and hung on to the dock.

Angel got into his boat and untied the line. He pushed off and let the current carry him down until he was next to her. The current was a little rougher than he would have expected but still manageable.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded and pushed off, as well.

He stayed with her easily, watching her strokes. She was a little wobbly but not too bad. As she paddled, she got more confident and her boat moved more quickly.

The late morning was bright and clear. They could hear birds around them, and the trees had gotten their leaves. It was mid-May. The only snow left was high up on the mountains.

“This is better than hiking with that stupid backpack,” she said.

“Still too heavy?”

“I wear it for half an hour every night. It’s getting better. But I swear, once we land this account, I’m going to go find some shoe designers to represent. Or maybe a company that makes fudge. I’d be great at sampling fudge.”

He glanced ahead. “There’s a bend coming up. We’re going to paddle to the outside.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Because the river will move slower on the outside than the inside? Great. Next you’ll make me do fractions.”

She’d barely finished speaking when her boat was caught by an underwater current and spun halfway around. Taryn shrieked. Instinctively she stuck the paddle in the water to keep the boat pointing where she wanted to go. The back fishtailed before straightening.

Angel moved toward her. “You okay?”

She sucked in a breath. “I’m fine. I didn’t like that.”

He thought about the clouds that had piled up against the mountains the previous night. There hadn’t been any rain down in town, but he would bet moisture had fallen at higher elevations.

“There could have been some runoff,” he said. “The river might be faster today. Stay close.”

“Like I said, I don’t want to be doing this on my own.”

They moved to the outside of the bend and took the corner. As they did, Angel saw that what had been a smooth spot now bubbled with fast water over rocks. He swore under his breath.

“I heard that,” she said, looking in front of her rather than at him. “That looks complicated.”

They were already going faster. He pointed to the shore. “Paddle over there. We’ll walk the boats past this stretch of river.”

She nodded and began to paddle. Only she wasn’t making any progress. With every stroke she was being drawn toward the small rapids. Angel moved his kayak next to hers, then held out his hand.