Intent(42)

“Kick, Ace! Put those legs to work!”

The water splashes up behind us from the turbine created by our legs. We power through the water, passing other couples who try to use their arms to propel them, and we cross the finish line first as a team. As a couple. Paddling over to the bank, we drag our floats onto the shore and meet the announcer.

“We have a winner, folks! What’s your name, young lady?” Harold, the announcer, is one of those two-hundred-year-old men who was checking Layne out before the race. Now that she’s dripping wet, I’m genuinely concerned he’ll have a stroke just from standing beside her.

“My name is Layne Elliott,” she says into the microphone.

“I’ve known this young man his whole life. Congratulations, Ace Sharp. You have a beautiful race partner here.”

“I completely agree, Harold,” I reply and keep my eyes locked on Layne’s.

Harold gives us each a cheap trophy with a generic label that simply says “Winner.” Layne seems especially thrilled with the token of achievement as she takes it from him.

“Here you go, young lady. Compliments of Oak Grove City Council—and me.” Harold winks.

The next couple exits the water and Harold takes the opportunity to pat Layne on the back, dismissing us so he can talk to the first runner-ups. Layne steps into my side and I put my arm around her, letting my hand rest on her lower back.

“Let’s go grab your bag,” I suggest with my mouth close to her ear. “So you can put that shirt back on.”

She throws her head back in laughter, knowing I’m only partially serious, and softly shakes her head. “Just to be clear, I’m putting my shirt back on because I don’t want to get burned out here in the full sun. Not because you’re ordering me to.”

“Fair enough. As long as it’s on, I don’t care why.”

“Excuse me. I don’t see a shirt covering you. I can see your man nipples.”

“Do you want to touch them?”

“Are you always going to be this difficult?”

“Damn straight.”

It feels good to have this lighthearted banter with her. It feels right to have her at my side, my arm around her, and showing everyone I’ve known my whole life that she’s mine. Some of the single ladies in town who have been after me for the last few years give us dirty looks as we walk by, but if Layne notices, she doesn’t react to it. She holds her head high and continues to chat while we make a path back to the huge live oak where we left her bag.

She puts our trophies in her bag before she picks up my shirt, holds it out to me, and watches as I pull it over my head. With a smile that says she’s won this battle, she grabs her shirt and pulls it over her head. Then she takes a pair of shorts from her bag and pulls them on. I had no idea she even had them in there. The triumph on her face when she meets my gaze says it all. She’d planned to be fully dressed the entire time, even before my insistence. Without a second thought, I thrust my arms around her waist and push her back up against the tree trunk.

“You constantly put me in my place,” I murmur against her lips. “And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

“I can be myself when I’m with you. You accept me for who I really am,” she whispers back. “I wouldn’t change you for the world.”

Our lips meet, tenderly at first, matching the moment we just shared. Her hands slide up my arms, shoulders, and neck until she’s holding my face. Her lips part slightly and I seize the opportunity to fully claim her mouth when my tongue slides inside. Softly stroking her tongue with mine, I feel her entire body relax and meld with mine. The urge to say those three words has never been stronger. I don’t know if she’s really ready to hear it yet, but every cell in my body screams at me to tell her.

Tell her now, because the next second may be too late.

Tell her now, so she’ll want to stay past the end of summer.

Tell her now, because she deserves to hear it, feel it, and know it.

We’ve had the perfect day together and I don’t want anything to ruin it. What if she runs after I tell her? What if it scares her off after what her ex did to her? Doubts run through my mind and steal my words. The words that were just on the tip of my tongue before I gave them to her with a kiss.

“Hey, Ace,” a male voice I recognize all too well calls out from behind me. “Since you’re not busy, you mind helping us get all these floats out of the water?”

Laughter fills the air all around us and we break off our kiss. I turn to Justin and glower at him. The opportune moment is gone. I let it pass by because I wimped out on telling her exactly how I feel about her. If everyone was watching us before Justin so rudely interrupted, I was blissfully unaware. Now that I know everyone is watching and waiting to see what happens next, the intimacy has vanished like a vapor in the wind.

Layne reaches down to grab her bag and smiles sheepishly at me. “Go ahead and help them. I’ll be waiting at the swings with Lily, River, and Zoe.”

Justin deserves an ass-kicking for this. His shit-eating smirk pisses me off, but I don’t let it show as I approach him. He’s already changed into his dry clothes, but he’s standing in shin-high water, grabbing one tube after the other and tossing them onto the bank. When he pivots to grab another one, his balance shifts forward toward the water. With a little extra shove from behind, I help him reach the float.