Leo and Allie seem kind of pleasant … for New Yorkers.
Roxanne Denning on the other hand …
I have a feeling she’s going to be a sharp pain in my ass.
“You really shouldn’t be out here with those shoes on,” I say.
She glances down. “This is how I dress when I travel. Since we haven’t been shown our accommodations yet, I didn’t have time to change.”
Goosegrunts.
He knows.
“And who is this?” Allie asks.
“Oh, this is Goose, mybestfriend,” I say, giving Topper a side-eye. “We were stopping here for a drink. Y’all can pet him, just don’t step behind him.”
Leo folds his expensive shades and tucks them in the front of his button-down. “Allie, you go ahead.”
“Oh, he’s beautiful,” Allie says, petting Goose’s side. “Rox, come and pet him.”
“I’m fine, thank you,” Roxanne starts. “Uh, Mr. Topper?—”
He smiles. “Just Topper, ma’am.”
Roxanne nods and pushes her large oval sunglasses up her nose. “When might I be able to see my room? It’s been a long day.”
“I’ll take you up shortly, ma’am,” Topper says. “We’ll get you settled and then we can have some chow.”
“Outstanding,” Roxanne says. “Thank you.”
“I feel like, oh my gah, like I already have this spiritual connection to him,” Allie says, scratching Goose between the eyes. “Rox, please pet him. It will be good for you.”
Roxanne sighs before taking a timid step forward, and with a shaky hand reaches out toward Goose. She almost makes contact when Goose twitches, rears his head up and gives the ground a stomp.
Roxanne jumps and before any of us can react, she wobbles on a shaky heel and falls back. A laugh would have escaped me if it wasn’t for a strong hand latching onto my arm, jerking me off my feet. In a blur, Roxanne and I land with a massive splash in the trough. She lets out a yelp, and suddenly I’m smack between her legs, face-first in her chest before she shoves me off.
“Oh no!” Allie cries. “Roxanne!”
She flails for a second while I try to break free, but the elongated trough really brings us together, so to speak. I whip my headback and get a grip on the side as I spit out a mouthful of water. As I scramble to right myself in the water, my hand latches onto her thigh.
Her toned thigh.
Even with all the commotion, that little action sends an electric pulse through my body. I tell myself it was an accident. My body isn’t convinced. This woman seems super uptight, and women from the city are not my type, but damn she’s beautiful.
Everyone scrambles to get Roxanne out of the trough, and I hop out so that I can help. I avert my eyes since that stupid dress of hers is clinging to her shapely body like a second skin.
“Can I please go now?” Roxanne asks through gritted teeth.
The image of this woman in the shower pops into my mind and it’s time to go. I tug my soggy white T-shirt over my head and wring it out. Then, I shove my jeans down and do the same with them. When I glance back up at everyone, they’re all gaping at me wide-eyed, especially Leo, while Topper releases an exasperated sigh.
“Oh my gah, I love it here,” Allie says.
Roxanne glances away, wrings out her hair and steps into the back of the cart. Her shoes are still in the water so I fish them out and calmly bring them to her, though she can’t bring herself to meet my gaze. “Ma’am,” I say, letting the shoes dangle on my index finger by their straps. The corner of her mouth quirks up, and I decide right then and there that I’m going to have fun ruffling Roxanne Denning’s feathers. “See you at dinner.”
She snatches her shoes without meeting my eyes as Topper backs the cart away, leaving me standing in my underwear, soaked and grinning like a fool.
Part of me is sorry that I stripped down to my skivvies in front of the city folk, but I would’ve done that whether they were in attendance or not.
