“Might as well put it in your room since that’s where I’ll end up anyway,” Ford said and then added, “If that’s all right with you.”
She opened the door into the room, and left it standing in the entrance as she explored the rest of the place. “Holy smoke! This is an apartment or condo, not a hotel room. Look, Ford, there’s a bedroom plus two bunk beds, and a living room and full kitchen.”
Ford had already opened the drapes and the sliding glass doors. “And a view of the ocean and swimming pool, our own private patio, and would you look at thosewaves?”
The excitement in his tone was so contagious that Joelle rushed over to stand beside him. “This is my favorite of all the bucket-list ideas. I’m going to change into my bathing suit, do a couple of laps in that pool, and then see if that gorgeous white sand is as nice as it looks. Want to join me?”
He crossed the room in a few long strides, grabbed the handle of his suitcase, and threw it up onto the bottom bunk bed. “You can have the bedroom. I’ll change in the bathroom.”
Joelle took her luggage into the bedroom, opened it up, and dug through it until she found her two-piece bathing suit. She didn’t think twice about shucking out of her clothing and putting it on—until she stood before the long mirror on the back of the closet door. She turned sideways and then all the way around and peered over her shoulder at her backside.
“What was I thinking?” she groaned. “Ford is going to see me in this and think I look fat.”
Stop it,the niggling voice in her head scolded.He’s slept right beside you when you were wearing a nightshirt and bikini underwear.
She flipped her blond hair up into a ponytail, took one last look at herself, and headed out into the living area. The bathroom door was open, and Ford was nowhere in sight, so she wandered on out onto the patio.
“Come on in. The water is so warm,” he yelled fromthe pool.
No one else was in the pool or even sitting in the lounge chairs surrounding it, so there wasn’t even strength in numbers to cause her to hesitate. She turned to the left, through a gate, and down a couple of steps and noticed the rest of their traveling party was already walking toward the water. “Looks like our bucket-list folks have beat us to the beach.”
“They waved at me as they went by and said they might get in the pool later this evening after supper,” Ford said without taking his eyes off her.
Joelle was shocked when she stepped into the warm pool and sat down on the middle step. “This is heated!”
“Yep, and it feels wonderful after driving all day,” he told her. “And by the way, you are stunning.”
“You look pretty dang good yourself,” she said with a smile.
Keeping her hands to herself wasn’t easy when the dark hair that covered his chest beckoned for her to reach out and touch it. Even though he’d slept beside her every night for the past two weeks and two days, he’d always worn pajama pants and a loose-fitting T-shirt, so she hadn’t realized just how muscled up he was, or how broad his shoulders were.
“Do you work out?” she asked.
“Haven’t in a while, and I suppose if I take Grandpa up on his offer, I won’t need to lift weights or run several miles a day. I’ll be tossing hay bales and chasing cows,”he answered. “You’re every bit as toned as I am. How often do you hit the gym?”
“Every day after school,” she admitted. “But like you say, I won’t need to do that anymore since I’ll be doing ranch work.”
“Have you told Sharlene?” he asked as he swam over and sat down on the step beside her.
“Not yet. I want to wait until we start home. Don’t ask me why. I can’t even answer that for myself, but it just seems to be the right time,” she answered. “Are you going to make up your mind before we go home?”
She wanted to blame the warmth of the pool on the slight heat in her cheeks, but that wouldn’t be honest. The electricity between them seemed to heat the water up another twenty degrees. He covered her hand with his and the heat rose even more. “I’m still teetering on the fence, but I feel myself falling over on Grandpa’s side. I’m too young to do nothing. I’ve tried and tried to think of something I want to spend the rest of my life doing, but…”
“Make up your mind and don’t ever look back or regret your decision, like Billy Joe said,” she reminded him.
He nodded and looked at her without blinking. She felt as if she were drowning in his dark-brown eyes, and yet at the same time, she could have sworn he was seeing into the depths of her soul. Her left hand trembled, but the right one that he had laid his hand on was steady as a rock. A fluttering in her chest made her breath catch, and her pulse raced. For a minute, she thought he wasgoing to kiss her, but then he blinked and turned away.
“What is this between us, Joelle?” he whispered.
“Attraction,” she answered honestly.
“Where do we go with it, and what do we do about it?” he asked.
“What do you want us to do with it?” she fired back.
“I want to ask you out on dates, to get to know you even better than I do now, and yet, if I decide not to stay in Whitewright…” He stopped midsentence.
“Why start something that has no future, right?” she asked.
