“Ouch!You seem pretty happy about that, but doesn’t that mean your project took a digger?”I asked as I wheeled us out of the parking lot.
“The thing is, everyone in the room has copies of the original scripts used to make the movies.The editors in the room are watching the films for editing choices, the cinematographers for cinematography choices, the directors for director’s choices, et cetera.”She turned in her seat to see if I was following.When I nodded, she continued.“Not only did the directors call Barry out for his nonsensical ideas, but the professor also came back to how he coulda, shoulda, woulda directed our project better based on how the other directors in our cohort had directed theirs—how we’d been taught to direct a film last semester.”
I glanced over to catch the diabolical smirk on her face.“You truly enjoyed his takedown, didn’t you?”
“You have no idea.”She laughed.“The rest of the team received kudos for our work, especially in the face of Barry’s poor direction.They really liked the way I’d edited the scene where the monster materializes from its hiding spot on a tree to flow over and cover up the unsuspecting heroine—something Barry had wanted me to change at the last minute, but I’d refused.Esme did such a great job with the special effects that the scene needed to stay right where Tamir wrote it.”With a fist pump, she growled, “Vindication, thy name is Saylor Davis.”
I didn’t think I’d ever heard anything sexier than Saylor’s excitement about owning her decision.
“Any chance you’re going to show me this project?After everything you’ve shared about it, I kinda want to see it.”
“It won’t be as impressive on my computer,” she hedged.
“Bet I could talk someone into letting us watch it in the film room at the facility.”I waggled my brows at her.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”I smiled.“But not tonight.Tonight is about getting know each other better.”As I maneuvered us into the flow of traffic and headed out of town, I said, “You wanna pick the tunes?”
I was curious about what she liked to listen to, so when she chose the alternative rock station the college pumped out from its studio in the middle of campus, I smiled.
“I’m not sure I would have pegged you as a headbanger, but I like it.A lot.”
She bobbed along to the newest Balefire song.“I saw these guys at a small venue in Missoula last year.They were awesome.”
“Jealous.I wanted to go to that show, but I had practice.”
“Does that ever bother you?”
“What?”
“Giving up fun for football?”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.I’ve had plenty of fun both on the field and off it.”I let that sit for a second.“Tonight, for example, is going to be a real good time.”
Half an hour later, we pulled into the parking lot where everyone staged for river floats, and Saylor shot me a dubious look.“We aren’t floating the river at this time of night, are we?”
“It’s called a sunset float, and we’ll be out by dark.”I hopped out of my ride and came around to open her door for her.“The changing rooms are over there.”I nodded in the direction of a brick building nestled in the corner of the parking lot.
“I don’t know about this, Cash,” Saylor demurred.
“Don’t worry.We won’t be the only raft on the water.But you’ll have to hustle up so we’re not dead last.”
With one last frown in my direction, Saylor grabbed her messenger bag and headed to the changing rooms.While she was putting on her swimsuit, I gathered up the raft I’d stowed in the back of my Jeep, pumped it up with my portable air pump, and tossed in the pair of towels I’d vacuum-sealed in a watertight bag.Then I grabbed the small cooler I’d borrowed from Taco and filled with sandwiches, brownies, and beer and set it on the ground beside the raft.The “raft” was actually a glorified inner tube with seating for two and that mini cooler.
I tossed my T-shirt into the back seat of the Jeep and draped another towel over my shoulders.The vacuum-sealed towels were for the ride back to my Jeep on the shuttle I’d reserved.By the time I had everything ready, Saylor was walking across the parking lot wearing a hot-pink bikini top with some kind of scarf knotted around her hips.She’d pulled her hair up in a ponytail, her look so effortlessly sexy she stole all my coherent thought for a few seconds.
“Snap out of it, Cash.It’s just a bikini,” she said with a naughty smirk as she joined me beside my Jeep.
“Maybe on someone else, it’s just a bikini,” I muttered as I reached for her bag.“Let me stow that in the covered compartment.”
After hiding her valuables out of sight, I closed and locked the Jeep, dropping the keys into a zippered pocket on my board shorts.Snagging the raft with one hand and the cooler with the other, I led the way down to the launch point at the edge of the river.Even though it was spring, an upstream dam controlled the water levels, keeping the river consistently placid and never more than chest-deep.It was more like a lazy river at an amusement park than a normal Montana mountain stream.
Or that was what my teammates had told me when I asked them about the sunset float I’d seen on a flyer on campus.Since I was still new to the area, I hadn’t had a chance to vet the experience for myself.
Though it was late May, it was also seven in the evening when we waded into the water.Involuntarily, I sucked in a breath as the cold water swirled around my feet and ankles.
“Come on, big, tough, football star.Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little cold water,” Saylor said with a grin as she joined me.
