I think a full minute passed with both of us sitting there, not quite touching, just staring at the waterfall.
What did people say in situations like this?
“Well,” I finally said. “We can check that one off the bucket list.”
He slanted me an inscrutable look. “I didn’t realize kissing under a waterfall was on it.”
“I didn’t either.” I couldn’t look away from his eyes. “But it should be.”
“Yup.” He was the first to turn away, but he was nodding. And maybe smiling a little. “Although…”
I held my breath, and when he didn’t finish, I prompted him. “Although?”
He turned all the way to look at me this time. “I can’t say I haven’t thought about it.”
Oh.
Which only confirmed that those heated glances, the electricity I’d felt buzzing between us… It hadn’t been my imagination.
My gaze landed on my knees, which I was hugging to my chest.
But I was grinning.
Noah Grady has been thinking about kissing me!
“The thing is…”
Uh oh. He was looking away again.
“You just ended a what, five-year relationship?”
“Six.” I had been engaged! To another person! “So not a good idea,” I said before he could—because already, I felt his hesitation.
This was exactly what Ashley had warned me about.
Somehow, though, when he nodded, I still felt a twinge of disappointment.
But he was right. I had been engaged, for the love of garlic!
In ending it—and maybe even before that—I’d lost some part of myself. And then in the aftermath, in the days between The Incident and the start of this trip, I’d been a complete emotional wreck.
I was only just starting to find…me again.
“But that?” He pointed toward the water, near the spot where, a few minutes ago, we’d been. “That was…”
“Yeah.” How far would we have gone if we hadn’t been about to freeze to death? “Never done that before.”
“Everyone should do it at least once.”
He was just staring at me, like he was trying to figure me, or himself, or both of us out.
“Just once,” I agreed.
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to waste our time doing that again,” he said, deadpan. “You are pretty vulnerable right now. Don’t want you to go falling in love with me or anything.”
Falling in…? But Noah’s mouth was twitching.
I punched him in the shoulder, ignoring the temptation just to let my hand linger there.
