I rest my arm on the console, and Callum adjusts in his seat, focusing on my arm. Leaning close, he lifts my shirt sleeve. Soft fingers trail over the skin on my shoulder before he presses the decal to my skin. He holds the wet wipe over the paper, massaging it over my shoulder.
Minty breath wafts into my senses, and I peer at Callum, so near and warm and minty. My heart palpitates with hiscloseness, and for a second, I forget myself, even my plan for the night.
Pulling back on the transfer paper, Callum’s lips form a tight ‘O’ as he blows cool air over the section of skin with my new tattoo. And all at once, I am one lightheaded part-time hooker.
“Perfect,” he says, his blue eyes bouncing up to mine. “What’s next?”
“Ice cream?”
“I’m not hungry yet. How are we knocking out two places at once? Because I know you’ve got a plan.”
Oh, man, do I ever have a plan. I check my smittenness at the door and call up the scheme. Tesoro is perfect for this one. Half of the town resides in Nevada while the other half is in California. I looked up the coordinates earlier. Because I am the best Boy Scout ever.
I add my directions to Callum’s phone, and he starts up his borrowed car. “I’m not sure how this is going to work,” he says.
“Just drive.”
We make it to the edge of the lake. Callum stops at the end of my directions and peers at me. “Now what?”
“The state line—Nevada and California. Two places. We can straddle the state line!”
“Uh, Fran. The state line is in the middle of the lake.”
I peer out at the water—dark and quiet. Well, shoot. I think for a minute. Then, with my hand on the door handle, I open up my passenger side. Cal’s right behind me. I’ve kicked off my shoes, and we’re doing this!
Only one foot away from the water, a hand snags my own, and I am yanked back. My chest bumps Callum’s, andhe wraps one arm around my back. “You’re not going out there.”
I whip my head around, ready to protest, but he’s serious.
“No. Not a good idea. Not tonight. We’ll come back another day with life jackets and sunshine, and maybe a boat. Okay?”
I can’t decide if the chills running down my back are due to the cool breeze on my cheeks or Callum’s arm around me. I nod, giving in to him more easily than I should. He might be right, though.
“Okay, then,” I say, my mouth dry and my pulse racing. “Time for a random act of kindness.”
Twenty-Five
“Why didwe just buy a dozen tulips?” Fran asks, looking down at the armful of pink and yellow flowers I’ve placed into her arms. “Are we passing these out to people on the street?”
“Nope. Last night, Will Baxter and his wife Alice came to our team meal. I overheard her tell one of the guys she wanted to line the front entrance of their house with tulips because they’re happy.” I chuckle. I didn’t know flowers had emotions.
“So, we’re giving these to her?”
“Random act, Fran.” I wink, and like fall leaves changing right before my eyes, Fran’s cheeks turn red in front of me.Red. One little wink, and Fran is a cherry tomato. “We are going to climb over their locked fence, sneak into their yard, and plant these flowers for Alice. Without telling her who did it.”
The amber in her eyes sparkles. “Breaking, entering, and planting?” She tilts her head, watching me, her grin widening as if it were a flower in bloom. “I like it.”
The wall around the Baxter’s home is tall. Holding my hands together, I crouch in front of Fran. “Ready?”
“You go. Then I’ll go,” she says.
“That’s not going to work. Come on, I’ll hoist you up. You grab onto the wall’s edge and drag yourself to the top.”
“You have a lot of faith in my athletic ability.”
“You can do this,” I tell her. I’ll hoist her—it won’t take much ability to finish her way to the top. Still, she doesn’t look convinced. “It’s an eight-foot wall. You can try to jump, but that takes a whole lot more ability.”
“I want to try.” And she does. On the very last word of her sentence, Fran jumps and doesn’t even come close to the top of that wall. Breath leaves her in a gust as her feet hit the ground once more. “We could knock.”
