"Daniel? Did you hear me?" Riley stared at him from across the narrow room. "We don't have very good service out here, but will you try to call or at least text Jake or your dad?"
"Yeah, sorry."
"And for Pete's sake take your wet shirt off. You're going to get chilled."
He peeled off his long-sleeved shirt, then stopped himself from pulling off the muscle shirt he wore underneath. Riley had seen him shirtless many times, but with the direction his mind kept traveling lately in regard to her, it was best he keep a shirt on for the evening.
He sent Jake and his dad a quick text, hoping one bar of service was enough to get the job done, then he went to the small kitchenette—if you could call it that—and searched the handful of second-hand cabinets for the teakettle. By the time he located it and filled it with water, Riley had a fire blazing, making the cabin look downright romantic.
She stood near the fireplace undoing her braid and running her fingers through her wet hair. The thick, disheveled waves only added to her attractiveness, and another surge of desire filled him. She was a tomboy through and through, but she had feminine assets that were anything but boyish.
"Are you going to put the kettle on the hearth?" She laughed, sending a little jolt through Daniel's system. "Or are you just going to stand there, staring at me?"
He loved hearing her laugh, even if it was at his expense. He dropped the kettle on the brick hearth, spilling a little. Heat rushed up his neck as he returned to the cabinets for mugs.
"Do you want apple cider or hot chocolate?" His voice was half an octave higher than usual, and additional heat filled his face.
"Chocolate of course." She clicked her tongue in disappointment. "You should know that by now."
"I do know that. I just wanted you to know you have options." He bit his tongue before saying something incredibly stupid and cheesy likeI'm an option. Pick me.
Riley walked over to the window. "So much for our plans to go to the movies tonight." She crossed the few feet to the kitchenette and opened a cabinet. "It's a good thing we've got some games to play." She pulled out Scrabble, Yahtzee, and Uno. "I'd hate to think how we'd entertain ourselves all evening with nothing to do."
Daniel could think of a few things they could do to entertain themselves. Things like snuggling in front of the fire and talking about a future together.
Within the hour, they had heated canned beef stew and eaten it with crackers and canned peaches. They now nursed their second mug of hot chocolate as they settled around the small table to play scrabble.
Riley was good at word games, so Daniel anticipated losing. It didn't help that he seemed to have a one-track mind tonight; a track that revolved around dating, kissing, and hugging because those were the kinds of words that kept popping up in his tiles until he finally used the I-N-G to spell STING.
When Riley added G-I-R-L to the word FRIEND that he'd previouslylaid down, Daniel's blood warmed and pumped a little faster through his veins. He kept telling himself to ask her to be his girlfriend, but he couldn't seem to spit the words out.
When she spelled HEART, his own beat a little harder against his ribcage. He must have been imagining things because he swore she looked at him through her lashes after laying down the tiles. Bedroom eyes. He'd heard that term and seen actresses do that with their eyes in the movies, but he'd never seen that look on Riley's face before.
He loved it, but he feared he was reading too much into a single look.
When she laid down K-I-S-S a few minutes later, he sucked in a sharp breath. Was she on the same wavelength he was on?
"Do you remember giving me my first kiss?" Her big blue eyes looked at him full of innocence with a glint of something mischievous in them.
Yep, they were bedroom eyes alright, and it did all kinds of crazy things to his insides.
He cleared his throat before trusting himself to speak. "Like it was yesterday."
It was true. He could still hear the fire crackling in the fireplace of the big ranch house, like tonight, and smell her subtle floral perfume, the feel of his hands encircling her waist, and the softness of her lips yielding to his.
Her mouth curved upward. "I can't believe you drove half the night to take me to my senior prom."
"Like I could stay away. You called me in tears, crying over how Jaxon had broken his leg and wouldn't be able to take you." He gestured toward her. "I knew how excited you were about wearing that dress." A ripple of warmth coursed through him as he recalled how mature and feminine the tomboy he'd grown up with had looked in that elegant satin dress that fit her like a glove. The burgundy color had complimented her complexion in the best way possible. "No way could I let you miss your senior prom."
"It was the most amazing day." She pretended to scowl. "Even the part where you woke me up before dawn to watch the sunrise."
"I was just glad it turned out to be a beautiful one."
"The prettiest." She grinned, then her smile faded, and she looked down and ran a fingernail along the edge of the Scrabble board. "Did you think I was a total idiot when I kissed you that night?"
"An idiot? No." He gave a tight laugh. "Sure, I was shocked, especially with the way you grabbed my shirt and swooped in and attacked me."
Her mouth dropped open. "I did not attack you."
