Sophie nodded and followed him to the stall. “I really don’tknow what I’m doing,” she said, suddenly feeling nervous. She wasn’t the most athletic person.
“That’s okay. I do.” He flashed her a confident grin, which somehow managed to settle her nerves. “I’ll demonstrate what to do first, then I’ll show you the steps involved.”
She watched, the cracking sound of golf clubs hitting balls surrounding her. Joe lined up in front of the ball, and she listened as he explained everything he was doing.
“When you’re ready to hit the ball, you bring your club back while bending your elbows.” He drew his arms back and then connected with the golf ball, hitting it high and far until she couldn’t see it anymore.
“Wow,” she said, forgetting that she was supposed to be disinterested in the activity. She moved closer to him. “How far did it go?”
“Almost three hundred yards.” He looked pleased.
“Is that good?”
“Decent enough.” He turned to her. “Are you ready to try?”
She shook her head, her nerves popping up again. “I don’t think I’ll be good at this.”
Joe’s expression was encouraging. “You won’t know unless you try.” He motioned for her to stand in front of him as he stepped back from the tee. He gave her verbal instructions on how to grip the club, how to stand, how to place the club next to the ball, and then how to bring the club back before striking the ball. “Time to give it a shot,” he said, moving away from her.
Sophie tried to integrate all the steps, but her mind and body wouldn’t cooperate, and she ended up hitting the ball barely a few feet.
“Hey, that’s not bad,” he said.
She turned to him and smirked. “We both know it was bad.”
“All right, so it wasn’t good.” He approached. “But it wasn’t bad. You made contact with the ball, which is half the battle.” He put another ball on the tee and stepped back again.
Again she tried to remember everything he’d said, but when she missed the ball twice, he moved to stand behind her.
“You’re overthinking it,” he said.
“Of course I am,” she mumbled. When didn’t she overthink things?
“Try to relax.”
She stiffened. “I am relaxed.” She felt him move closer to her, and the tickling in her stomach started up again.
“It might be better if I show you,” he said, his voice close to her ear. He was only a few inches taller than she was, and his chin hovered over her shoulder. “Is it okay if I do this?”
When his arms circled around her and his hands covered hers as she held the golf club, she could barely manage to nod. He smelled wonderful, like fresh soap and a light, woodsy-scented cologne. Nothing like the overpowering scent Landon must have bathed in before he picked her up.
“You want to draw the club back like this.” He gently coaxed her arms into a swinging motion. After doing that a few times, he let go of her hands and stepped back. “Do you think you have it?”
She had something, that was for sure. She couldn’t breathe, and once again her mouth turned to cotton. She was tempted to ask him to give her one—or twenty—more personal demonstrations. Whatever happened to hitting a couple balls andhightailing it back home? She couldn’t deny the pleasant feeling coursing through her, or her surprise that she had such a strong reaction to Joe.
Before she could overanalyze all that, she swung and hit the golf ball. This time it went a decent distance, and she was thrilled. She spun around and looked at Joe, grinning. “How was that?”
“Well done.” He beamed. “You might be hitting them farther than me by the time we’re finished.”
Sophie’s gaze drifted to his impressive biceps again.Not when you have those guns.
This time he noticed she was looking at him, which made him grin wider.
Cheeks flaming, she grabbed another ball from the bucket, almost knocking it over, and quickly set it on the tee. Without hesitating, she swung at the ball... and missed.
“Want me to show you how to hit it again?” he asked.
She glanced at him, irritated at the teasing tone of his voice, not to mention his stance—arms crossed over his broad chest, emphasizing those biceps. Knowing he was doing that on purpose, she shook her head.
