It’s just dangerous, is all.
It’s a distraction.
I’m not on this hike for my own benefit, as much as I love being out here. My job is to make sure everyone stays safe and has a good time learning more about themselves while immersing themselves in nature.
That said, we’ll be camping out at this location for another night:I won’t have to have hawklike focus every second of the day like I do when we’re hiking. I’m human. I need rest—andfun—too.
I can be a diligent leaderandI can spend time getting to know Sadie. As long as it doesn’t get physical between us, I’m not technically breaking any rules.
“Sure,” I say before I can take it back.
She chooses a yellow kayak and I pick out a blue one. We paddle across the serene water, the mountains looming larger with every stroke as we move farther from the shore and our campgrounds.
“This is fun!” Sadie calls out from behind me.
I glance over my shoulder and have to stifle a laugh at the incongruous sight before me: Sadie looks like a runway model who tripped off the catwalk and landed in a kayak, completely at odds with her surroundings. She’s still wearing the floppy hat and the earrings, but left her mesh skirt in a heap by the water. It all just drives home what a stretch this entire trip was for her—and something about that makes me want to jump out of my kayak and into hers, physics be damned.
“You’re really getting the hang of it!” I reply.
Her paddling was pretty uneven at first—I had to keep slowing down to make sure I didn’t leave her too far behind, but she’s picking it up quickly. I should have known she’d be a fast learner.
The water is tranquil and smooth, perfect for beginners. We follow the curve of the shoreline as we explore, even though we’re not terribly close to it. It’s easy navigating—until I see the rounded top of a large boulder peeking out just above the water up ahead. There are several dotting the lake, but I thought I’d steered us clear of them.
“We’re going to have to make a turn now, okay?” I call out over my shoulder. “You’ll need to shift your weight a little”—I demonstrate, leaning slightly to the left—“and then do a long stroke of the paddle on the right side.”
“Like this?” she replies.
My kayak pivots just in time to see Sadie’s valiant attempt at replicating the turn. She dips her paddle in like I’ve told her to—and she shifts her weight, too—but she shifts it to thesameside instead of the opposite one, and the movement is just too much all at once. Before I can warn her, Sadie flips, shrieking, and goes under.
I’m out of my kayak to help before she even resurfaces. The water is shoulder-deep out here—not too deep for me, but Sadie’s not as tall as I am. Her sun hat floats next to her upside-down kayak as her paddle drifts farther out.
She comes up gasping, laughing, her dark hair slick against her shoulders. Smudges of mascara rim her eyes, because of course she wore makeup for this.
“Did I do it right?” she says, clearly not taking herself too seriously. She bobs on her tiptoes, the water up to her chin.
I make my way closer and wrap my arm around her waist, lifting her up to give her a little more breathing room. The bare skin of her stomach feels slick and smooth under my fingers, and suddenly she has my entire attention.
“Never seen anyone do it better,” I reply. “You’re a fast learner.”
She clings as I support her, her light grasp on my shoulder doing things to me that make me wish we were truly alone out here.
“Here,” I say, taking slow, heavy steps through the water toward her kayak. “I’ll help you back in.”
We’re almost there when her grip on me suddenly constricts, so tight at first that it takes my breath away.
It takes a split second to register the fact that it’s not only her arms wrapped around me so tightly—it’s her entire body. She’s jumped up so that we’re pressed close, zero space between the tiny fabric of her bikini bottoms and my swim trunks, her legs wound around me and crossedbehind my back. Somehow her backside is now firmly in my hands, and her terrified face is a mere inch from mine.
“Whatwasthat?! Something brushed against my leg!”
I know better than to tell herallthe possibilities.
“Probably just a fish,” I say.
“There aren’t snakes in here, are there? It felt like a snake, Thorn!”
She buries her face in my neck, her breath hot on my skin.
“Don’t make me lie to you,” I reply, one of my hands going instinctively up to her back, the knot of her bikini tie thick under my palm. “Ask me something else.”
