“You certainly are thirsty,” Sharon observed. “Did you put too many jalapenos on there?”
“That must be it.”
“Why are you working on the river trips today?” Sharon asked.
“Let’s just say I wanted to increase our visibility in all the recreation areas.” Cord looked at Jess as he made the double-entendre.
“Don’t we have enough boats?” Bucky’s voice came from behind his paper.
“You’ve got plenty of boats. But the water sports are barely mentioned on the website. I want to have an entire feature page to entice new guests.”
Cord quickly filled his glass with water and returned to the table. His eyes locked with Jessica’s, her nostrils flaring a warning, and he hesitated. But he caught the ghost of a smile and knew she was enjoying the game. He moved his chair closer to hers as he sat down, pushing his knee to the side, expecting to make contact with her smooth skin. Instead, he felt cloth. What was it?
With his eyes glued to her impassive face, he used his elbow to edge his spoon off the table. It clanged as it bounced on the tile.
“Oops! Dropped my spoon.” He bent down to retrieve it, looking under the table, where he spied Jessica’s thigh, neatly wrapped in her napkin. Chuckling, he came up with his spoon and set it on the table with a flourish. “Well done,” he murmured.
Her lips spread in a smug smile.
The game’s not over yet…
“Thanks for breakfast, Sharon. I really need to be going.” He downed the last of his taco.
“Wrap one up to go?” Sharon asked.
“Thanks. I’ll take you up on that.”
He stood and leaned across Jess as he reached for the bacon on her left, though it took a bit of contortion to do it, deliberately rubbing his bare back against her face.
“Excuse me,” he said, as he sat back down.
Her face glowed liked she’d been baked in the sun, but she was fighting back a smile. “You could’ve asked for the bacon, instead of reaching. Were you raised in a barn?”
“Yes, but I learned a lot from the goats.” He added potatoes, eggs, black beans, salsa, and sour cream before rolling up his to-go taco.
“Like how to annoy people?” she asked.
“No. I was born with that talent.”
Sharon dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “Are y’all already having a lover’s spat?”
“We can’t have a lover’s spat, Nanna. We aren’t even dating. Remember?”
“Too bad,” she said. “Because it’s so fun when you kiss and make up.”
“Nanna!”
“Thanks for the great advice, Sharon.” Cord winked at her as he stood up, ready to deliver his final blow. “By the way… I scheduled a photographer to come today. He’ll be here any time now to take new pictures for the website.”
“Down at the river, right?” Jessica’s face looked like all the blood had drained from it. “He’s taking pictures for the new water sports page?”
“No, he’ll be taking pictures of all the activities.” Cord strode to the door and snatched his life vest before turning to watch Jessica’s expression. “We are a dude ranch. I told him to take lots of pictures of the trail rides today.”
“That sounds very nice, Cord,” said Sharon.
Bucky mumbled something unintelligible, the newspaper still covering his face.
Jessica’s glare made Cord glad she didn’t have laser power, or he would have been shredded into unidentifiable pieces.