“Hey,” she protested, making herself grin. It wasn’t being raised in the city that was at fault, but rather that she hadn’t had much of a childhood.
He turned side-on then flung his arm back then forward, letting the stone go. It skipped along the water.
“Eight skips, not bad,” he commented.
“That was awesome. I want to try.”
She picked up a stone and tried to imitate what he’d done. The stone flung into the water and sank. Her lower lip dropped out. “Something was wrong with my stone.”
He let out a bark of laughter. “I think it might have had something to do with technique as well.”
She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Here, find a stone that’s nice and flat. Like this one. Now hold it like this.” He taught her how to hold it. “Turn side-on and pull your arm back and use your wrist to fling it.”
She let the stone go. It sank.
With a sigh, she turned away dejectedly. “Hey, where are you going?” He caught hold of her arm, stopping her.
“Back to the picnic blanket. I’m obviously no good at this.” Like most things.
“You just need to practice, teeny,” he soothed. “Let me help you. Here’s another stone.” Instead of directing her verbally this time, he stepped in close behind her. Taking hold of her arm, he pulled it back. She had to repress a shiver of arousal as he stood so close that she could feel his hard body, his warmth. She longed to lean back, to give him her weight as he grasped hold of her.
“You listening, Mari-girl? Or are you away with the fairies?”
“I’m listening. I’m listening.” She wasn’t daydreaming about him touching her. Nope. Not her.
He went through the movement of her arm a few times then stepped away. She immediately missed his touch. She let the stone go and it skipped across the water four times. She jumped up and down with a squeal. “Yes!”
“Good job! High five!”
She slammed her palm against his.
“Well done, little one. I knew you could do it.”
“Again,” she demanded. Five stones later and she could now get up to ten skips across the water. Mastered it. She started searching around for another one.
“Come on, now. Come eat.”
“One more,” she said absentmindedly.
“You can throw some more after lunch. You must be hungry.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl. She blushed. Whoops. Maybe she was a bit hungry.
“Think we better get some food into you.” He took her hand and she snatched up her sandals before he led her back to the blanket. She stared in amazement at the abundance of food he had laid out. Sitting, she laid her sandals next to her.
There was pasta salad, egg salad sandwiches, cut up carrot and cucumber with ranch dip. And some cupcakes with chocolate icing that looked absolutely delicious.
“Yum, this looks great!”
“Good. I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”
“Did you make this?” she asked.
“Ahh, I did.”
She gaped at him.