Page 40 of Kayak Girl

I felt my heart pounding. “I’m waiting,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, “waiting for you to kiss me.”

He smiled, a slow, knowing smile. “Why didn’t you say so?” His hands, warm and reassuring, cradled my face with such tenderness, it was as if he was holding something precious, something fragile. The gentle pressure of his fingers sent rivulets of expectation coursing through me, igniting tiny sparks that seemed to dance beneath my skin. A contented sigh escaped my lips. I could stay here forever.

“Oh, Elle,” he whispered, his breath a warm caress against my skin before his lips finally met mine. He kissed me softly, delicately, as if savoring the taste of the moment. And then, with an urgency that caught my breath, his kiss deepened, grew more insistent. This kiss was a whirlwind of passion that seemed to sweep us away. We poured every ounce of our pent-up yearnings, every whisper of affection, into that kiss. It was a declaration, a promise, a surrender all at once.

As we pulled away, I caught the faintest hint of a smile playing on Gray’s lips. In that fleeting moment, everything seemed possible.

Gray stretched and then hopped off the sofa in one swift athletic movement. He spun and extended his hand toward me to help me up. “Elle, I’d better get you home,” he said regretfully.

I nodded and placed my hand in his. Gray bundled me into his car and took us back to the hostel. Like a gentleman, he walked me to my door.

“Before I forget,” Gray said, “Weston invited us to a barbeque at his place for lunch tomorrow. He recently bought this old house, and his sister convinced him to throw a housewarming of sorts. He invited several leaders. I think we should go. It will give Weston a chance to see how amazing you are.”

“No pressure,” I said with a laugh. “I wish he didn’t dislike me so much. But I’d like to go. I love being invited as a couple.”

“Don’t worry about Weston. He’ll come around. Have I told you how much I enjoyed tonight?” he said with sleepy eyes.

“Yes,” I said around a yawn.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t keep you up too late,” he said as he drew me close and brushed my forehead with a kiss. “Goodnight, beautiful.”

We arrived early at Weston’s house to help set up. He welcomed us and even gave me a tour of his place. The space was huge with all manner of quirky outdated fixtures, but it definitely had potential.

“I hate to ask you Elle,” Weston said. “But I don’t rate my cooking skills to highly, could you put the potato bake together and get it in the oven? I think there are enough ingredients.”

“That’s why we came early,” I said. “I’d be happy to.”

Weston smiled at me. “The kitchen is all yours,” he said, a casualness in his voice that felt new. “Oh, and Elle,” he continued, sheepishness creeping into his tone, “I know I’ve been, well, skeptical of you. But, honestly, it’s just because I’m really protective of my close friends.” He scratched the back of his neck, clearly out of his comfort zone.

I nodded, understanding.

“But,” Weston added, “Gray is really serious about you.” He paused, giving me a knowing look. “He told me you guys are making plans for the future. That’s cool.”

This was a side of Weston I hadn’t seen before. He seemed more accepting of me, and it helped me shake off some of my nerves regarding him.

Everyone else arrived about half an hour later. A few people I had never met also joined us, and Gray introduced me to them as his girlfriend. I loved belonging to him. We had a blast chatting and laughing about silly moments from the summer camp. Gray stuck by me most of the afternoon.

At some point, Rick found out Weston owned a car insurance company, and the questions started rolling in. “How many claims do you process a year, Weston?” Rick asked.

“It changes every year, but on average we process about four thousand claims a year. We’re a relatively minor operation, though,” Weston said in his usual quiet but confident tone.

“That’s still a lot, man. Do you ever need to fight with other insurance companies?” Rick asked.

“It happens all the time. We have an entire team who follows up with other insurance companies and individuals without insurance.”

“Cool. Do you ever have to track people down?” Rick asked, clearly excited about this topic.

“We just do a background search on them. Our company actually almost had to do one for Gray. He recently had someone hit his Jeep.”

I froze at the mention of Gray’s crash incident. I didn’t know Weston was involved in Gray’s insurance stuff. Oh, no. Gray must have felt the shift in my posture, because he squeezed my shoulder and rubbed my arm as if he thought I was cold.

“Bummer about your car, Gray,” Rick said.

Gray raised his drink in thanks, and then, to my horror, Rick kept questioning Weston. “How would you track down someone from a hit and run?”

“It’s easier than you think,” Weston said. “We use this app that facilitates background checks. I just type in whatever information we have and the app pulls up every piece of public information available on that person. It will search and find every time they have posted their contact details on a public platform. This includes social media platforms. Even if they have a private profile, people often share their information publicly without giving it a second thought. Like maybe they enter a competition by leaving their email address in the comments of a public post. We are successful ninety-nine percent of the time. Whether we actually get people to pay is another story, but tracking them down is the simple part.”

Damage control. I couldn’t just stand here. I needed to do some damage control. Stepping out of Gray’s embrace, I offered Rick and Weston a drink. They both declined, so I went with another tactic. “Um, Weston, should we go check on the potato bake?” I asked.

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