Page 21 of Falling for Red
“I think you’re strong, smart, tenacious, caring …” He starts the truck and squeezes my thigh. “Sexy … you’re too gorgeous. I can’t get over it.”
I smirk, taking another sip of my drink, happy we’ve cleared the air. I feel lighter, like I can actually enjoy the walk now.
“Are you wearing sunscreen?” I ask, knowing the answer will be no.
“No?”
“Strike one.”
“What?”
“You’ll have to take sun safety very seriously if we keep dating.”
“I’m guessing you burn easily.”
“Very. I will forever be as pale as a ghost. Sorry to disappoint.”
“Why would that be disappointing?”
“You find girls that glow in the dark sexy?”
He deeply laughs, shaking his head. “I think we’ve established that I find you very sexy.” Sipping my drink, his hand rests on my thigh. “I’ll happily rub you down anytime though.”
I roll my eyes.
“Corny, I know but I like how big your smile is right now.”
I smirk, then stare out the window as we approach, seeing the public beach and Geneva Lake.
“How many miles are you thinking?” he asks, turning off the truck.
“How about let’s walk for thirty minutes and then reassess?”
“Works for me.”
We hop out of the truck, and he grabs for my hand. “We’re going to hold hands the whole time?” I ask, a bit shocked.
“You’re giving me mixed signals here like you want more attention but then when you get it you fight it.”
He’s right.“I like the attention.” I squeeze his hand, and we make our way onto the path. The sun’s up for the day and it’s already in the seventies. “You’re working tonight?”
“Yeah. I have to be on the fireboat by seven.”
“Cool.”
“If you don’t hate me after this walk, let’s get brunch somewhere?”
“That sounds great.” I smile up at him, looking forward to getting to know him more on this walk. Curious, I ask, “Why did you enlist?”
14
Why did I enlist in the Marines?“How much time do you have?” I joke, but behind the humor is a question that could be answered in a million different ways. Most of them don’t even make sense to me anymore.
“I have at least an hour,” she says in a light laugh.
I squeeze her hand as we continue walking along the lakeshore path, the breeze off Geneva Lake cool but comfortable. We’re heading toward Williams Bay, though I doubt we’ll make it that far. Not that I mind. I could walk for hours with her.
“I enlisted because I wanted to get out of this small town. The challenge seemed cool at first. I was pretty athletic in high school, and I liked the structure sports gave me.” I pause, considering how trivial that all seems now. I didn’t know what I was signing up for until I was deployed. They don’t put the real shit in the brochure, but I don’t want to get into all of that. “I didn’t have any idea what I’d study in college. I didn’t want to rack up a ton of debt.”
