Page 61 of Summer Affair
“Now, I know what you’re thinking, but we only go up about ten feet.”
“Really?” she asked, relief washing over her.
“Well, that’s how it looks on television.” He gave her a playful wink. “I’ve been in one before. And you’re going to be just fine.” He squeezed her hand. “I promise.”
“You guys ready for some fun?” an instructor in a blue jumpsuit asked, walking toward them.
“Yes,” Jillian said, and she meant it. She might still be scared, but with Clay at her side a little bubble of confidence began to grow. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Eighteen
Resolutions from Jillian’s Journal
Have an orgasm.
With someone else in the room.
“Idon’t know if it’s the adrenaline or the company, but I can’t stop smiling,” Jillian said, and Clay knew which one was responsible for the dopey-ass grin he’d been sporting all day. Or the other thing he was sporting, compliments of that skirt.
“I’m glad you had fun.”
“Fun? We went three times.”
And every time they were midair, and she’d grab his hands, those big chocolate-brown eyes that melted his soul were filled with excitement, which caused this unfamiliar pressure to build right behind his rib cage. He was hoping they’d go another three, but those rounds he imagined her naked and on a flat surface, her blonde hair spread out on his pillow, her long legs wrapped around his.
He estimated she was around five seven, so he had miles of legs to look at. Tan, toned, and silky to the touch. And he liked to touch them. Like now, with his hand under the table, gently stroking her thigh, higher and higher until he got harder and harder.
Only, she’d delivered a game changer when she’d told him that this was her first official date. So, even though it would kill him, he’d do this right. Which meant a nice dinner while watching the sun sink down over the Columbia River, walking her to her front door for a kiss under the porch light, and then walking home with only his hard-on for company.
Sex would have to wait. At least until date three. And with their insane schedules, he hadn’t a clue as to when that would be. Next weekend he was expected in Seattle for a promo deal, and Jillian was slammed during the week. It was a miracle that they were able to make today happen. Darcy had been a lifesaver, offering to take Sammy for the night, and he knew Jillian had moved around her schedule.
But right then, all he could think about was those full lips and how he always felt when they were on his.
Her mouth twitched at the corners and her eyes, which had been bouncing between him and the full restaurant, heated. She knew which direction his thoughts had gone, and she took a play from his gamebook and winked.
“Touché,” he said, and she laughed. One of those shotgun laughs, a joyful burst that erupted from the belly and made him want to make her laugh all over again.
The waiter arrived with a bottle of wine. He’d asked Darcy what kind of wine Jillian liked and had called ahead to see if they’d hold one for him. The waiter held out the bottle for inspection and Jillian’s eyes lit.
“That’s my favorite.”
That she was this excited over someone taking the time to ask what kind of wine she liked made him all the more determined to play this by the first-date handbook. This might only last until he was called back to Seattle, but he was going to show her how she deserved to be treated. Even though the thought of her sitting across the table from some other prick made him crack his neck from side to side.
The waiter opened the bottle and handed the cork to Jillian. She sniffed it, then nodded. After the waiter left, saying he’d be back to take their order, she picked up her glass and held it out to him. “To an incredible first date. And a pretty incredible guy.”
He wasn’t sure about that, since he’d done exactly what he’d promised Gage he wouldn’t do. But right then, at that moment, she made him feel like the kind of guy she’d choose to be with. Even if just for a moment. And that was humbling as hell.
There was a brightness about her that he craved. She radiated warmth and compassion, a lightness that spoke to him. The longer he was around her, the more he realized just how empty his world had been lately. And when that brightness was aimed his way, it warmed the parts of Clay’s world that were otherwise rough and demanding.
She watched him over the rim of her glass, her expression soft and assessing to the point that he started squirming in his chair. Clay didn’t do nervous around women, but there was something about Jillian that kept him off balance.
Since the day she’d come over to skinny-dip, he knew they were building toward this moment. It might only be their first date, but it felt like he’d known her forever. Better than he’d ever known a woman. Being around her made him happier, and hornier, than he could ever remember being.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.” The wavering emotion in her voice had his warning bells sounding. “Sammy told me he asked you to be his partner in the Parent/Frog football game at the end of camp.”
“I was going to talk to you before I said yes,” he said, wondering where this was going. “Is that a problem?
God, he hated even asking. He’d spent over three weeks with the kid, six hours a day, and yet she hesitated.
