The Doctor's Damsel in Distress

“Honey, they would have kicked me out of the Boy Scouts for bad behavior.”

Honey. How pathetic that her heart hiccupped at his use of the endearment?

“Seriously?” She quirked her brow at him. “They kick kids out of the Boy Scouts?”

“I’ve no idea.” He shrugged, hooked another fat, wiggly earthworm that she refused to touch, and let go of the line. Reaching out, he rinsed his hands off in the lake water, then dried them on his faded jeans. “I was never a Scout, but I did spend my summers fishing with my granddad. Do you want to cast the line or for me to toss her out for you?”

Let’s see, the last time she’d cast the line for herself, Levi had wrapped his arms around her and helped her go through the body mechanics step by step. Decisions. Decisions.

“I’d like to try casting the line again.”

“Want me to walk you through it?”

Um, yeah, she would. Would he think the heat emanating off her face was from the midmorning sun or would he see right through her?

“Please.”

Standing from where he’d knelt, he wrapped his arms around her, helped reel up the line until just the right amount dangled free. He positioned her hands just so, helped her press against a button and turned her on. Definitely, he turned her on.

“When you move forward to cast the line, let go. That releases the line,” he reminded, still standing right behind her but moving his hands to her waist.

No distraction there. No, siree.

Knowing she couldn’t just melt into a puddle at his feet without raising a few questions, she mentally walked through the steps he’d shown her earlier, then reared back, sprang the pole forward and moved her thumb off the release button at the same time.

The baited hook plopped down on the ground in front of them.

“That’s not where I meant for that to go.” Although it wouldn’t have been a bad plan since failure meant his arms back around hers, positioning the pole at the right angle.

“I figured that,” he teased, his solid body shifting behind hers. “Now, reel up the slack in your line and try again.”

She did. The worm landed about ten feet from the bank, the bobber bouncing around at the water surface. She turned to smile up at Levi and her breath caught.

He’d been breathing in the scent of her hair. His eyes had been closed.

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; And, holy smoke, he’d gone hard against her.

Maybe she would melt into a puddle at his feet whether she wanted to or not.

When his double-chocolate eyes opened, she wanted to overdose on the sweetness of the moment, on the way he was looking at her. She wanted his lips on hers, wanted to know if he tasted as wonderful as he looked. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and tangle her fingers into his dark locks, hold him to her forever.

Seconds passed. Longer.

“Levi?”

He blinked, put his hands on her upper arms, hesitated a mere second, then set her away to pick up his pole off the ground.

What the…? Disappointment washed through her, wave after frustrated wave. Were all the rumors about him wrong? Did all those women just make up tales about his sexual prowess because they’d grown frustrated by his lack of initiative? Maybe he hadn’t slept with any of them.

“Are you gay?”

He jerked his head toward her. “What? Hell, no!” He straightened to his full height, his shoulders more square than normal. “What kind of question is that?” He snorted, clearly upset at her question. “I like women, Madison.”

“Because I’d swear you wanted to kiss me, that you were going to kiss me. Obviously, you didn’t. Maybe you just want to be my friend. Is that it?”

“I do want to be your friend.”