Casual Affair

“I didn’t realize it was a tourism staple in this city,” he grumbled.

“Shows how much you know,” she said as he fought to regain his balance. Despite his lack of gracefulness, he looked magnificent in the glow of sunset. Or maybe her state of postorgasmic bliss made everything look that way. “What have you been doing since you got here, other than working?”

He paused to think. “Aside from work and trying out all the pubs in the city, that’s pretty much it.”

She tutted. “The situation is more serious than I thought. You haven’t spent even a weekend just seeing the sights?”

He settled his feet on the paddles, avoiding eye contact. “Haven’t had a lot of time. Plus, that’s not exactly something I’m dying to do alone.”

“Then you’re clearly in need of a good tour guide.”

His eyes snapped to hers. “If you’re referring to yourself, I believe you’ve already shown me a few things. And I must say, those sights have been…” His words trailed off as he glanced down at her body, lowering his voice. “Spectacular.”

She shook her head and smiled. “Smooth.”

He returned her smile. “I know.”

Once they were both comfortable in the boat, they began paddling, setting out into the Tidal Basin at a leisurely pace. She didn’t know why she had suggested it after their shower sex. But after they’d gotten dressed and that heated lust fog dissipated, a sense of emptiness had filled her at the thought of leaving him. She’d needed to make their time together last longer. Her solution for that was paddle boating.

She wasn’t really sure what any of that meant.

She didn’t want to think about it, either. Not when they were paddling toward the stunning sight of the Jefferson Memorial with nothing but a few inches separating their bodies.

“So, your football skills were…impressive,” he admitted in a quiet voice.

Her chest swelled with pride. “You say that like you’re surprised.”

He chuckled. “You’re nothing if not modest.”

“Well, I’ll admit that yours were also…above average,” she said.

He looked at her skeptically. “I can’t always tell when you’re being sarcastic.”

She laughed. “Normally, I would balk at giving you a sincere compliment. But in this case, it’s genuine. You’re pretty good.”

As per usual, she felt oddly at ease with their ribbing.

“Not overly sentimental, but I’ll take it,” he replied. “I ought to be good, since I played at university.”

Her interest in his life hadn’t yet been sated. She suddenly wanted to know everything about him. “A jock who’s into computers, huh? You’re a contradiction, Zane Price.”

“I don’t like to fit stereotypes.”

His blue eyes were brighter than ever in the sunlight, mesmerizing her.

“Clearly,” she replied. “I had a college scholarship, too. For track.”

It took her about a second and a half to realize what she’d said. Shit. The words had just slipped out. She didn’t talk about that time in her life with anyone besides Felicity, so she had no clue why she’d felt the need to bring it up with Zane. But she had, and now she was struggling with how to shove all the worms back into the can.

“I didn’t know that,” he said, sounding genuinely intrigued. “How’d you do?”

She chewed on her lip for a moment before taking a deep breath and biting the bullet. “I, uh, didn’t take the scholarship.”

There was an awkward breath of silence before he spoke again. “Why not?”

God, this was much harder to admit than she’d thought it would be. Probably because she actually cared what Zane thought about her, how he saw her. Though she would never admit that aloud.

Then she thought, to hell with it.

So she’d made a bad call when she was practically still a kid. Everyone made mistakes. And if Zane wanted to judge her, then they clearly weren’t meant for anything more than a few good hookups.

“I was dating someone at the time,” she said. She didn’t want to face Zane, but she felt his body tense at her words. “The scholarship was in Oregon, and he did a good job of convincing me that running at a school so far away wasn’t worth ruining our relationship over.”