Brighter Than the Sun (KGI 11)

And maybe that was what scared her the most. Because she had zero experience with good guys, and Joe appeared to be the ultimate good guy. Exactly the kind of guy she wanted and exactly the kind of man she could never have.

CHAPTER 10

“THIS is fun!” Zoe exclaimed as she waded barefoot into the shallow brook that cut across land that used to be owned by the same paper company KGI had bought the land for the compound from.

Though it was privately owned now, Joe knew the owner and he had access anytime he wanted, as it was one of his favorite places to go when he just needed peace and quiet.

He felt a smile crawl over his face as he watched her roll her jeans up a little higher so they wouldn’t get wet and splash playfully, kicking water up so it skittered over the surface. Then she bent over and thrust her hand downward, retrieving one of the smooth stones from the creek bed.

“This is perfect for skipping,” she announced, her face flush with excitement. “I bet it could skip forever across the lake.”

“Well, why don’t we find out in a little while?”

She cocked her head in question.

“How about we skip the Old Homestead and instead, I’ll take you to my house. It’s right on the lake and you can skip your rock from my dock. The water’s calm today. Not a breath of wind and the surface looks like glass. Perfect skipping conditions.”

She nibbled her bottom lip in sudden concentration as she studied the gurgling water.

“I’d better find more, in that case. What if I mess up the first time? I need more than one rock so I can practice if I screw it up.”

“Haven’t you ever skipped rocks before?” he asked with an indulgent smile.

He was sorry he asked when her smile faded and sadness entered her beautiful eyes.

“No, but I always thought it looked so fun,” she murmured.

“Well, then, we need to stock up.”

She looked at him in surprise when he removed his shoes and rolled the bottoms of his jeans up to midcalf and waded into the water with her.

“You going to make me do all the work?” he teased. “We’ll need to hurry so we get back to the lake before it gets too dark to see your prowess at skipping stones.”

She flashed a smile again, and his stomach did that lurch it seemed to do every time her face lit up.

For the next half hour, they carefully selected several dozen perfectly smooth stones, with Joe ferrying them back to the truck. After his last trip, he grabbed the picnic basket his mom had packed and carried it to the bank of the stream.

“You ready to eat?” he called out to her.

She turned from where she’d waded farther down the brook, eagerness flashing on her face. “I’m starved! I got so caught up in the day’s activities that I forgot all about food.”

He clutched his chest and staggered back in mock horror. “That’s a crime in these parts. Particularly when my mother has provided the food. You’ll discover that food is akin to religion in our family.”

She laughed and he absorbed the carefree sound.

“I’m already beginning to see that. At first I thought your mom had made way too much food for the get-together yesterday, but that was before I saw how much everyone ate.”

“One thing no one does is turn down Ma’s cooking. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the ten commandments.”

She laughed again and it made him want to continue to do and say things to make her laugh. Not only did she sound beautiful, but every time she did, her face lit up and her eyes shone. She glowed, and it was an enchanting sight to behold.

He quickly unfolded the blanket and spread it over the softest spot of ground and then motioned for her to come sit while he unpacked the basket.

“Hope you like chicken salad sandwiches,” he said as he unwrapped them. “Ma’s chicken salad is legendary and second only to her fried chicken, which Donovan asks for pretty much anytime she’s cooking.”

“I’ve never had one,” she admitted.

He feigned horror once more and clutched at his heart. “You’re in for a real treat then. But Ma being Ma, she packed options as well, because God forbid anyone ever goes hungry on her watch. We also have roast beef sandwiches, beef she slow roasted overnight with gravy on the side for dipping, served on homemade hoagie rolls. My advice is go for half of each because you haven’t lived until you’ve tried them both. But save room for dessert, because she also packed pecan pie, triple fudge brownies and homemade peanut butter cookies. Hell, why am I even bothering to qualify the peanut butter cookies as homemade? Everything is homemade. Ma thinks anything store bought, ready to eat, is the gravest of sins.”

“Oh my God,” Zoe said, her eyes huge in her face. “I’ll never eat all of that, Joe! And I don’t want to offend her.” Though she looked at the offering spread out like she wanted very much to try to eat as much of it as possible.

He laughed, reaching for her hand because he just couldn’t help himself. If he held it a bit too long before retreating, well, he wasn’t complaining. His thumb drew lazy patterns over her knuckles and it struck him that he hadn’t been this content to take a day off and go where the road took him in longer than he could remember.

“The key is to sample everything. Then I take all the leftovers home with me. She’ll never know we didn’t devour it all, and then I eat like a king tomorrow as well.”

“Oh, I see now,” she said with mock sternness. “You get to hoard the leftovers. How is that fair?”