Chapter 3

3

TESS

J ax no doubt thought I was an idiot.

Maybe that could work in my favor, though. If I was going to talk him into taking my virginity by the end of the night, it might be good that he thought I was a ditz.

But no, that wouldn't work. I already cared what he thought.

"Ready to learn to cast?" Jax asked.

He'd been sitting on the ground next to the cooler he'd brought to capture any fish he caught. I didn't even want to know what was in there. Next to the cooler was a bucket of worms.

"I'm not touching those worms," I said.

That was where a normal guy would laugh. Jax didn't laugh. I wondered what it would take to get him to crack a smile. It was my new mission to figure it out.

"I'll handle that." He started toward me. "Hand it over."

I pulled back on the fishing rod until the hook was out of the water. Luckily, I'd been completely unable to catch anything since he got it all set up for me. I didn't know what I would've done if a fish ended up on the end of the line.

I tried not to watch as he put the worm on the hook. It skeeved me out, but I didn't want him to think I was a wimp. Or a girly-girl who couldn't hack it in the mountains.

Even if I technically was a girly-girl who couldn't hack it in the mountains.

"Here, I'll show you," Jax said once the rod was ready.

Before I knew it, he'd stepped over to stand next to me on the bank. He was too far away. I felt like an invisible force was drawing me toward him. Didn't he feel that attraction too?

But then he tossed the line toward the water, and I realized it was a safety thing. He didn't want the hook—or the worm on it—to hit me. That was what I told myself, anyway.

"Ready to try?" Jax asked.

Oh. Right. I was supposed to be watching him and copying his form. Instead, I was over here imagining what it would be like to have those arms around me, pulling me toward him…

"Sure," I blurted after delaying just long enough that he looked over at me.

Jax made it look so easy. I was way too confident as I attempted to get the line into the water. It landed, but it barely cleared the bank, and I was lucky I didn't take out one of his eyes in the process. And that was with him standing on the opposite side of me a good ten feet away.

He turned toward me. "Here, I'll show you."

He'd said that before. But this time, he moved to stand just behind me. He paused before he made any physical contact.

"Is it okay if I put my hand here?" he asked.

"You can put your hand anywhere you want."

Those words slipped out like the word "hot" had. I'd had one glass of wine at the bar earlier, so I'd blame it on that, but any effect that had on me would be long gone.

No, it was this guy. He was bringing out a side of me I'd never seen before. A side of me I hadn't even known existed until now.

He didn't comment. Maybe he hadn't heard what I'd said. His silence shouldn't surprise me, though. If I could look back at him, I would probably see the same neutral expression he'd worn from the second I met him.

My universal consent was a good idea, though, because not only did he put his hand on my arm to guide me, but he stepped even closer. As his chest pressed gently against my back, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to savor the feel of his hard body against mine and the security of his embrace.

But soon enough, I had to get serious. He was trying to teach me something, after all.

"And then you just whip it," he said. "Smooth and steady."

With a light whoosh , the line cut through the air, landing not far from where his earlier cast ended up. I let out a squeal of excitement—another sound I should have suppressed.

This guy had a poker face while I wore my heart on my sleeve. We'd make a perfect couple.

I gasped as that thought slammed into me. And then he stepped back a little.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

I looked back over my shoulder at him, but he was still only in my periphery. "No, everything's fine. Sorry."

"Don't apologize." He shook his head. "I take it you don't spend much time in the great outdoors."

As he said that, he moved over to stand next to me. But his attention was on the water. No doubt he was watching for any sign of a tug on my line. He probably thought I'd miss it if it happened. He wasn't wrong to think that.

I shook my head. "School keeps me busy, but this summer, I took a part-time job pet sitting and dog walking. I'm still going to do that on the side. Does that count as the great outdoors?"

"But you've never been fishing. Or camping."

Yeah, I should've known I wasn't going to get away with pet walking in suburbia as "outdoor experience." But it wasn't like I'd spent my entire life inside.

"My parents rented an RV when I was eight," I said. "We went out west. Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore… It was one of the best vacations I've ever had."

He was looking at me through narrowed eyes. That was probably the closest thing I'd get to a non-neutral expression with this guy.

"RVs don't count, do they?" I asked, relieving him from having to say so himself.

He shrugged. "My cabin has all that, and I spend most of my life outdoors, so I say it counts."

I wasn't sure about the comparison between where he lived full-time and camping, but at this point, I was doing well not to let my brain go wonky every time I looked at him.

That video of Jax had gone viral for a reason, but the video didn't do justice to how handsome he was in person. Nothing had prepared me for that. But he was arguing for my side here, so I'd take it.

"So you live in the suburbs," he said.

"Downtown Chattanooga."

I paused because I thought I felt a tug on the line. When I lifted upward, as he'd shown me earlier, there was no resistance, so I continued.

"What made you think I live in the suburbs?" I asked.

"The whole dog walking thing," he said. "I guess that would work in the city too."

I nodded. "I have some clients who live downtown, but we aren't like New York or Chicago or even Nashville, where tons of people live downtown. So yeah, I drive out to the suburbs a lot."

"Thought so," he said. "You've never lived in a small town like this one?"

I shook my head. "I've dreamed about it. Every Christmas when I watch those romantic movies on cable, I decide that's what I'm going to do. Get my degree and open my own practice in a charming little town like the ones in those movies."

He laughed. It was just a one-syllable laugh, and it didn't come with a smile, from what I could tell in my peripheral vision. But I decided it counted as a laugh. I needed to get more of those out of him.

"This place is hardly like the small towns in those movies," he said.

"Seems like it to me." I shrugged. "Beautiful ponds like this, cabins with hot mountain men, and that old downtown area. Even with the tornado damage, it's so charming."

I expected another laugh at that statement, but it didn't come. In fact, nothing came for the longest time. Just silence. The only sounds came from the water ahead of us and the insects and night creatures in the woods surrounding us.

"So you could see yourself living in Rosewood Ridge?" he asked.

My heart skipped a beat at that question. Was he asking because he personally wondered? He had to be feeling the sparks shooting back and forth between us. They hadn't even lessened since he moved back to his original spot.

"Absolutely," I said. "Especially if it meant dating a hot mountain man."

"Put down the fishing pole," he said.

His comment was so unexpected, at first I was sure I hadn't heard correctly. Then, when I finally convinced myself I had, my attention went straight to the water. Was something wrong? Some sort of fish emergency he could detect, thanks to his experience fishing this particular pond?

I did exactly what he said. I set the pole on the ground and stepped away, hands up like the police were on the verge of arresting me. He swooped down and grabbed it, spinning the wheel on the side to pull the line out of the water. Then he set it down and turned to face me.

"Do I have permission to kiss you?" he asked.

I struggled to swallow around the lump that had formed in my throat. "You don't have to get consent for everything you do to me. Or anything. Well, within reason. I'm not into the weird stuff."

Any other guy would smile at that. Or at least lift an eyebrow or something. But this guy just continued to stare at me with that damn unreadable expression.

Whatever "the weird stuff" was, it would have to wait for later. I hadn't done any of this yet. I needed to start with losing my virginity, and then I could work out what else we could do.

"So you want me to just take you?" he asked. "Just rip your clothes off and go at it like we're animals?"

I sucked in air at those words. My mouth was now incredibly dry, but my entire body was on fire.

"Yes," I somehow managed to choke out. "That's exactly what I want you to do."

He stared at me another long moment, then started toward me, crossing the short distance between us. When his arms went around me, my body felt like it breathed a sigh of relief.

This was what I'd waited my entire life to find. I just hadn't realized it until now.

His tongue slipped between my lips, opening my mouth wider as he explored. Meanwhile, his hands were moving over my back, tugging the blouse from the waistband of my pants.

He moved with patience, not urgency, and it only made me want him more. I slid my hands over his shoulders, settling them behind his neck as I stood on tiptoe, pressing my body against his.

Would he sense how much of an amateur I was? Would it turn him off? Or would he like it more?

When he finally pulled away, it was to yank the blouse over my head. He tossed it to the ground, then reached for the waistband of my dress pants.

I, meanwhile, was stuck trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing here. Did I undress him? Did I wait for him to get me completely naked? I should have asked my more experienced friends back home about these things.

As my pants fell around my ankles, he moved away from me and the warm night air hit my nearly naked body, making me instantly miss his touch.

"Meet me at the boat," he said.

And then he walked around me, leaving me to wonder exactly what boat he meant.