“Not really camping.” He was silent for a moment, then, “Growing up on the ranch, we had plenty to do outdoors. Plus I was playing ball a lot, Little League, then American Legion. There’s a nice river down there, though, and a big lake that was formed by a meteor. Went fishing when we had time.”
“It sounds nice.”
“It is,” he said. “My parents can’t wait for more grandkids they can teach all the farm stuff to and spoil rotten.”
He reached out, grabbed her hand, and briefly squeezed. She asked, “You ever think of going back there?”
“Lately, yeah.” He grew pensive, so Harper left that subject alone. She didn’t want to ruin the day they were having so far.
“I should have brought my sketchbook,” she said. “I could have maybe sketched some birds or squirrels.”
“You want to turn around?” He began to look as if searching for an exit from the highway so they could go back for her sketch pad. Seriously, she thought he’d probably do anything to make her happy. Early days still, she reminded herself. Trying to impress the girl.
“No,” she murmured. “I just want to spend time with you. Don’t need a sketch pad for that.” After a pause, she asked, “Ever been skinny dipping before?.”
Ty laughed. “Have something in mind I should know about?”
“Mmm. I’ve just never done that before.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “There’s a lake at the state park…”
“And it’s broad daylight.” Ty shook his head and wrapped his fingers around hers again, pulling her hand to his thigh. “Wow, and here I thought you were this rule follower. You surprise me, Teach.”
Harper laughed, and Ty grinned and turned to her so that she could see both dimples creasing his cheeks. Probably not the best idea, but she leaned over and placed a kiss on his lips. The Jeep swerved a little, and she sat back straight. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.”
“Sweetheart,” he said with his best Texas twang, releasing her hand to reach up run his thumb along her cheek. “You can distract me that way any time you want. Although when I’m driving is probably not in our best interests.”
About forty-five minutes later, Ty turned the car into the entrance road to Village Creek State Park. Her stepfather had brought the family here once or twice, and the only thing she remembered was sitting outside one night in the dark listening to birds while a park ranger explained the different calls. It was interesting to her twelve-year-old brain, but she’d rather have been back in the tent, reading the latest Harry Potter by the battery-powered camping lantern.
“Here we are,” he said as he pulled into a parking spot. “I’ll grab the cooler if you get that blanket out of the backseat.”
They met at the back of the car, and Ty wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. He dropped the cooler, used his free hand to cup her face and give her the sweetest, softest kiss. No tongue, no urgency, just a hey, I’m glad you’re here with me merging of lips.
He broke away and took her hand in his. “Let’s go.”
Once inside the park, he seemed to be a man on a mission. She followed as he took one of the hiking trails and led her to a little clearing. The grass was so green, and wildflowers bloomed in purple and yellow and orange and pink. Where the rest of the area had been noisy with kids playing and parents trying to keep up, this area was quiet. It seemed to be tailor-made for someone to spread a blanket and have a picnic, and that was exactly what they did.
“Well, since there weren’t many places to go in Memphis without us being seen together by someone you may work with, I thought, why not go out of state?” He laughed and gave her a smack on the rear before taking the blanket from her and spreading it across the flattest area of grass. “I figured, how many professors at SU were going to see us in a state park in Arkansas?”
“Hey, watch the hands,” she said, rubbing the sting from her bottom and denying to herself she liked it even a little bit. He had a point about going out of state. Even though she wasn’t really an outdoors sort of woman, she appreciated his thoughtfulness when he planned the day, and felt a little of the pressure go away as she realized they’d probably be safe from discovery here. “Thank you,” she said as she helped him adjust the wrinkles out of the blanket. They both straightened and she stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I don’t think anyone has ever put that much thought into something for me.”
“They should have.”
His simple statement made her heart squeeze with an unfamiliar emotion. He thought she was worth the effort. Her extreme like of him was beginning to grow into more.
Ty opened the cooler and removed two boxes and a bottle of wine. “I didn’t know if you prefer red or white, so I brought a rosé. I hope that’s okay. If not, I have a couple diet sodas, bottles of tea, some water—”
“Tyler Johansen, you are just about the sweetest man I’ve ever known.” He blushed and made an “aw shucks” expression. “I mean it. Any woman would be lucky to have you paying attention to her. I just wanted you to know that.”
He smiled to himself as he opened the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass, handing one to her, tipping his toward her. “To the prettiest English professor I know.”
“I’m the only English professor you know,” she said with a laugh.
“Not true,” he said. “I took English I and II, and Comp I from other professors, so I know more than just you.”
“Oh… Oh, right,” she said with an embarrassed giggle. Ty thought the look on her face was adorable: jealousy morphing into embarrassment, then a smile. “I wasn’t thinking of it that way.”
“But you’re the first one I’ve wanted to get to know better.” He sidled up closer to her and whispered in her ear, “The first one I’ve wanted to make love to. That skinny-dipping idea of yours is sounding better and better.”
Grasping her chin, he turned her head until he was looking into her dark hazel eyes. Pressing his lips to hers, he heard her little moan just before she ran her tongue across his lips and threaded her fingers through his hair. She tugged, and that sensation of pleasure/pain went straight to his groin. She lay down and pulled him to her, wrapping her legs around him until he was settled between thighs.
Ty pulled back, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Much as I like this, there are too many people around, and I’d hate to get kicked out of a state park for making love to my girlfriend.”
“Oh, I know,” she said, unwrapping her legs and propping herself up. “It just felt so good. You feel so good.”
He groaned. “You’re making it really hard. No pun intended. But let’s eat something, and then I thought we could take a canoe out on the lake. How does that sound?”
“Like a plan,” she said after a beat, then reached for one of the boxes she’d brought. “I went to Whole Foods early this morning and got a couple of things.”
Ty watched as she carefully unpacked tabbouleh, a couple of different cheeses, grapes, and a small loaf of ciabatta bread. “I remember you said you like their tabbouleh. And…” she pulled out another box, “…I got chocolate cake. If you like it.”
“You are an angel,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t have breakfast. Now that I’ve taken on your dessert-first philosophy, I say we dig into that first.”
They quickly ate, then cleaned up and took the cooler and tote back to the car so they wouldn’t have to lug them all the way around the park. When he returned, Harper smiled and grabbed his hand, the blanket she’d said they might need later tucked under her arm.
At the lake, Ty rented a boat, and once they were on the water, he rowed toward a little cove. The water was so clear, Harper could see the fish swimming around them, darting in and out of downed trees and underbrush. The small yellowish-gray ones with stripes she seemed to remember were called perch, or maybe bream. A long black catfish, his whiskers twitching as he meandered along the bottom, hid himself away beneath a nearby log.
“This was such a brilliant idea, Ty.” She looked at the beauty
of nature around her. Squirrels scampering from limb to limb, birds flitting through the trees. Even the fish in the water were beautiful as they glided effortlessly around rocks and brush. “I never really paid much attention when I was a kid, but…it’s pretty awesome here, isn’t it?”
He looked around them, then back at her. “Yeah, it is.”
Just as she was about to lean over to kiss him, she heard a buzzing sound zip by her ear. Then again, right back at her. Ty’s face bloomed in concern. “Hold still,” he said. “There are some bees zooming around you. Let me row back out to the middle.”
The bees just wouldn’t give up, even as Ty maneuvered the boat away from the shore, and suddenly, Harper felt one fly beneath the collar of her T-shirt. Without thinking of where they were, she jumped up and began trying to pull her T-shirt from the waistband of her shorts and up over her head.
“Harper, wait! Sit still, or we’re going to—”
She felt the boat tip first to one side, then the other, and before she knew what was happening, she lost her balance and started to fall over the side. Her momentum tipped the boat over, tossing both of them into the lake. Harper went under the water, holding her breath as she’d been taught when she learned to dive in her parents’ backyard pool. Her heart pounded. She searched the lake for Ty, but she couldn’t see him through its now murky depths. When she kicked back to the surface, she saw him a few yards away, treading water and looking at the overturned canoe. As he swam her way she bit back a whimper. He was okay, not drowning, anyhow. Her heartbeat stopped pounding a hole in her chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she began.
“Well, at least if the bee isn’t out of your shirt, it’s drowned by now.” Ty chuckled. “Hey, you wanted to take a dip in the water.”
Harper flung her wet hair out of her face and wrung it out with her hands. “Not exactly what I had in mind.”
The looked at each other and burst into laughter, then swam to the boat. Ty said, “Here, let me get underneath and flip it back over. You watch out and don’t let the boat slam into you.”
She did as she was told and watched from a safe distance as he disappeared beneath the water. What seemed like minutes but was probably only about fifteen seconds later and just about the time she began to worry and consider diving under herself, the boat began to pitch back and forth, and suddenly, one side flipped up, and the boat righted itself. Ty surfaced, and Harper swam to him, hugging him tightly.
“I got really worried.”
“Me too. I couldn’t figure out where to put my hands.” He wrapped them around her waist and pulled her to him. “Lucky for me, I found a perfect spot.”
He slanted his mouth over hers, and as they both floated in the water, Harper opened to him. Their tongues dueled, he pulled her closer until no space separated them. She wrapped her arms around his neck, but a wolf whistle ruined the moment, and they pushed apart to see a couple of boaters grinning at them.
“You guys need any help getting back in the boat?” one of the men yelled.
Ty moved away from her. “Yeah, thanks. If you could move over here and hold the boat steady.”
The men in the other boat did just that, and within a few minutes, she and Ty were paddling their way back to shore. “I didn’t figure you’d want to stay out in soaking clothes.”
“It’s a little uncomfortable,” she confessed as she pulled the thin T-shirt material away from her chest. Yeah, Ty could see her body through it, even the pattern of the lace on her bra, and she probably should care a little more than she did that her nipples were erect from the damp fabric brushing over them. But she didn’t. She kind of enjoyed the fact his gaze wandered down, checking out her curves where the knit fabric clung.
Ty dragged his eyes back up to her face and grinned, and she couldn’t help but smile back. She’d never had a guy check her out so thoroughly and so blatantly. A little bubble of excitement built up inside her. This delicious man wanted her. He wanted her and was not shy in letting her know just how much. And she liked it. His eyes held the promise of what would come later, and she couldn’t wait.
Back on shore, they were making their way to the car when she realized they hadn’t recovered the one thing they’d lost when the boat capsized. “Your blanket!”
Ty waved it off. “No problem.”
“But it was a team blanket. I saw the Blues logo in the center.”
“I can get another one if I want. The important thing is neither of us was hurt and we made it out of there in one piece.”
Harper supposed he was right, but she still made a mental note that she should replace the blanket as soon as she could.
“Professor Manning!”
Harper jolted when someone shouted her name. She recognized that voice. Professor Gerald Abernathy. Holy crap, of all the people to run into while she was with Ty, it had to be an adjunct professor in her department.
“Harper,” he tried again. “It’s Gerry.”
“Shit,” she heard Ty mutter. “I’m sorry, I thought…”
Harper turned to find Abernathy jogging up to her. “Fancy seeing you here,” he said. “I didn’t know you were a fan of hiking. Wow, you look like you fell in the lake.”
Duh, she said to herself. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. “Hi, Gerry.”
His eyes landed on her chest, and Harper crossed her arms over her torso. This was one guy she didn’t want staring at her like she was in a wet T-shirt contest.
“Yeah, the boat tipped over, and I fell into the lake. On my way home now, so…”
“Oh, right.” He seemed to suddenly notice Ty standing a few feet away. “Hey, aren’t you Tyler Johansen, the catcher?”
Ty nodded, and Gerry took that as an invitation to shake his hand. “I was at the game the other night when you missed that throw to second. Tough call, dude. I think you were robbed. The guy was obviously out.”
“Um, thanks,” Ty said. “It happens sometimes.”
“Really shitty call.” He turned back to Harper. “So, you guys on a date or something?”
“No!” they both shouted at the same time, maybe a little too enthusiastically.
“I just ran into Professor Manning here, and we decided to split a boat rental.” Ty was good at making up lies on the fly, she decided. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out very well for us.”
Abernathy looked skeptical but didn’t push the subject. “Well, it was good to see you, Harper. And nice to meet you, Tyler. Good luck in the game Monday.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Ty replied, then turned to leave as if he wasn’t with her. She appreciated his attempt at pretending they weren’t together, although she figured it was a lost cause. Gerald Abernathy wasn’t stupid. She knew by the look on his face, he knew better than to believe they had a chance meeting. Not that he knew Ty was one of her students, but if he really wanted to, he could do a search and figure it out.
“Have fun, Gerry,” Harper said with a wave, trying to get away before he could start asking questions. “I’m gonna head home and get out of this wet stuff. I’ll see you next week.”
She didn’t give Gerry a chance to respond, just turned and started walking. She heard him say, “See ya,” as she hurried down the trail to the park exit.
When she made it to Ty’s car, she saw him sitting in the driver’s seat, engine running. She hopped into the passenger side and they left. She would have laughed at the covert nature of their escape, but in reality, the fact Gerry had seen her there was serious, and Harper didn’t feel much in the mood to laugh.
Ty placed his hand over hers on the center console. “Hey, I’m sorry. Do you think it’ll cause problems for you?”
She took a deep breath, then released it slowly. “I’m not sure. Maybe. He was probably the worst person who could have seen us together. He’s an adjunct professor and—”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he doesn’t have a permanent job with the university, he just gets pai
d per class he teaches. No benefits or anything.”
“Oh. So…he might screw you over just for a chance to get your job?”
“Exactly.” Harper felt tears well up in her eyes before one tracked hotly down her cheek. She wiped it away with the back of her hand and sniffled. “I’d be willing to bet he’s on his phone right now trying to figure out how we might know each other.”
“What can I do?” Ty was really being sweet, but the bulky knot that had settled in the pit of her stomach prevented her from replying to him. Instead, like a petulant child, she curled up in the seat and leaned on the door, watching the blur of traffic go by as they headed back to the city.
“I’m sorry,” he tried again. She shook her head, because she knew if she said anything, she’d burst into fresh tears. It had been such a good day, such fun…but as she’d known from the start, she shouldn’t have become involved with a student. Dammit, why the hell had she done it in spite of the risks? Because you were lonely and thought it would be fun, came to mind.
Not good enough. But you like him. A lot.
The forty-five minutes it took to get back to her house were relatively silent.
“Would you like to pick up some dinner?”
“No, thank you.”
“Would you like me to order you delivery?”
“No, Ty. I don’t want anything to eat right now.” She sounded petulant, and she hated that. “But I appreciate the offer.”
He pulled up into her driveway and stepped around the car to hold the door she’d already opened as she scrambled out of the tall vehicle. She made it to the door, with him trailing behind her. He didn’t attempt to kiss her, didn’t ask if he could come in, just touched her arm with his warm fingertips and gave her a sympathetic frown.
“I should have said something more to the guy,” he muttered.
“Anything else you said would have only made matters worse,” she murmured. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m going to go in now. Get a shower, change out of these wet things.”
“Can I call you later?”
“I think I’m going to call it a day, Ty.”
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