Roped In (Strings Book 2)

by J. C. Hayden

  It was cold, so Jack and I were both pretty bundled up. We were both wearing dry suits, and while I looked like a blob of material since I was also wearing several layers over my suit, Jack had opted for just the suit, a beanie, and nothing else since the sun was shining brightly. The black material was tight across his entire body, showing off the thick muscles of his legs and arms, as well as the broadness of his shoulders. He looked like a superhero, and when he’d walked out of the bathroom this morning, I’d almost had to wipe the drool off my chin.

  “Okay.” Jack adjusted in the kayak, causing it to wobble a bit, and I gripped the edge of the boat with one hand, trying not to drop my oar with the other. “Have you ever done any paddling or anything before?”

  I shook my head and told him no but didn’t look at him over my shoulder because I was still too scared to move. The absolute last thing I wanted was to fall into the freezing cold lake, even if having Jack warm me up might not have been so bad.

  “It’s not too hard once you get the hang of it,” Jack explained. Something about having him talk to me in that cool, calm teacher’s voice was making me heat up despite the weather. “You’re in front, so you’re in charge of our speed. I’ll steer from back here and help with the speed as well. We alternate on the paddling for the most part—left, right, left, right—but the main thing you need to know is that we need to paddle in sync, so if you want to sort of look over your shoulder a bit to see how I’m doing it, you can. But I’ll make sure to match your strokes, so don’t worry too much about it. Got it?”

  I actually felt a small frisson of excitement. I was stressed the hell out about falling into the water, but I was still thrilled to share in this experience with Jack. Having this first with him made me feel like we were taking a step forward, like it was something a real couple would do, and in this moment, that didn’t even freak me out.

  “Got it.”

  “Baby?”

  He’d started calling me that a lot over the past few weeks, and I couldn’t even pretend that the endearment didn’t make me feel all kinds of ooey gooey inside. He said it so simply, so casually, as if we’d been together forever, like it was the most natural thing in the world. It made me feel special and wanted even if it was just a generic term that a ton of people called their significant others. The way Jack said it to me made it feel like it was just for us. And I loved it.

  “Yeah?” I chanced looking at him over my shoulder, and Jack leaned forward to rub a hand down my back.

  “I swear on my life that I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.” The look in his eyes was earnest and sincere but still playful. “You trust me, right?”

  I nodded instantly. “Of course.” I laughed nervously. “Just don’t let me drown, okay?”

  “I wouldn’t,” Jack said as he started to paddle us slowly away from the shore. “Your mom would kill me if I did.”

  It didn’t take long for me to get the hang of rowing. Once we got further into the lake it actually started to feel really good and natural. The moves became almost instinctive as my muscles started to remember each movement and stroke. We paddled easily as I got the hang of it, and Jack talked to me about his summers on Long Island, kayaking near Riverhead with his sister.

  I loved hearing about Jack’s childhood. Our lives had been so vastly different, and it was fascinating to hear about someone with a summer house, someone who spent the summer on the beach or traveling the world. It made me want all of those things with him, to have those experiences that we could share. Because even though Jack spoke of happy memories, there was this sad lilt to his voice, and I didn’t really know what was behind it. He rarely spoke about spending time with his parents on those summers, and I wondered if that’s what was behind it. Jack’s sister was older, and it almost seemed like she’d stepped in as another parent. It was clear he adored her, and when he spoke about his nieces, he glowed with joy and pride.

  When Jack started talking about rowing crew while he was in high school, I couldn’t help but mercilessly tease him.

  “That is so preppy, Jack,” I interrupted. “I can’t stand it.”

  He laughed. “Well, that was the thing to do, you know? Some people have football or basketball teams they root for at their high schools, but we had crew.”

  “Do you still do it ever?”

  We’d stopped for a bit and were just floating around in the water. I angled myself so I could see him, feeling much more secure in the boat now that we’d been out for a while. He’d taken off his beanie, and the sun was glinting off his chocolate brown hair. He had his sunglasses pushed up on his head so I could see his bright green eyes, and, god, I could eat him alive if given the opportunity.

  “I go on the rowing machines at the gym all the time,” he said with a shrug. “But I don’t get out on the water as much as I’d like to.”

  “How come?”

  He shrugged again and looked out at the water away from me so I could only see his face in profile. He looked oddly contemplative.

  “I don’t know,” he replied.

  Since I’d inherited my mother’s ability to read people really well, I knew he wasn’t being totally truthful, and his body language had shifted drastically in the past minute or so. Jack was always so open with me, and I knew if he was keeping his real reasoning from me it had to be for something that felt too major to share.

  “You can tell me, you know,” I told him. I wanted him to feel like he could be honest with me. I wanted him to feel like he could lean on me in a way I knew I could lean on him. I wanted to be someone he could rely on instead of the girl who always walked away.

  I wanted to be the person who stayed.

  Ever since the day Rachel came to his apartment, I realized I didn’t want to walk away this time. I wanted to be with Jack. For real. And while he was sitting across from me thinking about crew, I was silently having a life changing moment realizing for the first time since Vincent that I wanted a real, actual relationship with someone. Even if I feared he would leave me, even if everything went down in flames, I wanted to be with him. I wanted to try and build something with him even if I could only have it for a short time. I would give both of us what we’d wanted from the beginning—what we had both wanted and I had denied since the beginning of our senior year. I would do that for him, but more than that, I would do it for me.

  Jack looked back at me, and he looked vulnerable in a way I’d rarely seen him. He opened his mouth and shut it, and then he shook his head briefly like he was trying to shake out the thoughts.

  “The last time I rowed on the water was right after Klein,” he said quietly. “The week after things ended between us.”

  I could feel my mouth hanging open slightly and my heart pounding in my ears. It was what I wanted—for him to open up to me about this—but it still fucking hurt knowing I’d hurt him that badly. I’d never wanted that. I’d never wanted for either of us to get hurt, which is why I’d been so adamant about not being in a serious relationship with him. But I’d blurred the lines all those years ago, and so had he. Despite how much I’d wanted to save us both from the hurt, I’d put us both through it anyway.

  “Why?” I managed to ask.

  Jack sighed. “Look, I don’t want to make you feel bad or anything. It was a long time ago. I was twenty-two and I’d had my heart broken for the first time.”

  “And then didn’t row again until today,” I added.

  “I…” Jack started. “Yeah.”

  “So tell me why,” I said softly. “I know you aren’t trying to make me feel bad. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know.”

  “After I left that day, I was just a mess. Went out with some friends that night. Got wasted. Told them all how much I hated you even though it wasn’t even close to being true. The next morning I was sick to my stomach from the booze and from missing you.” He was looking out at the water again, but I was staring at him, mesmerized by how willing he was to bare his soul and amazed at how muc
h his own experience reflected mine. I’d been the one to call things off, but I’d been a mess for a long time, too, lying in bed crying and missing him until Catrina forced me to get up and go with her to the mall just to get out of the house. I knew she wanted to call me out for my behavior because I was the one getting in my own way, but she didn’t. Instead, she took me to the movies, let me lay my head on her shoulder while I cried silently, and when Brody called her, I’d heard her whispering that they couldn’t see each other that night because her best friend needed her, which had only made me cry harder. I knew breaking things off with Jack was what was best for both of us, but I couldn’t stop wanting him. I couldn’t turn it off. So instead I cried.

  “Being on the water always made me feel better,” he continued. “So I went out that afternoon and rowed until my arms gave out. I… well, I wasn’t in a good place that day. Did a lot of sad and unmanly things that I don’t need to recount.” There was a small lift to the corner of his mouth, but he still didn’t meet my eyes. Imagining him out on the water, hurting, possibly crying, made me want to crawl across the small kayak and hold him even if it meant I might fall to my watery death.

  “I tried going back out on the water a few days later, but just standing on shore reminded me of that day. Of how much pain I’d been in, and even looking at the water made me sick. I told myself I would go a few more times after that, but I just couldn’t do it. So I stopped trying.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Sorry seemed woefully inadequate, and it wouldn’t express how much I truly regretted hurting him. Nothing I said would erase the pain I’d caused us both, so instead I chose to focus on now. This moment here between us.

  “Thank you,” I said, making him finally meet my eyes again. “For telling me that, and for bringing me out here today. I’m glad I could be here for your first time out on the water again. I’m honored.”

  Jack smiled—a soft, open, pure smile—and reached forward. I angled even more toward him so I was almost completely turned around and grabbed his proffered hand.

  “Now,” he said, his smile transforming into a mischievous grin, clearly trying to lighten the heavy mood. “Tell me you’re my girlfriend.”

  I didn’t roll my eyes at him. I knew he was mostly ribbing me, but my stomach was roiling with nerves. I was tired of pretending that my feelings for Jack weren’t enormous—that they hadn’t consumed me already. I was still petrified of what all of this would mean. For me. For us. But I’d denied us both for long enough. I wanted the real deal, and I wasn’t going to let my fear of being hurt again stop me from getting what I wanted. Not anymore.

  “I’m your girlfriend,” I whispered, my throat and mouth drier than they’d ever been.

  Jack’s face went from amused to slack with shock in an instant. He squeezed my hand and pulled me closer despite the boat we were in.

  “Are you serious?” I felt as raw and exposed as he looked.

  I nodded.

  And after a few more moments of shocked silence, Jack shoved a fist in the air, clutching his oar, and whooped. The boat rocked precariously, and I glared at Jack.

  “I swear to god, if this boat tips—”

  Uncaring, he leaned over and pulled me to him. It was a stretch but he was able to bring us close enough so he could put his lips to mine.

  “This boat can tip for all I care,” he whispered against my mouth, his eyes on mine. “It only took ten years, but I finally convinced you to be my girlfriend. Let the boat tip. Because I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

  He grabbed my face with one of his hands, holding onto his oar with the other, and kissed me deeply. On a cold November day in the middle of Lake Champlain, birds chirping, trees rustling around us as the wind whipped our hair, this moment became one of the best of my entire life.

  We paddled for a little while longer after that until I felt and saw the kayak begin to veer off toward a tiny little island to our right. I looked at Jack over my shoulder and he nodded in the direction of the island.

  “The kayak company owner told me about this place,” he said as he paddled us toward it. “I thought we could check it out.”

  When he got us close enough to shore, Jack hopped out, his feet splashing in the cool water, and dragged the boat up to anchor us to the shore. Feminism be damned, I let him help me out, and as soon as I was on my feet, he yanked me against him. His mouth was on mine in an instant, and he was kissing me like he couldn’t get enough. I kissed him right back, meeting his intensity, wrapping my arms tightly around his middle while he held my face in his hands and moved me exactly how he wanted.

  “I love kissing you,” he breathed against my lips when he pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against mine.

  “I love when you kiss me,” I said breathlessly. “Do it again.”

  He was gentler this time, more teasing with little nips and sucks. His tongue gently brushed against mine and I held him tighter, wanting more. The temperature couldn’t have been more than forty degrees on the water, but I suddenly felt hot all over. He pulled back only slightly so he could sink his teeth into my lower lip, and I whimpered. Then he took a step back and I chased his mouth with mine, but he put his hands on my shoulders, grinning down at me.

  He unzipped my life jacket and tossed it into the kayak along with his, and I kept my eyes on him the whole time, begging him silently to kiss me again.

  “Come on,” he said, taking my hand in his and pulling me along. I didn’t even try not to stare at his ass in his dry suit.

  Chapter 18

  The island was small, maybe a little bit more than two thousand square feet, but the vegetation was spectacular. The island was covered in maple trees that were close to losing all their leaves but hadn’t yet. Some were yellow and orange, but others were this vibrant red that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I was staring at several bushes of yellow flowers when Jack glanced back at me.

  “These are witch hazel,” he said, gently running his fingers along one. “Apparently there used to be a house on this island, but the owner died and had no family at all so it went back to the state. Most people don’t know this is here, though.”

  We walked a little further, and when we walked around the row of bushes, I gasped. Behind the bushes, there was a big blue blanket with a wicker picnic basket on top. Above it, there was a maple tree with white Japanese style lanterns hanging from it right above the blanket.

  I whipped around to Jack and gaped at him.

  “You did this?”

  When all he did was nod, I stared back and forth between him and the blanket and lights.

  “This is amazing,” I breathed. I turned back to him. “Thank you.”

  He pulled me along a few more steps and then sat on the blanket, tugging me down next to him.

  “Your mom made empanadas and fried plantains for us,” he said as he started pulling stuff out.

  “She knew about this?”

  “I told her my idea the other night after I called to make the kayak reservation and the owner told me about this place,” he said. “I didn’t even think about asking her to cook, but she offered.”

  “Wow, you must be special,” I said, watching as Jack pulled out two plates.

  Jack shrugged and looked at me out of the side of his eyes as he continued unpacking different items from the basket. “Well, she does think I’m polite and handsome.”

  I jerked my head up and gaped at him. “You understood that?”

  He nodded, smirking. “I know a lot of Spanish. Studied abroad in Costa Rica in college, and when I took a year off between college and law school, I spent most of that town in different parts of South America.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What else don’t I know about you?”

  His smirk turned into a full-on grin. “Guess you’ll have to find out.”

  “Oh my—holy shit, is that flan?” Whatever I’d planned to snark back to Jack quickly fled my mind when he pulled out two small tins that each appeared t
o have the mini caramel cakes inside.

  “Wow, I’m not leaving Vermont,” Jack said as he glanced at the containers. “I need to stay here and let your mom fatten me up.”

  “Don’t joke about that in front of her,” I said. “She might try to keep us here.”

  “I could live with that.” I looked up at him, and before I could take in the soft look on his face he pressed his lips to mine in a quick kiss.

  We feasted on all the food my mom made for us, and Jack popped a bottle of champagne. My mom had packed a thermos of her amazing coffee that we drank when we ate the flan. When we finished, Jack pulled another blanket out of the bottom of the picnic basket, and we laid back on the blanket on the ground as he wrapped us in the other one and cuddled close to me. I was buzzed on the food and champagne, and beyond content in this moment with Jack as I burrowed even closer to him. He rubbed his hand in circles on my back while I laid one of my hands on his stomach. I couldn’t get to any bare skin with his dry suit on, which was the only thing that I wanted to change about this absolutely perfect moment.

  I was so full of happiness and contentment that I thought I might burst. My feelings for Jack were so beyond anything I’d ever felt, and I didn’t know what to do with them. There was this small part of me that was itching to flee from the feelings he caused, to deny they even existed, but the bigger part of me just wanted to sink into them, to let them draw me in like quicksand and never let me go.

  “Thank you,” I told him again. “This has been… It’s been like the best day ever.”

  “Same here,” he said into my hair.

  “And thank you for telling me all that earlier,” I murmured. “About rowing and all that.”

  “I don’t want there to be this cloud hanging over us about our pasts,” Jack replied quietly.

  “I don’t either,” I said. “But I still want to know those things about you.” My voice was hushed when I said, “I want to know everything.”

  “Me, too.” Jack squeezed me to him tighter. “I know we still have five more days here, but I already never want to leave.”