Whitewater Rendezvous

“You brace your thighs here.” Chaz put her hand just inside the rim of the cockpit, and it brushed against the top of Megan’s leg.

Megan could feel the heat rise to her face as she glanced down to where they had touched. Chaz had strong hands, with long slender fi ngers. Short nails, no polish. No rings, either. No jewelry at all, she noticed, except a necklace of some kind—a couple of inches of a thin gold chain had escaped the collar of Chaz’s wet suit. And what a wet suit it was. Oh, Lord, I hope she’s not going to wear that thing thewhole trip.

The rest of them were wearing dry suits, but Chaz’s red and navy wet suit hugged her body like a second skin, and at such close proximity Megan couldn’t help but notice the round swell of the guide’s breasts, the bump of nipples faint but unmistakable. She suddenly realized that Chaz was still talking to her.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, you want to sit so you feel as though you’re actually wearing the boat,” Chaz repeated. “The fi t should be comfortable but snug, so the boat moves with you, like an extension of your body.” As she talked, she reached behind Megan and made a slight adjustment to her back band.

Megan leaned forward, all too vividly aware of the brush of Chaz’s fi ngertips against her spine. “I think I get the idea,” she said, anxious for the guide to move a bit farther away.

As if reading her mind, Chaz stood and took a step back. “Brace your hips and legs against the sides, and roll your hips a little from side to side. Get a feel for how the boat is balanced here on land.”

Megan did as instructed and was surprised to fi nd that with the tiny adjustments Chaz had made, the boat did indeed move with her, like an extension of her lower torso. It was more comfortable than she’d imagined, with a padded seat and thigh braces, and cushy foam knee blocks. She was anxious to try it out.

“It feels fi ne,” she said. “I’d like to get in the water now.”

“Soon,” Chaz promised with a smile. “We need to go over a few paddling strokes fi rst.”

“Oh, right.”

Chaz took them through an onshore lesson of the basic strokes: power strokes and sweeps, high and low braces, back paddling.

• 53 •

KIM BALDWIN

Glancing around at her friends, Megan noticed that of the six of them, only she and Elise seemed unfamiliar with all this stuff.

“Very good. How many of you know how to do a wet exit?” Chaz asked.

Four hands shot up. All but her and Elise again. Wet exit. Powerstrokes. Why does every word out of her mouth seem to have a sexualconnotation?

“Great. And who can Eskimo roll?”

Only Pat, Linda, and Yancey raised their hands this time, and Yancey’s affi rmation was only halfhearted. “I learned how to do it a couple of years ago, but I haven’t really tried it in a long time. I’m not real gung ho I could do it in a pinch.”

“Kind of the same with me,” Justine said. “I’ve done it once in a pool, that’s it. I don’t really remember much.”

“All right, then. Well, it doesn’t look as though I’ll need to spend any more time with you two.” Chaz gestured toward Linda and Pat.

“You’re welcome to spend the rest of the day as you like, getting your muscles warmed up and getting used to your boat. I’d appreciate it if you’d stay together and keep an eye on each other.”

“No problem!” Pat replied, openly leering at Linda, which got all of them chuckling. The couple immediately donned their spray skirts and PFDs and headed for their kayaks, while Chaz turned her attention to Justine and Yancey.

“You two can paddle around until lunch. This afternoon, I’ll spend an hour or so with each of you one-on-one, going over how to roll.”

“Cool beans,” Yancey said.

“I may need more than an hour,” Justine said. “I had a hard time getting the hang of it, as I recall. Everything seems so ass-backwards when you’re upside down.”

“Whatever time you need,” Chaz replied. “It’s not imperative that you can do one, but it’s always a good skill to have under your belt.”

She turned to Megan and Elise. “Now if you two would put on your spray skirts and get into your boats, I’ll teach you how to do a wet exit.”

“That sounds like fun,” Elise said, cocking one eyebrow suggestively in Chaz’s direction.

Chaz laughed, a low ripple of pleasure. “Not very. Not in this water.”

• 54 •

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14