Whitewater Rendezvous

Chaz was blushing, Megan realized. Her spirits were buoyed by the sight. She’d felt a jarringly unexpected sense of loss when she’d awakened alone, and the sight of the huge rip in the tent did nothing to cheer her. But Chaz was a balm to her frayed nerves this morning, just as she’d been last night.

“Get yourself some breakfast,” Sally said, coming up behind Megan and putting a hand on her back. “We saved you some. We’ve got fruit and granola, and Chaz made some blueberry muffi ns.”

“They’re awesome,” Yancey threw in. “If you don’t want yours, we’ve decided to draw straws for them.”

“Not a chance,” Megan declared, stealing another glance at Chaz, who was drying some of the breakfast dishes. “I haven’t held us all up, have I?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Sally replied. “We only have a short ways to go today. We aren’t going to leave until after lunch.”

“I’d like everybody to practice wet exits and Eskimo rolls this morning,” Chaz said. “We’re going to start hitting some of the rougher water soon. Are you up to it?”

“Sure,” Megan said.

As soon as she’d eaten both of her muffi ns, which were every bit as good as promised, everyone donned their dry suits and took to the water in their kayaks.

Chaz fi rst spent an hour or so conducting a seminar on river currents, describing the way the speed of the water changed as it fl owed around curves and through narrows, and she briefed them on the different types of eddies they would encounter—pockets of calmer water that form in the downstream sides of rocks and boulders—and how to deal with them.

After that, they took turns tossing the rescue throw ropes that she’d issued them, until all were fairly good at it, at least in the calmer water.

As they practiced, the weather began to deteriorate. The temperature dropped twenty degrees as a low ceiling of clouds swept over the land, obliterating the sun and dumping a steady drizzle of rain that showed no sign of stopping.

“All right. I’d like to see everyone do at least a couple of wet exits and two or three rolls,” Chaz said. “Sally is going to watch Pat, Linda, and Yancey, and I’m going to work with Elise, Megan, and Justine.”

• 119 •

KIM BALDWIN

They divided into two small groups and took turns practicing wet exits fi rst, with no problems. When it came time to do the rolls, Chaz beached her kayak and waded out into the current, to help them as needed as she had back at the lodge.

“Let’s be perfect at this, so we can all go in and get warm, what do you say?” Chaz encouraged them as they lined their kayaks up in front of her, paddling to remain in place against the current. She went briefl y over the fundamentals again, then they took turns: Justine fi rst, Elise second, Megan last.

Justine managed to do three rolls in fairly quick succession with little help. Elise needed assistance on the fi rst couple of tries, but then got it on her own. Then it was Megan’s turn.

Everyone else had gone in. She and Chaz were alone. And Chaz was looking as sexy as hell, with her face pink and eyes shining from the cold. Megan was having a very hard time focusing on all the details that she needed to remember to do the roll right.

Chaz moved into position at the front of Megan’s kayak, all businesslike. “Ready?” she asked.

Nothing at all in her demeanor suggested that she had any recollection of the hours they’d spent wrapped in each other’s arms. It was time to remind her.

“Thank you for last night,” Megan said, with exaggerated provocation. She said it as though they had spent the night having mind-blowing sex.

She was thrilled to see the look that passed over Chaz’s face at her words. Chaz went crimson in embarrassment and looked shyly away, as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Yeah, well, uh…” Chaz stuttered, tapping her fi ngers nervously on the end of Megan’s kayak. “No problem. I’ve had nightmares before, too.”

Oh, this is good. Very good. Last night was something to her, too.

“Chaz?” She said her name, very deliberately, because she really wanted Chaz to look at her right then.

Finally, after a very long moment, Chaz did, and Megan fell into the depths of those hazel eyes, a mere fi ve feet away, that were gazing at her with such… heat. That was the word for it. She wants me. I cansee she wants me as much as I want her.

• 120 •

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14