“Say, Autumn,” interjected her dad. “Did Mama tell you Cory guides the fishing trips now? I don’t even have to go unless I want to.”
“Really?” she said, not as a question. But there was a question in there. Her parents could afford a fishing guide for the lodge? Mama made it sound like they were pinching pennies.
“In between guiding for your folks as well as other area resort owners,” Cory said, “I’ve got full-time work, playing on the river.”
She looked up at Cory with his eyes concealed in dark shades. They were polarized to see into the water better, she knew, but they also looked surprising hot on him. No cowboy hat today.
She tilted her head toward her dad who was tying a lure onto a third pole. “Since when do you not want to go fishing?”
Laughs all around from that.
“And Cory, I’m not sure you want to tarnish your fishing record with a bet now that you’re guiding.” It wasn’t too sharp a jibe, but it was the best she could do at five-thirty in the morning.
She couldn’t tell because of the sunglasses, but she kind of felt Cory and her dad looking at each other, trying to hold in a laugh. It’d be her laughing if she told her dad what they always bet.
They got in the boat for the upstream ride. Cory drove the boat while she sat next to her dad. Despite her stinging eyes and half-awake state, she felt the excitement inching up inside her.
She had to wonder if everyone had purposely forgotten to mention that Cory worked for them. She might have actually taken a shower and brushed her hair. As it was, her dark red curls were whirling in the wind. She’d pulled on a pair of jeans and a warm, comfortable sweater without a worry about how she looked.
Autumn always found it comical that all the area’s anglers took off for the river in the dark. They were in their drift boats, on the water, at first gray light. Of course that’s how you catch fish, but still, getting up at four just to catch a fish? She also laughed over the way her dad made sure he beat everyone to the river. The other guides had to put their boats in several miles up from the resort, so they had a longer float down to the best fishing holes. Daddy had them beat by an hour or two, but he would never leave it to chance. Hell would freeze over before anyone hit his sweet spots before he did!
The boat slowed and the front end dropped down. They inched along, rounding the last bend to her dad’s “secret” fishing hole. They cast one, two, three, out of habit, landing their hooks in perfect formation to side drift their bait. A flock of twenty or so Canadian geese flew around a hill and turned to follow the river toward them, honking in alarm as they flew directly overhead in a large V formation. She heard their feathers in the wind when they passed.
Suddenly her pole bent. “Fish on—oh, snag.”
Her dad chuckled and turned on the motor to help her get her hook free.
6.
Cory stole another glance at Autumn and, just as quickly, checked to see if Randy had caught him. His shades probably hid his eyes, but he still felt like someone would notice any second, and he couldn’t seem to stop.
Things were complicated before, and now they’d managed to somehow add more layers to the mess. Randy and Teresa must have known Autumn wouldn’t have come fishing if she knew he’d be here today. She might not have come to the resort at all if she knew about him, and from the look on her face yesterday, that was most likely the case.
It hurt.
Which made no sense, because he knew Teresa had to be vague with Autumn in order to talk her into coming home.
On another glance over, he saw her pole bend, bend more, and really bend. Autumn reared the pole up to set the hook without saying anything this time. He was sure she didn’t want to call another false alarm, but he knew this one wasn’t a snag.
“Fish on!” he called out for her.
Randy excitedly stepped closer. “Keep that tip up, Autumn!”
“I got it, Dad.” She pulled up and reeled down, teeth gritted. “It’s a big one.”
She managed to pull it within ten feet of the boat. Then it fought back out, pulling a good fifteen feet of line. Autumn kept up the fight.
Cory caught a glimpse through the water as the fish turned. Unfortunately, it twisted and headed downriver, toward the rapids that always broke the line.
“Turn it back,” he prodded softly. “Point the pole upriver.”
She threw him a swift glance before following his instructions. It worked—the fish turned and headed upriver. Soon she had the upper hand, thanks to Cory’s advice and Randy’s moving the boat.
Randy grabbed the net and leaned over the boat, waiting for the right moment to get it under the fish without bumping the line and breaking it. He scooped. “Fish in boat!”
Randy held up a hand for a high five. Autumn hit her dad’s hand and turned to him. He grabbed and shook her hand in victory. “Nice fish!”
Autumn’s smile reminded him of how she looked when they were kids, and a sudden ache hit his heart. He’d missed her while she was gone, but it grew even worse now that he was looking at her. Now that she was home again.
That girl had chased her dreams and made things happen. He thought back to the days when he thought he’d been following her out into the world to make a name for himself. It’d been a couple of years since he thought about his old dreams, but suddenly he felt a pang of… what could have been, on many fronts.
“That’s at least a thirty pounder!” Randy was almost hopping around the boat. “Get your camera. That has to go in your blog.”
That reminded him: Autumn was here to write a blog and then move on to her next adventure.
Autumn couldn’t believe she’d caught one so early. Ha! That’d show Cory. He waited with the camera, so she posed. She felt weird but gave him her biggest smile.
“Guess she did show up you, huh, Cory!” Her dad slapped her back.
“Day’s not over.” Cory grinned and kept his voice light. “You two ready for some serious fishing now?”
“We have a fish,” Autumn said. “Can’t we go home?”
Cory and her dad laughed. She sighed, settling in for a few more hours. Of course Cory wouldn’t let her win that easily.
As it turned out, however, that was the only fish they landed despite three more bites. Autumn dutifully held her pole, hid her yawns, and listened to Cory and her dad keep up a hearty conversation about fishing, the river, the town, the resort, and how awesome her blog post would be.
There was one second when she looked up and caught a look of longing or remorse on Cory’s face. She couldn’t read it before he looked away. Had he been trying to hide it? She thought back, remembering his plans, and putting that together with the fact that he was still here. Now she knew why, of course. He’d taken care of his parents and things around here.
When he looked back at her, his expression was just relaxed and maybe a little bit gleeful, like he was about to poke fun at her again.
As they docked the boat, she told them, “I don’t remember how to clean a fish.”
Cory laughed into his sleeve like he was coughing. “That’s perfectly okay. We clean fish as part of the package.”
That was easy. “Okay, great. Guess I’ll see you later then.”
The boat docked and she climbed out, surprised that she felt the need to run away from Cory.
7.
“Autumn!”
Errrr! She hadn’t made a clean getaway after all. She was almost to her cabin, so he must have run all the way from the dock. She turned slowly, making sure her dad wasn’t in sight before cocking a hip and sighing at him. “Did you forget a few jabs?”
He grinned at that as he ran to her. Wow. She wasn’t here to check him out, but what a sight he made. Snug jeans. A worn T-shirt perfect for stealing. And a perfectly fit body underneath, running to her. Autumn got the sudden thought that maybe she should write romance instead of travel articles.
“I guess you won.” He pulled off his sunglasses as he walke
d up to her and hooked them in his shirt collar. Oh, their stupid bet.
“Won what?” she asked innocently, glad her dad had gone the other direction. Hopefully her parents didn’t know just how far she and Cory took their jabbing and teasing.
Without warning, he wrapped her in his arms and tilted her back, knocking her completely off balance. She grabbed both his arms, gasping, as his warm lips landed on her shocked mouth.
She was so unsteady that she felt herself kick a leg.
His lips moved. Slowly.
A thousand fantasies she’d had about him over the years flew out the back of her mind onto a huge movie screen. His mouth, wow! Their lips melded together so perfectly, so suggestively, so promising.
This wasn’t like the truth-or-dare kiss in the fifth grade. Or the quick kiss-and-run in high school when he dropped her off after prom. Hot little tingles zinged from her head down to…well, down, and she started to kiss him back.
Then he righted her and pulled back. “I thought it was about time we actually went through with the bet.” He nodded like he usually did when wearing his cowboy hat, except it was missing today, and turned to walk away. “That’s what I call the cowboy kiss!” he called out without looking back.
Damn his overconfident ego!
The cowboy kiss. That’s exactly what he’d said when he kissed her back in high school. But that kiss was more like a curse that followed her through college. Damn him!
“Cory Weasel!”
He turned around and tilted his head. “Oh yes, we clean and cook your fish. That should go into your article.”
Really, who tips you over and kisses you like that over a bet? A childish bet from what, fifteen years ago? And here they were still acting like eight year olds. Well, that wasn’t going in her article!
8.
A rattle outside the sliding glass door woke Autumn from her late afternoon nap. Her head pounded at first, a side effect of sleeping so deeply in the day. After fishing, she’d worked on her piece about the resort for an hour and then taken a long, hot shower, trying to come down from the hypersensitive mood Cory put her in. Cory. How was she going to face him again, after that kiss?
She didn’t have a clock close by, but the daylight filtering inside was soft and slanted like it was evening already. She heard the noise again. Something was definitely rattling outside her screen door. She slid off the bed and snuck over to peek out.
“Cory?” she asked, with a slow curl of excitement unfurling inside her. He stood on the back patio of her cabin with his back to her. The blue-green river silhouetted his trim figure. “What are you doing?” She pulled the screen open and stepped out, then spotted a box of cooking supplies, including aluminum foil. That must have been making the noise, when he’d pulled it out and torn it.
“I thought I’d grill this fish over here for you. Unless…you wanted to come over to my house.” He finally looked at her to grin.
“Your house? You are evil.” Thinking of that kiss just hours before, she narrowed her eyes and folded her arms, wishing she had thought to prepare a scathing speech to address his manhandling.
“An evil genius in the grilling department too.” He winked just in case she missed his innuendo.
A few arguments popped into her head, but the warm, salty, fresh aroma stopped her saying anything. About a fourth of the fish she’d caught lay on thick foil on the hot grill. She leaned closer to inhale, which sent her stomach into growling fits.
One second she was smelling their dinner, and the next second she caught the scent of his cologne. Of his skin. Of him. She raised her eyes slowly, wondering if she’d fallen off the crazy cliff. Cory had his gaze on her with a clear message: I want you.
She could not believe it—suddenly, she wanted his hands all over her. She realized she was breathing rapidly. And he could hear. Had he gone to Romance 101 while she was gone? Possibly 501?
“The salad’s ready and on the table, if you want to start eating.”
She turned to see the small outdoor, glass table now had a tablecloth and settings for two. Cory had somehow found pretty china plates. From here, it looked like the edging had tiny red roses intertwined with gold leaves. In the middle of the table, instead of flowers, a lit flower-shaped candle floated in water inside a large wine glass.
“Do you mind if I freshen up first?”
He smiled over his shoulder at her, and as she escaped inside, she wondered if maybe his face had looked a bit reserved, or possibly even nervous. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?
This time she did check the clock. It was seven already! She must really have been tired from getting up so early.
She dampened her curls and tried to tidy her hair with her fingers, then threw on some blush, warm brown eye shadow, and mascara. Oh, and rose-pink lipstick. She almost changed her clothes—but on second thought, she didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard to impress him.
Cory was serving fish onto the plates as she stepped back outside.
“Would you like wine?”
“Yes, please.” Actually that sounded wonderful because suddenly she felt awkward about this. It looked like a date—a very romantic dinner date overlooking the river as the sun began to tip toward the western horizon. “Thank you for all this. I certainly didn’t expect it.”
“Well, I’m not the same Cory you’re expecting either.” He poured her a glass of white wine. She noted the label was a local winery, Henry Estate’s, and one of her favorites.
He sat down and motioned to her plate. “Let me know what you think.”
She’d been searching for an answer to his previous statement, but she wasn’t sure what she thought of it, or him, so she picked up her fork and tried a bite. Flavor exploded in her mouth. It was the perfect blend of fresh fish and seasoning. “Amazing.”
He grinned and picked up his own fork. She enjoyed the scenery, the pleasing food aromas, the breeze, and the river flowing by for a few minutes. Then, remembering what her mom had said the night before, she told him, “I’m really sorry to hear about your dad.”
His eyes dimmed, followed by a soft smile. “Thanks. I wish we would have stayed in contact more.”
“Me, too. I thought about you, though, and wondered what you were up to. I even searched for you online a few times to see if you ever made it to Nashville.”
He broke into a grin this time and looked out across the yard, shaking his head. “I had a lot of dreams back then.”
“You still can.”
His face came back and he stared at her with such intensity she couldn’t breathe.
“I do,” he said, “have dreams, that is. But I grew up too.”
She switched to her salad and picked out the olives. “So you’re staying here, working as a fishing guide and helping my parents? It sounds like you’re involved in the community a lot too. I shouldn’t pry so much, but are you happy doing all that?”
“Yes, I am.” He sipped his wine, then stared into the glass for a minute. It just then occurred to her that he was drinking white wine with her, and she knew he’d rather have a beer. “I enjoy guiding and being on the river, and being around here, although they don’t really need me. There are people lining up to work here. I could do something else if I found the want to or need to.”
“People are lining up to work here?” She sipped her wine too, puzzling over that.
“They’ll need to hire some additional guides and more help around the resort soon.”
Autumn set her glass down, feeling odd that he knew more about her parents’ lives than she did. “But they can’t afford help.”
He tilted his head, surprised. “I imagine they could.”
“Hmm, I had the impression they’re working hard to get more customers. That’s why I came out.”
He smiled and ducked his head. It was almost a laugh actually. “Autumn, you grew up here. You could write about it in your sleep.”
Yes…yes, she could. “So my parents just wanted
me to come visit.” She picked at her salad more, fighting the guilt forming in her stomach. She looked up, wondering what he thought about her. She found his eyes warm and caring.
“I’m glad you came to visit,” he said, searching her eyes. He reached across the table to lay a hand over hers.
“Where’s all this coming from?” she asked, hoping her smile didn’t look as nervous as she felt.
In response, he picked up the wine bottle and refilled both their glasses. He took a drink and cleared his throat, all with his hand remaining on hers. With a start, she realized he might want to get her into bed. They couldn’t. She could handle teasing, but just imagine trying to be around her parents and him if she’d slept with him?
Autumn had to clear her throat, wanting desperately to push the thoughts away. She liked Cory. A lot. She didn’t want some stupid one-night stand ruining things.
“I was dumb to let you leave without saying…” He pulled in a breath, pulling up his shoulders at the same time. “Without saying that I really liked you. I thought we’d meet up again here, sometime soon, but instead it’s been years.”
She’d ransacked the olives, bacon bits, and cheese bites from her salad. There wasn’t anything left but tomatoes on the lettuce. She focused on that as she took in his words, which didn’t sound like he wanted to seduce her tonight. She felt a tiny bit let down before mentally slapping herself, and before realizing Cory might want something more than one night.
He stood up and walked to the other side of the grill. He bent over, and at first she thought he was grabbing his box of supplies. Maybe he felt her lack of response meant she wasn’t interested, and he was leaving.
Music came on. She immediately recognized the slow beat even though she couldn’t recall the name. It was a song they’d heard all the time as kids, one that they had actually danced to once when their families got together for a summer night barbeque. The music had been pouring out of the house, and he’d asked her to dance.
I want to know what love is…