I sat there, across the bonfire, almost openly staring at him as he and his buddies took turns roping the dummy calf. He was a vision. I know every woman says that about a guy she is interested in but in my case it was true. He was a vision; all broad shouldered and muscled arms. Lord, I was a sucker for muscled arms. Despite growing up in the same small town I didn't remember much of him. I'm told that the girl I was would not have like the guy he had been; maybe that's why I hadn't remembered him.
"Gonna burn a hole in them Wranglers if you stare at them much longer," My friend Stephanie waived a beer in front of my face before flopping down in the camp chair next to mine.
"Those Wranglers," I corrected before taking a drink from my bottle. Beer wasn't really my thing but at this kind of get together it was beer or go thirsty.
"Whatever."
"Besides, it's not like he's even noticed me," As if on cue he his eyes swept my direction. Busted. He reached up and touched the brim of his ball cap, a modern take on the time old hat tipping gesture. I lifted my beer in return and he smiled. It was like a mule kick to the gut had sent my stomach up into my throat. I'm guessing our flirtation might have gone on longer but one of his friends elbowed him in the ribs so they could laugh at someone else in their tight knit group.
Stephanie patted my hand and cooed, "That was so cute. You should'a winked or licked your lips or something."
I slugged her shoulder and told her to shut up.
"Fine. I have to run up to the house. You coming?"
"Nothing better to do."
As we passed the group of guys something flashed through my field of vision and there was a tightening sensation around my waist line, like a belt being pulled snug. I looked down and confirmed that I had been roped.
"Leaving so soon?" He asked with a laugh. That voice was the perfect combination melted honey and alpha male. It pooled in my ear and dripped down my spine. I had hoped the shiver that ran down my back was just mental but I heard him chuckle so it must have manifested physically, too.
"No, just going up to the house for a bit."
He took up a coil in the dally of his rope, making me take a step closer to him.
"Why don't we go for a walk?" Coil. Step.
"Where?" Coil. Step.
"I was thinking down by the creek. See if the fireflies are out." Coil. Step.
"That could be fun." He took up the last coil which brought me close enough for him to drop his arm around my waist.
"Well, let's go then," He said as he reached into a nearby cooler to retrieve two more beers.
I turned to Stephanie and waived her on her way. She gave me a goofy smile and two thumbs up before she turned back on the path to the house.
We crossed the small meadow toward the creek in silence. His arm was still around my waist, each of us carrying a beer; the amber bottles sweating in the late summer heat. There was small talk about the weather and work until we came to a fork in the trail. One trail stayed high and cut through a woodlot staying within sight of the bonfire, the other went low along the creek and was sheltered by the higher bank the upper trail was on.
"High road or low road?" He asked, and took a couple of steps down the lower path as if to indicate his preference.
"Low."
