Chapter 28
“That view!” The awe and excitement in my voice is obvious, and I’m not even embarrassed.
“It’s even better up close. Would you want to go out on the lake today? It’s obviously too cold for swimming, but we could take the boat out after breakfast.”
“If you ever hear me say no to someone inviting me out on a boat, I want you to take me out back and put me out of my misery,” I say with mock seriousness. “That sounds amazing! I love water.”
“Me too.” He smiles warmly at me. “We need to get more food in you first, though. What do you want in your omelet?”
“Surprise me. I’m not picky,” I tell him. “Dinner last night was so good that you have my full food trust now.”
“So much pressure,” he chuckles.
“Don’t you dare disappoint me.” I try to be serious, but a laugh cracks my voice halfway through the sentence.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he quips.
I finally cross the rest of the way to the bar counter in the kitchen and settle myself down across from Caleb, watching him work. I ask if there is anything I can do to help, but he unsurprisingly turns me down. I am pretty sure that I would just be in the way anyway, since Caleb cooking is something akin to a choreographed dance. The man must have been a chef in another life with how comfortable he is in the kitchen, and it is way sexier than it should be.
He finishes cooking and brings our plates over to the table, along with a bowl of fresh-cut fruit. He pours me a glass of orange juice, and I can’t help but smile at the way he is fussing over me like some kind of mother hen. It’s sweet. *Why does he have to be so sweet?!*
It really does make this whole situation ten times harder. Being inexplicably drawn to this man was a lot easier to ignore when I thought he was a jerk.
We eat our breakfasts in comfortable silence, and I was right to trust him to decide what to put in my omelet, because it is *phenomenal*. The man really missed his calling. I tell him so, saying, “Honestly, you are wasted as a doctor. You belong in the kitchen.”
“I’m serious,” I add when he chokes out a laugh. “I am never going to be able to go back to eating peasant food after staying here!”
“You are ridiculous,” he chuckles, “It’s been really nice to have someone other than myself to cook for. So you’re spoiling me too.”
I roll my eyes, because the idea that *I’m* spoiling *him* by gorging myself on his delicious cooking is simply absurd.
I finish my last couple of bites, then stand to walk my plate to the sink, intending to wash it. Caleb leaps up out of his seat, and gently takes the plate from my hand. “No, no, I’ve got this,” he tells me, “The spray down that you gave the entire kitchen last night was more than enough!”
“Hey!” I feign outrage. “You can’t pin that on me! You’re the one who distracted me!”
He gives me a smug smile, then says, “Yes, and I would *love* to distract you again. So you should probably stay away from the kitchen sink, that way I don’t get any ideas.”
I gasp. “So inappropriate, Dr. Reed!” We stare each other down for a moment, and then both dissolve into laughter. The deep sound of his laughter vibrates in my chest, causing my heart to give a little flip and the heat of a blush spreads across my cheeks.
“Alright, should we head out? There is a whole lake to explore.” Caleb looks like he is half-hoping that I will say no so that we can stay here and find… other ways to pass the time today.
“Let’s do it,” I say enthusiastically. I am genuinely excited to get to go out on the water.
“Okay, you’re going to want to bundle up. If it’s cold on the shore, it is even colder on the water. That sweater you are wearing might not be warm enough,” he tells me.
“I don’t have anything warmer,” I say sheepishly, “I wasn’t expecting to go on an expedition today when I was panic-packing last night.”
“Fair enough, I’ll grab you one of my jackets, and we can bring some blankets to bundle you up in.” There he goes, fussing over me again. I kind of love it, though. After fighting tooth and nail through life, it’s really nice to be taken care of like this.
Thirty minutes later, I am bundled up in one of Caleb’s oversized hoodies and carrying a small stack of blankets towards the lake. His backyard is sloped, and I ungracefully clomp down the hill as I try to keep my balance. He leads me off to the side of the yard, toward the edge of a dense forest. As we move forward, I realize that there is a dock stretching out over the water, which was apparently blocked from the view of the house by all of the trees. Docked at the very end is a small, but expensive-looking pontoon boat.
I probably would have pegged Caleb as a flashy speedboat guy, but I am pleasantly surprised.
I stay a step behind him as we make our way down the long, wooden walkway. His warm, rough hand wraps around mine, and he helps me to step down onto the boat. He hands me the large tote he was carrying, and begins moving to untie the boat from the dock. I want to help, but I most definitely do not know my way around boats, and with my track record of trying to help Caleb around water, I would most likely end up falling in and taking him down with me.
The boat has a captain’s chair for the driver, and a second one next to it, along with a couple of small bench seats in the front and in the back. I decide it would be weird to sit alone on either end, so I settle down in the second captain’s seat. Not long later, Caleb finishes untying the boat, and gives it a strong push away from the dock, jumping in once it is far enough away.
“Are you ready to begin our expedition,” Caleb asks, poking fun at my earlier use of the word.
“You know it. Are you?”
His eyes cut to me, locking with mine. “With you? Always.”