We spend almost an hour in what appears to be a muddy creek with water that reaches just to the bottom of my chin. Adam assures me it’s just the lack of sunlight that makes it look murky, but I’m not convinced. Every time something brushes up against my leg, I scream and threaten to leave.
“Come on, Claire, the critters are half the fun!” Locke shouts as he hangs from a tree branch above the creek. “They’re harmless so long as they don’t slither into your swimsuit.”
Adam grabs my foot to stop me from swimming away. “You can’t leave yet.” He yanks me back and wraps his arms around my waist as he pulls my back against his chest. “We haven’t even played Marco Polo yet.”
His hand slides over my belly and I turn around to face him. I throw my arms around his neck and wrap my legs around his waist, confident that no one can see our bodies through the black, mucky water. The startled smile on his face makes my stomach flutter. I’m pleased to see I’ve surprised him.
“If you take me inside,” I whisper in his ear, “I’ll play Marco Polo with you upstairs.”
His hands slide under the waistband of my bikini and over my ass as he lets out a soft groan. He kisses my neck before he pulls his head back and looks me in the eye.
“Not here. I want our first time to be perfect and this is not the right place or the right time. Not that I don’t want to take you upstairs and destroy you. Just not tonight.”
“I can see your boner from here!” Julia shouts at Adam.
He shakes his head as he puts me back down on the creek bed and something definitely slithers over my foot. I kick my foot hard and end up kicking a large stone.
“Ouch!” I cry.
I can feel I’ve cracked my toenail and the searing pain is enough to make my eyes water.
“What happened?”
“I kicked a rock. Fuck!”
I swim quickly toward the edge of the creek and scramble out of the water. I plop down on the damp grass and try to look at my toe under the dim moonlight. It’s too dark out here and my foot is covered in too much mud and grass to see whether I’m bleeding. Adam scrambles up the incline and scoops me up into his arms.
“Let’s go clean it up.”
“Put me down. I can walk.”
“Fine.”
As soon as my foot touches the ground, a sharp pain slices through my toe and I hold in my scream, but I can’t hold back my grimace. I may have broken it. He reaches for me to pick me up again and I push him away.
“You’re not carrying me. The house is like a quarter mile away. It’s too far. I can walk.”
He turns his back to me and looks over his shoulder. “Hop on my back. I’ll be your horsey.”
“In case you couldn’t tell, I’m trying not to make several comments about riding you,” I say as I climb onto his back.
“In case you couldn’t tell, I’m trying really hard not to ride you,” he replies.
I try to keep my grip on his neck a bit loose so I don’t choke him as he carries me all the way to the house and into the downstairs bathroom. He sets me down on the countertop and kneels down to look at my foot.
“You’re too dirty,” he mutters.
“That’s what he said.”
He shakes his head at my bad joke as he lets go of my foot. “Take a shower then I’ll wrap it up for you.”
“All my stuff is upstairs.”
“Stay right here. I’ll be right back.”
A few minutes later he returns with my makeup bag and some fresh pajamas and panties.
He sets them on the countertop and stares at me for a moment before he turns to leave. “I’ll be right outside. Just holler if you need anything.”
He’s about to shut the door when I call out to him. “Wait!”
He pops his head in and raises his eyebrows questioningly. “Did I forget something?”
“Can you stay in here with me? In case I need some help. I don’t have Life Alert.”
One side of his mouth pulls up in a devilish half-smile. “Of course.”
He turns on the water as I untie my bikini top and climb out of my bottoms, all the while hopping on one foot and balancing my weight on the countertop. He opens the shower door and wraps his arm around my waist to help me into the shower. I pretend not to notice him staring at my breasts as I step inside and close the door behind me. The bottom of the shower turns a murky brown as the mud rinses away under the warm water.
Once the muck is gone, I can see that half my toenail is missing, but I don’t think the toe is broken as it’s only slightly swollen and pink.
“You okay in there?”
“I think I’m going to make it.”