“Aha! It is a picnic.” She danced around beside him.
“I’m so confused.”
“You’ll get used to it, big boy.”
A grin had spread across his face. “I knew you were awed by my—”
“You’re obsessed. Seriously.” She plucked a leaf as they headed along a dirt track, trying and failing to keep a lid on the happiness building inside her.
The man was good looking, gorgeous. But when he smiled, he made her knees shake. Which had been her plan all along. She wanted him to drop the heavy air hovering around him. The only time he didn’t look grim was right after he’d come or when she acted like a goofball. They had a day and night left and she was going to make him smile as much as possible.
He glanced at her. “You’re the one that can’t stop thinking about what I’ve got down my pants.”
“Oh, I’m the sex maniac?” She cocked a brow.
His grin slipped a bit and she cursed her slip of the tongue. Adam didn’t exactly hide the fact he hooked up a lot, but he seemed sensitive about it, well, at least when she brought it up.
They reached the edge of the lake. The spot Adam had brought her to was stunning. Secluded and shaded. The water’s edge was just a few feet away. She turned to Adam. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
The way he was watching her made her heart race faster.
“I’m glad I could show it to you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lucy smiled at him, and he felt it low in his gut.
She stared out at the water. “It’s so beautiful.”
He wouldn’t know. All he could see was her. All he could think of was the way she’d been this morning while he’d moved inside her. No one, nothing, compared to the woman standing in front of him. This was becoming more and more apparent as the hours ticked by. But he already knew that, which was why every moment with her was equal parts euphoria and agony.
Damn, his throat felt tight as hell. He cleared it. “Yeah, I always thought it was a nice spot.”
She shook her head, glancing at him over her shoulder. “Nice? That word does not adequately describe this place.” She lifted her hand to shield her eyes. “Did you used to swim down here?”
“All the time.”
Her grin was back. “I say we eat then take a dip.”
He didn’t get a chance to answer, because she’d already taken the blanket out of his hand—the picnic blanket—and was laying it out on the ground. Lucy was right, this was romantic. He hadn’t planned for it—didn’t know the damn meaning of the word—he’d simply wanted to show her a place that was special to him before their journey ended.
She plonked down on ground, legs crossed under her. “So what did you get us?”
The light breeze ruffled her dark hair, eyes bright with happiness. It was good to see. She hadn’t looked like her old self since she’d been back. And, fuck, so much had changed in the last forty-eight hours that he’d give anything to know what put those shadows in her beautiful green eyes. Anything, to be the one to seek out the source and fucking annihilate it.
“Dude, I’m dying of starvation here.”
He’d been standing there staring at her. “Ah…yeah, just some sandwiches.”
She patted the spot beside her. “Well, come on then. Hand it over.”
For some crazy reason, he felt nervous. He’d never done anything like this with a woman. He was well aware that made him a major asshole and seriously pathetic. But he was kind of glad the one and only time he’d do stuff like this—romantic stuff—it was with Lucy.
Dropping down on the blanket beside her, he handed over the bag, watching as she pulled everything out and laid it down between them. It was a simple act, but he was damn near mesmerized by her. Gut in knots. They were like a normal couple, weren’t they? This was the kind of thing that couples did. Spent their night together, sleeping together, laughing, joking, fucking. Eating a goddamn picnic lunch together. This was the only taste he’d get of that kind of life. How many times would he hear about Lucy and some other guy after this was all over? How many times would he be confronted with it? Seeing her with boyfriends—one day a husband.
She picked a sandwich, leaned back on a hand, and looked up at the sky. “I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o’er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she spoke, seeing the joy on her face. She grinned over at him and he felt it like a cheap shot to the chest.