Page 18 of Protecting Kelli
“No,” she repeated, shaking her head. “There are who knows what animals in that river. Snakes, crocodiles, leaches, piranha, parasites…yucky things!”
Flash chuckled. “I don’t think there are any piranha in there.”
“Whatever,” Kelli said with a shake of her head. “You can’t swim to the pick-up point!”
“We could share the tube,” Flash suggested. “Those were the only rapids, at least according to the briefing we got before we put in. We should be fine to float the rest of the way.”
“We aren’t going to fit on that tube together,” she told him with a frown.
“Why not?”
“Um, Flash…look at me,” Kelli said, taking a step backward, out of his arms.
The way he licked his lips as his gaze ran up and down her body made Kelli shiver. In a good way. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a man look at her the way Flash was in that moment. As if he were starving and she was a hamburger he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into.
“I’m looking at you,” he said quietly.
“I just…Flash! Concentrate,” Kelli said, a little breathlessly.
His gaze finally came back to her own. “I know you think you’re too big or some such bullshit, but I’m telling you right now, Kelli Colbert, you are nothing of the kind. You’re tiny.”
She couldn’t help it. She snorted.
“You are,” Flash insisted. “And don’t think I missed how uncomfortable you were, sitting in that tube. You’rejust too short to be able to fit in that huge thing correctly. And that’s not a dig, just a fact. I can get in, and you can sit across my lap.”
Kelli was shaking her head before he’d even finished speaking.
“Why not?”
“Flash…I…you…” Kelli stumbled over her words, not able to get the image of her sitting in Flash’s lap out of her mind. Her butt would be right over his…
Involuntarily, her gaze went to his crotch. Even in the swim shorts, she could tell he was well endowed. Shrinkage didn’t seem to be an issue for this man.
When Flash chuckled, her gaze whipped back up to his face. She knew she was blushing, could feel the heat in her cheeks.
“Our other choice is to walk, and I’m thinking since neither of us are wearing shoes, that’s out. Or I could hold onto the tube behind you, and float with you that way.”
But Kelli shook her head again. She couldn’t stand the thought of him being immersed in the water. It was stupid. He was used to the water and was obviously a great swimmer. But she couldn’t stop thinking about snakes or seeing the scrapes on his body from where he was already hurt by rocks under the water.
“Fine,” she said, before she chickened out and changed her mind.
Flash stepped back into her personal space and wrapped one arm around her waist, putting his other hand under her chin, lifting it so she had no choice but to look at him.
“This is going to be fine. Stop thinking so much. If you think it’s any kind of hardship for me to hold you in mylap as we float down the river, you’re absolutely, one hundred percent wrong.”
“I might squish you,” she whispered.
Flash snorted. “As if. You don’t weight any more than my pack does when I’m on a mission.”
Kelli rolled her eyes. “I seriously doubt your pack weighs as much as I do.”
“Come on, let’s do this. We don’t want to piss the others off by making them wait for us. We’ll never hear the end of it if we do.”
That was very true. Kelli could just imagine the haranguing she’d get from Charlotte if she and the Three A’s had to stand around and wait for them.
Flash hadn’t moved. He stayed right where he was, with his arm around her and his hand under her chin, waiting for her to be ready.
Taking a deep breath, Kelli said, “Okay. Let’s do this. I’m about done with thisfunfloat down the river anyway.”
