Page 28 of Keeping Amanda
And just like that, the spell she seemed to be under was broken. All of a sudden, Amanda felt self-conscious. Yes, he’d made the first move by asking if he could kiss her, but she’d been all over him. Practically jumped him.
Proving he was a perceptive man, Nash leaned back a little and stared down at her. “Well, that was a surprise, huh?”
She gave him a small smile and nodded.
“Do you regret it?”
That was an easy question to answer. “No.”
“Good. Neither do I. This is horrible timing, and probably the last thing we should be thinking about, but I can’t help it.You live in Norfolk, right? I mean, when you aren’t here in South America.”
“Um, yeah.”
“I’d like the chance to get to know you when you get home. I’m stationed there myself. It feels like kismet or serendipity or something. I’d like to see if this chemistry we have is still as explosive and intense when we aren’t escaping through the jungle. When we aren’t maybe or maybe not on the run from assholes who want to do horrible things to you. I want to take you out to dinner. Maybe a movie. Go for walks. Introduce you to the rest of my team. To Laryn, Casper’s fiancée. Would that be something you’d be interested in?”
Interested in? Amanda wanted to jump up and down in giddy glee.
But the practical side of her kicked in. “I have about three more months on my agreement here.”
“I highly doubt time is going to dull this ache I feel for you. The desire to get to know you better.”
That was something her dream man would say for sure.
“Unless you don’t feel the same. I mean, you could have any man you want, so why settle for a pilot whose work schedule is unpredictable at best. I can’t guarantee I’d be able to be with you every time you needed me. I have to go where the Army, and sometimes Navy, sends me.”
Amanda hated the uncertainty in his voice. She put a hand on his chest and looked up at him, hoping he could see the honesty in her eyes and hear it in her tone. “I’ve been alone for quite a long while now. I don’t mind that you have to travel for your job. That doesn’t matter to me, as long as you’re safe.”
“I have a feeling if things work out the way I’d like them to, my days of doing impulsive things like running away from my chopper during an op instead of keeping my ass inside are over.”
That made goose bumps break out over her arms once more.She realized she never answered his original question. “I’d like that,” she said simply. “To see you when I get back to Virginia.”
“Awesome!” Nash exclaimed with a smile. “Now, I’m going to go back over there,” he said, nodding toward the other side of the pool. “And take off this flight suit, scrub it as best I can, take off my underwear and do the same thing. I’m sure you want to do the same with your clothes. I give you my word I won’t look until you’re dressed again.”
Amanda added honorable to this man’s list of attributes. “Thank you.”
He lifted a hand and brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek. “No need to thank me. If you knew the thoughts I had, you’d probably be running in the opposite direction.”
“Oh, I know what thoughts you have. I’m pretty sure they’re the same onesIhad when you did your little strip tease earlier.”
He chuckled. “Honestly, all I was thinking about was getting that nasty tank top off. Speaking of which…where did it go? Shit, did it get sucked off downstream?”
Amanda wanted to make a joke to go along with his “sucked off” comment, but decided this wasn’t the time or place. “I think that’s it, over there,” she said, pointing toward the bank, not too far from where they were standing.
“Whew. All right, let’s get this bath thing done. Our clothes aren’t going to be dry, but maybe since it’s not raining for once, they’ll only be damp by the time the sun goes down.”
“How much farther do we have to go, do you think?” Amanda couldn’t help but ask. She’d refrained from asking that very question many times over the last few days, simply because she didn’t want to be a pest and didn’t want to sound like a little kid on a road trip asking that annoying question over and over.Are we there yet?
“You want honest, or do you want me to make something up?” he asked with a small tilt of his head. Nash hadn’t let go ofher, and it felt…good, comforting, being in the circle of his arms as they talked.
“Honest. Always.”
“I don’t know. You said it took you and the kids about two weeks to get to the camp?”
“That’s what I think, yes.”
“I have a feeling we’re moving only a little faster than you did with the children. Simply because we aren’t using any convenient roads or trails, but trudging through the jungle. We’re also weaving a bit, zigzagging to try to throw off anyone who might be tracking us.”
“So, you think we still have at least a week of walking to go. Maybe more,” Amanda deduced, feeling her shoulders slump.
