Chapter 55

Peyton rolled onto her stomach and began a lazy crawl back to shore. She had just hoisted herself onto the dock and stood up, water dripping from her body, when Dix came out of the cottage. He just stood there for a long moment, watching her. She did her best to ignore him as she dried off then headed back to the chair where she'd left her tablet. Dix didn't move or say a word, just watched her with eyes that seemed to see beneath her skin, until she was lying down again. Even though she couldn't see him anymore, she could feel his eyes on her like twin lasers.
Should she close her eyes and pretend she was going to sleep? Turn on her tablet and pretend to read? Whatever she did, it would be just that - pretend - because she was too acutely aware of his presence.
"I'm thinking of taking the boat out for a little spin around the lake." He laughed, a rusty sound. "Little being the operative word. That's a trolling motor, and I'm sure won't go past five miles an hour."
She sat up, stunned. "You want me to go for a boat ride with you?"
He shrugged. "Or not. Up to you. It seems like you haven't got any particular plans. Neither do I. And you said your family used to come here a lot when you were younger. Maybe you can give me a quick overview."
Peyton studied his face, looking for some kind of clue of...something. She wasn't sure what.
"You know," she said slowly, "I sure can't figure you out. One minute, you want nothing to do with me, the next you want us to...whatever it is you want us to do. Are you sure you aren't thinking of pushing me out of the boat when we get to the middle of the lake? That way you can have the cottage to yourself for the rest of the month."
His laugh had the rusty sound from before. "Trust me. If I wanted to get rid of you, I wouldn't do it in the middle of the lake with everyone on shore watching. No, I just thought you could tell me about this place, give me a feel for it."
Okay, then.
"Sure. All right. That would be nice. Thank you."
Shut up, Peyton, Don't talk so much.
"Let me just put the tablet in the house so the birds don't use it as a bathroom. I'll be really quick."
Dix nodded and headed to the storage shed for the trolling motor. By the time she'd stashed the tablet and hurried back, he already had the boat in the water, motor attached, and was waiting for her. He frowned when he saw she'd pulled her T-shirt back on.
"So I don't get sunburned," she said. And so he didn't look at her pudgy thighs and arms.
He gave her an unreadable look and helped her off the dock.
"I'm not sure I ever saw a boat like this," Dix commented while he fiddled with the motor.
"It's a Sponson canoe," she told him. "Old Town Canoe Company has been making them for a hundred years."
He sifted his weight a little, rocking it. "Good ballast. Doesn't seem like it'd tip over."
"That's why everyone on the lake had them," she explained. "Or at least they did when we were here."
"Okay, here we go."
The motor kicked over and caught and as slowly as you could move and still be motorized they pulled out into the lake. Looking around at the cottages and summer homes hugging the shoreline, other boats cutting through the water, and people out sunbathing as she had done took her right back to all the summers she'd been here, first as a kid and then as an awkward teenager.
"So, did you have a bunch of kids you hung out with?" The hum of the motor was so soft it was easy to hear him over it.
Peyton lifted a shoulder and let it drop. Up to a certain age, it hadn't mattered that she was pudgy. Yeah, be honest. Pudgy, not chubby. But, in her teens, when she and another girl whose family came to the lake started hanging out with kids in town, she became awkward and self-conscious.
"I didn't think that was such a hard question." Dix's voice was tinged with amusement.
"What?" She shook herself. "Oh, sorry. Other kids? Not so many. A girl about my age. Some others here and there. We used to walk into town. You know it's not that far. We loved going to the ice cream place. They made their own ice cream."
"Sounds like a place I'd have liked. They still there?"
She shook her head. "One of the many traditions that have fallen with time."
"That's too bad. Traditions are good."
"Yes, they are." She looked off in the distance as other images came back to her. "We spent every day in the water. It's a wonder we didn't shrivel up." She smiled. "When we got old enough to appreciate them, we went to the softball games and ate the best hot dogs you could ever imagine. I loved this place. They were good times." She grinned. "Even when I got older and had a major crush on the milkman's son."
Dix raised his eyebrows. "You had a milkman?"
She nodded. "This is the country, big guy. Anyway, I thought he was cute. My dad thought he looked like Gregory Peck, whoever that was. And he thought he was god's gift to women. Not this woman, of course." She grinned at him. "But it didn't matter. I just loved being here on the water. Anyway. The memories are some of my very best. That's why I wanted to come here. What about you?"
He shrugged. "I was looking for isolation." His lips twisted in a wry grin. "Guess that didn't work out so well."
"At least the swimming is good here," she reminded him. "I swam all the time. Also, my dad and my uncles taught me to fish."
"I noticed some rods in the shed." He cocked an eyebrow. "Maybe we could try dropping a line in tomorrow or the next day."
"Sure. That would be fun."
Too much fun, she thought. She should probably lock herself in the closet. Or, better yet, call the realtor and tell her she'd changed her mind and wanted out of the lease. But then she glanced at Dix, at the beautiful masculinity of his face, at the sculptured look of his body. I can't do this again. I just can't.
"You look a little tense there," Dix commented. One corner of his mouth kicked up in a grin. "Am I going too fast for you?"
She laughed, and that eased the tension coiled inside her. "Yeah, I guess you'd better hold it down a little."
She still couldn't figure this man out. One minute, he was distant, silent even. The next, he was friendly, or at least as much so as she figured he got. The trip on the lake turned out to be far more pleasant than she'd expected. By the time they pulled back in to shore, it was late afternoon.
"You do eat real food, right?" Dix asked as he tied up the boat and tipped the motor so the blades were out of the water.
Peyton stared at him. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
"I took a look at the rabbit food you had for lunch and wondered."
She would have smacked him if she'd known him better. Rabbit food indeed. "I can eat anything I want to."
Sometimes.
"Good. I thought I'd clean off that grill and cook a couple of steaks tonight. That okay with you?"
"But you bought those for yourself, didn't you?" she asked.
"I can always buy more," he reminded her. "I just thought since eating lunch turned out so well, we might try dinner."
She cocked her head. She wanted to make a comment about his split personality but decided silence was the better part of valor, so she nodded. "Sure. That would be very nice. Very nice."
"You can have the shower first," he called after her as she headed for the house.
Yup. Really weird.