Page 98 of Meet Cute Reboot
“He’s most certainly jealous. But I don’t care.”
Luke leans over me and kisses me again. Korg immediately tries to poke his nose between our faces. He starts licking our cheeks. This time we both fall onto our backs and laugh.
“I think I’m covered in sand,” I say after I’ve calmed down.
Luke prods my side. “Yep.”
“I know I said I wasn’t going to get in that water, but...” I head into the shallow, clear water, and lie down. Luke can’t resist the temptation to splash me a few times, then he follows my lead and rinses the sand off his back.
Since we’re clean, we opt to leave the sandy beach and return to our kayaks. We paddle back into the tidal creek, Korg perched like a mast on Luke’s kayak. I use my newfound rowing skills to glide up beside Luke, and we travel side by side along the narrow waterway.
We’re almost to the mouth of the creek when Korg’s body goes alert and stiff. He barks at something in the grass, and then does the unthinkable: he leaps from Luke’s kayak, parkours off mine, and dashes into the grass. The displacement caused by his weight knocks me and my kayak over. My face plows into the water first, followed by the rest of me while my kayak—my safe-haven from lurking alligators—pops out from under me.
It all happens so fast that I don’t have time to scream.
Chapter 19
Cassie
I thrash around with my head underwater for an inordinately long time considering I’m wearing a life jacket. Luke calls my name amid the sounds of splashing and roiling water. He approaches me from behind and wraps his arms around me, righting my body and lifting my head out of the marsh.
“Alligators!” I somehow manage to yell while gasping for air. Luke chuckles next to my ear.
“There are no alligators,” he says.
“That’s what they want you to think!”
Luke spins me around.
My foot touches something slimy. Panic wells in my gut. “Get me out of here!”
I’m bobbing on my own now, but Luke rests his hands on my shoulders to steady me. He ducks to meet my eyes. “I need Boss Cassie now, fearless leader, determined warrior, and conqueror.”
Water droplets slide down my temples and drip from the tip of my nose. I’m still convinced gaping reptilian jaws are about to swallow me whole.
“Boss Cassie isn’t fearless,” I say, my voice quivering. “She questions herself every step of the way.”
“You and every entrepreneur.”
“Can we...?” I flail to the left and then the right looking for my lime green kayak. It’s floating several yards away.
“I’ll get it,” Luke says.
“Don’t leave me alone in this swamp.” Funny how the grass and brackish water isn’t so idyllic now.
He searches in the water for my hand, grabs it, and we both do an awkward one-armed stroke to my kayak. I grab onto the lime green plastic and hoist my right leg onto the boat. I try to slide the kayak under me, but only manage to torpedo it several yards down the creek. We repeat our one-armed duet. This time Luke swims to the opposite side of the kayak. While he holds it steady, I try the leg-hoisting thing again. After much pulling, lurching, tugging, and wiggling, I manage to straddle the kayak. Backward.
“Wait a minute. Let me...” I mumble.
He continues holding on while I do a careful spin on my bum. When my arms, legs, and torso are in proper order, I realize I don’t have a paddle.
Luke has me covered. He swims away with strong freestyle strokes and returns with his kayak, two paddles, and somehow Korg, who is already at his post, drenched, but otherwise regally poised on the kayak. I watch in amazement while Luke climbs aboard with barely a wobble.
As we head home, I opt to follow Luke, wanting no repeat of Korg’s earlier escapade that nearly turned me into reptile food. We eventually reach his dock, and I climb to safety withoutincident. I collapse in exhaustion while Luke reracks the kayaks and tucks our jackets and paddles into the wooden storage bin.
“I don’t think my yoga classes are cutting it,” I say.
Luke offers me a hand and helps me to my feet. “You’ll sleep well tonight.”