A First Love to Die For

Chapter Twenty-Six- Impacted

(Josie's POV)

After dropping Hailey off, I called Lincoln to fill him in.

"There wasn't a whole lot that she had for us, but she flagged Harold as having some interaction with at least one of the girls. Stephie and Candy also partied with all of them, just like Candy had explained. I still find it suspicious that Stephie didn't initially share that information."

I paused, unsure as how to bring up Sam. "She thought there was a chance that Sam had hooked up with one of them?"

He was silent for a moment, "I'll ask him about it. Other than that, there is nothing more that we can do but hope that our surveillance on Harold and Stephie turns something up. Are you coming into the station today?"

"No." I didn't see the point. We currently didn't really have a next step, so I figured I'd go to my dad's and spend the day on the water. One of my favourite activities that I didn't ever get to do was kayak.

The silence on the line was deafening. "You still there?"

He cleared his throat. "Sorry. Yeah. I was wondering if you would want to spend some time together this afternoon. It's okay if you would rather not... I just..."

He trailed off and any uncomfortableness that I might have felt at the request, dissipated because of his adorable awkwardness.

He continued to stutter, "Sorry, I shouldn't have even suggested it."

Did I think it was a good idea to spend more time together? No, probably not. But my curiosity was like a monstrous beast that could not be tamed.

Not a good idea..

"What time should I be ready?"

His excitement snapped through the line. "I'll be there at four! Be prepared for the water, I'll pick you up in my boat."

Then he hung up almost like he knew that there was a good possibility that I would change my mind.

I had made it to my dad's driveway throughout our conversation and sat there for a moment before going inside. I pressed a hand to my fluttering stomach. I was spending the afternoon with Lincoln.

What the hell are you doing?

I knew I could call back and cancel and he would accept it with no argument but somehow that's not actually what I wanted. I had promised myself that I would use the time while I was home to try to get the closure that I needed to move on. I didn't think that was possible if we didn't spend time together.

That's what I was telling myself anyway.

I managed to keep myself from spinning out all afternoon by staying active. I went for a kayak, cleaned up my dad's house and in general kept myself as busy as possible.

Now, as I stood in front of the mirror staring blankly at myself, I felt all the warring emotions.

I was somehow equally nervous and excited for tonight. It was the excitement that worried me. I was supposed to be doing this for closure. He had nearly destroyed me the first time.

What are you thinking?

I threw some clothes and a towel into my beach bag, in a daze. I gave my face a gentle slap, "Hop off the hot mess express, Josie!"

I slipped on my flip-flops and took one last look in the mirror. It wasn't like I could stress out about clothes. I had one bathing suit here and one coverup so not a whole lot of choice.

Luckily, the bathing suit that I had packed was my favourite. It was a black bikini with a gold clasp at the front that gave my boobs an extra little oomph and the bottoms were black, high rise and scaffolded, they complimented my figure. As I walked out of my childhood bedroom, I considered that only one person ever brought out this nervousness in me.

I heard the rumbling of a boat and grabbed my water bottle before walking down to meet him. I found myself taking my time, trying to ignore how good he looked behind the wheel of his boat.

As I got closer, he pushed his sunglasses up into his curly hair and his smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. He was wearing a pair of sky-blue shorts and a white tank top that showed every dip and crevice in his arms.

God, I thought again, how was it fair that he has gotten more attractive with age? He was idling the boat and also managed to give me his hand as I jumped on the front passenger seat.

I lost my footing as I stepped down and fell into him. My hands somehow fondled his pecs and reached for his biceps as I landed against him. He was so chiselled that it hurt.

This is a mistake.

It felt ridiculous that the ease with which he caught me was a turn-on. But it was. His hands stayed put, making sure I was steady and then let me go. He cleared his throat and said a gruff, "Hey." Almost as if he was as impacted as I was.

His growly tone wasn't supposed to make my heart pound, or my vagina awaken from what felt like an eternal slumber.

I cleared my own throat. "Hey." Then I moved as far away in the passenger seat as I possibly could and sat down as he got us moving.

I pulled down my sunglasses and let my face absorb some of the sun's rays, quietly ignoring the sexual tension that seemed to be radiating through the air, as he picked up some speed and we took off across the lake. It didn't take us long for us to reach a beautiful cottage on the other side of the lake. I gasped as we pulled up to a pristine, white, farmhouse-style house, right on the water and with a wrap-around porch.

What the fuck were we doing here?

I stayed quiet as we got out, not ready to ask questions or to talk to him yet. The energy was still there, pulsating all around us. I was trying my best to ignore it. This place was perfect and as we docked, I could see Lincoln smiling at my reaction. We got out and onto the dock which was wide enough to sit four different coloured Adirondack chairs.

Lincoln pointed at a big cooler bag in the back.  "I hope it's okay, but I packed a couple of beers and some snacks in case you were hungry."

I still had no idea what we were doing here, but what I said was, "I wouldn't say no to a beer right now."

As he handed me one and I followed him up the path, I wondered out loud, "Whose place is this?"