Who Is Lucas Ryker O'Riley?

68. AWKWARD

The four of us continued to have a great time playing through nine more holes while getting to know each other and building a friendship.

In what felt like no time at all, we had made it to the eighteenth hole.

I set up for my initial shot and swung, banking my ball off the metal side rail on the edge of the green. The angle of my calculation was wrong and when my ball bounced off the side, it hit an off-set block in the center of the narrow passageway and returned in my direction, rolling right past me before stopping.

Not at all what I wanted to happen.

"That's one stroke," Callan lightheartedly teased.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied with a chuckle as I picked up my ball. "Don't tease me too much, you're next."

I returned to the starting mat, and proceeded to recalculate the angle I was about to swing, when I was taken by surprise once again by Jeremy stepping up behind me.

He reached around me, gently placing his hands over mine on the club.

His warm body aginst my back and his arms enveloping me, pulling me tight against his chest, was comforting and nice.

I think I could maybe get used to this, I told myself.

Jeremy proceeded to assist me with setting up and taking the shot. I swung the club with his gentle guidance and the ball easily flew past the center block, up an incline, and through the legs of a baby wooly mammoth, narrowly avoiding his swinging trunk, and coming to rest in front of a loop-de-loop.

I now only had to hit the ball with enough force to get it through the loop-de-loop and into the hole. If I hit it too hard it would roll past the hole, down a slope, and make things much more difficult.

"Take your time and concentrate, but don't over think it, babe," Jeremy warmly encouraged me.

"It's the last hole, you got this," Daisy added.

Once I decided I had calculated just how I needed to hit the ball to succeed, I took the swing. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the green had a slight, barely perceptable downhill angle leading to the edge where the slope then dropped significantly steeper.

I had hit the ball a little too hard but it still should have dropped into the hole. However, due to the slight decline, my ball picked up too much speed and rolled across the hole, hitting the far edge, jumping out the other side, and came to rest at the bottom of the slope.

My shoulders dropped, my smiling facial expression melted into sadness, and my heart sank. I knew it would probably take several strokes to get back to the top.

I looked around at Callan and Daisy, to see their reaction, but they were no longer paying me any attention. Callan was facing Daisy with his hands around her waist. She had her hands around the back of his neck and their lips were coming together in a prelude to a passionate kiss.

I knew I shouldn't stare, but I couldn't look away. Something inside me stired as I watched the way Daisy’s hands rested around the back of Callan’s neck, her thumb slowly tracing the subtly stubbled contour of his jaw.

I continued to watch while his tongue disappeared inside her mouth, probing passionately, as if he needed to reach deep and physically touch her soul to survive.

It was easily the sweetest, most intimate moment I had ever witnessed in person.

Afraid Jeremy could be getting ideas, I reluctantly tore my eyes away, turning to see if he had observed this as well.