Faking Christmas(44)

Soft chuckling broke through my amusement, and I slowly turned my head to see Miles watching me with a smile on his face.

“You’d better be careful,” he said softly. “Some people feel their first adrenaline rush and then spend the rest of their lives chasing it.”

Our eyes held for a long moment as we sat in a contemplative glow. A long sigh escaped both of our lips at the same time as we adjusted ourselves in the hot tub seats. My limbs were starting to feel heavier now as the rush of the moment began to dissipate.

“Is that what it’s like for you all the time? Doing all the crazy things you do?”

He contemplated my question. “It used to be like that. The first time I went skydiving, I almost peed my pants. But by the time I landed, I was ready to do it again. Same with rock climbing. The fear is usually only because you haven’t done something before.”

“What got you into all of that?”

“My family would do a river trip every summer growing up, but it was mostly just fishing. I rock climbed a bit in college, but I’d never done any white water or skydiving until about five years ago.”

“What made you want to?” I asked.

A shadow passed across his face before it was gone. He raised his eyebrows. “Who wouldn’t?”

I raised my hand.

“You don’t count. Let me guess, you were the kid all decked out in helmet and pads every time you rode your bike.”

My eyes narrowed. “Safety first.”

“I’ll bet you hated slip ‘n’ slides…”

My lips turned upward at a memory that came flying back to me. I wasn’t sure why I decided to share it with him, except for the fact that my body had relaxed by this point, and my mouth must have followed suit. “My mom has this video of me and my sister in the front yard when we were little. We had just gotten a new slip ‘n’ slide. I had backed up, like thirty feet, and did a huge running start toward it. Full-out run. When I got to the slide, I stopped, sat down, and then scooted myself with my hands all the way down.”

Miles grinned broadly, and I felt a hint of pride at having caused that reaction in him.

“I can see it all perfectly.”

Leaning back, I gave him a once-over. Okay, it was a twice-over, but the newly discovered muscles were distracting. “I’ll bet you were the type to climb to the top of all the trees and scare your mom to death. And you were probably doing stunts on motorcycles by the time you were eight.”

He laughed. His feet brushed against mine in the water for a moment before I pulled them away. “I wish I were that cool back then. I was more like you, actually. Spent most of my free time reading in the hammock. The bigger stuff came later. Though, I did love a good slip ‘n’ slide. And not sure I’d consider climbing trees too dangerous.”

“What books did you love as a kid?”

“Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson—"

“Such a cliché.”

“Not clichés. Classics, Miss Secret Romance Books Hidden on Her Kindle.”

I blushed at the memory. “It was for research,” I insisted.

“Let’s do a quick recap. I walked into your classroom to ask you a question, and you didn’t even hear me because you were so engrossed in your billionaire-baby-vampire romance.”

“I was fact-checking.”

His smile widened. “For what?”

“One of my students wrote a paper on it, and I had to make sure she had actually read it.”

He laughed again, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did so. “I think all your classic books are just a disguise. Are you ever gonna tell me what else you have on your Kindle?”

I kept my face passive, but my heart rate spiked. I would slice my right arm off before anybody saw what was on there—especially Miles Taylor.

“Nothing that would interest you.”

“Probably right. And I get in trouble for The Terminator?”

“Yes. There couldn’t possibly be a single redeemable thing in that movie that should instigate a discussion in a school setting.”

“Clearly you’ve never watched it.”

I shook my head and looked back toward the pond, ready to change the subject, but Miles beat me to it.

“What happened with Glenn?”

I groaned, tilting my head at him. “Really? Why? We just got rid of him.”

“Can’t blame your fake boyfriend for being a little curious about your exes. Why’d you break up?”

I scoffed. “Can’t you see why?”

“I can see. But I want to know what you saw.”

Tucking my hair behind my ear, I thought about what to say to Miles. I was completely over Glenn. Had been, in fact, for nearly three months before I had the guts to end it. The only thing that made me agree to this fake dating was that Glenn’s ego wouldn’t let me go. Glenn had clearly been glad he showed up at the hot tub tonight. He had wanted to watch me fail. To prove himself right. If Miles hadn’t been here, he would have been much more of a nuisance toward me this week. I would have been living next door to him in Chloe’s cabin. I didn’t want to feel grateful that Miles was here in the hot tub with me instead of Glenn, but the thoughts came anyway.

He adjusted his position in the water, his foot brushing against mine again for a second and causing me to snap out of my thoughts. He was watching me, patiently waiting for me to gather my thoughts.