Page 46 of Rootbound
“Speaking of piss in Cheerios… jeez. What’s your deal?” She laughs.
I grunt in response.
“Henry?!” She grabs my belt loop from the back to stop me. When I turn around, she’s looking up at me through her lashes, challenging, searching. She wants to be distracted, even if it’s by a fight. Fine.
She steps onto the raised edge that lines the side of the game trail, an indiscreet effort to size up, and this is the gesture that breaks me down.
I’ve always been hyperaware of my size. Not just because most people have a propensity for reminding guys like me about it all the time, either. The assumptions that I played elite sports are flattering, but there’s always been an edge of… not insecurity, per se, but wariness about it. I am wary, knowing that my size means that I don’t have the freedom to simply get into a bar fight without restraint, because I am automatically a target and a liability. I could kill someone without meaning to. I always hold back to a degree.
So, when it comes to women, I have traditionallypreferred tall ones, not for the physical aspect, but because of how they carry themselves. I can’t stand simpering, or diminutive, because I don’t need to be made to feel like a big man. I already am.
So, when this woman, at least a full foot shorter than me, steps up, almost like she’s trying to make herself bigger… it fuckingworks.I don’t admire it in a condescending way. I admire it because she’s a force. So, I give her what I think she wants.
I place my palm above her head on the tree behind her, crowding her space, meeting her challenge. “Hey,youdismissed me last night, remember? So, don’t go acknowledging it and making me remember it, and definitely don’t flirt with me unless you want me to do something about it.”
The look in her eyes wavers—she didn’t expect me to say it out loud, I guess. She probably expected me to just act; fight her or make out with her, I can’t be sure. Our breathing’s the only thing audible between us, now, and I can see the pulse jumping at the base of her throat. She swallows, and I notice the dust that’s collected where the helmet and goggles didn’t shield her face.
“You have—” I take my arm back and swipe at the area on my own face to show her, sparing her from responding. She blinks, then lifts the hem of her shirt to wipe it away. I turn quickly, but not before I catch sight of her smooth skin, along with another fucking freckle to file away in my brain—on her rib cage, right below the underside of her breast. Below one of her perfect, sweet tits.
I grind my teeth as I walk away, as I refuse to acknowledge the silent laugh I feel from behind me. She likes games, apparently. While I’m up for them if they help create somecommon ground, I’m too damn overheated to play right now.
“Here. Up over this ridge.” I point with my free hand, a beer and my sandwich held in the other. I pop the lid off of the bottle on my boot, too impatient to wait until we reach our spot.
Tait hisses a breath behind me. “Are you okay?” I ask, looking her up and down to see if she rolled an ankle or something. Besides the strange look on her face and her hand on her chest, she looks fine. I feel my face pull into a confused frown.
“Yeah… just. Hot,” she replies.
“No kidding.” I continue on, only a few more yards left. “I promise, we typically get four seasons.”
“Yeah. The weather,” she says, dully.
“You good?”
“Yep. Good. Great. Grand. Wonderful.”
“O-kay?”
She smiles and shakes her head, entertained by her own inside joke, I gather. Sometimes she is easy to read: clear and open. Right now, she’s a puzzle.
“Oh my god,” she says when we crest the ridge, finally, and I feel smug at the look of happy awe on her face.
“Figured we could have lunch with a view.”
“The water is sogreen.I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lake that color. I’ve seen turquoise water, cerulean blue, blue so dark it’s black. Then, you know,regulargreen pond, lake water. This is totally its own.”
“I always thought that this little valley itself was the cool part. If I would’ve known the color of the water would be this exciting I’d have bought you some crayons and really blown your dress up.” I chuckle.
“No, it is. The valley is cool, too, definitely. But I’ve just seen so many different bodies of water. I mean, Ilivein Tahoe. So, this is… it’s really beautiful.”
The valley that surrounds the little lake is entirely rock. Little bumps and ridges that lead and indent down to the center, to the water. The perimeter of the granite valley is made up of grassy hills.
“Do you want me to ruin it for you?” I ask her as I sit.
“Ruin it?” she asks, still standing and looking out.
“Yep. I’ll tell you what Grady used to call this spot when we were younger, and you’ll never look at it the same again.”
“Well, now Ihaveto know, obviously.”