Lakeside Love (A Mill Creek Crossing Romance) by Angelina Rose Page B

She was amazed at his strength even though she had a petite stature.
     
    They walked down a small path until she saw the opening to a huge cave built into the side of the rocks overlooking the north Georgia mountains.
     
    “Wow…” she said in complete awe of the beauty around her. The sun was starting to make its descent in the sky, and the flowers were all in bloom around them. She could hardly take it all in. For a city girl, this was a sight that was unusual and rare, and she planned to savor it.
     
    “Beautiful, huh?” he asked smiling as he watched her reaction.
     
    “Stunning. How did you find this place?”
     
    “When my wife died, I did a lot of hiking to clear my head. Eventually, I stumbled upon this oddity out in the woods. You haven’t seen anything yet. Come on…” he said taking her hand and pulling her toward the cave. It occurred to her she was going into a remote cave with a man she’d only known a couple of days, but her gut told her it was okay and she decided to go with it.
     
    They walked into the darkened cave, and Erica kept a tight hold on Dylan’s hand. “It’s okay…” he said soothingly. She believed him.
     
    A few moments later, they were standing in the middle of one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen. Light was coming through the top of the cave along with a small waterfall that ran from the rocks above into a pool of light blue water in the middle. Around the lake of water were huge rocks where they settled with the picnic basket.
     
    “Lay down,” he said after laying out a blanket for her on one of the large rocks.
     
    “Excuse me?” she said smiling with her hand on her hip.
     
    “I want to show you something,” he said. She wondered what that meant, but she was willing to find out. They laid down side by side on the rock and he pointed up at the ceiling of the cave. There were all kinds of Indian markings lining the top of the cave.
     
    “Amazing!” she said as she stared at the years of history lining the walls of the rocky cave. She was so thankful for that moment in time and sharing it with Dylan.
     
    “I’m part Cherokee, so this was an unbelievable find for me,” he said.
     
    “I’m Cherokee too!” she said.
     
    “Jeez, I hope we’re not related,” Dylan said laughing. “That would be my luck.”
     
    “I think we’re safe,” she said nuzzling ever closer to him as they stared into the blue skies above the cave. They talked for an hour or so until the sun started to set in the sky. The darkness started to overtake the cave, and Erica got a little antsy being way out in the woods in the dark on such a steep incline. “Should we go since it’s getting dark?” she asked sitting up.
     
    “Of course not. We haven’t had dinner yet,” he said standing up and walking to the picnic basket. Before she knew it, he had a small fire going near the pond and a whole picnic set up for her.
     
    “Did you make all of this?” she asked looking around as she surveyed the selections.
     
    “Of course. We have a nice grilled chicken salad here. Hope you like Caesar dressing. Over here, we have fresh baked yeast rolls, sweet tea and a little peach cobbler for dessert. How’d I do?”
     
    Erica’s stomach did a flip flop when she realized he’d made her favorite meal. But she never told him that, so how did he know?
     
    “I don’t understand. How’d you know those were my favorites?” she asked cocking her head.
     
    “They’re your favorites?” he asked just as shocked.
     
    “Yes…”
     
    “Well, come eat then!” he said patting the ground beside him. For the next hour, they ate and laughed more than Erica had in years. Dylan cleaned up the food as Erica walked around the cave inspecting every part of it.
     
    “Whatcha doing?” he asked as he walked up behind her.
     
    “Just thinking.”
     
    “About what?”
     
    “How I would have missed out on ever seeing a place like this: if Max hadn’t stood me up at the