Sweet Serenade (Riverbend Romance 3) by Valerie Comer Page B

was full of parents knee-deep in water pulling toddlers on floatie toys. And why the pond farthest away had tween boys engaged in a battle of epic proportions with water guns. She narrowed her eyes as she scanned more closely. “No lifeguards?”
    “Didn’t you see the posted sign? Use at your own risk. Riverbend assumes no liability for anyone using these ponds.”
    “I think I’d rather swim in the river, myself.”
    Reed’s grip on her hand tightened. “That could be arranged.”
    Carly nestled against him, pulling their joint hands behind her. By the surprise on Reed’s face, he hadn’t expected her ploy. They stared at each other from mere centimeters apart. “Want to?” she whispered at last.
    He swallowed hard. “Maybe not tonight.”

Chapter 8

    “You’re a million miles away.” Evan sculled his canoe closer to Reed’s.
    Reed blinked, bringing the tourist in his bow back into focus. Paying customers should get his undivided attention. What he wouldn’t give for a few river-rafting gigs right now, though. There’d be no time to daydream about Carly while riding a flexible bronco down the river.
    “You been seeing Carly?”
    He shot a furtive glance at his buddy. What would he see? Mockery? Jealousy? No, only mild curiosity. That was a help. “Yeah. Some.” Every evening after work all week.
    Evan chuckled. “You’ve got it bad.”
    Reed shrugged, dug his paddle in harder, and pulled away from Evan. This was all so new. So unexpected. What did he really know about Carly? She’d lost both parents, had a lot of experience canoeing, loved the outdoors, followed Jesus. Oh, yeah, and they shared some radical chemistry.
    It was the chemistry that scared him. It pulled him out of his shell and made him think he was invincible. But stuff with girls could flip a man into churning icy water in no time flat. It was hard to remember when she gazed at him trustingly with those sparkling blue-green eyes and smiled at him with that tempting mouth.
    Reed shouldn’t have kissed her on Sunday, but she’d been in shock and the kiss catapulted her out of it... and slung him in. He wasn’t sure the trade-off was worth it. She’d have eventually regained control, and he wouldn’t have been left with the memories of her lips under his.
    “This is so peaceful,” one of his canoe’s inhabitants murmured.
    She wasn’t privy to the inside of Reed’s head.

    ~*~

    Friday at last.
    Carly couldn’t quite wrap her brain around why Reed had said he wanted to go swimming, but they hadn’t headed to the river any evening this week. Instead, they’d wandered the park for hours, kicked water at each other in the shallow ponds, and enjoyed a couple of picnics from Loco-To-Go.
    He obviously wanted to spend time with her. Was obviously as attracted to her as she was to him, but something held him back. His words after their dunking last weekend filtered through her mind. How could a man say he respected her too much to kiss her?  
    She’d met guys that could have respected her more, but that was in her past.
    Last week, Reed seemed to make sense. Sort of. But now, nearly a week later, he still side-stepped—sometimes literally—her efforts to snag another kiss. Even a brief one. But she wanted more than that.
    Carly glanced at Reed across the console of his truck cab as he maneuvered the vehicle around the deepest potholes on their way to the swimming hole. She’d count this more of a victory if it were just the two of them, but the whole gang was meeting at the river. Brittany was ahead of them riding with Joseph. She’d been out with him a lot lately.
    All Carly cared about was Reed. It wasn’t that she wanted to push him too far, but kissing didn’t have to go too far.
    He looked so good tonight... not that that was any different from any other evening. Short dark hair she’d love to run her hands through more often. A chiseled jaw. A slim physique, but that was misleading. She knew the strength in his wiry