Page 38 of One Small Spark (Love in Sunshine #4)

TWENTY-SIX

WREN

“You didn’t mention the hike we’d have to take to get to the hot springs.” Panting would be unladylike and an embarrassment, but I am breathing hard .

“I most certainly did.”

Shepherd walks in front of me carrying our tote bags full of towels and snacks.

The trail through the forest is practically overgrown with ferns and shrubs, and we have to stay single file.

When the path isn’t riddled with tree roots and rocks, it’s muddy.

My sneakers are already inches deep in it.

The smell of pine trees and dirt overwhelms my senses.

It’s also shockingly cold. There’s no snow, thank goodness, but our breath fogs in front of us and I’m already debating the wisdom of stripping down to my swimsuit once we get to the hot spring. I’m about to break out in a full-body goosebump.

I grumble at myself for agreeing to do this in the first place.

Days off are meant for sleeping in until you start to feel gross and wearing pajamas all day long.

Burrowing in and reading, only getting up for snacks and emergencies.

They were never intended to be used for rolling out of bed at a decent hour and walking through the woods like a lumberjack in search of his next victim.

Shepherd, naturally, is dressed for the job. He’s got a thick flannel jacket on over jeans and boots, his long hair and beard making him look like he yearns for a good clearcut. He’s only missing the axe and ear-flap hat to complete the picture.

I’m dressed less iconically. I opted for baggy sweatpants, a gray sweatshirt with Please go away printed on it, and a messy bun that wobbles atop my head.

No makeup because why bother when I’m going to steam it all off.

If Shepherd wants an all-natural date, he gets an all-natural Wren to go with it.

An all-natural Wren who has zero trekking-in-the-woods skills.

“I think I’m experiencing some mild cardiac arrest.” All this pounding blood can’t be good for me.

“We can still see my truck from here.”

I spin around. Shepherd’s black truck is just visible through the mass of trees. A little sound of dismay croaks out of my mouth.

“We’re not even going uphill,” he says, amusement coloring his voice.

“So I’m not an outdoorsman.”

His low chuckle drifts back to me. “Would you like me to carry you the rest of the way?”

I purse my lips as he easily maneuvers on the trail. Something comes over me, I can’t explain what. I watch myself as if I’ve been hypnotized, skipping forward a few steps until I’m just behind him. And then, before I can stop it—I smack him on the butt.

He freezes. The utter silence in the woods alarms me as much as my behavior. He turns around in slow motion. I’ve always known giving in to the intrusive thoughts was a bad idea, but the absolute blaze in his eyes proves just how dangerous it can be.

“Oh,” he says low. “Is that how it is?”

He moves a fraction of a step closer to me, and I lunge backward. “No. Butt-smacking is a one-way street.”

“I don’t think so.” He takes another step forward.

He is prowling , and some hidden part of me is here for it. The rest of me really doesn’t want to take that smack.

“Stop.” It’s almost a shriek. “You don’t want me to run into the woods and break my ankle all because you needed to make things even, do you?”

“Then don’t run.”

But running’s all I know how to do.

He moves closer, the heat in his gaze almost crackling between us. I don’t take off tearing into the wilderness, but only because I don’t know what threats lurk in the forest. At least with this dangerous creature, I have some idea of what he has in mind.

He leans in and presses a soft kiss to my mouth. Just before he pulls away, he says, “I’ll let you anticipate it.”

Then, he smirks and resumes his trek through the trees like an absolute beast. He knows I won’t be able to think about anything but the oncoming butt-smack now.

Dread and hope have never coiled so tightly together.

Eventually, we reach a rustic wooden shelter. The sloped roof is overgrown with moss, and the picnic table beneath it is covered in graffiti and carvings. Shepherd moves past it to a railing overlooking something.

“I guess we’re here.” I can’t see anything from where I’m standing, but there are other signs. I fan the air in front of my nose.

I’ve learned from my research on hot water beaches in New Zealand that the smell of sulfur is a given, but I’ve never experienced it before.

The smell hangs in the air like a skunk just carelessly paraded through.

It’s not overpowering, but it’s not one of the qualities I’m looking for in a pleasant afternoon, either.

“That’s being outdoorsy for you,” I say. “It stinks.”

Shepherd laughs and gestures for me to join him. I pick my way closer and have to take in a big breath of sulfur when I get there.

We’re at the top of a series of pools spread out in front of us like a giant step ladder.

They’re formed by boulders, with waterfalls tumbling from one pool down to the next.

The first few are pretty big, funneling into smaller and smaller pools before it reverts into a natural stream at the very bottom.

The water is surprisingly blue. Surprisingly tempting, too, in spite of the smell and the cold.

“It’s so pretty.”

Shepherd grins at me. “Then you’re still in?”

I can’t believe it, but yes. “I’m still in.”

We climb down wooden steps to a landing by the first pool.

A trio of people float there, ignoring us as they talk together.

I guess pretending nobody else exists comes in handy when naked people enter the mix.

From here, the stone steps become less uniform as they carry from ledge to ledge.

They’re also wet from all the steam in the air, and there’s no railing.

Shepherd takes my hand. “It can get slippery.”

He leads us down to one of the smaller pools, passing a few more people as we go. So far, everybody’s wearing swimsuits. Not that I’m trying to snoop on people’s soaks, but it seems like the alternative would be pretty obvious.

“I’m starting to think you were joking about the nudity thing,” I say.

“Count yourself lucky.” He pauses to look at me over his shoulder, his dark eyes alight with a challenge. “Unless you were hoping to see something. ”

“You’re in prime butt-smacking position, sir.”

His smirk is the thing of legend. “Can’t keep your hands off me.”

Ugh. He’s not wrong.

He finally stops and lays out a picnic blanket with a waterproof side before arranging our bags on top. Then he starts unbuttoning his shirt.

I swallow hard, tracking his progress. “We just go for it now?”

He told me there’s no changing rooms out here, so I’ve got my swimsuit on underneath my sweats. Back in his truck, I brought a full set of clothes for when we get back to his cabin. But right now, that’s not doing me any good.

Especially when he’s peeling off his flannel jacket to reveal the gray T-shirt beneath that’s got a death grip on his shoulders.

“Just go for it.” He leans against a nearby rock so he can pull off his shoes and socks.

His bare feet touch the rough stones, and he hisses, flexing his toes.

Not a ringing endorsement. But he pulls off his T-shirt and quickly sheds his jeans.

He’s wearing his blue swim trunks, FYI. The hot spring might be clothing optional for the general public, but this is a clothes-on kind of date.

He glances over at me. “Feeling shy?”

“No.” The warm pool with the steam rising off of it looks inviting. But to get there, I have to expose most of my body to borderline frigid temperatures. It’s not as bad as a polar plunge, but it’s got to be somewhere close. “I’m trying to psych myself up.”

“I’m committed now. I have to get in.” He sits at the pool’s edge and lowers himself into the steaming water. The groan he makes as he sinks deeper is obscene.

Tantalizing, but completely inappropriate.

He dips down until the water laps his chin, but he doesn’t dunk all the way under. Because, oh yeah, actual brain-eating amoebas might lurk in these waters.

I could be reading in bed right now.

He sits against the rock ledge and watches me from the pool, one eyebrow darting up in challenge. This infuriating man. He might as well cluck like a chicken. Can’t he just let me sit on the sideline in peace? I was perfectly happy not doing things before he came along.

But…I can’t let him win.

My groan has more bite to it than his did, but I pull my sweatshirt over my head, shuck my shoes and socks, and peel off my sweatpants.

The cold makes any self-consciousness about what he thinks of my two-piece suit impossible.

I’m not modeling, I’m narrowly avoiding frostbite.

I creep over the frozen rocks and crouch so I can swing my legs into the pool.

The hot water caresses me, soothing my chilly toes. I sink lower until my butt hits rock, the toasty water warming me up. I might make the same satisfied sound Shepherd did.

“Not bad, right?” He’s got his requisite smirk on.

“It’s okay.” I glance up toward the higher pools, but from this low angle, only the series of waterfalls are visible. “Not a lot of people here.”

I like that he chose a small pool. The water’s warm but not so hot my skin’s turning bright red, and the size is just right for two.

If I stretched out my arms, I wouldn’t be able to touch him.

In fact, this pool might be slightly too big.

I scoot to the next rock over, narrowing the distance between us.

“It’s early, and coming on a weekday helps. There are a few places like this in the area, so it spreads out the potential crowds. But more people will show up later in the day. You should see the crowds in the summer.”

“I wonder if Lila knows about the hot springs. Maybe she’s got another festival in the works. She’ll encourage people to visit them all and do a hot springs crawl.”

“She might. She’s awfully enthusiastic about her job.” His frown says he’s been on the receiving end of Lila’s enthusiasm lately.

“Has she been calling you about the presentation?”

“She texts. A lot.”

Hmm. I’m not sure how I feel about Lila texting my boyfriend more than I do. I need to step up my game.

Wait—boyfriend? No. We’re just hanging out. Just two bros chilling in a hot spring. Two bros who kiss occasionally. We don’t need to define what’s going on between us.

Do I want to define it, though? I’ve never cared to before. But that’s just it—I’ve never cared . And with Shepherd…I think I really do.

Stupid hot springs with their mystical properties, making me poke around in my emotions after a five-minute soak. A fiberglass hot tub full of chlorine would mind its own business. It wouldn’t get my heart fluttering around in my chest, making me question exactly what I want.

I can’t think about any of that while I’m staring at Shepherd’s naked body. Not that I’m staring . And it’s not his whole body that’s naked. But the water only comes up to his armpits, exposing his shoulders and the tops of his tattoos. The little wren on his arm dances just below the surface.

That’s not really helping things, either.

“Are you ready to practice with me?” I ask.

He swallows, his gaze dipping to the hollow of my throat. “What?”

“For your presentation.”

Nobody look too closely, but I might be smirking, too. I guess I’m not the only one staring.

“Oh. I’m almost there. ”

He doesn’t sound too sure, but this probably isn’t the time to grill him.

“If cold plunges help with anxiety, do hot springs make it worse?”

His gaze locks on my mouth. “I might have an elevated heart rate right now.”

“You cheeseball.” I stretch out to poke his leg with my toe. “I might, too.”

“Come here.” He grabs my foot and pulls me closer, sliding me across the pool and into his lap. I wrap one arm around his shoulders, the other floating in the water in front of us.

“Careful,” I say softly. “There’s no PDA at the hot springs.”

“That’s not a rule.” He glides one hand over my back, finding my free hand with the other. He runs his thumb over my knuckles, and I shiver. How can a person shiver in a hot spring? “What’s your verdict?”

The crazy part of me thinks he’s asking what I think about him . As if he read my mind and wants to know if I’ve sifted through my tangled feelings and come to a conclusion or not. If I’m ready to slap labels on both of us and dive into something more.

The logical part of me knows it was an innocent question about the hot spring. And is frankly alarmed at how loudly the crazy part of me wants to scream yes .

“I thought I would hate it, but I kind of don’t. It’s peaceful. Really beautiful.” Our fingers intertwine in the water. “Smelly, but…I don’t mind it here.”

His hazy, soft smile makes the fluttering in my chest go wild. His dark brown eyes shimmer with light reflected off the pool as he gazes at me. One tiny push is all it would take to send me tumbling over the edge of a cliff into the unknown.

“I have some good ideas now and then. ”

I can’t bring myself to ask about the rest of his good ideas. Even if I really want to know.

“Do you come here a lot?” He’s such a nature nerd, he made it sound like he’s a regular.

“A few times a year.”

“I bet you bring all your dates here.” Not sure why that came out of my mouth. I don’t want to imagine him here with anybody else. Definitely not with Rose, cuddling up exactly like this. Soft, sweet, gentle Rose. A bit of a buzzkill, that Rose.

He kisses me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I only wanted to bring you here.”

And there I go. Right over the edge.