Joe shook his head. “Nope. This one is a little simpler than that. You jump off the edge and once you’re at the bottom, you walk to the next station.”
I gulped. Were they insane? I already thought the was the worst idea ever was throwing myself over the edge of a hillside, but now they are asking me if I want to plummet eighty feet to the bottom? No way, no how. I already knew my answer. I was barely comfortable with this whole zip lining thing, this was just insanity to me. And of course I didn’t need to ask Mr. Daredevil if he planned on jumping. He was.
“You going to do it?”
“Hell no. I’m quite fond of my legs and arms being intact, thank you very much.”
Turner stepped into my little bubble again. Why does he do that? His woodsy aftershave washed over me and made me slightly dizzy. Men should not smell this good. He brushed his hand down from my shoulder to my elbow leaving a little trail of goose bumps in its path.
“It’s not really the kind of free fall you’re thinking it is. The line catches you and lowers you halfway down.”
I met his blue eyes head on. “That halfway is still too far for me. I’ll go the ‘traditional’ route.” I gave air quotes.
“You’re very stubborn, you know that?”
“Ha! So says the king of Stubborn Land.”
Then he did something I didn’t expect. He bent down and lightly kissed the tip of my nose. My poor heart went into over drive. Until now, Turner had yet to make any move to actually kiss me. Sure he’d kissed my hand at the end of our other date, but that didn’t count. Not like this. And, of course, he chose now to plant a sweet delicate one on me when my nerves were already a hot mess. I’ll give him credit though, it did shift my attention to other things. Like how tender he was. How in that split second I could tell his lips were silky soft. And now how I wanted to grab him by his collar and pull him down to me and kiss him the way I’d been thinking about for the past two weeks. I felt flushed all over and I shifted on my feet. Needing a little air, I cleared my throat.
“Well, you better make the plunge to your death. Your mom’s number is in your phone right?”
He gave me another full bellied laugh. “Yes, it’s in my phone.” He started making his walk out on the very flimsy wooden boards. The further out he went the more it wobbled. “Annabelle?”
The sound of his voice calling my name felt like it was a shot straight to my soul. Why was I feeling this way?
“Yes?”
“There’s more where that came from.”
He leapt. My God, could the dude get any more brazen or cocky? Did it make my heart leap for joy? Yep. But that wasn’t the point here. Clearly he thought he could do whatever he wanted if he sweet talked enough, or put me under his little spell and got close enough. No wonder all those women fell for him. He was like a little devil in scrubs. Err . . . well actually khaki shorts and a t-shirt that all fit him entirely too well. The bastard.
Looking over the edge, he landed on a black cushioned mat that was well worn from other jumpers.
“You proud of yourself?” I called down.
“Yes, ma’am. You really should try it. It’s more fun than you think.”
I gave him the “ok” hand sign. “I’m good.”
Joe hooked me up to the traditional line and told me Serenity was waiting for me at the other end. Only difference between the last two times I’d gone, and this time, I noticed my nerves weren’t in full effect like they had been. I zoomed down the line thinking of nothing but Turner and his adorable mouth. I questioned if I would allow him to kiss me again if he tried. And if he did, would it be on my nose again, or on the lips. I was getting wrapped up in the thought of him when my feet touched the bottom. Turner was climbing up a ladder on the side to meet up with me.
“Was it a good one?”
Okay, was he referring to the ride, or the kiss? Certainly not the kiss, it was just on my nose.
“It was enjoyable.”
He smiled. He knew I was questioning what his he was really asking. I rolled my eyes.
We spent the rest of the morning bantering back and forth, with quite a bit of heavy flirting. We exchanged information about one another that was completely meaningless and yet I found it interesting and fun. There was a bit more to Turner Brooks than I’d previously given him credit for. He more than intrigued me. When we were making the long drive back to my house, I’d come to the conclusion that I may actually like him. Sure it made me uncomfortable, but that was merely because I hadn’t allowed myself to like or crush on anyone in years. Never saw the sense in it. But today, I opened myself up to the possibility of actually seeing where this could go. Granted, not if it meant putting my life at risk every time. But still, I liked him.
Once we made it to my door step, Turner looked down at me with wonder in his eyes.
“I want to go out with you again, Annabelle.”
I laughed. “Why do you look like it amazes you that you’re even asking me?”
His smile wowed me like it always did this close up. He was so beautiful it nearly knocked me off my feet.
“Because it does.”
“You’re an odd one, you know that?”
“Well, I could say the same about you. So what do you say? Another date?”
I tried to make him wait for an answer, I really did. But my answer came out faster than I planned.
“I’d love too. But wait . . .” I held up my finger. “I refuse to go anywhere that makes me jump off things, go faster than seventy miles per hour, or anything in general that I have to sign a paper stating I may die.”
He snickered. “It’ll be low key.”
I turned my head slightly to the side showing him I was skeptical. “Okay, sir. Well, be careful heading back home. And again, thank you for today.”
It got quiet. Like tense quiet. I was looking at him and he was looking at me. There was a moment in time where you knew he was going to kiss you, and you just had to be ready for it. I wasn’t ready, but I’d take it. Turner bent at the waist. I went up on my tippy toes. Just when I thought our mouths were going to meet, he went left, and I felt his warm lips on my cheek. My cheek? Squeezing my hand and releasing it, he stood at his full height and wished me a good day. When he was gone, I went to sit on my back porch to ponder the whole date. I was really starting to get a complex. Turner had kissed me three different times now and not a single one of them was on the mouth. Not a single one of them was full of the passion or ferocity that I pictured him giving the other women he pushed into the supply closets at work. Was he even in to me? Was I his type? Maybe he was looking at me like a buddy, or someone cool to hang out with. I never got the friendship vibe from him, so was I reading him wrong? Maybe. That kind of stung a little. I guess the next date we had I would have to try and pick up on his cues a little more. I didn’t want to invest too much more of myself in him if I was only friend material.
I waited for him to call and tell me what we were doing next.
IT WAS BEFORE MY FIRST twelve hour shift of the week and I decided to do something unplanned. I decided to stop in the NICU to check on the baby boy I’d helped deliver last week to see how he was doing. I hadn’t ever been in here other than to do a few hours of clinicals. A few monitors were beeping and I was looking around the room at all the incubators and infants fighting for their lives. I viewed this room like I did the Oncology floor. People fighting for their lives wasn’t my cup of tea. I was better off bringing lives into the world and sending them on their merry way. Not pushing them to take their next breath and watch the families cry or grieve over loss. I’d seen enough of that to last me a lifetime.
“Can I help you?” A tall blonde nurse approached me. She had gentle eyes and a soft voice.
“Um, yeah I was actually looking for a baby that I helped deliver last week that was brought down here.” Crap, I didn’t know his name. “He was unnamed when he left L&D, but the mother was an addict.” I wracked my brain for her name. “Adalyn March.” It occurred to me. “So it would be Baby March.”