His brows drifted higher on his forehead. “Yes?
She blinked innocently. “I mean, how can we tell our section’s mud is muddy enough unless we really get in there and do a comprehensive test?”
Noah made a thoughtful noise. “So you want to test the mud?”
“I know Spark and Steve are against running the obstacles until the day of the course, but this wouldn’t be cheating. It would be quality control.” She propped her hands on her hips and bounced lightly on the balls of her feet. “And we could even add a little wager to make things more fun.”
“What kind of wager do you have in mind? Loser pays for ice cream?”
She shook her head. “I was thinking of something a little more exciting. Say, if you’re the first one down the hill, across the monkey bars, and back on the grass on the other side of the trenches, I’ll cook you an authentic Chinese-Texan meal tonight at my place.”
He smiled. “Chinese-Texan, huh? Sounds exotic.”
“It’s a unique fusion of homemade Chinese noodles and Texas brisket combined with whatever vegetables happen to be lying around in the veggie crisper. And sometimes homemade barbecue sauce, if my mom was feeling really creative and disgusting on any given Sunday.”
His mouth stretched wider at the edges. “Skip the barbecue sauce and you’ve got a deal. And in the unlikely event that you win, what would you like as your prize?”
“Oh, smack talk,” she said, clapping her hands together. “Keep it coming, O’Sullivan. That only kicks my fierce up a notch, and you really don’t want me to win this race.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because if I win, you have to take me to the dance Sunday night and not run away to hide in the shadows, no matter how crazy I get on the floor.”
He crossed his arms at his chest. “That would involve changing my plane flight, which I’m prepared to do,” he added quickly, “but only if we add to my prize.”
She nodded. “All right. What more do you want? I could cook dinner in my apron and nothing else.”
He bit his bottom lip. “Tempting. Very, very tempting. But I was thinking along more practical lines. If I win, I get dinner tonight and you spend tomorrow helping me house hunt.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “House hunt for…you?”
“For me,” he confirmed, shifting closer. “I got to thinking last night, and if I’m going to be moving here eventually, it makes sense to go ahead and find a place. Especially if the move might happen sooner than I expected. And I could use a local to make sure I don’t buy a house next to the town crazy or the lady who plays show tunes at the crack of dawn every morning.”
“I see what this is,” she said, nodding as her eyes narrowed. “You’re trying to psych me out. Well, it won’t work, O’Sullivan. I’m already two steps ahead of you.”
“Oh yeah? How do you figure that?”
“If you win, why don’t we skip the house hunting and just plan on you moving in with me?” she said, sending his brows shooting toward his hairline. “Yeah, that’s right. I said it. That happened! So think on that while you run. Ready, set, go!”
And then she was off like a bat out of hell, sprinting toward the edge of the hill and dropping onto her bottom to slide down into the mud bog. By the time Noah recovered from his shock enough to get moving, she was already climbing the ladder to the monkey bars and starting across. Noah splashed down into the water and slogged his way across the ground toward her, admiring how strong she was. She looked like a kid up there, legs churning as her toned arms carried her across the muddy water below.
He climbed the ladder and started after her, quickly closing the distance between them, but halfway across his hand slipped on a slick rung and he went down with a splash, cold water rising to his thighs and soaking the last few dry places on his shorts.
Yasmin, who had just reached the ladder on the other side, turned to point a finger his way, “Now you have to go back to the beginning of the bars and start over! Those are the rules, O’Sullivan!”
“Big talk from a cheater, North!” he shouted, even as he turned, running back toward the start of the monkey bars. The second time, he crossed swiftly and without mishap, but by the time he hit the first of the trenches on the other side, Yasmin was already crawling onto the grass at the finish line, thrusting a clenched fist into the air before she collapsed onto the ground on her back.
“I want a rematch,” he said, breathing hard as he climbed up beside her a few moments later.
She shook her head, eyes closed as she grinned up at the blue sky. “Nope. No rematches. I won fair and square.”
“Fair and square?” He grunted, rolling on his back. “Is that what you call it?”
“Fair and square enough,” she said, giggling. “Better start making calls to change that plane flight. I intend to keep you on the dance floor until after midnight.”
“You’re assuming I can dance,” he said, studying her face, amazed that anyone could look so beautiful covered in mud.
“Oh, you can dance.” She turned her head, eyes opening. “I can tell.”
“How can you tell?” He held her gaze, chest tightening as that electric, peaceful, exhilarating feeling he’d only felt when in the presence of this woman swelled inside him.
“Because of this.” She rolled over, propping her arms on his chest and bringing her lips to his. The moment their mouths touched, heat ignited low in his body and a joyful “hell yes,” vibrated through his bones. A low groan of approval rumbled at the back of his throat as he gripped her muddy ponytail in his hand and pulled her closer, fusing their lips together. Her tongue stroked against his, and her legs shifted until she was lying on top of him, strong thighs straddling his waist.
She rocked against where he was hard and only getting harder, and he couldn’t resist the urge to grip her ass in his hands and encourage her to keep moving, keep taking what she needed, keep riding him through his clothes until they were both too worked up to resist the urge to take this further. To take it all the way, until her soft skin was bared to his mouth and his hands and he discovered what it felt like to be joined with this woman who fascinated him without even trying.
But that’s probably the way it was supposed to be, he guessed. When you met the one who was meant for you, neither of you had to try too hard. Falling was easy. It was trying to hold back, to think straight, to remember that the world and human lives are complicated even if love isn’t that was difficult.
“We should stop,” Yasmin said in between kisses. “Someone could see us.”
“They could,” he said, cupping her breast through her shirt and rubbing his thumb across her pebbled nipple, loving the way her breath rushed across his lips in response. “I promised myself I wouldn’t touch you like this until dating was a sure thing, but I can’t control myself.”
“You feel so good.” She circled her hips, making him ache to be free of his shorts. “I want you to touch me everywhere. Everywhere all at once.”
“I want to touch you everywhere.” He cupped both of her breasts in his hands, rolling her nipples between his fingers. “I want to feel you without any clothes or mud. Nothing but you and me.”