After breakfast and after collecting their picnic lunch for later, Gabe drove her back to the house to pick up their fishing gear and a couple of very eager dogs.

He opened the door of the enormous detached garage and strode inside. Melanie followed him. Like the house, the garage had a log cabin façade. Melanie was certain Gabe could fit ten cars in the expansive space, but apparently he wasn’t a collector of cars. He was fond of water craft and recreational vehicles, however. Parked inside the garage were four boats on trailers—a row boat, a small speed boat, a large speed boat, and a pontoon. There were also jet skis, a smallish silver camper, several ATVs and a rather beat-up dirt bike. The man was full of surprises.

“I didn’t realize you were so outdoorsy,” she said as she watched him choose fishing poles from the long rack on one wall.

“I wish I had time to spend more time outside,” he said. “There’s nothing more relaxing than sitting in the middle of a lake with a line out and nothing to do but think.”

She knew that he liked to think.

“I get my best ideas out on the lake,” he said. “And with you there as inspiration, I’m sure my imagination will run wild.”

“It doesn’t sound like you get much fishing done.”

“The point of fishing isn’t to catch fish,” he said.

“It’s not?”

“Heck no.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

He handed her a fishing pole. “Which boat do you want to take?” he asked. “Or I have the big one docked at the marina.”

A marina in the middle of Texas? Weren’t marinas supposed to be marine, as in at the ocean?

“Whatever is easiest,” she said.

“Marina it is. Did you bring a swimsuit?”

“I didn’t know I’d be going swimming.”

“Skinny dipping for you then.”

“I hope it’s a private lake,” she said.

“Not even close.”

He grabbed a tackle box from the garage and closed the doors. He convinced her to wear a tank top and shorts and then slathered her with sunscreen. He looked mighty fine in his own shorts and T-shirt but when he replaced his ball cap with a cowboy hat, she laughed. Until he grinned at her from beneath the wide brim and her heart went pitter-pat. Melanie decided there wasn’t anything funny about Gabe Banner in a cowboy hat.

Fishing poles, tackle, a picnic of chicken, and two enthusiastic dogs in tow, they headed toward Lake Travis.

Melanie didn’t know what she had expected, but the enormous, clear lake surrounded by hills and trees far exceeded her expectations. They bypassed a long line of vehicles at the boat ramp.

“Good call on the marina,” Gabe said.

Her very first fishing license in hand, Melanie was soon seated inside Gabe’s sleek 37-foot powerboat. She knew it was that long because he had very proudly told her so. There was seating at the front of the boat, which he informed her was the bow, a cockpit in the center, and more seating in the rear. Gabe climbed behind the wheel, and his two dogs scampered toward the bow, standing in the seat with their tongues lolling and ears flapping in the breeze as he directed the boat out of the marina and across the large lake. Melanie chose a safer perch at the back of the boat. At least she thought it was safe. When Gabe increased the boat’s speed and cranked the wheel sharply, a spray of water flooded over the side into her lap.

She leaped to her feet and used her hands to sluice the water down her legs. “You did that on purpose,” she accused.

He just grinned at her from the shadows of his cowboy hat. “Maybe you should come up here with me,” he said. “Do you want to pilot?”

On wobbly legs she slid her feet along the slippery deck on her trek toward the seat beside him. “No, thank you.”

“I could teach you to waterski,” he said, nodding toward another boat that towed a skier behind it. Water arced away from the skier, who looked to be having a fabulous time racing over the lake at high speed.

For a minute, Melanie thought it looked like fun, but then the skier hit the wake of the boat and face-planted hard on the surface of the water. Melanie decided water skiing looked more hazardous than fun.

“I think I’ll pass,” she said. “I thought we were going to fish.”

“We are. I’m just showing off to impress you. Don’t you know how guys are?”

She chuckled. “I was impressed before we arrived.”

He pulled back the throttle to slow the boat and directed it toward a quiet cove at the shore. As the lake was a dam reservoir, it was surrounded mostly by cliffs and overhangs, but this hidden cove had a small area of shoreline. When the boat drifted to a stop, both dogs immediately leaped into the water. Beau took a trip around the boat and then climbed up onto a ledge on the stern. He hopped into the boat and shook the water from his fur, showering Melanie with cool droplets. Apparently she needed a swimsuit even if she had no plans to swim. Lady swam all the way to shore and climbed up on the bank.

“Lady, get back here,” Gabe said, clapping at her, trying to get her attention. “Come, girl.”

She stood on the shore and barked at him, bouncing playfully on her front paws as if to say, Come and get me if you want me!

“Pardon my poorly behaved dog,” Gabe said to Melanie.

“I think she wants to play.”

“I think she wants to drive me nuts.”

Beau covered his eyes with one paw, as if embarrassed by the antics of his dark-furred counterpart.

“Get the stick, Lady,” Gabe said, flapping his hand toward the shore. “Get the stick, girl.”

Lady stopped barking and sniffed the ground. She disappeared into a copse of trees and Melanie gasped, pivoting toward Gabe. How upset would he be if his dog got lost? But he didn’t look worried. He was studying the tree line, arms folded across his chest, eyes watching from the shadow of the brim of his cowboy hat. And she needn’t have worried either. Less than a minute later the dog appeared back at the shore with a branch in her mouth. She struggled to drag it toward the water, walking backward and tugging when the branch got tangled on some brush.

Gabe laughed her. “That’s a mighty big stick you have there.”

Lady eventually got it into the lake and after some maneuvering, collected one end of the branch in her mouth and started paddling back toward the boat.

“She’s really smart,” Melanie said, watching the dog pull the branch through the water.

“She’s the most stubborn and independent dog I’ve ever owned.” He chuckled as Lady tried to get the branch onto the boat. “I guess that’s why she stole my heart.”

Well, Melanie guessed that meant that she would just have to wrestle his heart away from dog, because she wanted it, teeth marks and all.

“That stick is too big, silly,” Gabe told Lady as he stretched his body over the back of the boat and grabbed the branch out of the water. He broke off a more reasonably sized length of wood and tossed it toward shore.

“Go get the stick,” he said to Lady.

She gave him a look that could only mean I just brought you a better stick than that little thing, dumbass, but turned in the water and started swimming toward shore again.

Melanie laughed. “I don’t think she’s very impressed with your stick, Mr. Banner.”

He grinned. “You’re the one I’m trying to impress, remember?”

Melanie pinched his ass. “I’m overly impressed with your stick.”

“I’ll share it with you later. It’s best to wear Lady out early,” he said. “Then I can concentrate all my attention on you.”

Melanie looked around for Beau, wondering if he wanted to play too. But he’d already stretched out on one of the seats at the back of the boat for his nap. Melanie decided the yellow lab was more her speed. The black one was already on her way back to the boat, treading water like a pro, her master’s puny stick gripped between her teeth.