Lily pointed to a line of people in front of an ice cream stand. “Still think it’s a treat?”

Chase grinned. “I do. But you know, there’s the problem of spoiling our dinner.”

“I’ll risk it if you will.”

“You know I love a challenge.”

Lily laughed, the timbre of Chase’s voice striking a chord in her, as if hearing the opening of a melody she’d forgotten. “I have gotten that impression of you, yes. Come on then. My treat.”

They got in line, and Chase predictably ordered a cone with three different kinds of chocolate ice cream. Lily went for the cherry and blueberry cheesecake mix.

“How is it?” Chase asked as they walked back to the pathway that wended along the shore.

Lily held out her cone. “Excellent. Want to try?”

Chase stopped walking, cupped Lily’s hand in hers, and, her eyes on Lily, leaned down and slowly licked a circle around Lily’s cone.

Lily found her breath coming faster. “Well?”

Chase straightened. Her gaze never left Lily’s. “Delicious. I can’t wait for another taste.”

Lily laughed. “Chase, you’re shameless and obvious.”

“Guilty and guilty as charged. But”—she slid her arm around Lily’s waist as they began walking again—“is it working?”

Lily could never remember a moment like that in her life. She’d been on dates, she’d held hands with a woman or two in public, but she’d never felt so physically connected to another person, so comfortable, and so aroused. The evening somehow seemed fresher, brighter, and her blood pulsed to a beat that echoed deep inside her. “You know it is.”

“Just hoping so,” Chase murmured.

Lily glanced up at her. “We should go shopping for boots.”

“I’d almost forgotten about them.”

Lily finished her cone and, using one thumb, wiped a smudge of chocolate off the corner of Chase’s mouth.

“Chocolate,” she said.

“Lily,” Chase said, her gaze liquid heat.

Lily quickly shook her head. “No. Boots.”

“They’ll be there tomorrow.”

“And I’ll be back in camp tomorrow doing my job.” She summoned all her willpower. Resisting Chase when the pull to say yes to what Chase suggested, to what she wanted, was nearly overpowering. “Boots.”

Chase sighed and took her hand. “This way.”

Half an hour later, Lily tucked the package under her arm. They dropped the boots off at the Jeep and walked the opposite direction away from the crowds and the traffic to a small, unassuming restaurant that sat on the water. Its outdoor patio extended to the shoreline, and the view of the lake was uninterrupted for miles. Still so early in the season, they were able to get a table without any trouble, and they sat beneath an umbrella at one corner of the deck as the sun set over the chain of islands that ran north in the middle of the lake.

“Does anyone own those islands?” Lily asked.