Read Online Plain Jane & The Hotshot by Meagan McKinney - Free Book Online Page B

though the tension between her and Kayla persisted throughout another busy day in the wilderness.
    Hazel made it all fun, but Jo’s mind kept drifting back to that searing kiss. Just the momentary thought of it was enough to set her pulse exploding in her ears, drowning out Hazel.
    â€œNow remember,” Hazel wrapped up her remarks that evening, “tomorrow night we’re all going to drive two miles away from camp, then break up into teams. Each of the younger gals has to guide the way back to camp using the night sky and the reference points I’ve already pointed out. Got it?”
    â€œGot it,” Bonnie and Kayla said.
    But Jo didn’t answer with the rest. She found herself transported as sleepiness gradually weighed on her eyelids and the day’s exertions left a pleasant ache in muscles she hardly ever used. Now and then, however, she returned to the present and saw Kayla staring at her, resentful and smugly superior.
    Don’t worry, Jo fumed silently. From now on I mean it, Nick Kramer is all yours. So put away your voodoo spells.
    But his words echoed in her unwilled memory, exciting and forbidden, a promise of much more to come: Because this is always going to get in the way.

Eight
    â€œD on’t forget,” Dottie shouted over the steady brawling of the nearby rapids, “you never fight the current. Just let it shoot you up the middle. If you get confused, disoriented, turned around or even tossed into the river, do not panic. Always let the current take you. It follows the path of least resistance.”
    â€œDo not panic,” Bonnie repeated, trying to sound lighthearted but betrayed by her nervousness. “After all, the rocks only hurt if you actually hit them.”
    â€œOh, don’t be such a fraidy-cat,” Hazel teased, floating alongside them in the other raft. “You’re all strong swimmers, and besides, you’re wearing life vests.”
    Jo felt nervous anticipation crowding otherthoughts from her mind, thoughts that mostly tended toward Nick Kramer and his smoldering, no pun intended, good looks. The kiss on the bridge had played out over and over in her dreams last night, and despite the high-altitude chill after dark, she was forced to throw off the top blanket.
    You need challenges like this, she assured herself as the roar of the approaching rapids really began to drown out other sounds.
    Nothing focused the mind like fear.
    â€œOh, how this aching body misses the feel of a black knit dress,” Kayla wailed beside her, barely audible above the river racket.
    At least it wasn’t another snide comment about Nick, Jo thought gratefully. So far their mutual dependence had pushed all hostilites onto a back burner.
    â€œRide ’em, cowgirls!” Hazel shouted in front of them as the first raft suddenly dipped, then shot out of the water when the frothing rapids gained a purchase. “Up the middle, ladies!” she reminded them, and then Jo lost sight of the lead raft as their own craft suddenly plunged into a curtain of misting, roaring foam.
    â€œI wanna go home!” Bonnie wailed just before the rapids drowned out all conversation.
    But it turned out they could indeed trust the current. It kept them safely in the middle, and they only needed to occasionally fend off a boulder that came too close, pushing against it with their paddles.
    In mere moments, their distressed cries turned intoshouts of pure, astonished fun as this crazy, bobbing thrill ride picked up dizzying speed and made all of them feel like little kids riding the Tilt-A-Whirl at the county fair.
    All too soon, however, the ride was over, and they floated quietly in the wide pool, all four talking at once and insisting on running the course again.
    â€œTold you,” Hazel gloated as the women trekked back upriver, carrying the light rafts between them by rope handles. “See how much fun you miss by acting like city sissies?”
    In the