The drive took forever, and we used it to find out how compatible our music tastes were. We stopped by a trail a few miles outside Boston.

Jackson took a gigantic picnic basket out of the trunk. I clapped my hands in approval and his lips fanned out into a grin.

"One of my," he looked at the sky, "aunt's specialties."

"I just wanted to say, you can't be that perfect."

He chuckled and closed the trunk. I took the blanket from him, and couldn't believe that our first date was going to be a picnic.

We walked on the trail, with beautiful, tall trees on both sides, brushing the sky. The trail opened into a beautiful spot next to a waterfall. There wasn't another soul in sight, just more trees.

I stared at the top of the rocky outcroppings and clinging vines with the frothy cascade of water falling into the pond. Water sprayed as it smashed into the rock, forming the mist rising into the air. A glint of a rainbow shimmered at the edge. The water rippled and I had to admit, there was a real serene atmosphere to all of this.

I laid the blanket open. Jackson took out a bottle of wine, orange juice, and food containers filled with fruit, sandwiches, and other delicious goodies from the basket.

"A picnic?" I asked.

"You already approved," Jackson said as he took out a platter filled with crackers and nuts that were tightly wrapped with plastic. He tore off the plastic and took out more containers that carried many dips.

I plopped down on my stomach on the blanket as Jackson planted his ass with his knee supporting his arm, and the other leg stretched out.

"So you live with your uncle and aunt?"

"Yes, they have a neat cottage on their property by the pool, and they are very lenient with me wanting to throw a party or two."

"From your mother's or father's side?"

"Father."

"Is your father a doctor too?"

His lips curved. "No, he is a lawyer and not thrilled that I didn't want to follow in his footsteps."

"Your aunt really knows how to pack a picnic basket."

"Yeah, she loves catering. Caters all the time for her snobby friends."

I laughed. "One of them made eyes at you?"

"All the time."

"You must love it, you are an older woman." I crinkled my nose.

He stared at me. "It's five years, Cassy, not fifteen."

I laughed. "Admit it, age isn't just a number, Jackson."

"If you were forty-five and still looked like this, believe me, you would still be here."

"Yeah, I doubted that. I would've been married, with kids, probably divorced by now too..." I trailed off and we both chuckled. "Cause I really have the worst luck with men. I mean, I wasted seven years with a guy that clearly didn't know what he wanted and I had to make a bet with another one to take me on dates."

More chuckles escaped from Jackson. "You know you are talking a lot of shit, right?"

"Yeah, it's one of my hobbies."

Jackson laughed as I giggled.

"Well, I'm starving. You want some wine?"

"I'll like some juice. Alcohol with you is never a good thing."

"I'm not an alcoholic, Cass."

I laughed as he kept on misinterpreting my meaning.

"Why do I get a feeling we are not on the same page here?"

"Because we aren't, which is a beautiful thing."

"Hmph." A smile lingered on his lips as he popped a grape into his mouth.

I stacked a cracker carefully with cream cheese, cube gouda, olives, and topped it off with a bit of caviar.

Lush grasses peeked behind the edges of the blanket and butterflies, mixed with dragonflies flitted about.

"Oh man, this is like my favorite colors all in one place. So tell me, what is so special about this spot?"

"I was wondering when you were going to bring that up."

I took a bite of the carefully stacked cracker. The cheese, and part of the olives fell off. I chuckled with the food in my mouth as heat rushed to my cheeks. "Sorry. I'm a messy eater, always had that. My mom always said that I need to go with a bib to places."

"Yeah, I'll bring a bib next time."

"Haha. So spill, why this spot?"

"It was one of Derick's favorite places."

I frowned. "Are you bi?"

"What, no!" He threw his head back and laughed. "Not romantically, Cass. We used to come here a lot, to just take in nature and whine down."

"I'm just saying, if you are into men and women, it's not the end of the world, Jackson. Plenty of people are."

"I'm not into men."

"Yeah, I don't buy that whine down comment. Whine down from what?"

He grinned. "From exams. You do not know how hard it is to become a doctor, woman. Believe me, I love pussy way too much."

I screamed my laughter. "Okay, that is great to know. So, how old was Derick when he passed away?"

"It was during our first year at Uni. Harold was one of his childhood friends, and it was how I got to know Harold."

"I just wanted to say that Harold didn't study. How the heck did he fit into all of this. So Derick was a mutual friend?"

"Yeah. He was like my brother from another mother. We had so much in common and we just smashed well."

"Smashed well."

"Click, whatever you call it."

"And this place was Derick's place?"

"I think it was his and Harold's, but this place holds too many memories for Harold and I think it's one reason he doesn't enjoy coming here. It became mine now. I come here when I need to think, clear my head, get answers, that sort of thing."

"Does it help?"

"Yeah, it does. I always feel lighter when I leave."

"Now for the million dollar question. How many girls did you bring here?"

"To this place?"

I nodded.

"One, and she is right here now."

"Get out, really?"

"You said something special, Cass. I'm taking my bets seriously."

"Well, thanks, Jackson. That makes me feel special."

"I'm a guy with many talents."

We carried on speaking about our favorite movies. He loved The Shawshank Redemption, was into the John Wick movies, and I laughed when he said when he would be a father, he would probably become John Wick in three seconds if anyone harmed his kid. But his favorite was the Mafia job. A grin formed on my lips as he carried on, explaining the reasons the screenplay was just perfect.

It was like Déjà vu as I once heard the same excitement coming from my brother's lips when he came up with the idea for the Mafia Job. Jackson would poop in his pants if he discovered Mark wrote that screenplay and sold it to a producer that he knew. He went by the pen name of Sophie Hamilton so that the family and friends didn't know about his side job and how he made his money. I was the only one that knew about my brother's secret hobby.

"I know all about the Mafia Job, that is a brilliant screenplay."

"You liked it too?"

"Loved it, even though that isn't my favorite genre of movies to watch."

"Which is your favorite?"

"I Love Lucy."

Jackson laughed. "Everyone loves Lucy, Cass."

"Comedy. The world is way too serious for my liking. You need humor daily."

We somehow ended up speaking about pets. The pets that I had and the pets that he had. He once felt so bad as his sister got a cat from the pound. The cat was partly in his grave already, as it was so old. He had this thing about open doors and bolted whenever he found one. The amount of times Jackson had to run after that cat was countless because he kept on forgetting to shut the door behind him.

Then one day he refused to run after the cat and a car sent him fully to his grave. Kate cried for days and he went and bought her another cat to cheer her up. The cat was still alive, lost an eye during a cat fight and lost one leg.

"The moral of the story is that Kate has the worst luck with cats, just like you have with men."

Orange juice sprayed from my lips onto the grass as I didn't expect that one.

When our bellies were full and both of us sweated like percolators, it was time to go for a swim.

Jackson pulled off his shirt, and I did not know where to look. Heat flushed through my body as his well-defined v-line attacked my sight. Girls went all tongue tied and gaga with men and their v-lines. Just asked Cass.

I pulled off my shirt and bottoms as Jackson entered the water and dove.

Fuck, this guy is definitely going to be the end of me.

I climbed into the water and welcomed the cool touch gliding against my skin. It felt great. I swam toward Jackson, which was in the middle of the pond. When I reached him, we kept on talking. This time, our celebrity crushes and that list everyone owned.

"Kate Beckinsale," Jackson said without thinking.

"That is a great crush. I'll even do her."

A grin spread on Jackson's lips as he brushed the water out of his hair. "Yours?"

"Oh, man, Roxy has way too many."

Jackson laughed as I giggled. "But if I have to choose, hands down Henry Cavill."

"The Witcher?"

"Or Superman. He looks delicious in both those roles."

Jackson squinted. "I don't know if I would do Henry Cavill. So I won't be able to fulfill that sort of threesome, sweetheart."

"Then I guess we have to go with yours. We should write to Kate and see what she says."

Jackson chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, I might get jealous, Cass."

I hated the way my stomach betrayed me whenever he said those types of things. But the boy was smooth. I had to give him that. He closed the space between us and wrapped his arm around my waist. Our lips brushed softly against each other before we crashed into the kiss. It was definitely becoming one of my favorite things in this world to kiss Jackson. Fuck, what was his last name? Who cares? The way our tongues duelled and the taste of red wine lingering on his tongue put me in some sort of frenzy.

His gigantic hands trailed down hard to my waist, over my ass and toward my legs and he grabbed them tight. They automatically opened and wrapped around his hips. The hard bulge in his pants connected with my crotch, and a soft, lustful moan escaped both our lips.

His teeth scraped my lips as my fingers tangled in his wavy hair. I couldn't get enough and this waterfall was seriously becoming a dangerous place to be with Jackson like this.

I needed to breathe, and broke the kiss as his lips trailed down to my neck. Fuck, Cass. This was a fucking stupid bet. If every date was going to be like this, I was going to fail miserably, not Jackson.

I welcomed the sign of a full bladder and grabbed his hair to stop kissing my neck. It was so difficult, but I really had to go.

"I need the loo."

"Now?"

"No, in five minutes, Jackson. Of course now."

"Number one or two?"

"Thank heavens it's number one."

"Your bladder has the worst timing."

"Tell me about it."

Jackson grinned. "The trees."

My eyebrow raised. "Are you shitting me?"

"There isn't another place, and it's never a good idea to pee near a waterfall. You do not know what sort of bacteria is in the pond."

"You're telling me that now!"

He laughed as I let go of him and swam to the edge. I hauled myself out of the pond and went to the trees. More laughter came from inside the pond and I hated feeling so vulnerable going into the woods.

I chose a tree that was surrounded by other trees and plants before pulling my bikini bottom down and squatting. This was seriously such an awkward position. I let it flow. The relief came instantly and there was just something super amazing by releasing the heaviness in your bladder.

Tiny pricks burned my feet, and I looked down. Dozens of fire ants crawled on my feet. A few dozen more wrestle in the pool of urine underneath me. I tried to slap them off as the little fuckers really pinched hard and it burned like fire.

A pinch came from right below my ass, close to my upper thigh. These ants were becoming way too personal for my taste and I shrieked. I pulled up my bikini top and my inner ninja appeared as I chopped and swiped at the ants, but they didn't want to budge. I tripled like a show pony and found Jackson hugging a tree, cracking up, as he tried to come to my rescue.

"It's fire ants, don't laugh at me."

When he eventually reached me, he pulled me over his shoulder like last night, swiping the ants off my feet as he walked back to the waterfall.

He put me down on the edge. The cool water caressed the fiery red dots that covered my feet. I felt like crying.

"You had to pee on an ant's nest?"

"I didn't see a freaking nest."

His shoulders bobbed with silent laughter. "You should've just peed on them."

"I tried."

Laughter escaped his lips

"Stop laughing at me." A giggle passed through mine. "Look at my feet."

"Relax, I have some ointment in the basket. Let the water cool down the stinging first."

"I seriously have the worst luck ever!"

First the hot sauce and now the fire ants. Poor, Cass. Let me know what you thought about the first date. Thanks for reading. I'll try to add more chapters soon.