The kiss was soft and sweet and when they broke apart, Nick was smiling. "I don't think until right now that I realized just how long I've wanted to do that."

A wide grin spread across Sara's face, her arms were wrapped loosely around his neck. "Just how long?"

Nick looked into Sara's eyes, his hands resting on her waist. "About three and a half years."

Sara looked at him a bit incredulously. "Really."

He nodded. "I just never thought I'd get the chance."

"I might have thought about it once or twice myself." Sara smirked.

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Once or twice, huh?"

Sara nodded eyeing his lips. "Ok, so maybe a few more times than that."

Nick leaned in and kissed her again, a little longer than the first time.

Sara's voice was a little husky as they broke apart. "Ok, so I think I've wanted to do that for quite a while too."

Nick chuckled. "I think my sister might be right."

Sara looked at him quizzically, her mind still on the kiss they had just shared.

"Denial. You and me." Nick looked amused by the effect the kiss was having on her.

She smiled. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we were both in denial." Sara leaned up and kissed Nick again.

As they pulled apart, Nick rested his forehead against Sara's. "This feels so strange and so good at the same time."

Sara's fingers played at the nape of his neck. "I know; we've been friends so long that kissing you is indescribable."

"This is pretty amazing." Nick agreed. "Weird, but amazing."

"It's going to take a little getting used to." Sara confessed.

"Yeah." Nick smiled and stepped out of the embrace, taking her hand in his. "Hey, let's get out of here for a little while; I want to show you something."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So this is why you know so much about birds." Sara laughed as she and Nick walked hand in hand along the boardwalk of the Laguna Madre Nature Trail.

"And all of you tease me because you think I watch the Discovery Channel too much." Nick quipped.

She smirked. "You do watch the Discovery Channel a lot."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and you don't?"

She giggled. "Ok, so I like watching 'The New Detectives'."

Nick came to a stop and squeezed Sara's hand to get her attention. "Shh, there's a Great Blue Heron over there." He pointed with his other hand toward a large bird walking carefully through the water in search of fish near the shore.

They watched the bird for a few minutes and then Sara squeezed his hand. "So you and your dad used to come down here?"

He smiled at her. "Yeah, some male bonding time away from my mom and all the girls. We sort of had a competition to see who could find the most birds."

"So who won?" Sara smirked.

Nick chuckled. "I think my dad let me win most of the time. He was more interested in spending time together than winning. We haven't been here together in a long time."

"How come?" Sara sensed a bit of regret in Nick's voice.

He looked at her and softly smiled. "Life just gets a little crazy sometimes and as I got older, we both just got busier. I think by the time I was in high school I was more interesting in watching girls than watching birds."

Sara laughed. "Really? That seems so unlike you."

Noting the sarcasm in her voice, Nick snaked his arms around her waist. "Besides, girls are easier to catch."

Sara giggled as Nick started tickling her. "Nick, you're scaring all the birds away."

"You're the one making noise." He teased as he continued to tickle her.

"Nick!" Sara was squirming around trying to get him to stop tickling her.

"Those people over there are looking at us, Sara, you need to be quiet. I think you just scared away a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker." Nick was having far too much fun teasing her.

"Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, my foot." Sara giggled. "I bet there's no such thing." She finally got a hold of Nick's hands.

He looked amused. "Oh, yes there is. There's one on the tree behind you."

"I'm not falling for that." She narrowed her gaze at him and smirked.

He looked smug. "Oh, but you fell for this." He grinned at her as he leaned over and kissed her.

Sara smiled against his lips and leaned into him. Breaking apart she grinned at him. "I wish you would have done that last night."

Nick looked a little surprised. "You would have let me kiss you last night?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, but I'm sure if you had, your sister would have walked in."

Nick chuckled. "She probably would have."

"What do you think she'd say if she could see us?" Sara asked as they stepped apart.

Nick put his arm around Sara's shoulder and they continued walking on the boardwalk trail. "She'd say 'I told you so'." He looked over at her and smiled. "She's going to have a heyday with this when we get back up to Dallas."

"What do you think is going to happen when we get back to Vegas?" She wrapped an arm around his waist as they walked.

Nick laughed. "Something tells me that none of them are going to be very surprised. I don't know about you, but I got the third degree when everyone found out you were coming with me."

"I got it too." She giggled and glanced up at him. "Were we really that blind?"

"Apparently." Nick grinned and then stopped, pointing toward the water. "Look, it's a Black-bellied Whistling Duck."