My heart raced as he leaned into me.
“I like dragging you on things you don’t want to go on. I like that you challenge me in ways that have nothing to do with my physical ability. I’ve genuinely loved every second we’ve spent together, and they still aren’t enough.”
I tried to mentally ignore his use of the big “L” word, but my heart couldn’t seem to let it go.
“Can we stop being weird with each other?” he begged. “I’m sorry that I can’t offer you more than right now. Trust me, the past few weeks I’ve been wishing that I was some hedge-fund, Wall-Street-type guy who could just move with you to New York and get some job and fit right in. But that’s not me. You’d never ask me to change, just like I’d never want you to change. We might not have forever, but can we stop wasting the time that we do have?”
His words simultaneously excited me and broke my heart. They were the best things he could have said in the moment, yet part of me still wished he could come up with some grand plan. Some miracle that would allow us to be together despite every obstacle in our way.
“What do you say?” he pleaded.
“I say, I’m done pushing you away.”
His mouth covered mine in an instant. His lips were warm and inviting against mine. I hated that I’d tried to deny myself this. With my career-obsessed self, maybe I wouldn’t get another feeling like this for a very long time. Oliver was special.
We rejoined the rest of the group and watched the sun disappear behind the mountains, resulting in an explosion of color. Oliver pulled me into him and held me close the entire time.
The hike back down wasn’t quite as strenuous as the hike up. Oliver stuck with me the whole way, making sure my headlamp was attached properly and forcing me to grab his arm so that I didn’t trip over anything.
“You really are terrible at this,” he said with a laugh when we finally reached the bottom, at least fifteen minutes behindeveryone else. They’d already formed a circle around a crackling fire and I could see marshmallows being passed around.
“You know what I’m not terrible at? Sitting my ass around a fire.”
Oliver grinned and planted a kiss on top of my head.
When I went to go find my camping chair, he stopped me and sat down in his before pulling me into his lap.
“You’re not getting away from me the rest of the weekend,” he said into my hair.
“Get a room, you two,” Mattie said, smiling at me when I looked up at her. She was sitting next to Giles, leaning into him.
“How about a tent?” Oliver asked.
I chuckled and swatted his chest.
This felt so unbelievably right.
“Looks like you set up that extra tent for no reason,” Oliver said to Giles, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me to him.
“I helped set it up,” I insisted.
“No, she didn’t,” Giles said, and we all laughed.
Lila launched into a story about the last time she and Harrison had gone on a hike when they were stuck together in Greece. I listened, captivated.
“I love this,” Oliver whispered into my ear so that only I could hear. There he went again. Tossing out that “L” word so casually.
“You were right about camping,” I said.
“Oh? Say that again.”
I giggled as he pinched my side. “You were right. I’m glad I came.”
“Now we just have to sit out here for an appropriate amount of time before we can go back to the tent. It’ll bechilly tonight, but if we strip naked and get into the same sleeping bag, we should stay warm.”
“Huh, that sounds convenient for you,” I teased, turning my face so that I could see the playful glint in his eyes.
“Well, I am the expert. You really shouldn’t argue with me.”
