“I’m not the one standing naked in front of you.” Her eyes are all trained on where my dick is covered by my hand. I’m tempted to give her the whole show. She’s a steamy romance author, I’m sure she’s seen lots.
“You’re right. That only happens in my dreams.” Fuck. I can’t believe I just said that.
And apparently neither can she. “What?”
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Fine.” I bite the words off. “It doesn’t matter anyway because you’re leaving. Out of sight out of mind.” Lies. All lies. There’s not a word of truth in that stupid fucking saying. And don’t I know it because it didn’t matter that Emmerson left town. She’s still in my dreams every night.
“I-I’m not leaving.”
Daggers to my heart. One right after the other. I get why Wylder had to leave town. I totally fucking get it. If I could, I’d leave too. I might have to if Emmerson is moving back hoping to be friends again.
“Great.”
I stuff my limbs through shirt and jeans and am already walking back to our site. It’s about to get darker and I just want to close my eyes and sleep. Maybe tomorrow I can wake up with some new perspective.
Wishful thinking never sounded so naive.
“Jack, wait up.” She reaches for my arm. “Don’t leave me by myself.”
And no matter how frustrated I am with her, I could never do something to her that would cause her harm. I grab her hand in mine. “I would never do that. I’d never just leave you, Booksy. Let’s go.” But I can’t look her in the eyes right now or I’ll do something I’ll regret.
When we reach our tent, I get her settled inside first. I shut down the campsite and make sure all our food is sealed and far away from us. Then I head over toward the hammock. I’ve slept in worse.
SPLAT.
Shit. I look up into rain clouds that have appeared out of nowhere. I must not have noticed them in my angry stupor.
Looks like we’re sharing a tent.
I unzip the front and lay my sleeping bag down beside hers. I mean, it’s practically on top of hers with the space allotted to us.
Just great.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s raining.”
“Oh.” But I don’t detect disappointment in her voice. Odd.
I finally bring myself to look her in the eyes, but I only catch the briefest flicker of emotion. It almost seemed to be…curiosity. Not sure that that was actually what I saw, but at least she doesn’t seem irritated.
“Good night, Em.”
“G’night, Jack.”
I roll over and close my eyes and sleep comes way faster than I would have expected.
Unfortunately it doesn’t last.
At some point I’ve rolled back over and I awake to a light. It’s shining brightly on Em’s face.
“What are you doing?” I grumble. I know I sound grouchy, but it’s the middle of the night.
“Nothing.” Am I imagining things or is her breath coming out raspy?
