Valerie snapped her gaze away.
There was the very real, very dangerous possibility that if she stared into those beautiful eyes for too long, she’d forget all about the insult. She’d forgive and forget, and this excursion to the watering hole... well, it might just lead to something else. Did she want that? Her heart said yes, but her sweet, logical brain screamed no.
“Yes,” Valerie said, bracing her back against the side of the well. The brick was hot, but not enough to hurt. “It’s exactly because of that comment.”
“It was just a joke,” Adrienne said, stepping forward. She dropped the remaining bottles to the ground and licked her lips. She’d been doing a lot of that lately, and Valerie could only assume Adrienne’s lips were suffering from lip-gloss withdrawal. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Well, it wasn’t funny to me,” Valerie said, her voice tightening as she stared down at the wooden lid with its wooden handle. “I love Sitka. I grew up in those muskegs. I explored the tide pools at Starrigavan Beach when I was little and hunted for frosted purple sea glass along the shoreline of Halibut Point Park. In November, when the aurora borealis was out, my parents would wake me up at midnight, wrap me up in a wool blanket, and we’d drive out to Crescent Harbor to watch the glowing green curtains. During the spring herring spawn, my dad would take me down to the docks to watch the ocean turn turquoise. When life got so difficult I could hardly breathe, I jogged Thimbleberry Lake Trail and listened to the rain patter against the massive skunk cabbage leaves, and somehow I always felt better. The year my mom got sick, I used to sit on the rocks at Whale Park for hours, waiting for the humpbacks to break the surface while I cried until my tears dried out. And when I got into Cal Maritime to study marine engineering, half the town pitched in, selling salmonberry jam and hosting pancake breakfasts, to get me there. My absolutebest memories are rooted in that beautiful corner of the earth you call depressing.”
Valerie exhaled hard. When she finished saying what was on her mind, there was silence.
Adrienne didn’t say anything. Not for a long time. In fact, Valerie wondered if she was going to say anything at all and even considered leaving, taking the path that led to Moon Pit, and hoping Adrienne didn’t follow her there.
“Valerie,” Adrienne said finally, her words softer than a cloud, gentler than a hand brushing a stray hair from someone’s face. “Is your mom still sick?”
The question shouldn’t have hit her as hard as it did, but it slammed into her like a train out of the dark. Valerie couldn’t bring herself to look up. In fact, she didn’t. She just nodded once and fought the hot sting of tears behind her eyelids as if her life depended on it. She hated feeling this exposed, especially out here with a lone cameraman half obscured by a tree trunk... especially in front of Adrienne.
Suddenly Adrienne closed the distance. Two hands, surprisingly gentle, slid around Valerie’s waist from behind. The contact was so unexpected, Valerie’s breath hitched and her skin prickled with goosebumps. Then Adrienne stepped right into her space, her front pressing against Valerie’s back, closing the gap until Valerie could feel the thumping of Adrienne’s heart right against her shoulder blades.
Adrienne tucked her chin over Valerie’s shoulder. “I am so sorry,” she muttered.
Valerie found herself leaning into Adrienne, appreciating the fact that Adrienne was probably stooping a little to counter the height difference. In fact, Valerie felt her anger evaporate completely, replaced by a low heat in her stomach that completely derailed her train of thought and her common sense. She wanted nothing more than to tilt her head and press her lipsto Adrienne’s mouth. She wanted to taste the salt on her skin and watch as that bikini top fell to her feet.
And somehow, at the same time, she wanted to curl into a ball and cry until the sun went down, because what the hell was she doing here? Not just here, but on this Greek island, playing some silly survivalist game when she should be back in Sitka, holding her mom’s fragile, paper-thin hand. The guilt of being a world away threatened to choke her.
She nearly yanked herself away and announced out loud that she was quitting. Elise would have a field day. But then Adrienne leaned in closer until her lips brushed the shell of Valerie’s ear. “I know this isn’t the right time to tell you this, but I want you so badly I think I might actually combust.”
Adrienne was right. It wasn’t the right time.
But Valerie was so tired of being strong. For once, she just wanted to surrender to her desires and let logic fade away like a cheap spray tan. She wanted to trade her adult brain for something reckless, and everything about Adrienne was reckless.
“Tonight, when everyone’s asleep, meet me at our pine forest,” she muttered back, dropping her voice so low that the long-range microphone wouldn’t pick up a single syllable.
Adrienne’s breath tickled the back of her neck. “Our pine forest,” she repeated, then pulled away, leaving Valerie shivering in the heat.
Chapter Fourteen
Adrienne stepped over a rock and was grateful the moon was still bright enough to light the way. She couldn’t imagine navigating the rocks in complete darkness, and the last thing she needed was a grazed knee or a twisted ankle. At least not before reaching Valerie.
She’d been thinking about this meetup all afternoon. About Valerie standing at the watering well, all bent up about Sitka, about Valerie’s mom, who apparently was still sick. And yes, Adrienne should’ve had more tact than to mention how badly she wanted to kiss Valerie, but in her defense, she’d never been good at comforting other people. When Nicki had been dumped by that swindler guy with the fake hedge fund, she’d handed her a box of Kleenex, told her to get over it, and booked them flights to Cabo. Who could possibly be sad in Cabo?
But did Adrienne regret what she had said to Valerie? Absolutely not. She’d spent her entire life getting exactly what she wanted, and what she wanted was Valerie.
The small forest came up quickly. Adrienne had worried she might miss it because things always looked so different at night. But that worry turned to relief when she spotted Valerie leaning against a tree up ahead. At the sight of her, Adrienne sucked in her breath. That same want from earlier today at the well flared up like a summer fever. It was intoxicating.
Keeping Valerie in her line of sight, she scrambled up the remaining rocks. When she stepped through the trees, she said, “I don’t think anyone followed me.” She hadn’t realized her voice sounded ragged until the words were out. Just like she hadn’trealized she was nervous. Properly nervous. “Although I do think Sienna might’ve woken—”
Valerie’s mouth was on hers before she could finish. Her hands were tangled in Adrienne’s hair, tilting her head down to deepen the kiss before Adrienne could even begin to wonder how long Valerie had been standing there, and if she’d pick her way over the rocks like a woman crossing a minefield.
But then Valerie’s tongue slipped into her mouth and her hands caught Adrienne’s waist, pulling them together so that a piece of paper couldn’t fit between them, and Adrienne’s mind was a blank slate. Valerie then caught Adrienne’s bottom lip between her teeth and tugged hard enough for Adrienne to let out a breathless gasp. Adrienne’s knees instantly turned to jelly. She could feel Valerie’s want like it was something physical. A living, breathing force that demanded every single ounce of Adrienne’s attention.
Which was why Adrienne was more than surprised when Valerie pulled back. “I don’t know what it is about you,” she muttered. Her lips were swollen, and her breath was completely wrecked. So too was Adrienne’s. She could literally feel her chest rising and falling. “But I just can’t stop thinking about you.” Her hand slid down Adrienne’s arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “You’re not even my type.”
“I’m everyone’s type,” Adrienne said, more as a reflex than anything else. She’d been told she looked like a young Raquel Welch on several occasions. Her Instagram was full of comments from people begging for her hand in marriage. Last spring, the twelfth heir to the Monegasque throne had literally sent her a five-carat diamond bracelet despite Adrienne mentioning several times that she wouldn’t date him unless he somehow grew a vagina. “That’s a fact.”
Valerie chuckled so softly Adrienne wondered if she had imagined it. Then Valerie slid her hand back up Adrienne’s armto her shoulder. She stopped at the thin strap of Adrienne’s pajama top and hooked her finger underneath it. Then she tugged it down Adrienne’s shoulder. The very tip of her finger grazed so lightly against Adrienne’s skin that Adrienne shuddered, taking half the top with it. It fell down just enough to expose her breast to the cool evening air. Her nipples hardened instantly. The way Valerie’s gaze flicked down, the way her lips parted just slightly as if she was contemplating something, made Adrienne feel so hot she might as well have been in a sauna. Without saying anything, Adrienne begged Valerie to put her mouth around her nipple, to flick it with her tongue.
But to Adrienne’s dismay, she didn’t.
