Although…he supposed kiss wasn’t really accurate. It was over practically before it began, and it was more of a friendly peck on the lips, but…he never friendly-pecked a friend’s lips before.
But now I’m thinking about pecking Evie…repeatedly.
He almost groaned out loud but luckily caught himself.
“I can’t believe you had the answer to the one question I didn’t know! We make a great trivia team,” she said as she playfully nudged his arm. She was significantly shorter than him, so there was no way she could reach his shoulder, and now that made him think about all the ways their bodies would line up.
Dammit.
Luckily, they were only going to sit around the fire eating s’mores. There was no way that would make him think any inappropriate thoughts about her.
When they reached the path with the cabins, Evie said she would meet him at the firepit after she ran and put her mugs away and grabbed a heavier jacket. Slater was more than okay with it because maybe the few minutes alone would be enough to clear his head and go back to thinking of her as just his Seattle buddy who loved coffee and not the sexy blonde who had the kind of curves his hands were twitching to touch.
“Stop thinking about it,” he chided himself as he grabbed the kit with marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars. “She’s a friend. Just like Harlow, Lexi, Maisie, and Nora. That’s it. You don’t think about any of them inappropriately, so stop thinking of Evie that way.”
It made sense, but…they were all involved with his best friends. Evie was single.
And she smelled of warm vanilla sugar.
“Shit. I am so screwed.”
Tossing the kit down on his coffee table, he slowly sat down on his sofa, both hands raking through his hair. In any other situation, this would be a no-brainer. He’d make his move, tell her they should skip the s’mores, and take her to bed before wishing her well in the morning. But he couldn’t do that with Evie.
He shouldn’t do that with Evie.
But man, do I want to do that with Evie.
Except for the wishing her well part. Just thinking about not seeing her again felt wrong. The fact was that he genuinely liked her. He enjoyed talking with her, laughing with her, and even playing brutally competitive trivia with her.
But now all he could think about was getting naked and horizontal with her.
Yeah, I’m so screwed.
There was a soft knock on his cabin door, and he already knew it was her. “Come in,” he called out as he stood back up.
“Hey. Is everything okay? I went around to the fire pit and you weren’t there.”
“Yeah. Sorry. I sat down and just sort of zoned out.”
Her expression went from casual to concerned in an instant. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. You hiked today and did way more stuff than I did, so if you’re tired, I can just go back to my cabin. We’ll hang out tomorrow.”
It was probably the safest bet.
“Are you sure you don’t mind? Because…you were looking forward to it and I feel bad that I’m wussing out.”
“Slater, I would hardly call it wussing out. I kind of feel bad that I’ve been monopolizing your time.”
He let out a soft laugh. “You really haven’t.”
She visibly relaxed. “Are you sure? Because I feel like I have. When I get back here to the resort every night, I sort of latch onto you.” And then she did just that—grabbing his bicep in both of her small hands and giving it a small squeeze.
And didn’t let go right away.
“Nora and Milo are fine to hang out with, but I know once we’re done with dinner, they want to be alone. I think this is their honeymoon phase.”
“Again?” he said with another laugh, desperately trying to get Evie to release his arm without being too obvious about it.
“They’re like this whenever she comes to Seattle too. Those first few days we hardly see Milo. And if he comes to the office and Nora shows up to surprise him, I find another part of the building to work because they lock his office door and I can…you know…hear things.”
