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“Yes,” she squeaked.
“Me too,” I said, then brushed my knuckles over her cheek. “Does that cover everything?”
“It covers a lot.”
“Good. If anything else pops into your head and freaks you out, talk to me … That’s the only way this thing is going to work.”
“Okay.”
There was one more thing I needed her to know before we moved on. “Zoey, I can promise you that you can trust me. I have never, nor would I ever, cheat on a woman. I’m just not built that way. I want to see where this goes, and really hope it goes far, but if that changes, I’ll let you know. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”
Her lips tilted fully then and she said, “Okay,” before leaning down and kissing me sweetly.
Her tongue ran along my bottom lip before she pulled it between her teeth and sucked, causing the sweetness to leave me, a burning need in its place. Taking control of the kiss, I tilted my head and shoved my hands in her hair, holding her to me as I ravaged her mouth with mine.
When she pulled back, lips swollen, cheeks flushed, and eyes heavy, I asked, “Do I look bored?”
Zoey grinned broadly as she shook her head. Then she jumped me.
Chapter Eighteen ~ Zoey
“Are you ready to get your asses kicked?” Reardon shouted.
“Puh-lease,” Jasmine answered with a smirk. “You couldn’t kick our asses if you had a rocket strapped to yours, Ass!”
“Yeah, Rear, you’re going down,” Serena added, getting into the competitive spirit.
“You’re cute, Rena,” was Dillon’s reply as he settled into a lunge, ready to run.
I was quiet as I watched them trash talk each other. It was interesting to observe, but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. It was my first time being in any sort of sports day competition. It was the Saturday before camp, and from what Gabe said, they did a run through of the course every year, because each Saturday of camp the campers would get to compete on the same course. There were spotters stationed throughout the course, and a medical team on hand just in case there were any injures, which I had to admit, scared me a little bit. Yes, I kept myself in pretty good shape, considering I spent most of my day sitting, but this was totally out of my comfort zone.
“Enjoy your talk,” Gabe said calmly as he stretched out his magnificent body. “You all know who’s going to be the first one to cross that finish line.”
Apparently Gabe was always the winner of the cousins’ competition, and while I found his confidence sexy, at the same time, his arrogance was a little annoying.
I decided to try and get in on the action.
“I hate to break it to you, but I’m going to put a foot up all of your asses,” I said haughtily.
Wait … I’m not sure that came out right, I thought, and I looked around to see them all grinning at me.
When Gabe chuckled and gave me a wink, I scowled at him and muttered, “Whatever.”
“All right, guys, follow the course, be safe, and may the best man,” the announcer guy stopped when Serena cleared her throat, “uh … person, win. On your mark, get set, go.”
I jogged at a comfortable pace, happy to stay at the back of the group, since I really had no idea where we were going. Gabe had showed me the path and tried to explain it all to me the night before, but I had to admit, I’d been so mesmerized by the shape of his mouth and tone of his voice, that I’d barely paid attention to what he was saying anyway. Regardless, I wasn’t concerned about winning; I just hoped I could finish in one piece.
When I arrived at the ropes course, Serena was following Jasmine up the ladder that climbed a tree, while the three men were already across the first length of rope. I climbed, trying to block out the fear that was starting to take hold. When I got to the top of the platform, Jasmine was almost across and Serena was just stepping onto the rope. One of the helper guys told me to step into the harness and buckled me up, then clasped a rope to my belt and handed it to me.
“Just focus on balance and the other side. Don’t look down, and don’t worry, if you fall off the harness will hold and we’ll pull you across.”
“Son of a bee sting, are you serious?” I asked after I made the mistake of glancing over the platform. “Kids do this?”
The man chuckled and replied, “All the time. They love it. Now, off you go.”
I looked up and across, just in time to see Serena give me a thumbs up and yell, “You’ve got this!”
I tried to smile, but my lips were trembling just as much as my legs. I took a deep breath and stepped gingerly onto the rope. After what felt like a lifetime, but was only moments, I made it safely to the other side. I sidestepped around the platform to get to the other side of the tree, even though I was scared to see what was next. I almost peed in my running shorts when I saw the zip line disappearing into the trees.
