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“Are you guys dating now?”
She wasn’t going to leave this alone, but I hadn’t expected her to. I knew she’d wanted something to happen between the two of us for a while. Nothing would have ever happened between us if it wasn’t for my paper, and being forced to work with him. I was beginning to think Rowan had turned me down on purpose so that Jude would volunteer and we’d be forced to spend hours alone together. If that had been her plan, it had worked magnificently.
“I don’t know what we are.” I nibbled on my bottom lip nervously. We certainly weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, and we’d never been friends. “I don’t think there’s any label out there to describe us.”
“Well, I knew that already,” she laughed, pulling her long hair over her shoulder. “You and Jude…that has unique written all over it. In a good way,” she assured me. She stood and patted my shoulder. “Well, I enjoyed our chat.”
Before I could reply, she opened the bathroom door and was gone. Almost immediately it opened again. Jude stuck his head in and narrowed his eyes. “Was I missing out on some smoking hot girl on girl action?”
My mouth dropped open and my short fuse got the best of me. I bonked him on the forehead with the heel of my hand and his head disappeared. I slammed the door closed before he could finagle a way back inside. “You’re disgusting!” I called through the door.
His cackling laugh was his only reply.
???
That evening Trent decided he wanted to have a bonfire. It seemed really silly to go through all the trouble if it was only the four of us, but everyone else thought it was a great idea. I had to admit once it was done it was really pretty. I liked watching the way the fire moved, like it was dancing.
As the four of us sat around the bonfire huddled under blankets—Trenton and Rowan under one, and Jude and I under another—I felt relaxed. None of my worries and stress from the afternoon lingered. Poof. It was gone. The delicious s’more I was eating might have something to do that, as well as the soothing motion of Jude’s hand rubbing up and down my arm to keep me warm.
“You know,” I looked around the empty beach, “it’s really weird that we’re like the only ones here.”
“It’s private,” Trent explained, confirming my earlier belief. “People coming for spring break haven’t arrived yet, it’s still a bit too early.” Shivering from the cool air, I agreed with the ‘too early’ part.
Jude brought me closer against his warm body. He was like my own personal space heater.
“You want another?” He asked, leaning over to grab the box of graham crackers.
“I’m still eating this one!” I protested, trying to wipe marshmallow from my mouth.
Jude’s eyes zeroed in on my mouth. Before I could guess what he was about to do his mouth was on mine, sucking it away. He let my lip go with a pop and then licked his. “Got it.”
Sweet baby Jesus. One minute I wanted to slap him silly and the next my hormones were in overdrive. I’m pretty sure I wanted to lick him in that moment. Could you get drunk off sugar? Because there was definitely no alcohol in my system, but I was feeling loopy.
I managed to keep my tongue to myself and finished my s’more as Jude warmed a marshmallow until it was golden, then slathered the goo on the waiting graham cracker. He added the chocolate and top cracker, before taking a huge bite.
A bit of chocolate sat in the corner of his lip and I reached over, wiping it away with my finger. I popped my finger in my mouth, licking the sweetness away. Jude watched me with hooded eyes, clearly getting turned on.
Yep, you could definitely get drunk on sugar. At least that’s what I was going to blame my actions on. It was easier than accepting them.
I felt like we were in our own little bubble, like the blanket wrapped around us was our shield. “This is nice,” I admitted, laying my head on his sturdy shoulder.
“It’s more than nice, it’s amazing,” he breathed and his sticky lips pressed against the top of my head.
I was falling hard and fast for Jude Brooks. It was scary. I was also fighting it tooth and nail.
I didn’t want to fall in love, and certainly not with him.
But matters of the heart aren’t easily won by the brain. In fact, they’re never won.
???
“Tatum?”
My name echoed through the dark room. When I didn’t reply, it was joined by, “Are you awake?”
“Yes,” I breathed, my voice almost shaky.
A moment later the sheet of the bed I slept in was lifted and a warm body pressed in behind me.
