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“No, not even Liam. He was just the kid next door.”
“I grew up in a small town. You’d think I wouldn’t be surprised.”
I stared at the wall of the tent. “It makes sense, though. Relationships are complicated, especially between hormonal kids from all different backgrounds. There’s no other school in town, no private school, no religious school. Coal Haven can’t be divided along district lines that would separate the haves from the have-nots. We’re all bundled together, year after year after year. Then I started dating Derek, and it was a welcome relief from having to invite Becky Sanderson to a bonfire, where I had to watch her try to make out with someone else’s boyfriend—sometimes mine.”
“I wouldn’t have made out with Becky Sanderson.”
As if those were the magic words, I rolled over. “She was very persuasive. Making out with her usually meant feeling her boobs, and she had more than me, so after Derek dumped me, I got stuck with guys like Chad.”
“Fuck guys like Chad—and by the way, I think you can get better service at another agency.”
“Everyone but the Barrons use them.”
“Who says that? Them or real people?”
I frowned. It was usually Chad dropping names, but he’d been a braggart in high school. I, of all people, should know he hadn’t lived up to the hype. “Damn.”
Archer’s soft chuckle traveled between us. “I’ll be happy to dump that asshole for you.”
“No, that’s something I want to do myself—after I find a company with lower rates and higher respect.”
I couldn’t see much of him in the darkness of the tent. The sun had set. No light was getting in through the vents of the tent we’d kept open.
“Can I scoot my bag closer?”
I froze, like a little rabbit on a trail with a horse bearing down.
“Delaney,” he said softly. “I just want to hold you.”
My mouth went dry, but I managed to croak, “You know what usually happens when we cuddle.” The heat in the tent intensified, so instead of being the rabbit scared that a horse was going to trample it, I was worried I’d get gobbled up by the big bad wolf. “You’re a bad influence.”
Humor dampened the searing heat. “I’m not.”
“You so are. You lured a young girl to Vegas and made her marry you.”
He pretended to think. “Hmm, was that before that same girl stripped me down in the honeymoon suite and had her way with me?”
“She would do no such thing.”
“She could and she did.” He wiggled his sleeping bag closer. The crinkle of tent fabric filled the air, as his proximity made me want to unzip my bag and crawl in with him. The guy was a furnace on a normal day. He went nuclear when he was turned on.
“I think about our wedding day a lot,” he murmured. His warm hand cupped my cheek.
I arched into him. “Me too.”
“You wore that little white dress, and all I could think about was how fucking lucky I was.”
My eyelids fluttered shut as if I could block out the hurt that followed. “You didn’t know me—”
“Bullshit.” When I opened my eyes, shocked at the vehemence in his tone, he continued. “There was something between us then, and there’s something even stronger between us now.”
“But—”
This time, he silenced me with a thumb on my lips. He pressed closer and dropped his head toward mine. Energy coursed through my body as his lips touched mine.
It’d been way too long since we made out in his hotel room. An infinity since we’d been together, since I’d felt his weight on me, since we were skin to skin.
As he deepened the kiss, plundering my mouth with his tongue, the mint of our toothpaste mingling, I wasn’t hit by memories or yearning. I was in the moment. This was me and him. Us.
