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I laugh now. “Such as?”
“Such as me leaving dirty dishes for Francois every time I cook. The fact I still call him Francois because I’m too much of a people pleaser. But I will say that when we went to Hawaii, I swindled things so that Chevelle had to stay with the grandma gang so I could actually have a vacation without having to take care of all the seniors. I was proud of myself for that.”
I laugh hard and she looks at me in surprise. “I’m proud of you. That’s awesome.”
“Once I got over the guilt, I really did enjoy myself.”
“When I found out you were going, I wanted so badly for a contract in Hawaii to call me, so I’d have an excuse to run into you there.”
She smiles, and it makes her hazel eyes twinkle. “Really?”
“I’m not sure you understand how attracted I was to you. Still am.” I tuck a strand of her red hair behind her ear.
“Same.”
The conversation dies and I don’t have it in me to bring up our future. I feel so good right now, and I don’t want to ruin it.
My eyes are just about to lose the fight with sleep when Mandi whispers my name.
“Yeah?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Okay.” I sit up and open the zipper of the tent.
It must be the middle of the night because it’s almost full dark, though it will never get there. The embers of the fire are just about out.
I hand her a flashlight and shine it around toward the forest as she slides out of the tent naked. “Not worried about poison ivy, huh?”
“I’m not going into the woods, and I’m not sure what you’re doing with that flashlight but you’re not going to watch me pee.” She snags it out of my hand.
“I was going to make sure you weren’t eaten by a bear.”
I hear her footsteps along the branches and leaves. Then the stream of pee, but it stops abruptly.
“Noah? I hear something.” Her footsteps emerge and the flashlight beams all over the sky and the trees. “Oh my god.”
I grab my gun and hop out of the tent. “What is it?”
“Something’s out here.” She drops the flashlight and runs right into my arms.
I hold her to me and hold the gun out at I have no idea what. It may not be completely dark, but the woods have a darkness all their own.
A flashlight floods our vision and I push Mandi behind me, blocking her view.
“You can’t be here,” a man says. “If you want to camp, you have to go to the actual campgrounds.”
I put down my gun when I see it’s the park ranger.
“Adam?” Mandi screeches.
He shines the flashlight at us again. “Oh shit. Come on, you guys. Go get fucking dressed.” He turns to his partner. “It’s my stepsister and her fiancé. I can’t believe this.”
“Impressive,” his partner says, looking at me and my exposed dick.
“We’re never talking about it again,” Adam tells him.
We scramble into the tent, and I put away my gun. We dress fully before coming back out. I hold out my documents from National Geographic that give me a pass to tent wherever, knowing that I won’t abuse the wilderness and will leave it as I found it.
