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I speak around my mouthful, my voice coming out muffled. “This must be the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
The cabin is filled with the sound of meat being torn from bone and people chewing. It’s a noise that would normally grate on me, but honestly, in that moment, I don’t even care. All I’m focused on is getting that hot, sweet flesh down my throat and into my stomach. The heat of the grouse burns my fingers, but again, I ignore it.
I suck on the bones until they’re clean and then sit back and let out a loud burp. I cover my mouth and laugh. “Excuse me.”
Cade raises an eyebrow and chuckles. “Such a lady.”
I toss the bone at him. “Never claimed to be one. If you can catch another grouse sometime soon, I’d be most appreciative.”
“Would you, now? How appreciative?”
There’s a teasing, flirting tone to his voice, and I shoot a quick look at Reed to see if he’s picked up on it. He seems to be too engrossed in his meal to have noticed, but Darius has angled his head in Cade’s direction.
“Notthatappreciative.”
Cade only laughs. “Well, I didn’t see any more grouse, but I’ve noticed a few rabbits hopping around at dusk. I reckon I could catch a couple of those if I set my mind on it.”
“I’ve never eaten rabbit either,” I say.
“I guess this is going to be a whole raft of first times for you, then.”
Cade catches my eye and holds my gaze. My heart suddenly trips and heat blooms in my cheeks. I hate how he has this ability to make me blush with just a few words or a single look. He has no way of knowing for sure that it would even be my first time—assuming he is referring to sex, and not the eating of various forms of wildlife. The problem with Cade is that he just exudes sex appeal. It’s like his body was made for it, and it’s all he thinks about, and he’s probably got pheromones blasting out of him inwaves. It makes it feel like everything he’s doing and saying is referring back to sex.
I don’t bother reminding him that I’m his stepsister and that I’m still seventeen—albeit by only a matter of days—and that he shouldn’t really be talking to me like that. He’d probably feign innocence and then would claim it was me who had the dirty mind.
Perhaps he’d be right.
Refusing to be the first one to look away, I lift my greasy fingers to my mouth and suck them off, one by one. The smirk creeps into a full-blown smile, and I can’t help myself—I smile back. A warmth blooms inside my belly that has nothing to do with the amount of food that’s in it.
I discover I kind of like messing with Cade. He can be a total asshole, but perhaps this is a better way of dealing with him than trying to fight him all the time.
Chapter Twenty-One
Laney
I OPEN MY EYES IN THEearly morning light to find Reed crouched in front of me. He’s holding a small packet of cookies with a tealight candle balanced on top and is grinning at me manically. Has he lost his mind?
I push myself to sitting. “What’s this?”
“It’s the tenth,” he tells me. “It’s your eighteenth birthday.”
I blink in surprise. “I’d completely forgotten about my birthday.”
“Congratulations,” Cade says with his customary smirk. “Looks like you’re an adult now.”
There’s something about his words that makes me catch my breath. An adult. An equal to all three of them. No longer underage.
“And I’ve got this for later.” Cade produces one of the miniature bottles of champagne that he’d taken from the plane.
I can’t help laughing. “I’m still not twenty-one.”
“If we’re over the Canadian border somewhere, the drinking age isn’t twenty-one anymore.” He screws up his nose. “I think it might be nineteen, though I could be wrong. But who gives a shit, anyway? Who is going to know with us being out in the middle of nowhere? No one can tell us what to do.”
I glance over to Reed, who also shrugs.
“You’re eighteen now. I guess that means, legally, I’m not your guardian anymore. You’re free to do what you want.”
“You’re still my stepfather,” I point out. “Legally, anyway.”
