“You fell into me?” Nick was still smirking. “Then why did your eyes go all lovey-dovey right before you fell? I think it might be more accurate to say you became so aroused that you lost control of your body. So the ‘fall’ was still a result of your inability to control your attraction.”
I folded my arms. “At least you’re not lacking confidence.”
“It’d be hard to with the way you’ve been looking at me.”
I knew I was blushing but hoped it was too dark for him to notice. He was seeing straight through my bullshit, and I wasn’t even sure why I was trying to play games and stretch the truth. He and I both knew what had happened. Maybe it was time to accept it.
“So, let me get this straight,” Nick said. “We aren’t technically together, because you didn’t technically kiss me on purpose, right? Does that mean if we share an intentional kiss, we’d be together?”
“I wouldn’t call myself an expert or anything. But I think that would hold up in a court of law.”
Nick stood up and walked over to me. In an ideal world, we would’ve still been in the grassy meadow. He would’ve eased me backward onto the soft grass, and little forest fairies would’ve started playing harps from the treetops. Instead, I was pretty sure there were armies of spiders and ants ready to devour me whole if I lay down in the forsaken underbrush, but it apparently didn’t matter. Nick took my face in his hands, bent down slightly, and kissed me so tenderly I thought I’d melt.
His lips were warm velvet against mine. There wasn’t the same passionate, out-of-control hunger from before. This kiss was different. The first had made me want to strip my clothes off and do something reckless. This one made me want to throw away what remained of my emotional armor and let him in. All the years of resistance I’d been putting up to cover my fear of getting hurt again were breaking down with each tender kiss.
“How’s that?” Nick asked when he pulled back.
“I want you to text Cade.” I made no secret of what was going through my mind when I looked up into Nick’s eyes. I wanted him. I was done running from him, and seven years of desire were threatening to explode out of me. As badly as I wanted to let the moment carry us both away, we were in the middle of a scary forest, and I could barely see his face a few inches in front of me.
Nick pulled out his phone.
We eventually heard the distant sounds of Cade calling out for us. I also heard some sort of engine running.
Cade barreled through a patch of bushes on a four-wheeler with ridiculously big wheels. I wasn’t even sure how he’d navigated some of the tighter patches of trees, but I’d learned that Cade always found a way. Especially if that way was stupid with a touch of absurd.
“Didn’t I suggest a horse?” Nick asked.
“I don’t trust horses, especially those two bucktoothed bastards that left you two out here with your dick in your hands. Well, I guess it’s just Nick’s dick, and it’d be in Miranda’s hands—but you get the point.”
“They probably got spooked by something,” Nick said. “It’s not an issue of trust. We should’ve tied them up.”
“That’s what you think,” Cade said. “If you took me out of green pastures where I could shag any stallion I wanted, slapped a saddle on my back, and tried to ride me while wearing stupid hats . . . I’d murder you the first chance I got.”
“Stallions are male horses,” Nick said dryly. “You know that, right?”
“Didn’t ask for trivia night. Do you two want out of here, or do you want to talk more about horse cocks?”
“How are we supposed to all fit on that thing?” I asked.
“Nick gets to cozy up to my firm ass, and you get to kind of cling on to his back like a scared baby monkey. If we all get real tight, I think you’ll have a little bit of something to sit on.”
Hanging on like a scared baby monkey was an unfortunately accurate description of my ride back to the resort. There was about an inch of seat for me to sort of take the weight off my arms, but it meant I was constantly having to push myself into Nick’s back—and coincidentally, his ass—as well as clutching my arms around any part of him that allowed me to hold on. All in all, the experience was equal parts arousing and terrifying.
Cade dropped us off in front of our cabin and stood there with an expectant look. “Okay, so I’m just going to say it. You two went on a romantic horse ride together into the moonlight? Then you tried to hike halfway back before giving up and texting me. Either you got in a big fight, or you got really horny, and you needed a bed. Which one is it? Oh shit. Wait. Or maybe you went skinny-dipping, and one of those jungle fish I read about climbed inside your dick hole. Do you—do you need me to take a look?”
Nick took Cade by the shoulders and guided him back to his four-wheeler. “It’s the one where I thank you for helping us, but ask you to leave so we can get some sleep.”
“Together?” he asked with a shit-eating grin.
“Not if you keep this up,” Nick said.
Cade reluctantly hopped on the four-wheeler and gave us one last smirk, then rode off.
My phone buzzed several times in my purse. I hadn’t realized I was out of service range, but I must’ve been, because I could tell a barrage of texts had come in. I glanced down at the display and saw unread messages from Kira and Iris—and two from Robbie. Why would Robbie be texting me?
“Everything okay?” Nick asked.
“Yes,” I said, shoving my phone back in my purse. “Sorry.” I wasn’t sure where to go from here. In the forest, it had felt natural. I’d wanted to take things a step further, even just to kiss him again. But our little intermission with Cade felt like it had broken the spell. All the old, familiar doubts had been given time to creep back into my thoughts.
Nick and I were skirting around the very real idea of openly dating. When I was in the moment, it was as easy as breathing to let one thing lead to another. But could I really just throw caution to the wind and forget about what everyone would think? Dating him would almost certainly mean putting my career in a coffin. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’d mean putting my heart in his hands again. Last time I’d done that, he had taken the first excuse to practically run away from me at full speed. What was to say the same thing wouldn’t happen again?
“Hey,” he said. He stepped closer and took my hands in his. “If you’re having doubts about this, I can wait. I’ll wait as long as you need, okay?”
I felt slightly embarrassed that he could see straight through me so easily, but I was also reassured. He wasn’t going to make me rush into things before I was ready, and that meant I would at least have time to sort through my feelings if I needed to.
“Would it be crazy to ask if I can sleep in your room tonight? I don’t know if I’m ready for . . . that, but I’m not ready for tonight to be over either.”
He nodded, and the way his eyes were locked on mine might’ve been the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. It was like I could see something primal at war within him, but he was keeping it in check. I loved both parts—that he wanted me so badly and that he was able to control it.