Page 104 of Forbidden Kisses

"I do!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"So do I,” Riley replied.

I had absolutely zero desire to participate in this. She flashed me a warning look as if to say, "Don't be a grump."

"Yeah, me too," I said, and Riley winked at me.

She was the first one to finish her s'more. I was still assembling the marshmallow between graham crackers by the time she’d started eating it. Jeremy came in second.

"Be careful not to burn yourself," I said as he took it away from the fire.

He nodded, then bit into and said, "Mm, this is good."

I usually had a rule about no sweets before dinner, but who the hell cared? It was Friday evening. Tomorrow was the weekend, and we were camping. The usual rules didn't apply.

The marshmallow was decent enough, but I was more of a meat man, so I ate two of the sausages. Jeremy and Riley each ate one. As the sun set, I could start to see the beauty ofcamping, with the fire crackling and the silence surrounding us. The nearest tent was quite some distance away. That suited me just fine.

An hour after dinner, Jeremy went out like a light. Riley and I stayed outside in the camping chairs I’d bought. They adjusted into a half-sitting, half-lying position. I'd questioned the function when I bought them, but watching Riley sit back in it, pointing to the sky and saying, "The stars are so easy to see here," everything fell into place.

"What is it?" she murmured when she caught me looking at her.

"I like watching you. You look so happy."

"Iamhappy. This is the best evening ever."

Fucking hell, really?I'd come camping with her every night if it made her this happy.

I sat down next to her, putting my chair in the same position.

"Jeremy's asleep?" she asked. When I nodded, she sighed and said, "Then we should probably talk about today."

“Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly. We had a delicate situation. I wasn't sure why he brought it up or if something triggered it, so I figured it's best to discuss it together."

I took her hand. "Sure. What is it?"

She hesitated. I interlaced our fingers, squeezing them together. "You can tell me anything."

"Earlier today, when Jeremy and I were out for ice cream, he asked me if I'd like to be his mom."

I stilled. "What? He actually said that?"

"I mean, in that cute way of his, you know? He was like 'Yes, because we do so many mom things together.' I just… I don't know. I told him that I love spending time with him. Which is true, of course, and you know that. But obviously I didn't answer his question."

But I wanted to know. Did she want to?

My heart was in my throat. Never in my life did I have a problem expressing what I wanted and needed, but I couldn't just outright ask her. What if she said no? There would be no coming back from that.

“I’m going to talk to him and figure out where that came from,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s great.”

I leaned in and nudged the tip of my nose against her jaw before descending to her neck. I moved my lips toward her and then stopped.

"Duncan," she chastised, “we can’t do this here. What if Jeremy wakes up?”

"I know." Being surrounded by nature made my own natural instincts kick into overdrive. I needed this woman.