Page 48 of Meeting Me, Loving You (Hearts of Maple Lake #1)

JULIET

I ’ve been floating on clouds since Cam confessed that he loves me.

He loves me . I’ve been repeating it in my head and saying it back to him every time I’ve taken a second to breathe.

We’ve both been holding so many emotions and regrets inside of us that it’s a relief to finally tell him all I’ve been feeling.

We still have so much to unpack and work through, but the foundation of our love is strong and undeniable.

He’s all I want, and now I know without a doubt he feels the same.

Suddenly I remember Ty. I pull away from Cam to look around the clearing.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, already on alert. I climb off of him, and he sits up, squeezing my hand. The fire has burned down to little more than embers, and I shiver, already missing Cam’s body heat. Our camp is dark and only barely lit by the moon and the stars overhead.

“Ty never came back,” I say frantically, starting to stand.

Cam tugs at my hand, pulling me back to sit on the downy sleeping bag, but I can’t stop peering into the dark forest behind us .

“He’s okay, Jules.”

“But he left so long ago. We’ve completely lost track of time. He could be hurt.”

Cam smirks, looking unfazed by my reaction and Ty’s disappearance. “He’s not.”

“How do you know?”

“Because,” he points across the clearing, “he’s over there.”

I whip around but don’t see Ty. “I don’t see anything.”

“Your brother is a good wingman. He came back a while ago but, since you were straddling me, I waved him away and he ran back into the woods.”

My eyes go wide before my hands come up to my face, feeling the heat of embarrassment flood my cheeks. “He saw us?!” I’m mortified to say the least.

“Well, he saw something before you pushed me to the ground and?—”

“Nooo,” I whimper. “I didn’t need my brother seeing that.”

“Jules,” He pulls my hands away from my face and cups my cheek in his palm, turning me to look at him. “Tyler is a good man and a great brother. But he’s also an adult, and he knows you and I are too.”

“I would have thought he’d freak out if he saw that though.”

Cam shrugs. “He knew there was something between us. It was hard for me to hide it. I’m sure he could read my face, just like when we were teens. I don’t have a great poker face.”

“So why didn’t he tell us that he was back?”

“Maybe he knew we needed this. Or maybe,” he strokes a large knuckle across my brow, and I melt into his touch, “he could tell that you were the one in charge and didn’t need any saving from me.” His smirk is teasing, and I gasp, giving him a playful slap across his arm .

“You’re so bad,” I say, not at all displeased with his humor. “Tyler! You can come out now!”

A moment later, I hear twigs snapping as footsteps make their way through the trees, and Ty’s silhouette forms against the shadows on the edge of the campsite. As he gets closer, I can make out his form; he’s holding a pile of sticks under one arm and covering his eyes with the other.

“Can I look?” he asks.

“I’m not completely comfortable with the fact that my brother is a peeping Tom,” I murmur, straightening my clothes, “but yes. You can look now.”

Ty lowers his arm from his eyes and uses the next second to take in the scene before him: Cam and I sitting side by side, our hips brushing and our hands clasped together.

“Oookay,” he says slowly as he lowers the sticks to the ground.

“Clearly I’ve missed a few things.” He points to me, then gestures between me and Cam.

“How long has this been going on? Because, from the looks of it, it seems I’ve been intentionally left out of the loop.

Although I had a feeling something was happening between you two. ”

I glance over at Cam, and a smile spreads across my face. “It’s actually just the beginning.”

Cam’s eyes glow in the light of the embers, his usually green eyes shining almost gold as the fire reflects against them. His gaze on my face is stoic, yet childish, like he’s trying to hold onto his excitement as he only allows his stretching grin to reach so far.

“Huh,” says Ty. “So this is like a first time thing?”

“No, man,” Cam drawls, “this was definitely not the first time I’ve kissed your sister.”

Ty’s jaw drops, and I swat at Cam’s arm again, but he catches my hand in his and holds it tenderly to his heart. “The cat’s out of the bag now, Nurse Berns. I think Ty can handle it.”

At the mention of his name, my brother seems to be shaken out of his stupor.

“Uuuh, yeah,” he says a little too chipper.

“I can totally handle it. I’m not like one of those brothers who wants to beat up a guy just for lookin’ at her.

” He scoffs and rolls his eyes, but I can tell he’s shocked, and it will take him some time to recover from this.

He breaks up the sticks and tosses them onto what’s left of the fire, fanning and stirring up the embers to make the flames grow. Once he’s done, he takes a seat on the log on my opposite side, leaning toward me as he whispers, “I’m happy for you, Sis. Cam’s a good man.”

I reach out and squeeze his arm. “Thanks, Ty.” Then I turn to look at Cam.

I take in his wavy hair, his evergreen eyes that shine in the fire’s glow, the way his beard has grown since I saw him three weeks ago, and his strong hand gently holding mine as it rests on his thigh. “He really is a good man,” I whisper.

Cam’s face tilts down to me, but before his lips touch mine his eyes flick up to Ty who jumps up from the log.

“Aaand I’m out. I’ll be in my tent!”

Without looking, I hear Ty’s footsteps receding as he walks around the fire pit to his tent on the opposite side. My eyes are still transfixed on Cam’s when I hear the tent zipper open and then close, indicating that we’re alone.

I frown, even though a smile plasters itself across my face. “Is this rude? To scare him away when it’s his birthday trip?”

Cam’s head gently bobs right and left as he weighs his answer. His free hand glides sweetly across my cheek before he locks his hand behind my neck, and he tugs my face closer. “Did I tell you it’s my birthday too?” he asks against my lips.

My heart stutters and I remember! “It’s your birthday!

Oh my goodness, how did I forget?! Your birthday is two days before Ty’s!

” I feel his lips stretch into a smile against my mouth, but I can’t stop talking.

I feel so bad that I forgot about his birthday!

I try to pull back, but he holds me firmly, forcing me to talk against his face.

“But wait, that means your birthday was yesterday, since Ty’s is tomorrow.

I didn’t get you a gift! I didn’t even remember. ”

“Shh.” Cam presses his lips to the outer corner of my mouth. “I don’t care that you forgot my birthday.”

“But I—” He stops my words with a tender kiss below my jawline.

“This”— kiss — “ you ”— kiss — “are the best birthday gift ever.”

My breath is stolen right from my lungs as I revel in Cam’s affection.

With his strong body and his calloused hands, he’s the most gentle man I’ve ever met.

And so I let him kiss me until the flames of the fire die once again, kindling what began between us only months before, when cold had taken over Maple Lake.

Those dreary days of winter had caused me to become a shell of myself.

But now, on this clear, warm summer night, I’ve found who I want to be and who I want to be with .

We lay on the sleeping bags, tangled in one another’s arms under the sparkling stars, keeping each other warm until we fall asleep, whispering promises of a future. A future where we can drown in love and be saved by grace.