Page 88 of The Illicit Play

I roll my eyes, holding back my teasing insults before telling her, “I was thinking about how I want to preserve this place and make sure it stays as fresh and beautiful and clean as it is right now.”

“I love that.” She smiles at me, before looking back over her shoulder. “And I understand why you want that. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s so quiet and peaceful out here.” Inhaling a deep breath, she holds it, then lets her shoulders sag as she releases it on a long sigh. “Just listen,” she whispers, closing her eyes and looking all things delectable.

Her hair is golden in this light, her delicate features and porcelain skin raised to the sun as her lips curl into a smile I want to memorize.

I have to force myself to look away and only just manage to before her eyes slowly open. Dipping my chin, I ball the trash in my hand and slip it into my pack.

“Here.” Throwing her the drink bottle off the side of her pack, I make her down at least five decent mouthfuls before we get to work assembling camp.

She has no idea how to pitch a tent or rig up a pack, so I walk her through each step. Thankfully, she picks things up really fast, and our little campsite is soon set up.

I’ll build a fire before it gets dark, but we’ve got a few hours before that happens.

“We’ll need to collect some kindling and firewood,” I tell her. “Might as well set the fire up, and then we can light it just before the sun goes down.”

“Sounds good.” She starts searching the ground nearby. “So, what does kindling look like?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.” I tip my head, and she follows me into the nearby forest, where I pick up examples of the kindling and wood we want for this fire.

It doesn’t take long before we’re loaded up and returning to camp. We dump out supplies, and I show her how to build a fire, setting up the rocks and then stacking the kindling in a teepee formation. I can’t help explaining the mechanics of how a fire works and am no doubt coming across like a mansplaining douchebag, but she doesn’t stop me and doesn’t seem to mind, soaking it all in like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.

“You can build the next one, if you like.”

“Okay.” She grins, flashing me those straight white teeth again and chipping away another piece of myresolve. “So…” She tips back on her heels. “What do we do now?”

“Well…” I look around, checking my watch and calculating the time until sundown. “We’ve got about two and a half hours left, so we can just chill here. I brought cards and travel chess, if you want to play a game.”

Her nose wrinkles.

“Or you could read a book. You packed your Kindle, right?”

“Yeah.” She crosses her arms, tapping her fingers like she’s agitated.

“Okay, what do you want to do, then?”

“I don’t know.” Bouncing from toe to toe, she gazes down at me.

I’m still crouched by the fire, trying to figure out how to entertain this woman… in ways that I’m actually allowed to. “We could?—”

I cut myself off.

No, man. That is a terrible idea.

“We could what?” Her eyes dance with curious excitement, and because I am a world-class fool, I say it. I actually fucking say it.

“We could go swimming in the lake. There’s a rock face just around the corner we can jump off.”

Her face puckers. “Won’t it be freezing?”

“Yeah.” I bob my head. “This time of year, the water’s pretty cold, but it won’t kill us, and it’ll definitely freshen us up.” Standing tall, I brush my hands on the back of my pants, my lips twitching. “Plus… if you want a rush? Launching yourself off that rock face will probably do it for ya.”

Her eyes light to sparkling sapphires as she nods, then spins for the tent. “I’ll go put my swimsuit on!”

Shit.

She looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned packing a swimsuit. She didn’t even have one and had to run into town to buy one. I should have told her we probably wouldn’t use it, but I always pack swimwear unless it’s the middle of winter. For a five-day hike, you have to freshen up, and I figured she wouldn’t want to be skinny-dipping with me.

Or I knew I couldn’t handle skinny-dipping with her, so I put it on the list. And now I’m closing my eyes, quietly berating myself for losing my head as I move to my hammock, digging out my bathing suit from my day bag and finding a spot behind a clump of trees to strip down and prepare myself for temptation city.