He Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 1)

Camping on the Lake: Matt

I don’t know if Jess is deliberately being difficult to punish me for bringing her here, or if she just doesn’t want to admit that she has no idea what she is doing, but her “help” putting up the tent is making this take so much longer than it should. Finally, I get fed up with it to the point that when she announces she needs to go to the bathroom, I offer to finish the tent by myself and exhale in relief when she agrees.

I give her directions and remind her to grab the toilet paper from my bag, to which she mumbles something about this place being uncivilized. I chuckle to myself wondering what she is going to think when she realizes where I’m sending her is more like an outhouse. There are indoor bathrooms with showers and toilets here, but at this time of the day the lines tend to be long enough that it isn’t worth the wait when there are perfectly good outdoor stalls available nearby.

I hear giggling coming from Tyler’s tent, which he and Aly finished putting up at least ten minutes ago, and wonder what they’re doing in there. Aly seems sweet and maybe a bit innocent, so I hope he isn’t taking advantage of her. She also seems to be kind of an outdoorsy person from what I can tell.

I’m thinking her family lives on one of those sustainable communes or something, judging from the description she gave of their living situation and her talk of how her mom makes all kinds of natural remedies and such. I know Jessica thinks she’s odd, but I think she’s pretty cool so far. I could learn a lot from her, though I wish I would have learned it back when I used to go camping regularly.

The zipper door to their tent is opened and one long, shapely leg pops out of it followed by the rest of Aly. The sight of that leg reminds me of when I first saw her and she was running faster than I have ever seen someone run before. Yep, definitely an outdoorsy person who gets plenty of exercise and sun exposure, judging by the golden gleam of her skin. She stands up and smiles at me, looking over the progress I have made with the tent.

“Need some help?” she offers, not even waiting for my response before she grabs onto the other side and helps me guide the pole I’m working on into the sleeve where it attaches at the bottom on her side. I decide her help is welcome since she seems to make the job easier rather than harder.

“Sure, thanks,” I reply, feeling a little embarrassed that I seem to be the last one to get his tent up, when I am supposed to be the experienced one.

Together we finish attaching all the poles and securing it to the ground. At her insistence, we even include the rain cover, though the local forecast I was looking at earlier didn’t say anything about expecting rain tonight. I decide not to argue with her, though. Maybe she knows something I don’t.

She comes over to high five me once we’re finished, and I don’t know what comes over me, but I have this urge to hug her, so I do. I capture the hand she slapped mine with and use it to pull her into me, throwing my arms around her. She makes this little surprised sound but quickly recovers and hugs me back, burying her face in my chest. I would find that strange, but somehow I don’t. I kind of like it, though I’m really hoping this isn’t the moment when Jess decides to come back. She wouldn’t understand.

I pull away from Aly and back up a step. That was one hell of a warm, tingly hug that I definitely do not regret. I grin at her sheepishly, and she smiles back at me until Tyler comes up beside her and puts his arm around her.

“Stealing my girl, Taylor?” he asks playfully.

“Nope, just thanking her for the help,” I reply, rolling my eyes at his use of my last name.

When he does that it always reminds me of high school and this jock kid named Billy Maxwell who always called everyone by their last names. It annoyed me then, and if Tyler weren’t one of my best friends it would annoy me now a lot more than it does.

“Speaking of her help, she tells me she is quite an experienced pyro, so I was thinking we should have her get a fire going for us,” he suggests.

“I did not say I’m a pyro,” she protests with a giggle. “I said I know how to build a proper fire.”

“Same difference,” he says dismissively.

She laughs and smacks his arm playfully, and before I know it the two of them are engaged in an intense play fight that has them both giggling and roughhousing with each other. At the point that he tackles her to the ground, I decide that I should probably get that fire going because she looks like she will be occupied for a bit.

Trevor comes over and helps me stack the wood and arrange the kindling. I notice that his lips look a little swollen and his hair is tousled, so I can guess what he and Meredith have been doing in their tent. I lament to myself that it looks like so far, the only couple not “celebrating” is the one we’re all here to celebrate. I shouldn’t be surprised. I barely convinced Jess to even come in the first place.

I hand Trevor the lighter and leave him to tend to that while I busy myself hauling Jessica’s and my belongings into our tent and getting our mattress and bedding set up. I really start wondering what is taking her so long. Knowing her, she took one look at that outdoor stall and took it upon herself to find an actual restroom. That be the case, she’ll be gone awhile.

When she does finally return, we are all sitting around the fire chatting and roasting marshmallows. Tyler has already brought out the beer, not like any of us mind. I look up at Jess and can tell she is not happy. She heads over to our tent with the toilet paper in her hand, presumably to return it to my bag. I decide to follow her and see if I can do a little damage control.

As soon as I step in the tent, she glares at me and hisses, “You could have warned me about the bathrooms here. What a freaking nightmare.”

“Yeah, it slipped my mind,” I lie. “It’s my least favorite part of this place, but if you time it right and use the outdoor stalls during peak times, it’s not so bad. You’ll definitely want to shower either late at night or super early in the morning, though.”

“Thanks for the tips, Ace,” she spits out sarcastically.

Then she takes a breath, and it looks like she is trying to get a grip on herself. She closes her eyes and breathes in deeply through her nose a few times, then looks up at me with a serious expression.

“Look, I know this place means a lot to you, and this is your idea of a perfect romantic getaway,” she continues, much more calmly than she started. “And because I love you, I’m going to try to make the most of it. Seriously, though, if there are any more horrifying surprises up your sleeve, I’m out.”

I chuckle at that, but what she said warms my heart a bit. She has kind of been pampered and spoiled her whole life, so I’m sure this sort of a vacation is a shock for her. I really appreciate that she is trying to keep her attitude in check for me.

“Thanks, babe. That means so much to me,” I tell her sincerely. “And I promise you, the best part is yet to come. Rumor has it that making love under the stars in the open wilderness is quite a thrilling experience. I can’t wait to try it.”

“Oh really,” she says coyly as she reaches up to grab my hand and pull me down onto the air mattress with her. “I think I could use a little preview.”

I smirk at her and lean in to kiss her lips softly. She grabs the back of my head to force me closer to her, and I take the hint that she wants more and push her back onto the mattress, the front of me pressing against her side as I lean over her to trap her head between my arms. I grab a fistful of her silky blonde hair and bring her head up slightly as I lower my lips to hers, pushing against them with my tongue. She parts her lips for me, and I plunge deep into her mouth, tasting the familiar fruity flavor with a hint of mint leftover from her favorite chewing gum.

I feel her hand tracing up my back, the other one reaching up to tangle in my hair. Once I hear her moan and feel her shift her hips and try to rub herself against me, I pull back from the kiss and grin at her mischievously.

“I think that was a pretty good preview,” I say cheekily, knowing she will be frustrated that I stopped. “I’m going to grab a beer.”

She laughs and kicks me playfully as I rise from the mattress. Her bad attitude from earlier seems to be gone now, replaced by the happy, playful, and sexy as hell fiancée that I know and love. If all it takes to keep her in a good mood is a little making out and fooling around every now and then, I can definitely handle that.