Bet On Love (10 page)
Authors: Barbara Witek
“Except the mosquitoes are already coming out.” He sliced his hand through the air above my head. “I think we’re about to get eaten alive.” We heard a huge splash from the water behind us and sat up to take a look. “Big bass out there tonight.”
“So what will they say when we come back empty handed?” I asked while passing a lazy glance toward our abandoned fishing poles.
“Who says we’re empty handed?” Cole pulled me in for another kiss, and I melted like butter on sweet corn.
“You are insatiable!” I pushed back and instantaneously longed for more.
“And that’s a bad thing? I don’t hear you complaining.”
“I’m not.” This time I took the initiative and kissed him, softly at first and then increasing intensity until that sweet ache reached a boiling point deep inside me.
“Be careful, GT, I’m not sure how much longer I can be a gentleman,” Cole said between ragged breaths, beads of water still dotting his skin.
“What if I don’t want you to be?” I replied, equally as breathless. He growled low in his throat and kissed me again.
“Maybe Abbey needs to stay with Rob and Kelly tonight.”
“God, I hope so,” I barely breathed as his kisses moved down my neck.
The thought of being alone with Cole in a tent for the first time since we were teenagers thrilled me. All those years ago, it was so innocent. We were two good friends zipping our sleeping bags together to stay warm. For all of the times we’d camped with friends nothing had ever happened, no matter how much I had wanted it to. Cole was the perfect gentleman back then.
My Vegas memories might still be fuzzy, but like the second time at his house, again, there was no alcohol involved. I wasn’t that shy girl anymore and couldn’t wait to have him to myself one more time. Now it was my turn to give him something to remember me by.
He looked nervous, shaking the remaining droplets of water from his hair. On impulse, I held out my hand. Cole took it and squeezed, as if by doing so our connection would be strengthened. We didn’t say another word. We didn’t have to as we scrambled to gather our fishing gear and work our way back to camp. At the top of the path, we ran smack into Rob.
“Whoa! There you guys are.” He gave us the once-over, inspecting our soggy appearance. “What the hell happened to you two?”
“I fell in,” I said, giving a sly look toward Cole.
“And I helped her,” he replied with a stare reminiscent of our recent kisses, “out.”
“Then he fell in.” I licked my lips as if I could taste him.
“I can see that,” Rob said while taking a step back. “You two might want to turn down the sex meter.”
“Whaaat?” I switched my gaze to Rob, feeling the heat flood my face.
“Uhm, you two are practically ingesting each other.” Rob raised a brow in Cole’s direction. “Yeah, dude, it’s that obvious.”
“Oh boy,” I said and covered my eyes with a hand.
“Hey, Shelby, it’s fine with me.” Rob lowered my hand, and I saw his gentle smile. The man was a big teddy bear. “You know you’re always welcome with the family. I’m not so sure you want to put ‘all this’ out there in front of the girls, if you know what I mean.”
“Thanks, Rob, you’re right.” Cole and I were having a selfish moment. We weren’t alone and had his daughter and niece to consider.
“Listen, don’t worry about it. We’ll be cooled off by the time we get back.”
“Yeah, right,” Rob scoffed as though, by the look of us, he didn’t believe it.
Well, I didn’t believe it, either.
Cole and I needed to get a grip on our desires and become poster-parents for The Abstain From Sex campaign at Mill Creek Campground, no matter how much it killed us. One look from Cole confirmed we were dead for sure.
We walked the rest of the way, listening to Rob talk about his burgers and how the girls had eaten first because they were tired of waiting for us to come back. Abbey and Maria could be heard making party plans for tomorrow night. Twigs snapped under our feet, announcing our arrival. When they looked up from their s’mores making, I wanted to bury my head in a sleeping bag for a week.
“Uh-oh!” Abbey’s eyes glowed like sparks from the fire and she elbowed her cousin, who commenced giggling.
“We fell in the lake,” Cole said, taking a seat next to his daughter.
“Riiiight,” Abbey and Maria said in unison.
“Come on now, you girls are old enough to know you can’t skinny dip with your clothes on.” Rob shot the girls a crazy look before stabbing a marshmallow at the end of his stick.
“Good one, Uncle Rob,” Abbey said with a laugh and a wayward glance in our direction. I stood with mouth gaping.
“Hey, at least I can pull off the wet look.” Cole struck a pose in a weak attempt to be a cover model, and I rolled my eyes.
“Oh please,” I groaned. “You’d break the camera.”
“Yeah, little brother, Shelby’s got you beat in that department.” Rob popped the gooey marshmallow into his mouth.
“Speaking of which, I need to get out of these wet clothes.” Everyone’s eyes fixed on me.
“Shelby! Not in front of the children,” Rob scolded and jumped from his seat to block their view.
“You’re the one talking about skinny dipping in the first place, Robert,” I returned with the tone of a school teacher.
“Rob, would you leave her alone.” Kelly poked her head out of the trailer, her rich auburn hair secured with the clip at the top of her head. “Shelby, you can change in here. I have an extra sweat shirt and sweat pants.” She motioned me inside, then cast a scowl in her husband’s direction.
“Oh, she’s used to the teasing,” Rob called as I walked away. He was right, and I shook my head at Kelly once I was safely inside to change.
“Are you ready to jump into motherhood?” Kelly asked and handed me the dry clothes.
“What do you mean?”
“Taking both of the girls overnight tonight, of course.” Kelly smiled. “Maria has been anxious for days waiting for you guys to get here. With Mark and John out of the house, she gets so bored without her brothers.”
“Cole didn’t tell me we were taking the girls overnight,” I said and peeked through the blinds in the window as Rob put another log on the fire.
“I think the girls have been planning this all day. Rob and I are looking at this as a wilderness date night, if you know what I mean.” Kelly paused, then her eyes widened. “Oh dear, you know if you’re not ready they can do it another time. Don’t worry. It’s no big deal.”
“Oh no, Kelly, it’s okay, really. I’ve got this.” I thought about Abbey’s earlier statement and proving to Maria I could handle myself. I couldn’t let Abbey down. Putting my best foot forward, I vowed then and there to be the coolest step-mom ever, even if it was a short lived deal.
Hours later, the girls had finally settled down and Cole’s gentle snoring buzzed through the thin nylon divider. I, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep a wink. Tossing and turning on the twin-sized air mattress, I just couldn’t get comfortable. No sooner were my heavy lids finally closing, then I heard it.
Sniffing!
And from outside the tent, no less. I could tell it was an animal, and a good sized one to boot. I didn’t dare shine my flashlight in case it was a bear. Instead I lay as still as possible. The sound of my blood pumping through my veins at a rapid speed echoed between my ears.
“Cole!” I whispered as loud as I dared.
Didn’t anyone else hear it? Why weren’t we all fleeing toward the truck? I heard scratching on the ground and fought the urge to scream. I didn’t dare risk the noise of the zipper alerting the animal to my existence, so I shimmied out of the sleeping bag and slipped like a ninja between the divider and into Cole’s section in the tent.
“Cole.” I nudged his sleeping form, and he grunted. “Cole, there’s something out there,” I whispered close to his ear and shook him a little harder.
“What?” He sat up fast, almost knocking me on my butt. “Shelby? What’s wrong?” He seemed more alert now as he scanned the dim area.
“Listen.” I put my fingers to his lips to stop him from talking. “There’s some animal outside!” I whispered, but with a bit more hysteria in my voice.
“I’m sure it’s just a raccoon or a skunk, don’t worry about it.” He started to lie back down.
“What if it’s a bear?” I tuned my ears in for the heavy breathing I’d heard moments before, but didn’t hear it now.
“We took care of our trash, babe, there’s nothing out there for the bears to scrounge for.”
“What about us? Can’t they slash through the tent and attack?” I crouched lower next to his mattress. “And I’m not your babe,” I reminded him yet again in a stern whisper.
“Really, GT? You’re going to go there?” He sounded like me as he groaned and started to burrow into the sleeping bag. By now I was on my hands and knees, peering about as if the creature were going to bust through at any moment.
“Cole!” I thwacked him on the head, shocked he could even think of going back to sleep.
“Hey!” He pulled the material away from his face and then his expression softened. Raising his arm, he lifted the edge of sleeping bag in invitation. “Come here, I’ll protect you.”
Without question, I crawled in next to him. With his arms wrapped tightly around me I was asleep in seconds, woodland creatures long but forgotten.
Chapter Ten
The girls’ voices somewhere outside the tent roused me from the best sleep of my life. Cole’s arms were still around me, proving we hadn’t moved the rest of the night. I stuck my arm outside the sleeping bag and stretched. Cole stirred beside me, pulling me in tighter.
“Cole?” I whispered and tried to loosen his hold.
“Hmm?” He nuzzled my neck, and my body fired up in an instant. This was not how we needed to start the morning. Well, under different circumstances, it would be a great way to start the morning. But we had two impressionable teens, and we needed to be responsible adults.
“Come on, you have to get up,” I said, continuing to tug at his hands.
“I’d rather stay here with you.” He inhaled and kissed my bare shoulder.
“The girls are already up. They can’t know I spent the night here with you.”
“Why? What’s the big deal? I’m sure they know more than we think they do.” He obliged my persistent prying of his hands, only his free hand moved to slip the strap of my cami off my shoulder.
“Stop that!” I twisted to face him. “It
is
a big deal, Cole Martin. Now you get up first. I’m sure the girls would like some breakfast. I’ll be out in a minute.”
“I don’t know about you, but
I’m
hungry.” He growled low in his throat.
“Come on, we have to be responsible parents.”
“Parents?” He pulled back, and his eyes were gleaming with surprise. “I kind of like the way that sounds.” With a quick kiss to my lips, he climbed over to slip his bare feet into untied work boots and pull a T-shirt over his head. “See you for breakfast.” He snapped his fingers and I watched him duck out of the tent thinking,
damn that boy looks great in a pair of sweat pants
.
When I felt enough time had passed, I ran a brush through my hair and stepped outside into the quiet of the morning. The same feeling of utter peace passed through me, just as it did when I drank my coffee with a view of the ocean every weekend at home. I loved it.
“So did you guys hear the bear last night?” I poured a cup of coffee into a ceramic mug and breathed deep the aroma.
“Bear?” Maria asked and almost dropped her bowl of cereal. “I didn’t hear a bear, did you Abbey?”
“Nah, no bear, maybe it was a raccoon or something.”
“Well, it sounded big to me, not cute and cuddly like a raccoon,” I said and walked toward our tent looking for animal tracks to prove my point. Abbey was beside me in an instant, obviously eager to prove her theory too, or so I thought.
“It’s okay that you and Dad slept together,” she blurted out while we scoured the ground. I spewed coffee at my feet.
“Excuse me?” I wiped my mouth with my fingers and gaped.
“I did hear something outside last night, but it wasn’t a bear. I’m sure you don’t get forest animals at your beach house and until you get used to them, it can be kind of scary.”
“Scary?”
“Yeah, so it’s all right with me that you got into bed with Dad. I did it a lot, too, when I was younger. You guys are married, right? So it’s okay.” Abbey smiled then pointed to the ground. “See? Raccoon tracks.”
“Right,” I said and watched her walk back and sit with Maria.
Boy, Cole wasn’t kidding when he said Abbey really liked me. I may not have experience with kids, but I could tell his daughter was completely in favor of our union. I thought of everything I had gone through the last few days. The bonds I had formed and my dreams of Cole Martin come true, all because of a crazy mixed up situation in Vegas.
Even with all of this craziness, my life couldn’t be more perfect than at this very moment. Aside from the short time at his house, I hadn’t been tied to my phone or laptop in days. No impatient clients and no groveling Grant. As a matter of fact, things here in Maryland were so ideal Grant was the farthest thing from my mind. And for the first time in a very long time so was my career. The craziest thing of all being that I was starting to think maybe this sham of a marriage stood a chance.
