Fire and Love

by Erin Wright

  Instantly, the cold of the mountain morning hit her and her teeth started chattering.

  Soooo…coollldddd…

  She shoved her hair out of her face and unzipped the tent, fumbling around for her slides before finally managing to shove her feet into them so she could hurry outside and over to the warmth of the campfire sure to already be roaring.

  Which was when she spotted Levi crouched next to said campfire, dressed in only a pair of sweatpants.

  She gulped.

  Hard.

  Muscles everywhere, a thin smattering of chest hair, pecs to die for…

  Where was a shopping cart when she needed it? Her skin was still freezing but her insides had warmed right up. She was twirling a strand of her hair nervously when Georgia came up and whispered in her ear, “You should wipe that drool off your chin,” as she handed her a cup of coffee.

  Tenny’s eyes flew to her cousin’s, mortified that it was that obvious. Georgia just winked.

  Tenny barely suppressed a groan as she took a sip of the hot liquid. She hadn’t brushed her hair or her teeth, she was wearing her flannel PJs with dancing puppies all over them, and her teeth were chattering while her stomach was a glowing tangle of worms.

  No wonder her mother had warned her against camping so stridently.

  Moose looked up from his spot next to the propane stove. “Good morning, sleeping beauty!” he called out, flipping a pancake over. “Ready to eat breakfast?”

  “Sure,” she said, walking over to the cooking set-up to see what there was to eat, which was when she spotted it…pancakes with butter and syrup, and bacon.

  Are you kidding me?!

  Her eyes shot over to Georgia’s, panicked yet again. Surely they couldn’t expect her to eat that many carbs and fat all in one meal. But Moose was already pushing a loaded plate into her hand. “Here’s a fork,” he said, plopping the fork on top of it all.

  A coffee mug in one hand and enough calories to feed a small country in the other, Tennessee made her way over to the campfire. Someone had found camp chairs at some point, so with a happy sigh that she didn’t have to sit on a sappy pine log, she lowered herself into a chair and then stared down at her plate.

  She couldn’t eat all of this. She just couldn’t.

  She began pushing it around with her fork, taking the occasional bite, hoping that no one would notice how little was actually going into her mouth. Moose and Levi were discussing where they wanted to go fishing after breakfast, and Tenny could only be happy that these plans didn’t seem to include her. At least, not that they were mentioning. Maybe she could stay back at camp and…suntan? Stare at the pine trees?

  Huh.

  What, exactly, did a person do while on a camping trip that didn’t involve spearing and drowning innocent creatures? She had no cell phone service up here, so her iPad and iPhone did her no good at all. She really needed to do her hair but so far, no one had pointed out a place to plug in her curling iron or blow dryer, so she was guessing that a braid was going to have to do.

  There was no piano for her to play, no cosmetician to do her nails, and no shops to buy clothes or handbags from. Which meant that everything she was good at? None of it counted. Not up here in the endless wilderness of pine trees and mountain streams and rocky hillsides.

  She looked up to find Levi’s eyes focused on her. She had the oddest feeling that if she asked him, he could accurately tell her how many bites of her food she’d taken thus far. With an internal groan, she ate another bite, the sweet, buttery pancake filling her mouth with yummy goodness.

  So, she ate another bite.

  Only to please Levi, of course.

  She wasn’t about to put up with him accusing her of being anorexic. She’d struggled with that in high school but she’d long since left that particular mental disease behind. Nowadays, she was just careful about what she ate, which was absolutely a different thing. If her teenage, anorexic self could see her now, she’d be horrified. Tennessee had gained 35 pounds since the height of her anorexia, and no matter what her teenage self would think, it looked good on her.

  She just didn’t need to make it 36 pounds, was all.

  She snuck another peek. Levi was still watching her.

  She took another bite.

  Damn, this was good. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate bacon. Had it always been this good? Or was it just bacon cooked over a campfire that tasted this amazing?

  If she’d known how tasty it was, it would’ve been a lot harder to give up all those years ago, but their cook had always made turkey bacon, and…well, turkey bacon was easy to pass up, to put it politely.

  “Are you going to come down to the lake with us?” Georgia asked, interrupting Tenny’s worshipful eating of the crunchy bacon.

  “Uhhh…” Her eyes flicked over to Levi’s, although honestly, she had no idea why – it wasn’t like they were there together. As a couple. On a date.

  She forced herself to look back at Georgia. “Sure, why not?” She could work on her suntan down at the lake just as well as she could work on it here at the campsite, and, bonus points, she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about letting her cousin down.

  “Good!” Georgia said. “Let’s get ready for the day and then take off.” She stood up and headed for the tent, and with a longing look back at her mostly empty plate, Tennessee followed her. It was shockingly hard to leave those last few bites of syrup-soaked pancake behind.

  No chocolate for a month. Not even any Pierre Marcolini chocolates.

  Forget 36 pounds. If she kept eating like this, it’d quickly become 50.

  Georgia showed her how to take a sponge bath using facial cleaner wipes. “As long as you hit all of the, uh, important parts,” she said tactfully, “you’ll be surprised by how long you can go without a shower with these things.” After they were finished with their spit baths and had dressed, Georgia told her to grab her toiletry bag and follow her outside.

  Tennessee pulled out the lime green bag from her Louis Vuitton suitcase, and hefted it over her shoulder.

  “Is that your toiletry bag?” Georgia asked her, eyes wide.

  “Yeah. I made sure not to pack anything but the necessities,” Tennessee reassured her. She was kinda proud of how far she’d been able to pare down her makeup bag, honestly.

  Georgia just nodded mutely and headed for the Rubbermaid water dispenser on the table at the edge of camp, her tiny bag clutched in her hands. Tennessee looked at her cousin’s bag and sighed. She probably packed a toothbrush and travel-sized toothpaste and called it good. Tenny loved her cousin, but sometimes, she was just too practical for her own good.

  “Okay, so pull out your toothbrush and hold it under the nozzle here,” Georgia said, demonstrating with her own toothbrush, “and push this little button – out comes the water. You only need a little bit; water conservation is super important while you’re up camping because it’s not like you can exactly run down to the corner store and buy more, right?”

  Tennessee looked around at the idyllic forest setting and realized her cousin was right. She hadn’t really thought about it, but not only was there no electricity, there was no running water, either.

  Why do people do this on purpose again?

  “Once your toothbrush is wet,” Georgia continued, happily ignorant of Tennessee’s less-than-impressed views on camping, “then you brush your teeth, and spit into the bushes. When you’re done brushing, you rinse your toothbrush out – being careful about the water again – and you’re done!”

  Tennessee nodded, getting to work on setting up her own toothbrush as Georgia began brushing away. Someone else would’ve been offended by Georgia’s instructions, maybe feeling like she was talking down to them, but Tenny was just profoundly grateful. It never would’ve occurred to her to spit into the bushes. She would’ve started brushing, and then probably would’ve ended up swallowing instead, not knowing what else to do.

  And being careful with water usage? Definitely wouldn�
��t have occurred to her. She usually just turned on the water at home and kept it running until she was done. It was…weird not to do that here, that was for damn sure.

  Once they’d finally finished their tooth care for the day, Georgia asked, “Do you want me to braid your hair for you? Just to keep it out of the way. There aren’t any outlets up here, so obviously curling your hair is out of the question.”

  “I’ve realized that now,” Tenny said dryly. “I wish I’d thought about it beforehand; I wasted a lot of room packing my curling iron and blow dryer and straightener.”

  Georgia’s eyes grew wide. “Well,” she said, her voice a little higher than normal, and then she cleared her throat, “where’s your hairbrush at? I’ll brush out the tangles and then get it braided for you.”

  “Oh, sure,” Tenny said, rummaging around in her toiletry bag. A movement caught her eye and she looked up to see Levi watching them. As soon as she looked up, he glanced away.

  What is he thinking about? He had a…funny look on his face.

  She pulled out her favorite hairbrush and a hair tie, handing them over to Georgia and then sitting in a camp chair by the smoldering campfire. Georgia brushed through her hair gently, and then began braiding. “Your hair is so gorgeous,” she murmured as she worked. “Super thick, too – so unusual for blonde hair.”

  “Thanks,” Tenny murmured, self conscious about the compliment. Normally, they didn’t faze her much but Levi was still there and she could just tell he was listening to every word.

  What did he think about her?

  And why did she care?

  “All right, all done!” Georgia announced. “Everyone ready to head to the lake?”

  Tenny stood up, touching her braid self-consciously. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d braided her hair. It felt like a little kid thing to do. And on top of that, she wasn’t ready to head to the lake yet – she hadn’t put on any makeup! She looked around the camp and saw Levi carefully pouring water on the fire to make sure it was completely out, while Georgia and Moose were gathering up the fishing supplies. When Georgia had said, “Let’s head to the lake,” she didn’t seem to mean, “Let’s head to the lake in an hour, after Tenny has finished getting ready for the day.”

  With a reluctant sigh and one last longing glance at her lime green toiletry kit, Tennessee followed the group down the trail to where she assumed the lake was, fishing poles bouncing on everyone’s shoulders except hers. She might as well have been naked; she felt like she was, anyway, without any makeup on. She knew one thing for sure – if Levi hadn’t known if he liked her before or not, he sure as hell wasn’t going to like her now. Without eyeliner and bronzer and blush and eyeshadow, she didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell with him.

  Which is really too bad, she thought admiringly as she watched his casual, loose-hipped swagger that all cowboys seemed to adopt as soon as they learned how to walk. She could bounce a quarter off that ass, she was sure of it.

  She was also sure she wanted to try.

  Keep your mind out of the gutter. Especially considering how ugly you are right now, he wouldn’t touch you if you paid him to.

  Once they got to the lake, everyone started hooking their worms, laughing and placing bets on who would catch the most fish and the biggest fish while Tenny discretely searched for a rock to sit on. She’d just stay out of the way, watch them have fun, and…that was it.

  It still felt like a weird thing to do – absolutely nothing at all – but then she shrugged to herself. Relaxing was a thing, right?

  “Want to fish for a bit?” Levi rumbled in her ear. “You can borrow my pole.”

  There was something very sexual about that question. Or maybe it was just the way he said it. Or how the sound of his voice made her feel. Or how close he was standing to her when he asked.

  Yeah, any one of those things.

  “I’ve not fished before,” she finally said, turning to look up at him. His Superman curl was especially curly this morning and she had to clench her hands into fists by her side to keep from running her fingers through it. He had the most touchable hair of any guy she knew.

  “I didn’t figure you had,” he said, a light laugh in his voice. She glared up at him. She really hated it when people laughed at her. Plus, he hadn’t picked up on the unspoken half of that sentence: I haven’t fished before and I don’t want to start now.

  But he was still just standing there, unmovable, waiting for her answer, so with a sigh, she agreed to try. It was a sad statement on her life that peer pressure absolutely worked on her. She thought she’d become more immune to it when she graduated from high school, but that day hadn’t come.

  Yet.

  She trailed him down to the sandy shoreline where he plucked a wiggling worm out of a small container full of dirt and held it out to her. “First, you put the worm on the hook.”

  She took the wiggling creature between thumb and forefinger, gulping as she stared at it. Did it have to move so much? Why couldn’t she spear some dead worm?

  “Does it matter which end?” she asked faintly. Please, God, don’t let me pass out. Please. I’ll be good from here forward, I promise.

  “Not at all,” he assured her cheerfully. She glared back up at him. Did he have to sound so happy about this?

  Finally, with a gulp of air, she pushed the worm onto the hook and then frantically threw the hook into the water. She was panting, the world going a little black around the edges.

  “You just threw the hook into the wat…Listen, that’s not how you cast out,” Levi said, disgruntled, spinning the round thingy on the rod and zipping the hook right back up so it was dangling in front of them, the worm squirming and wiggling in front of her eyes.

  “Really? Again?” she muttered.

  “Okay, so hold the rod here,” he said, wrapping his arms around her so he could properly show her what to do. “Now, you’re going to trap the line underneath your finger, right up against the pole, like that. Good. Next, you’re going to open the bail…”

  Except, standing in the circle of his arms, she couldn’t breathe again and this time, there was certainly no shopping cart between them. No room for a shopping cart between them, or even a piece of paper. His warm breath was in her ear and his muscular arms, rippling from years of welding and working with his hands, were encircling hers. She became transfixed by the light sprinkling of hair on his arms, springy and ticklish against her skin, his deep tan dramatic against her light golden skin, the same color she always got to no matter how long she lay out in the sun. He had a smattering of freckles – or were they moles? – down by his wrist and she began imagining tracing them with her tongue. She could—

  “Are you paying attention?” Levi asked grumpily, pulling her back to the present.

  The overwhelming nature of it all – him, right there, breathing in her ear, his arms around her, feeling his heartbeat through his thin t-shirt – washed over her, smothering her, and she immediately became defensive. Her defenses were her last resort – the only way to protect herself from him and whatever…this was.

  She ducked out of the circle of his arms and stood off to the side, hands on hips, glaring at him. “Why did you ask me to come if I annoy you?” she demanded tartly.

  He pulled the line back in and then laid the rod down on the sand. Hands freed, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her. “You don’t annoy me,” he rumbled, looking annoyed.

  She glared harder.

  “Don’t lie to me,” she snapped back. “I’m a big girl – I can take it. Why did you ask me on this camping trip if you don’t even like me?”

  He sucked in a breath at that, his whole body frozen as he stared down at her. Finally, he reached his hand out, brushing her elbow with his calloused fingertips. “I never said I didn’t like you,” he said softly.

  And then, it was her turn for the world to freeze.

  Chapter 9

  Levi

  Had he just said those w
ords out loud?

  Based on the look on Tenny’s face, he was going to guess that he did.

  Dammit.

  The thing was, he did like her.

  He liked the way her hair shone in the sunshine. He liked making her laugh. He liked talking to her when her guard was down. He liked how her ass looked in a pair of short shorts. He liked how she was gorgeous when her hair was done and her makeup was perfect, and he liked how she was equally as gorgeous (but in a totally different way) when she was up here, camping, her hair in a braid and no makeup to be found anywhere.

  And he liked how being around her made him feel.

  He liked her too damn much – that was the problem.

  She was biting her lower lip as she stared up at him, and he wanted to snap at her to stop. Stop looking at him with those huge eyes. Stop worrying about what he’s thinking. He was just the son of the town drunk. He shouldn’t even be talking to her, and she certainly shouldn’t be looking at him like…like that.

  His defenses sprung into action. He needed room from her – space. Mental space to breathe properly. She was still looking at him like that and his self control was crumbling in the face of it. He couldn’t let that happen.

  “You know what your problem is?” he asked rhetorically, nastily, bitterly. “You care too much about what other people think.”

  Her giant blue eyes – they were blue now, against the deep blue of the mountain lake – snapped open in irritation and anger. Without a word, she spun on her heel and stomped away, back towards camp.

  Away from him.

  His heart hurt as he forced himself to pick up his fishing pole from the sandy shore. Good. I can get some fishing done now. I didn’t want her here anyway. Asshole Moose, dragging Georgia along, forcing me to take Tennessee.

  Girls and camping don’t mix. Everyone knows that.

  He was pissed.

  Well, he was happy that Tenny was gone and had left him alone, of course, just like he wanted, but he was pissed, too.