by Joanne Rock
Was it enough for him to be the guy I needed?
“Did you talk?” I kicked off my sandals and dipped my toes in the clear water, scattering the little fish that hovered at the river’s edge. The air around us was a hot, sweet summer-white.
Seth cleared his throat. “Almost until sunrise.” He took out a knife and began whittling a thick stick, curls of wood dropping around us.
“Wow. I’m— uh— proud of you for giving her a chance.”
And I was. It was a huge step forward.
“Yeah, well. It wasn’t easy, but I kept thinking about what you said. About, you know, trying harder.” Seth’s knife moved faster as it scraped and sliced into the wood. “So I gave us both a chance. We’re going to try to work things out.”
“Seth. That’s amazing!” I threw my arms around him, but he angled away slightly, keeping me away from his knife.
I backed off quickly. Embarrassed.
Maybe Seth was right. I needed to stop living in the fantasy world and face reality. Just because he’d mended thing with his mom didn’t mean he was thinking more seriously about us.
“She left me because she loved me. She was afraid her drinking would put me in danger, and she couldn’t quit it long enough to come back.” His voice cracked at the end, betraying how much this meant to him.
“Of course she loved you. Who wouldn’t?” The words hung in the air between us, and I wished, with all my heart, that I could reach out and stuff them back inside my big mouth.
Seth’s topaz eyes slid up to meet mine while his hands continued working on his carving. “Not everyone feels that way.”
I flushed. “Maybe not Lauren, but—”
Seth shook his head hard. “Lauren was right to choose Matt. Or at least, I understand why she did. Matt was ready to love her for who she was, while I was still trying to make her be the same girl she’d always been. More importantly, I didn’t make her mine when I’d had the chance, breaking up with her at the end of camp even though I knew that hurt her…” He cleared his throat. “But I’m not that same blind guy anymore. I’m not scared to care about someone.”
Our hands brushed each other as I took the rose and, like a fool, put my head down as if to smell it. Inside, I was a mess. My heart pounded through me like a thunderstorm while my brain worked frantically to take in what he was saying.
“We’ve been friends a long time,” I said cautiously, not sure which kind of caring he meant. Hoping, but not daring to hope at the same time.
He brushed the back of my cheek with his hand and looked tenderly into my eyes. “And I want to be more than that for even longer.”
My heart nearly burst from the emotions flooding it. I leaned my face against his palm. “As in boyfriend and girlfriend? Because you’ll be at college and I’ll be at home and—”
He stopped my anxious babble with a kiss that answered my questions better than anything he could have said. His lips moved against mine until they parted, his teeth lightly catching my lower lip in a way that sent shivers tiptoeing down my spine. My hands rose to his neck and encircled it as our bodies leaned against each other. One of his hands cupped the back of my head and angled it so that his mouth could slant harder against mine until I felt dizzy, waves of pleasure and happiness unmooring me until I could have floated away.
His tongue slid lightly against mine, and I moaned in the back of my throat, a surge of joy rising when he groaned in return and pulled me on his lap. His hands fell to my waist then rose again, feeling my heated skin beneath my tank. I loved his hard, callused palms against my tender skin and the insistent kisses that now travelled along my neck so that I arched backward, feeling so incredibly alive. It seemed surreal, otherworldly, a place and moment I would have created from my imagination, yet here it was— a reality more beautiful than anything I could ever have dreamed.
At last he pulled back, his chest rising and falling hard, his eyes on fire as he peered at me. “You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice husky and uneven.
“So are you.” I brushed a curl away from his temple, loving the feel of his skin, his hair, his smile, the way his eyes came up sideways to meet mine. The curve of his lip that made me want to bite it. I leaned back with a contented sigh, a dreamy sound in the cozy yellow light surrounding us.
“I was stupid to have shut you out. A coward. I felt so much that it scared the crap out of me.”
“It scares me too,” I admitted.
And it did, but the risk of falling didn’t mean you never tried to fly.
He blinked at me, a teasing light in his eyes. “Really? I thought you could see the future with all your charts and signs.”
“That’s the fantasy. And although I’ll always love it, reality, with all of its question marks, is much better. Especially since it includes you.”
“I’m not going to lose you.” Seth’s expression turned fierce, and his arms tightened around me. “Not going to run or give up.”
“I know. And I don’t need a reading to tell me that.”
He squeezed me tight. “So we’ve got the reality. The solid foundation.” He eased back to look at me again. “What if I wanted you to gaze into that crystal ball anyway? Just for kicks. What do you think you’d see?”
I tried to remember the last time I’d heard Seth be playful and realize it had been way too long. I was going to have fun finding my old camp crush inside this very real, very awesome guy.
“You really want to know?” I tipped my head against his strong shoulder and squeezed the wooden rose he’d carved. “I’d bet I would see us side by side strolling through camp and having a night time picnic in the kick-butt gazebo we’re going to build back there.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Really?”
I closed my eyes, imagining a future with Seth as I’d done so many times, only now it was clearer than ever.
“Yeah.” I smiled to picture it, knowing I was going to get my art teacher’s approval after he saw the gazebo. “And we’re going to laugh at all the new paintings on the floor since there’s going to be one of you as a kid with your backpack in one hand and a fat frog in the other.”
“I’m a biology nerd, girl. Get over it.”
I laughed, so happy I felt like I could float away.
“Right. And then you’ll tease me about the picture of me on the floor because I’ll have purple fairy wings, and I’ll be hugging my old journal.”
“You’re going to paint all that?” he asked, easing back from me so he could look into my eyes. “Even the journal?”
“It helped bring us together, and I don’t regret any part of our story.”
I knew then that the vision in my head was real and true. Call it psychic or a wish I planned to fulfill, but it was going to happen.
“Me neither.” Seth cupped my face in his hands and held it. “The fantasy and reality are both pretty amazing.”
As he kissed me and I melted into him, I couldn’t have agreed more.
*******
Read on for an excerpt of the third full-length book in the Camp Boyfriend series, Camp Forget Me Not.
CAMP FORGET ME NOT
Playing it safe and fitting in may have rocketed Kayla West into the In crowd at Camp Juniper Point, but it's left her lonely. The only person she's ever been herself with was her former best friend, Nick, an outsider that pushed her to join the most popular girls cabin two years ago. Too bad being a Diva meant pressure to break up with Nick. Of course, Kayla had her reasons, but Nick can never know the real one. She always thought she'd forget him one day and move on. Until he returns to camp a super-hot Olympian snowboarder. Now, every girl wants him and Nick seems determined to show her what a mistake she made. Or at least, she thought that's what he wanted. But when Nick starts sending her private notes--just like he used to--she wonders what kind of game he's playing. Nick's attention is making it tougher to stay in the background and play in safe, forcing Kayla to make a decision--stay on the sidelines and get overlooked? Or take
a chance on trusting Nick and, maybe... herself.
Camp Forget Me Not
“Damn. Nick is gorgeous.”
“Definitely. He’s the hottest guy at camp.”
“Or anywhere.”
Holding my breath underwater, I peered through gray-blue murkiness at my cabin mates’ kicking legs. Despite my depth, their muted words found me when I’d hoped to leave my problems on Lake Juniper’s surface. This was my last day at camp, and I didn’t want Nick Desanti drama. I had enough other problems waiting for me at home.
“He went here like three years ago, right?” Brooke, our newest Divas’ Den bunkmate, asked.
“Until Kayla broke his heart.” Brittany dodged Rachel’s kick. “What? It’s true. Everyone knows he left because she totally dissed him.”
I cringed at my name and that bad memory. It was the biggest regret of my life. Well— that and the bangs I gave myself before my fifth grade school picture.
I tucked my knee into my chest and turned over in a slow roll, lungs burning. For a second I emerged behind them, gulped air, then sank again before they, or Nick, noticed. The only good thing about Mom losing her job and not being able to afford the last half of camp was that I wouldn’t face Nick anymore. Since his arrival last week, he’d acted like I either didn’t exist or reeked.
“Kayla?” Brooke’s shrill voice knifed right through the water. “But she’s so—you know. Forgettable. One of you guys should have hooked up with him.”
Forgettable? Who’d remember YouTube It-Girl Brooke White after her fifteen minutes of fame ended? I wished I dared to say that, but her “fans” and our friends might turn against me.
“He was different then.” Rachel’s no-nonsense voice found me like a heat-seeking missile. “Barely noticeable.”
“Gollum was more doable.”
I snorted a water bubble at Brittany’s joke about our camp director, then clapped a hand over my mouth. If I held my breath for a couple more seconds, Nick would swim past us. As a diver on my school’s swim team, I could ignore the fire scalding my lungs. Plus, it didn’t hurt as much as his rejection.
“Now he’s an X Games snowboarder,” Brooke said. “And an Olympic medalist. Lame to fame.”
“Don’t forget he’s the spokesman for Backcountry Gear. Lots of money.” As a professional volleyball hopeful, Rachel paid attention to endorsement deals.
“So he’s rich, famous, and gorgeous.” Brooke’s long legs crossed genie style while her arms twisted her back and forth in the water. “Like me. As of last week, I had three hundred thousand subscribers and more than fifty million views for ‘So Not Into You.’” She hummed a few bars of her home-recorded YouTube song. Another bonus for leaving camp…I wouldn’t hear her song for the millionth time. Or the crazy lyrics she came up with for her next “hit.”
“Girls.” Brooke’s excited clap sent water jetting my way. “He’s perfect.”
I nodded involuntarily. Nick was perfect—except for the tiny problem that we used to be close and now he hated my guts. I should have objected when my friends signed us up for swim today with his cabin, the Warriors’ Warden. But I’d been afraid they’d leave me behind. Alone. I was all too used to that back home.
“Totally perfect.” The water almost vibrated with the force of Brittany’s sigh. “But seriously, he wasn’t always Diva-worthy. That’s why Kayla dropped him when she joined our cabin.”
A bubble escaped as I growled in frustration. My reasons went deeper than that—but I guess they wouldn’t know.
“Where is Kayla?” Rachel’s voice rose.
Oh God. Please don’t let anyone hear her…
“Kayla!”
“Kayla!” chorused my friends.
Damn.
I shot to the surface and sucked in a long breath. So much for the underwater hiding spot I’d ducked into when Nick flashed by in his swim lane. So far, I’d mostly stayed off his radar, and I meant to keep it that way until I left tomorrow. We had too much history to start another chapter.
“We were looking for you.” Rachel lifted her swim goggles and frowned down at me with light brown eyes that matched her springing, shoulder-length curls. “You scared the crap out of us.”
“Sorry.” I swiped my hair off my face and swirled in the cool water so that my back faced the returning guys. My pale shoulders crisped under the bright sun. “Didn’t think you’d notice.”
Brittany patted my hand on the floating rope, her eyes a light blue without her vampire contacts. “We’d probably notice if you were dead.”
“Ya think?” Rachel hoisted her sleek, Speedo-clad body onto the swim platform. “I thought you only had eyes for Nick, Britt.”
My heartbeat tripped over itself at his name. Despite the splashing, churning water around us, the catcalls and whistle-blowing, it was all I heard. Reason three for needing to leave camp: it sucked being around an ex that I still liked. Especially now that everyone else liked him, too.
“Nick!” cough/hacked Brooke, and we all froze. I swear, even the dripping water suspended in midair.
“What’s up? Everything okay?” rumbled a deep voice that was as familiar as it was different. “Everyone accounted for?”
I felt his eyes slide over me before he lifted the lane separator and joined us. Nick Desanti. Even when we’d been no more than hiking partners before we became best friends and nearly more, I’d always been super-aware of him. I met his hazel gaze for a split second, the vivid color contrasting against his dark Italian skin and black-brown hair.
“Nothing to see. Let’s move along, folks,” I muttered under my breath and reached for the platform. Strong hands spanned my waist and lifted me onto the worn wood.
I turned around to object, even though his touch sent heat streaking through me, but I closed my mouth at the sight of Nick’s back. Kayla dismissed. It hurt more than the splinter digging into my big toe. The quick boost was no more than he’d do for anyone. And that’s all I was to Nick now. Anyone. Or worse…no one.
Ouch.
“Ohhhhh, lift me next, Nick. You’re so strong!” Brooke wriggled her bikini-clad behind like a dog in heat, her purple-tipped black hair swishing in the water. Would I be justified in calling her a bitch? It was the right term, but I could never say that out loud. I was the girl who never spoke her mind…except in her mind.
A loud squeal sounded in the humid, mid-July air as Nick tossed first Brooke, then Brittany at Rachel and me, toppling us like bowling pins. From the shore, a whistle shrilled. Gollum. We’d nicknamed our camp director, Mr. Woodrow, after the Lord of the Rings creature for a whistle obsession so intense we called it his Precious. He waved his arms at us and our oblivious counselor, Victoria. Despite dripping around her like a rainstorm, we didn’t cause her to look up from her magazine.
“Thank you, Nick.” Brittany finger-combed her long blonde hair and batted her water-spiked lashes.
Nick’s eyes crinkled as he smiled up at her. “Anytime. If you need me, just give a shout.”
Brooke waved her hands overhead, her violet eyes flashing. “Shout!”
Everyone laughed but me. Instead, I scooted behind the pack of posing, preening girls.
“Careful or you’ll slide right off that platform again,” Nick called, and all eyes turned toward me. Some of the nearby campers laughed, remembering the time I’d once missed a relay race dive and belly-flopped off the slippery dock.
I crossed my arms and glared at him, my scowl only making his smile widen. First he ignored me and now he tried to humiliate me. Was that why he’d returned to camp? I didn’t believe his story about needing time off from practices and endorsement appearances. He could have gone somewhere way more glamorous. No, Nick came back to Juniper Point for a reason.
Revenge.
**
Read the rest
Download the Series
Camp Boyfriend- Book #1 buy now
Lauren Carlson thought she was ready to take her relationship with Seth, her long time camp
boyfriend to year-round status. Especially when her school boyfriend, Matt, doesn't seem to understand the real her. But when Matt's life hits a snag, Lauren can't turn her back on a friend. Lauren's heart is torn, forcing her to see herself, her friends and her whole life differently in one unforgettable summer.
Camp Payback – Book #2 buy now
Alex has big plans for camp this year, starting with making it the best summer ever. Having fun and breaking some rules will get her the payback she wants against her parents and her ex-boyfriend. Because of his disgusting texts, she's headed to a super strict all-girls school in the fall. Then she meets Javier and revenge doesn't seem nearly as important as getting to know the troubled loner determined to keep a low profile at camp. But Alex's trouble-magnet personality and Javier's need to stay in the background don't mix nearly as well as their irresistible chemistry. With her home life eroding under her feet and her last year of summer camp speeding to a close, Alex wants to make her mark on the world and squeeze every bit of fun out of her time with Javier. Too bad her old plans for revenge turn back on her just in time to ruin everything. Will she lose Javier too?
Camp Forget Me Not – Book #3 buy now
Learn more about the series at the Camp Boyfriend website
About the Authors
Karen Rock is an award-winning YA and adult contemporary author. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in English and worked as an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time author. Her Harlequin Heartwarming novel, A LEAGUE OF HER OWN, has won the 2015 National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award and the 2015 Booksellers Best Award. Her Heartwarming novel, WISH ME TOMORROW, has won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and the 2014 Golden Quill Contest. Her co-authored YA novel, CAMP BOYFRIEND, has been a finalist in the Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards. When she's not writing, Karen loves scouring estate sales for vintage books, cooking her grandmother's family recipes, hiking and redesigning her gardens. She lives in the Adirondack Mountain region with her husband, daughter, and two lovable dogs who have yet to understand the concept of "fetch" though they know a lot about love. Learn more about her at karenrock.com or follow her on twitter at karenrock5.