It Started with a Kiss (A Sequoia Lake Novel)

by Marina Adair

  “Better.” Ty stuck two marshmallows on the end of a pointed stick and handed it to her. “Put that over the fire until they get golden and your hands get warm.” Currently, they were a degree above frozen.

  He dug through his bag and pulled out a thermos, two camping mugs, and an emergency blanket. Draping the blanket over her legs and tucking her in, he turned his attention to the thermos, which he shook and poured into the mugs.

  “What is that?”

  “A surprise.” She tried to peek over his shoulder to see what was in the mugs, but he waved her off.

  “You know what I like better than surprises?”

  He slid her a glance. “Skinny-dipping?”

  “Being in on the surprise. So how about you tell me what you’re doing, and I promise not to tell anyone.”

  He held out his hand. “Marshmallows ready?”

  With an adorable huff, she pulled the stick out of the fire and handed him a perfectly toasted one, then made a big show of slowly licking her fingers clean.

  Focused on the task at hand and not getting his hands on her, Ty stuck the toasted marshmallow on the rim of the mug like a garnish in a cocktail, then handed it to her.

  Lit by the fire, Avery’s eyes sparkled when she looked up from her mug. “Did you make me a campfire s’more-tini?”

  “Not just any campfire s’more-tini, but the current Girl Scout leader’s special s’more-tini. She said the secret was in the toasted marshmallow. You’re supposed to take a bite with each sip.”

  “In that case . . .” She plucked the last marshmallow off the stick and held it out to him. “Take a bite.”

  Never one to say no to a pretty lady, Ty did just that, making sure to snag her fingertip in the process, making her laugh. She had such a cute laugh, so he did it again, this time kissing the tip when he was through, and making sure to lick off every piece of sticky treat.

  Those baby blues took in his pack, then met his gaze. “This is a lot of equipment for a last-minute night ride. Some people might think this was a little more premeditated than you previously let on.”

  “Some people might think you should enjoy your surprise and drink up.”

  “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

  “If it will up my chances of getting skinny-dipping added to your list, then bottoms up,” he said and saluted.

  She took a tiny sip, no more a thimbleful, then said, “I already told you, it’s not a list, it’s a journal, and that’s not how it works. I can’t just say, ‘Oh, hey, I feel like kissing a sexy guy under the stars’ and then add it.”

  “You sure have a lot of kissing in that journal.” He paused. “And you think I’m sexy? Hey!” he said when she nudged her shoulder to his.

  “Is that really all you heard?”

  “A good guide focuses on the important details,” he said with a teasing tone, then speared two more marshmallows and held them out over the flames. “So, I’m guessing sex under the stars with a sexy adventure guide isn’t on the list?”

  “Not last time I checked.”

  He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’m not a first-date kind of guy anyway.”

  This time when she nudged him, she didn’t pull back. Instead, she rested her head against his shoulder. “Thank you for making this night special. I know you have a lot going on. Between your dad and SAREX you probably feel like the world is pressing down on you, yet you took the time to bring me a pinecone.”

  “I promise if there’s a pinecone in there, I got the recipe wrong.”

  She tilted her head up, her hand going to his chest, resting there as if it was at home. He could feel his heartbeat against her palm, slowing its rhythm with a simple touch. “No, a thoughtful gesture, like the pinecones you and your brother and dad would bring your mom for Christmas.”

  Ty found himself chuckling. “I’d forgotten about that. Every year we’d bring her home a different kind of pinecone to decorate the table with. I have no idea why she loved them so much, but she’d always tear up. Every year. Like she was surprised by another bag of pinecones.”

  He felt the weight of Avery’s gaze, as if she was staring right through him. “It wasn’t the pinecones, Ty. She was crying because it meant your dad took you boys out and made a beautiful memory.”

  Ty thought back on those trips as some of the best times he and Garrett had spent with their dad. There were no lectures, no regimented routes or schedule. Each one was a real father-and-sons-in-nature kind of trip, with the only goal to find the best pinecones of the season. They would cook over a campfire, bathe in the river, see who could come up with the dumbest joke.

  They traveled as far as thirteen hours south one year to bring back the biggest type of pinecones in the country. And Ty remembered coming home happy, laughing while they retold all of their stories over dinner.

  He wondered if his dad still remembered any of those times. Sometimes that man was as sharp as a tack and determined as a grizzly. Other moments, Ty barely even recognized him. Even worse, after some online research, he now understood there were probably days Dale barely recognized himself.

  “I know coming home hasn’t been easy,” she said quietly, “and that Dale makes it even harder, but he’s happy that you’re here.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “I do.” She ran her hand down his chest. The motion was meant to soothe, but there was something intoxicating about the gentle steel in her touch, and his entire body felt the jolt. “You’re a good son, Ty.”

  Ty didn’t know how to respond to that, especially after today, so when she nuzzled into him, he wrapped his arm around her and held her tight. He told himself it was because he’d felt her shivering, but the truth was he liked touching her, felt like he was at peace when he held her.

  The silence stretched until it became a comfortable and warm blanket that surrounded them both. Avery stuck a marshmallow on the stick, and he held it over the fire until it was good and golden, then she plucked it off and they shared it. They did this a few times while listening to the river ramble in the distance.

  The night continued to grow, but in their cocoon by the fire it felt as if time had slowed enough to breathe. Slowed to where the hollow ache that had taken up residence in his chest a decade ago felt lighter, and his itch to run faded.

  He didn’t know how long they sat like that, toasting marshmallows, watching the embers float into the inky sky, and silently listening to the wind whistle through the pine trees, but it didn’t matter.

  Ty wasn’t sure he’d known what true contentment felt like before tonight. In fact, he’d always thought the word had a negative connotation. Who wanted to be content when you could be pushing the limits?

  But sitting there, staring at the fire with Avery curled into his chest, he was pretty sure he’d take this over jumping out of a chopper any day.

  “Ty?”

  “Yeah?” he said, and she shifted so she could see him.

  He tried to meet her gaze, because he could tell by the tone she had an important question, but the angle was just right, the zipper on her jacket had given a little under the pressure, and he could see straight down. Bright blue lace and creamy cleavage.

  Hot combo.

  “Is this what you and your brother used to do?” she asked, and he was no longer wondering if the panties were a matching set.

  “Cuddle by the fire?” Ty asked, then waited for his body to backfire at the mention of Garrett, waited for the dark memories to settle and the guilt to kick in. Only it never came. And he had a pretty good inkling it had something to do with the woman in his arms. “Nah, Garrett wasn’t much of a cuddler.”

  “Too bad, he missed out.” Then, not giving him the change of topic he was hoping for, she looked up at him through her lashes. “Is this where you came to talk, blow off steam, find your balance? I know your dad’s dementia has made things worse, and that under all of the bluster he has a big heart, but I don’t imagine he was an easy father.”

  “
I wasn’t all that easy to raise,” Ty heard himself saying. And then because he couldn’t shut up he added, “I was actually a pain in the ass, always looking for the line so I could cross it, see what would happen. I never met a rule I didn’t want to break, my dad would say. And since he lived his life by the rules, it made for some heated moments.”

  Some frustrating moments too. What Ty had seen as genuine curiosity, his dad had taken as disobedient and willful. When he was little Ty tried to curb that itch, trying to make his dad happy. By the time he’d become a teen he realized his dad would never be pleased, so he stopped trying.

  “Kids are supposed to test their parents—it’s part of being a kid,” she pointed out.

  “When I was eleven my dad and I found this big ravine on the west side of the mountain. He said a hiker stranded without gear could never make it out alive. The next day I went back alone and scaled that two-hundred-foot cliff without any gear.”

  “Did your dad find out?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah, I was so proud that I had figured it out, I went home to tell him. He took one look at my ripped jeans and bloody shin and he knew. The crazy part is I really thought he was going to be proud of me.” Ty could still remember the frustration and disappointment burning in his gut. Frustration that he was in trouble, and disappointment that he hadn’t managed to impress the most impressive man in the world to him. “He grounded me for the entire summer, which in my dad’s world is the equivalent of being disowned.”

  At least that’s what it had felt like. He had been cut off from his friends, the mountains, and any connection between him and his dad had become beyond strained—and Ty never knew how to close the gap. Where Dale was happy to walk the same trail day after day, Ty craved diversity. His mind liked to solve impossible problems—it was what made him the best at what he did. Yet, he’d never managed to solve the one problem that mattered the most—how to gain his dad’s support.

  “Not the homecoming you were looking for,” she said, her arm tightening around his middle.

  “He said that one day my curiosity was going to get someone killed.” He threw the stick into the fire. “He just always assumed it would be me.”

  “Did he actually say that?” At his pain-filled expression, she sat up, hers turning fierce. “He had no right to put that on you!”

  “Garrett and I got into some pretty squirrely situations growing up. Two boys living in a lodge with the Sierra Nevada as their backyard, trouble was bound to ensue. Sometimes Garrett was the instigator, sometimes it was a collaboration, like the time we caught a bobcat in a coon trap and tried to leash train it. But usually it was me.” He looked into the fire until the flame became a blur of bright reds and oranges. “That night. It was me.”

  “Oh, Ty,” she said gently, taking his hand in hers.

  Talking about that night never got easier, but reliving it through Avery’s expressions would be painful. Knowing that she couldn’t hide what she was feeling to save her life, Ty gave a gentle tug and pulled her back to his chest, then rested his cheek on the crown of her head.

  “I was offered a spot to go with my uncle and the Sierra Mountain Team to climb the fourteens in Colorado. I would have been the youngest person on the team. I was so excited, I told everyone at school before asking my parents, because I was so sure they’d say yes. When I got home my dad didn’t even listen. He just said no, that if I wasn’t old enough to climb River Rock, I wasn’t old enough to go backpacking all over the country.” He could still feel the gut-wrenching humiliation that his dad wouldn’t support him in this. Couldn’t see the same potential in Ty that others did. “So I figured if I could prove to him that I’d tackled River Rock, then he’d have to let me go.”

  She nuzzled closer, her arm going across his waist. “So you snuck out?”

  “The second the sun came up, Garrett was in my room ready to go. I told him he didn’t have to suffer through being grounded with me—it was a two-day trip, so we were bound to get caught. He said he might be younger, but he wasn’t weaker, and no way in hell was he going to let me hog all of the victory.”

  God, Garrett was a competitive son of a bitch.

  “Did you make it to the top?”

  “No, it started getting dark before we cleared the ridge. I wanted to sleep for the night, find shelter, and pick up in the morning. Garrett wanted to get to the top before nightfall. The hardest part was out of the way, and all that was left was a short hike. That way if Dad came looking for us and dragged us back we could say we made the climb.” Prove he was special. “It had been a wet winter, so the river was wild and the ground was still saturated. Fatigue combined with limited light and loose soil made for poor conditions. Garret took a wrong step and slipped down a bank and right into the river.” Ty shook off the memory. “I scrambled down as fast as I could and found him, but even when I got him to the shoreline I knew. He was bleeding pretty bad, his body was going into hypothermia, and . . .”

  The helplessness of watching his brother slowly slipping away, knowing that he didn’t have the skills to save him, still haunted Ty.

  “I thought for sure my dad would come looking for us, but the search team didn’t show up until the next morning, and by then he was gone.”

  They found Ty on the ground, holding Garrett to him and rocking him back and forth. It took three men to pry him away, and even then Ty’s arms circled around his own middle as if he was still holding Garrett.

  Ty didn’t remember the chopper ride home, or much of the days that followed, only the overwhelming numbness that settled in his soul and never left. Without Garrett, Sequoia Lake was no longer home, and as long as he stayed there his family could never move on.

  “That’s why you went into swift water rescue,” she said softly, resting up on her elbow to study him.

  She looked so long, Ty was scared of what she’d see. What kind of conclusions she’d come to about his character—about him. He knew what other people thought, what his dad thought, but for some reason Avery’s opinion was the only one that seemed to matter in that moment.

  “What a beautiful way to honor his life,” she said, and Ty felt his throat close. And that was it, the moment that Ty knew he was in serious trouble. What others saw as him running away from his past, Ty did to make sure the past never had to happen to another family. “He’d be proud of the man you became.”

  “Don’t make me out to be more than I am, angel.” She was starting to get that hero worship in her eyes, which could only lead to disappointment—for both of them. “Rescuing people is different than being a hero.”

  “I’m not looking for a hero,” she said with a conviction so strong he had no choice but to believe her. “And I know exactly who you are, Ty. You’re the kind of guy who, after a trying day, went out of his way to make my night special. First with a moonlit ride, then a campfire and s’more-tinis.”

  “Don’t forget the marshmallows,” he whispered.

  “I haven’t forgotten anything,” she said, her eyes big and luminous. Her heart was right there on her sleeve, and she radiated so much warmth all he had to do was reach out and grab tight.

  Only he was afraid he’d never want to let go.

  CHAPTER 13

  Ty was a goner.

  He saw the kiss coming, watched as she moved in, licking her lips in the process, but he still wasn’t prepared for how hard she rocked his world. It felt like he took a freight train to the chest.

  In his defense, it wasn’t just a kiss, it was a high-octane, zero-to-a-million meeting of the lips that left no room for questions.

  Avery was an all-in kind of woman, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she’d be an all-in kind of kisser. Hell, they’d kissed before. But this was different, it was more, and she was making it clear that it was more. She wasn’t shy about what she wanted, and lucky son of a bitch that he was, right then she was making it crystal fucking clear that she wanted just one thing.

  Him.

  Again with the
lucky, because he wanted her too. Bad. So when she placed her palms flat against his chest for leverage and scooted up on her knees, he ran his down to her hips to help steady her—he was a gentleman, after all. And when that wasn’t enough he slid them lower, to that denim-clad ass, to let her know that he was there for her.

  She seemed to appreciate his efforts, even making this sexy little purring sound as she crawled up his chest until she was straddling his lap, as if afraid he had somewhere else he’d rather be.

  Fat chance. He’d meant what he’d said earlier—he wanted to kiss her all night. Long, open-mouthed kisses that blurred into one another until the sun rose or they passed out. He didn’t care, as long as he woke up with her in his arms.

  Avery seemed to be on the same crazy train with him, only she was in the driver’s seat, taking her sweet ass and making his lap into her own personal chair. Which was A-okay with him. She could make him anything she wanted as long as she didn’t stop kissing him.

  So when she gently tugged his lower lip between her teeth, he let himself fall into her sweetness. Or maybe he’d fallen when he’d caught her scribbling obscene offers on his truck. Either way she got to him.

  In the best possible way. At the worst possible time.

  His instincts were screaming for him to pull the cord. Reminding him that she was a from this day forward kind of girl. He was leaving in a week and needed to leave this well alone.

  But he’d spent his entire vacation leaving things alone—the past, his dad, the relentless guilt—and look where that had gotten him. Spending his days saving a lodge that was one frayed rappelling rope from snapping and his nights playing Marco Polo with a man who didn’t comprehend that he was lost.

  So for just a moment, Ty wanted to be the one who was lost, because he was certain that Avery would find him. Bring him back. To where and from what he didn’t know, but when he was with her he felt his world turn right.

  “You taste like s’more-tini,” she said, her face flush and her lips swollen.

  “You taste like . . . hmmmm. I’m not sure.” Framing her face with his hands he took another taste, long and languid, and when he pulled back they were both breathing heavy.