by Zoe York
“Okay. The rules are, you say something you have done, in the form of ‘Never have I ever…’. Then you take a drink, and so does everyone else who has done the same. Dirty and silly are fine, but keep it kind. We’ll go around the circle. If you want to pass, feel free. Otherwise, have it. I’ll go first.” She raised her glass of Waawaatesi Iced Tea in the air. “Never have I ever climbed to the top of the ropes course!”
Priya laughed as she took her first sip of beer. “Tegan wants to get everyone tipsy.”
The next few they were split on. Grady had never been Montreal, Priya had. Priya had never eaten horse meat, and Grady had more than once. He reluctantly drank.
Priya laughed at him. “Didn’t want to admit that?”
“I’m trying to impress you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what you’ve eaten in the past. Or, frankly, what you eat now. What does it taste like?”
“Have you ever had meat? It’s hard to explain without comparisons.”
“Yeah, I have. Not recently, but I know what chicken and beef taste like.”
“Kind of like beef. More intense, but not a bad taste.”
The next one, have you been engaged, they both were never-haves. Tegan and Wyatt made a big deal of their drinks, and everyone clapped.
“The wedding is going to be right here at Camp Firefly Falls,” Wyatt said. “Next year. You’re all invited.”
“You’re drunk,” Grady said.
“You’re dis-invited,” his best friend said, flashing him a dorky, happy smile.
“Never have I ever…kissed someone by a bonfire!” called out someone from the other side of the orange flames.
Grady tipped back his beer but Priya didn’t lift her bottle.
“Never?” he asked her.
“No bonfires at sailing camp,” she whispered back.
His heart pounded in his chest. “We should fix that.”
She lifted her face and he brushed his knuckles lightly along her jaw. The crowd around the fire faded away and it was just the two of them. A boy and a girl at camp. Endless waves of sweet affection carrying them through a week of fun and fantasy.
He closed the gap between them and kissed her. His fingers slid into her hair, holding the back of her head as their lips brushed back and forth, tasting each other ever so lightly.
A perfect kiss at the end of a perfect day.
She snuggled into his chest as they finished their beers, one ‘never have I’ after another. When the group broke up, heading back to the lodge for late night board games or back to cabins, Grady and Priya stayed where they were. One of the counselors brought the fire down to lingering embers, then covered the pit with sand.
Still they sat curled up in the chair.
As quiet descended on them, and the moon rose in the sky, they kissed again. And again.
Grady slipped his hand under Priya’s shirt and cupped her bare, warm hip with his fingers.
“This feels familiar,” she whispered.
“Like last year?”
“Yeah.” She nipped at his lower lip. “Let’s go back to the scene of the crime.”
The boathouse. His heart slammed into his chest. They had a perfectly good cabin all to themselves. And yet…
She gave him a wicked smile that lit up her face. “Everyone’s at the main lodge. And it could be our tradition.”
He wanted to make other traditions with her. Sweet ones, lasting ones. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hang on to the memory of his physical cravings getting the better of him when he wasn’t in a good place to follow through on them.
She swayed closer to him, trailing her fingertips up his tightly corded arms. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He picked her up with ease and spun her around as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Let’s do it.”
They crept onto the dock around the boathouse, lit by the moon. It was even quieter here. He could hear water lapping at the shore. In the distance, people laughed, but that was far off, elsewhere.
It was just the two of them. They’d already done this once and now doing it again carried so much more meaning.
Tonight she was wearing a sundress. Light and floaty, and easy to lift up.
He pushed his thoughts away as he slid his fingers into her panties. Deja vu swarmed in anyway, scrambling his brain as she tugged his shorts open. Her fingers around his cock, her heat tight around his fingers. It was so good, so basic.
Two bodies perfectly in synch. When she peeled off her panties, he stuffed them in his pocket, pulled out a condom, and lifted her up against the side of the boathouse.
They fit.
She was soft to his hard, smart to his stubborn.
He swallowed her gasps as he fucked her, as she ground against him, and when she shuddered apart, she took him with her.
“That was…” She sighed and smiled, leaning back against the wall as he dealt with the condom. “So good. You bring out the bad girl in me, Grady Mills.”
It jolted him back to a year ago. Not like deja vu, but something more uncomfortable.
“That was…” Priya sighed and shook her head.
Incredible, he’d wanted to say.
“Crazy. But fun. You, Grady, are definitely not what I expected.”
What had she expected?
He hadn’t asked himself that the summer before. He’d taken it as a compliment and moved forward, confident in his ability to seduce her again.
And he did. He talked his way into her bed for the week.
But as they strolled back to their cabin—her cabin, really, he had to admit—a chilling thought wouldn’t leave his thoughts. At the end of the week, she’d be done with him.
And she’d probably be better off for it.
Chapter 11
Even though the night before had been a later night, when Grady nudged her at quarter to six on Wednesday morning—and then set a steaming coffee on the bedside table—Priya got up and went on the morning hike.
With her…boyfriend.
The pause before that word in her mind was getting shorter and shorter. It started to rain as they headed back toward camp, just a drizzle, and he pulled off his shirt so she could hold it over her head.
As a summer storm rolled in, the planned Nature Olympics were moved inside. Half of the events were in the main lodge, the other half in the Arts and Crafts building.
Teams were picked by random straw-draw, so Priya and Grady ended up competing against each other. She was on Team Waterfall, he was on Team Mountain Top.
So was Wyatt. Everyone howled in protest, but Tegan promised she hadn’t designed the games for strength to give any advantage.
By the halfway point, when they paused for lunch, nobody believed her. Team Mountain Top had perfect scores in all but three games they’d attempted, and they were in second or third place in those events, too.
Priya had to take a principled stand and sit with her team at lunch, but she gave Grady a quick congratulatory kiss before shunning him.
The afternoon flew by, and while the leaderboard didn’t change by the end of the day-long competition, Team Mountain Top lost most of their lead, and it came down to the final event.
Happy Slappy High Jump.
Each team had a different color tray of paint. Tegan unfurled a long banner of craft paper and stuck it on the wall. Then each camper took turns pressing their hand in their paint tray, then jumping as high as they possibly could and slapping their hand against the wall.
Team Waterfall had light blue paint, and nobody on the team was over five foot eight inches. They all took a single turn before retreating to the bar.
Team Mountain Top had dark green paint.
Team Kayak, in a close second place, had brown paint.
And Team Bonfire had bright red paint. They’d been in the middle of the pack all day, but three of their team members soared over six feet tall, and after the first round, red handprints scattered the top of the paper
right beside dark green and brown.
Everyone else immediately took up Team Bonfire’s cause, catcalling and heckling the other teams as they took their turns.
Priya held her breath as Grady set up for his last jump. His first two had been excellent. But she’d seen him play basketball. She knew how powerful his thighs were.
She blushed. She knew that for other reasons, too.
He coiled up, then burst into the air, his hand landing half a finger above any other print so far.
Three more players and the Games would be over.
It came down to the last person, the tallest member of Team Bonfire, who had the best jump of round two.
He paced backward, doing a reverse lap of the open space hemmed in by his brand-new fans. Then he stopped, and jogged forward, planting his foot beside the wall and powering up like a high jumper in the real track and field world.
Which it was entirely possible he was.
His hand slapped right beside Grady’s, and Tegan had to get out a ladder and a level to determine the winner.
Everyone held their breath until she turned around and pointed at Grady. “Team Mountain Top has it by a hair,” she announced to a chorus of friendly boos.
He shook hands with his worth competitor, then dodged out of the way as everyone else lifted the Bonfire guy onto their shoulders and carried him to the bar.
Priya fought against the tide and flew into Grady’s arm.
He was laughing. “We should go with him.”
She waved that off. “Nah. He’s got enough fans. I’m all yours. Besides, you won the leaderboard, if not the moral victory! How shall we celebrate?”
“Waterfall swim,” Grady heard himself say. But inside his head, he was thinking, Are you all mine? For how long?
“Yes!” Priya pumped her fist. “But no skinny dipping.”
“Suits on.”
“Deal.”
They joined the fray at the bar, then ducked out. Yoga had been bumped to sunset to allow everyone to participate in Nature Olympics, which gave them two hours before dinner.
Back at the cabin, Priya changed into a black one-piece swimsuit that made her look like a Hollywood starlet. Towels in hand, they set out for the waterfall.
Luck was with them, and they had the swimming hole all to themselves. They swam from the rocks to the thundering falls and back again, then played in the calmer waters for a bit.
“Are you okay?”
He shrugged. He wasn’t going to lie. “Why did we do the Olympics thing?”
“It was the only activity on offer today.”
He tugged her close and kissed her wet skin. “Not the only one.”
“The only one that’s camp sanctioned.”
“It’s an adult summer camp. They have lots of options for being alone. I’m pretty sure this is sanctioned.” His next kiss to her neck was open-mouthed, a hot suck of her flesh.
“You’re grumpy.”
“I’m something.” Restless, frustrated, worried. He hadn’t put his finger on it yet. “The week is almost over.”
“Right. Yeah, I guess we should talk about that.”
“You guess?” He swam away from her, ducking under the water to keep himself from saying anything else.
When he surfaced, she was out of the water and wrapped in a towel. “Hey, come on, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No need to be sorry. But we should head back.”
“Don’t run away.”
She laughed out loud, and he realized too late where he’d gone wrong. “You’re telling me not to hide? What happened after you called me last year, huh?”
All week, he’d been watching her. Trying to figure her out. And he’d even told her he was an open book, all she had to do was ask.
She hadn’t. All week, she’d let him poke and prod at her instead, like she was the problem.
But he was the one who’d disappeared before.
What happened after they talked? He went to hell. He’d been there before, but this time it had been different. Harder. The missions were more rushed, the orders less clear. And you couldn’t think about the chain of command. Couldn’t wonder if there’d been a breakdown somewhere, because if you let your mind go there, if you let doubt filter in, you wouldn’t be as sharp. As focused.
He’d needed to be sharp as shit.
He’d needed to come home again.
She was looking at him. Softly, not staring. Just…watching. And he still hadn’t answered her.
He couldn’t. Something tight and hard bulged in his chest, right at the top. If he tried to bullshit her, it would lodge in his throat, he knew that. He couldn’t lie.
But that knot blocked the truth, too. It came from a different part of him. From his heart, maybe. He could admit it to himself, but he couldn’t find the words to share it with her.
Not yet? He wanted to say that more confidently. But he knew this routine from others on the SEAL teams. There were some truths, some horrors you didn’t bring home.
He could practically hear her thoughts. I’ve seen things, Grady. I know more than the average civilian.
She probably did.
That didn’t change anything.
“I deployed,” he finally said as he hauled himself out of the water. His voice was rough and flat. Compressed.
“Something you’ve done dozens of times before.”
“What’s your point?”
They both knew what her point was. She’d figured out that this last tour hadn’t gone the same as the others.
When had he given her that inkling? He’d barely allowed himself to have that kind of thought.
She shook her head. “If you don’t see it, then I’m not going to spell it out for you. Let’s go.”
He shoved his feet into his flip-flops. Shouldn’t she yell at him? Demand he open up?
Do you need her to demand that? Even if she did, he might not be able to.
This was the entire plan crashing down around him. She saw him, really saw him, and instead of softening her heart, she’d judged him and found him lacking.
He’d gotten swept up in a fantasy of showing up on her doorstep and waltzing her into the sunset.
Was thirty-two years old too early to have a mid-life crisis?
He didn’t know where he was going to be in three months, six months, a year. How could he drag her into his life when he might abandon her again? That was her fear, after all. He knew it. She didn’t need to spell that out.
Maybe there had been a reason why he’d gone dark on her. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for a relationship.
Chapter 12
After a quiet, awkward dinner, Priya went to sunset yoga by herself. When she got back to the cabin, Grady wasn’t there, and she crawled into bed alone.
She wasn’t asleep when he returned, just in that dozy, settled state just before dropping off. Relaxed enough that he assumed she was. He moved quietly through the cabin. She listened as he had a shower, then the bed dipped as he joined her under the blankets.
He kissed her outstretched hand before wrapping it in his fingers. He stretched out along her body and slung his other arm low across her hips.
Despite the tension of the evening, she still bloomed for him. Every touch was the same, like her body knew they had limited time together, and in the feelings hierarchy, loving Grady trumped being pissed at him.
She stiffened.
No. She did not love him. Making love to him, maybe.
“Priya?”
“I’m not awake.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop talking.” She suddenly knew, in a lightning strike of pure panic, that he didn’t feel the same way. He was fond of her, he adored her, he loved her body. But there was no way Grady could love her. Love didn’t allow you to ignore someone for ten months. She rolled over and pulled him on top of her. “I don’t want to fight.”
“I was trying to apologize,” he said with a lopsided grin, and she realized he was toasted.
They weren’t going to have a grown-up conversation while he was drunk.
But they could have sloppy drunk sex.
She shoved her panties down her hips and he took the hint. His big, broad hands cupped her ass, bringing her pelvis up against his erection. They kissed roughly as she rubbed herself on his cock. Shamelessly dirty. Perfectly hot.
This was what they had.
Grady would always be the hottest fuck of her life, the best lay she’d ever had. When she was a crazy grandmother, she’d scandalize her granddaughters with stories about the Navy SEAL she shared a week with at summer camp.
A week plus two nights.
Eight days in total.
It could never be enough. But it would have to last her a lifetime.
Grady flipped her over and urged her hips into the air. He crawled down the bed and kissed her like that, licking her folds until she was writhing against his face. Then he fumbled for a condom, and she pretended he hadn’t.
She closed her eyes as he mounted her from behind and imagined some of those grandchildren looking like a mix of her and Grady. Your grandfather stole my heart in the boathouse, she pretended she might tell someone one day. It was a fairytale ending. She knew better.
But as his fingers dug into her hips, it was that fantasy that pushed her into her orgasm.
After, he pulled her into his arms and she fell asleep with his face buried in her hair.
It felt like goodbye sex.
The last thought she had before she drifted off was that she hated goodbye sex, but she wouldn’t have traded it for the world, either.
It was raining again on Thursday morning, too heavily for campers to head out on a Dawn Hike, so after Grady dashed to the main lodge for coffee, he crawled back into bed with Priya.
He’d ended up drinking with Team Bonfire after dinner. It had taken him too long to realize Priya wasn’t going to come and find them after yoga. By the time he’d gotten back to the cabin, he’d been sloshed and she’d been asleep—and then he’d woken her up for hot sex.