Summer's End (Wildflowers #5) - Jill Sanders Page 0,14
off here,” she said less than a quarter of a mile from the building. “I’ll walk from here.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I don’t want them to see you drop me off. They’re probably looking out for me already. I’ll have to tell them I went for a walk.”
He pulled over and spent a few moments kissing her again.
“When can I see you again?” she asked as she pulled away.
“I’m free most evenings,” he admitted. “Work in the cabins can’t go on after dark. At least until the electric gets fixed and turned back on. So I have to stop when the sun goes down.”
She cocked her head as if thinking it through. “I’ll see what I can do to get out to your place tomorrow night.”
He kissed her again. “Looking forward to it. You still plan on working on the second cabin tomorrow?”
Her smile grew. “Yes, I’m looking forward to it and to you again tomorrow night.” She jumped out of his truck.
He watched her disappear down the driveway until he knew she was in the building that housed the apartment the five friends shared on the top floor.
He didn’t think life could get any better. He had a dream job, his own place, and now he had a soft, gorgeous woman to look forward to enjoying, no strings attached.
Somehow, because he knew he was keeping his heart from her, he didn’t think twice about his life over the next year. Sure, there were times he wished they could share their relationship with their friends. Even if it was only during the times when the gang was all hanging out together, and he itched to hold her hand or kiss her in front of everyone. Like at the New Year’s party. Instead, he’d kept his word and his distance when the others were around.
To his knowledge, no one else in the group knew they were enjoying one another’s company every moment they could sneak away. Everything was going perfectly. Or so he thought.
Eleven months later, shortly before the camp opened its doors, he’d made the mistake of blurting out three words that had Aubrey pulling back.
It had been a rainy night about a month before the camp was set to open.
She and her friends had an interview that day with a local paper. He’d stood back and watched the five friends pose for pictures at the main gate of the campgrounds.
He’d painted the gates himself only a few weeks earlier. There were only a handful of things left to do around the grounds before they would be ready for guests. He and his team had started working on a couple of the new cabins and those wouldn’t be ready for a few more months. But they had finished ten new cabins in addition to refurbishing the twenty original ones.
He’d been in one of the new cabins when the downpour had started that day. He hadn’t expected Aubrey to come rushing in, soaking wet, a few minutes later.
She’d laughed about being soaked and had started slowly removing her clothes as he watched, and his mouth watered. How had he not realized sooner how perfect she was for him?
His heart jumped in his chest each time she laughed and looked at him with desire. He knew at that moment he’d never felt that way about someone before. Nor did he think he could ever feel that way about someone else.
“I thought I could make it out here to you before the rain started,” she said, moving slowly across the room towards him.
In the past twelve months that they’d been enjoying one another’s company, she had yet to stay one single night in his arms. He’d desperately wished she’d fall asleep with him, but so far, he hadn’t gotten that lucky.
She’d been so concerned about her friends finding out about them that he’d begun to wonder if there were other reasons that she wanted to keep their relationship a secret. It was strange, but he’d grown to trust her more than anyone else he’d ever dated. Not that he could call what was between them dating. After all, they only ate meals together when it was a group of people and, even then, they never sat together.
“I’m glad you made it.” He smiled as she pulled her wet camp T-shirt over her head. Then his mind went blank when he noticed the see-through cream-colored bra she was wearing. Her pink nipples poked out towards him, begging for his attention.