The Kiss Keeper - Krista Sandor Page 0,41

forward.

Play the part of Natalie’s boyfriend.

Get the grandparents to sell.

Then, move on. He had to treat Camp Woolwich like any other property—like any other deal.

This was business.

“I still wonder about him,” she said, breaking into his thoughts.

“About who?” he asked.

She toyed with the hem of her dress. “The boy, my kiss keeper. Where is he now? What’s he doing? Does he remember me?”

He joined her at the well, his pulse quickening as if his body remembered what it was like being there with her all those years ago, and then, he was thirteen again. All nerves and lanky limbs, he wanted now what he wanted then. He sat down next to her and drew his fingertips up the smooth, milky-white skin of her neck and cupped her face in his hands.

“I think you’d be a hard person to forget, Heels.”

It was the truth. He’d never forgotten her.

She gazed up at him with those damn elusive eyes that made him forget all the darkness and only see her and her light. She was like a beacon drawing him in. He brushed his thumb across her bottom lip, and that force was back, that magnetic pull between them. That intense drive to kiss her, to protect her, and to make love to her flooded his system. He could give in a little bit. Being a good fake boyfriend was all part of the con, right?

“Oh, Jake,” she whispered as she closed her eyes.

He threaded his fingers into her hair, and she sighed, melting into his touch. He’d allow himself one last kiss. He leaned in, and the heat of her breath teased his lips, but before they could meet, a loud cry came from where they’d left the children.

“Aunt Nat! Uncle Jake! Come quick!”

He and Natalie broke apart, and she sprang to her feet.

“What is it?” she called as they ran the short distance to where the kids had been making their rubbings.

“It’s Toby,” Maddie said, pointing up into a giant oak. “He climbed up way too high. We told him to stop.”

Finn paced back and forth. “I tried to climb up and help him down, but—”

“I have to pee!” Toby called from way too damn high up a tree, his voice a mix of fear and urgency.

“He says that if he moves, he’ll pee his pants,” Finn added, shaking his head like a frustrated parent.

“Okay,” Natalie said with her hands on her hips, gazing up at Toby’s dangling legs. “I’ve climbed this tree a million times. This is nothing to worry about. I’ll go up and get him.”

“What if he pees on you?” Annabelle whispered with wide eyes.

Josie wrinkled her nose. “Ew!”

“He won’t,” Natalie answered.

Tucker glanced up at his brother. “What if he pees on us when you’re bringing him down?”

Natalie chewed her lip. “Okay, I’ve got a solution for that. Everyone, hold hands, and take three giant steps away from the tree.”

They quickly complied.

“I’ve really gotta go!” Toby wailed.

“My mom will be really mad if Toby pees his pants, Aunt Nat,” Tucker called from the safe zone.

“Yeah, she’ll be really mad at me,” Natalie said under her breath.

“Let me go.”

She turned to him. “Jake, you did not sign up for rescuing a seven-year-old with a full bladder from a tree.”

He chuckled. “That may be the first time that phrase has ever been uttered.”

She dropped her head and sighed. “How good of a climber are you?”

He cracked his knuckles. “Master level.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I pretty much lived in this tree when I was a girl.”

He schooled his features. “Is that a challenge?”

“Aunt Nat! I can’t hold it much longer!”

A playful glint in her eye answered his question.

“Ready, set…” he began.

“Go!” she cried, striding toward the tree.

And sweet baby Jesus! She wasn’t kidding. He’d been free climbing for years, but Natalie hit each branch like she was part primate. Except, there was nothing primate about her smooth, toned legs, moving from branch to branch. And then he got a quick glimpse of hot pink lace and the curve of her ass.

“Holy hell,” he said, unable to hold back.

Natalie stopped climbing, glanced down at the kids below, and then up at the child, clutching the trunk for dear life before awkwardly pressing her knees together. “Don’t you dare look up my dress, Jake Teller!”

He shrugged. “You’re the one who cheated to get ahead.”

“Aunt Nat, I’m gonna blow!”

“How are we going to do this?” Natalie asked, biting back a grin.

He had to admit that this was pretty damn hilarious.

He pulled his gaze from