Page 23 of One Reckless Summer

There isn’t much food in the storage cabinet, which doesn’t surprise me. Even with a locked metal cabinet, a starving determined bear could take down the door or come through the window and help themselves easily if they caught a good scent.

I find a couple sealed jars of peanut butter. Crunchy, thank God. Some tea bags in a glass jar and four cans of Spaghetti O’s.

Hailey’s favorite.

Summer watches from where I lifted her onto the small countertop to sit as I work wood into the belly of the stove, adding enough oxygen to get it to catch, then working the rusty can opener on the Spaghetti O’s.

The storm is still doing its thing in rumbles and flashes, but until there’s more light outside and enough time for the bears to finish off whatever they discovered in my pack, we’re stuck.

That’s not the only reason I want to keep her here. We’re alone, together, and my only other worry is Hailey, but if she’s with Ted and Wiley, she won’t miss me at all. They’ll have her knee deep in s’mores and grape soda until she passes out.

Within a few minutes, I’ve got the canned noodle concoction bubbling in a cast-iron skillet, the tea pot whistling as I hand Summer the jar of peanut butter and a spoon from the single drawer under the counter.

“That’s your appetizer,” I say as I point toward the little two-seat wood table. “Not exactly a feast,” I warn as I put the weird meal down on the top and Summer hops down from the counter to take a seat. The cabin has warmed with the fire, and our damp clothes have nearly dried. “Sorry. My culinary skills could do with some refinement.”

She laughs, but shakes her head. “Peanut butter straight from the jar? And, it’s crunchy? I’m in heaven.”

Picking up a spoon, she digs into the peanut butter first. Then, the Spaghetti O’s as I pour the hot water into a mug and dangle a tea bag inside.

Every time there’s a flash of lightning, I check outside. I’ve seen the bears twice more, and I can hear them with my trained ears.

What I’m really worried about is that it will soon be dropping dark for real. With those bears around, it’s not safe to try to get back to the Jeep, which means we’re here until morning.

And, there’s only one bed.

Chapter Eight

Price

Having Summer out here in the woods with me, my ever-present tension seems to lift.

I’m still not sure why a girl like her would look twice at a grumpy, lumbering single dad like me, but we’re here and something about feeding her and the way she makes me want to actually talk is making me think there’s room in mine and Hailey’s life for her after all.

My brain’s been fried since she wrapped her lips around me, calling me Daddy with those big doe eyes. My promises to myself about keeping it just Hailey and me are beginning to waver.

I talked to her about things I haven’t thought of since I was a kid. This sparkly city girl somehow draws out parts of me I thought I’d long put away forever.

I asked her about herself. She said she’s going to New York in the fall and when I heard that, my heart turtled back up, and I had to take a moment telling her I was going to check the bedroom for spiders before I settled her in for the night.

She bought that, but I’ve been in here too long and the sight of the single bed has my resolve cracking.

I grab the door handle and swing open to door to find her standing there, fist hovering, ready to knock.

“Your room is clear. No spiders.”

I bite back my groan when I see she’s stripped off her damp clothes and wrapped herself in one of the blankets we keep in a cedar chest that doubles as a coffee table in front of the sofa.

“I didn’t want to sleep in wet clothes,” she says, her eyes suddenly shy as I rake my gaze up and down her fertile body.

“God, you are beautiful.” I can’t help myself. Her sweet round face is what will fill my dreams for the rest of my life. I want what’s under that blanket more than I want to breathe.

I swear I smell her arousal too, as my own lust and emotion crash around inside me. I throw all the reasons this can’t happen into the belly of the burning stove.

“One bed,” she says on an unsteady breath.

The thrumming need to take her is beating on me like a hammer to the balls. She’s pure and sweet and soft, and I’m none of those things, but it doesn’t stop me from reaching out and grabbing her around the waist with both hands. Her squeak is not fear but surprise, as her lips fall open and everything in my life makes sudden sense as I crush my mouth to hers.

Sexual hunger crowds out any other doubts. With every passing second, this girl turns me inside out, pulling emotions from me no matter how much I try to avoid them.

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