Page 71 of Play With Me

I squeezed the side of her arm, bringing her even closer. If we were alone, we’d be messing up our bedding right about now, wondering which position worked best on an air mattress that would sink each time I pounded into her, but we weren’t. Yet somehow sitting here with her like this felt much better than what could have been. I took a deep breath.

“You smell like fire and the night.”

“The night?” she chuckled. “Are you trying to say these romantic lines on purpose? What happened to the cheesy pick up lines?”

“Sometimes the truth is better.”

“Just when I thought you couldn’t sound any more sexy.” She sighed. I might have been wrong when I’d said there was nothing that could stop me from pounding between Lola’s legs, day and night. My daughter was sleeping a few feet away from me in a tent. That was enough to go limp. Except I didn’t mind it at all. I felt Lola smile against my shoulder, and she snuggled deeper into my body. It felt good holding her in my arms; it felt right.

I thought I was living the adventure when I met Lola, but it was so much more than that. I looked to the side at the closed tent, hoping that my lies wouldn’t ruin what felt like the right thing.

Chapter 16

Lola

When I woke up the next morning, my neck felt stiff. Light fog hovered above the ground, and the smell of morning dew hung in the air. The night before, I remembered falling asleep in Brook’s arms. I’d started out wishing for a mattress, but that wish didn’t last long because Brook was way more comfortable than any mattress.

The tent was still zipped up, with both Anna and Sophie sleeping inside. Brook was nowhere to be found, and so I stood up, stretched, and decided to empty my bladder before I went looking for him.

I walked uphill from the camp’s entrance, then around a slab of rocks and squatted beside a wide oak, relaxing my muscles. Halfway through the fizz, I heard Sophie’s hushed voice behind me and lost my balance.

“Lola?”

My bladder immediately shut, but not before I’d peed on my sneaker.

Crap!

“Sophie? Are you out here on your own?”

“Technically, yes.”

I shook my head, wiggled my butt, and pulled up my panties, wondering how someone her age knew the wordtechnicallyand what exactly she meant by that.

“I thought you were in the tent.”

I turned around to face her. Her lips were stained red. She popped another rosehip berry into her mouth and said, “I was, but then I had to pee and when I went by the river it seemed sooo long and the forest seemed sooo large. Anyone my size could easily get lost, don’t you think? I mean anyone. I’m so, so small and this forest is so, so big.”

“Well, yes. That’s why you should have asked someone to come out with you. Your uncle was clear on that. He’s going to be upset. What if you got lost?”

A tiny grunt vibrated from behind the brushes. “Sophie, come here.”

“Speaking of bears… ”

I heard a short roar from behind the same area as before. Sophie didn’t seem as freaked out as I was.

“Sophie? What have you done?”

“Nothing. I swear.” She lifted her hand out, then placed her palm over her heart. “Hefoundme. Not the other way around. Scout’s honor. He’s so tiny and he’s lost in this big large forest.I needto help him. Boo needs me.”

“Boo?”

The bushes rustled again, and a brown cub appeared from behind the wall of twigs. He charged at Sophie, stopping just before he ran her down and tickled her in her side with his snout. Sophie giggled and stretched out her other hand full of rosehip berries, which he swept off her hand with his tongue.

“Lola, meet Boo. Boo, Lola.”

She gestured her hand in a formal introduction as I stood there with my mouth partially open. “Boo is lost. He was hungry, but we found some berries and ate them for breakfast. But I think he’s hungry some more. Will you help us pick more berries, Lola?”

Half-petrified and half-shocked, I couldn’t reply for what seemed like forever, then from somewhere deep within, the words came out on their own. “Sophie, get over here to my side right this moment.”

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