Page 47 of Heat It Up (Off the Ice)
“What the…?” Kyle pulls his phone from his back pocket. He waits for whoever he’s calling to answer, then says, “Hey, Nik, where the hell are you?” Pause. “Yeah, we got in…And when were you planning on telling me this…? Yeah…yeah…okay.” He hangs up.
“So where is everyone?”
“Not here. There is no get together planned. Nik set this up to make up for that asshole thing he did the other day with the dog tags. No one else is coming.” He nods at the box on the table. “Which explains why I was supposed to bring everything.”
“So we’re it?”
He nods. “’Fraid so.” He looks back at the bed, and an odd expression clouds his face. “If you want, we can go back…or—or you can take the bed and I’ll take the couch.”
I glance at the couch, which isn’t long enough for either of us. I’m not sure if he’s suggesting that because he’s being gentlemanly, or because he really doesn’t want to sleep with me.
“We can share the bed,” I say. “I’m fine with that.”
He rubs the back of his neck, but it doesn’t seem to relieve how tied up in knots he is at the possibility of being in the same bed as me. He had a wife. It makes sense that he’s not over her and isn’t ready to go that far with me. But if that’s true, why did he have the one-night stand with the woman from the club? Why has he been flirting with me? Why did he go down on me?
Because he figures your ex-boyfriend must have cheated on you for a reason, an annoying little voice points out.
I swallow down a bitter laugh at the irony. All this time I avoided being involved with anyone so I wouldn’t be hurt again. Yet here I am. Different situation. Same rejection.
Needing to escape, I grab my camera bag and walk out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sofia
I stalk down the dirt path to the boat, but then change my mind. Kyle will be getting the other box and I need space to sort through my emotions. I turn, walk past the outhouse (oh, joy), and disappear into the wooded area that makes up the majority of the island.
It doesn’t take me long to find the perfect location for photos. The clearing is small with the leaves redirecting the light and giving the place a mystical mood. I study the area, like I do whenever I get ready to shoot a scene, and figure out what I want my images to say. Right now dejected comes to mind, but I push it away. I close my eyes and remember the fairy tales Mom used to tell me. When I was a kid, I would imagine all kinds of magical creatures living in the woods near Muumu’s. This place is no different.
I switch the lens on my camera to my favorite macro lens, and wander the area, searching for anything hinting mystical creatures are among us. I’ve been shooting a number of shots of a fallen tree trunk, while on my stomach, when a loud snap of a branch yanks me from my zone.
I gasp and scramble to my feet, almost expecting a troll to lumber out of the trees, hungry for a tall blond snack. All those childhood tales Mom used to read me aren’t helping me here.
I creep backward away from the sound, my gaze locked in the direction it had come from. It could be a bear or something equally big and deadly. The back of my calves collide against a fallen branch and I lose my freakin’ balance.
I land sprawled on the ground, the wind knocked out of me. It takes a moment to regain my senses before my gaze jerks up to meet Kyle’s.
He crouches next me. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. Are you hurt?”
My butt isn’t exactly thrilled with what happened, but hell if I’m admitting that to him. “I’m fine. I didn’t realize you were behind me.”
Kyle, now wearing long khaki shorts, helps me to my feet. I run my hands over my sore butt and the backs of my legs, dislodging any forest floor debris that’s made itself at home there.
Definitely not my finest moment.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask once I’ve removed the evidence of my clumsiness.
“I got worried when you didn’t return. You’ve been gone for over an hour.”
“I was taking photos.” I hold up my camera, you know, in case he didn’t believe me. At least only one us is dealing with a bruised ego and backside.
I walk to my camera bag and place my camera inside it. “So what now? You wanna explore or go swimming?”
“I started the sauna. It should be ready soon. Why don’t we swim first?”
“You figured out how to start the sauna?” I guess it’s not electric like the one in Muumu’s apartment building. There is no electricity here. And that includes in the cottage.
“Nik told me how to do it.” He shakes his head. “Because he knew he wouldn’t be coming here with us.” Wow, Nik really had everything planned out. The question is, did he know about the storm or was that an added bonus?
