Page 62 of Lady and the Camp
My stomach woke up. Not sure what it had been doing, but it was up to something new. “What does that mean?”
“What’s there to do at night around camp?”
With Hudson? A whole host of thoughts came at me fast. Some I’d never ’fess up to. If I had any sense, I’d turn and run. The less time spent at camp, the less I cared. The less I saw Hudson, the more easily I held onto the idea I was her boss and nothing else.
Trouble was, I liked being here. And I liked…Hudson.
“A campfire in the main pit might be distracting.” I nodded toward the campers’ cabins down the path which had sight lines to the fire pit. “There’s always the lake. I’ve got a boat.”
The light from the cabin’s porch lit a sparkle in her eye, like a firefly’s soft glow. “The lake sounds fun. But I’m not getting in a canoe. Not at night.” She shuddered.
“We’ve got a boathouse with a motorboat. It belongs to the camp owners. Alan said to asked to take her out whenever I want and keep her running smooth. Have to keep it slow this time of night because of the lake curfew. We’ve got some lake time left. If we’re quick.”
“The lake has a curfew?” Her tone told me she did not believe me, but she followed me toward the lake regardless.
“To keep noise down and people safe. I thought you grew up in Michigan? Didn’t you know anybody with a boat?”
“Sure, but I don’t remember lakes having curfews. Plus, it’s not like I lived on a fishing lake. Water parks and the rec center pool were more my family’s thing.”
“I assume no camping as a kid.”
“Not even once. JustThe Parent Trap.”
“Man, that’s a shame. You missed out—no offense. Camping was everything to me.”
“I’d assume as much if you’re in a job like this. Wanting a job with even less of this.” She pointed to the Mess Hall in the distance as we neared the lake. “What do you eat when you’re questing in the woods? Have you ever eaten off the land? Like that one show where they drop people off in the Canadian wilderness?”
“Do you get all your ideas of the outdoors from TV and movies?”
“You’re forgetting the internet. Everything is on the internet.”
We reached the boathouse. I gestured for Hudson to wait on shore while I tested the deck and checked out the boat. With the all clear, I helped her into the boat and eased us out onto the lake. Even at a slow pace, the familiar excitement I craved rolled over my skin. The cool air ignited my sense of adventure. Of forging my own path. Even on a little fishing lake like this.
The sky opened up, dotted with stars. A clear summer night. Couldn’t get much better.
I glanced at my traveling companion. Nope, not any better than this.
Chapter 20
Hudson
Icouldn’tbelieveI’dconvinced Lucas to take me out on his private boat. It was a far cry from a yacht, but it certainly wasn’t shabby. Two seats at the front and a little bench seat in the back. Now here we were, drifting beneath a beautiful night sky to the gentle soundtrack of crickets and calm waters.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been aiming for exactly when I’d told him I wasn’t tired. I’d just been up forsomething. Whatever would keep me away from that lumpy bunk bed and nearer to…him.
Lucas cut the engine after putting distance between us and the shore. We coasted beyond camp property, passing private homes bordering the lake. “Did you grow up on a lake?” I asked him.
“Nope. I lived in neighborhood outside of Detroit—no lake.”
“Oh, right, by Marcy.” I’d been to Marcy’s family’s house in a dense suburban Detroit neighborhood. Her apartment wasn’t too far from where her family lived.
“That love of camping I had as a kid never left my system. When I worked construction, I did any sort of outdoor activity in my free time. Camping trips with friends, rock climbing, those extreme obstacle courses in the mud—maybe you’ve seen those online?”
“I have. Where you’re racing as team, crawling on all fours in some mud-soaked pit?” An image came to mind. A dirty image. Lucas coated in mud. His T-shirt slick against his skin, outlining every muscle.
I wouldn’t hate to see that. I might pay real money to see that.
“Some of it involved crawling,” he went on. “And climbing. The mud makes it so much tougher. I did team and individual competitions.”
