Page 49 of Mess With Me
They all looked over at Josh standing a short distance from the campfire. His arm was wrapped around Clarissa’s waist, their bodies turned toward each other as Clarissa spoke. Josh looked captivated.
“Guess there’s a first time for everything,” Ally said.
A short while later, Ethan volunteered to help Josh put the food away for safekeeping. Ally jumped in, gathering the condiments, pasta salad, and a fruit bowl and tucking it into a cooler. She went with Josh and Ethan, both men carrying a cooler back to Josh’s car, hoping to get some answers from Josh directly about his new girlfriend. On the walk there, Ethan explained why storing the food in a secure place was important. Now that the sun was down, the food would attract all kinds of wildlife—raccoons, bobcats, coyotes, occasional bears.
“It’s good we’ve got a park ranger in our midst,” she teased. Though she was a little freaked at the idea of any of those animals making an appearance, so she stuck close to his side. He was meatier than she was and would make a tastier morsel for a bear.
Ethan turned to her. “At your service, ma’am. You scared?”
“No.” His blue eyes seemed dark, almost wild like an animal of the night. “Have you ever seen a bear out here?” she whispered in case the bears heard.
Josh chuckled and went ahead to unlock his car.
“Yeah,” Ethan said. “If they’re at a distance, you should slowly back away. Don’t run. But if they’re right up close, you gotta make yourself real big.” He put the cooler down and raised his arms up above her head. “And make some noise to scare it away, screaming at the top of your lungs.”
“Yeah, that screaming part won’t be a problem.”
He gave her hair a tug. “I’ll protect you.”
And the thing was, she totally believed him.
After they put everything in Josh’s car, Ethan told Josh, “We’ll meet you back there. I’m going to get the s’mores stuff from my car.”
“Need some help?” Josh asked cheerfully.
“No,” Ethan growled.
Josh laughed.
“Clarissa seems nice,” Ally told Josh. “Have you been seeing her long?”
Josh grinned. “Little over a week. She’s great.” He turned and headed back to the lake.
“Be happy for him,” Ethan said after Josh was a distance away. “He deserves to be happy.”
She smiled brightly. “Of course.” But her loyalty was always to Hailey. Her friend might be a little over the top sometimes in her matchmaking, but it was all with the best of intentions. She had the most generous loving heart once you got to know her.
Ethan opened the back of his Jeep and she peered inside. “I completely forgot you had the dessert stuff,” she said. “Did you get the good kind of graham crackers?”
“There’s a good kind?”
“Yeah, not the generic kind. The official kind. I forget the name.”
He retrieved the bag of dessert stuff out of an insulated cooler and shut the back of the Jeep. She stuck close to his side for bear-safety reasons. He lifted a graham cracker box to show her.
“That’s the one!” she exclaimed, pleased he’d gotten the right one. It wasn’t often she had s’mores.
He put the box back in the bag and turned toward her, bringing them into an almost embrace. “Good.”
They stood there like that, staring into each other’s eyes, kissing distance apart.
His voice was husky. “Ally.”
She licked her lips. “Eth.”
They grabbed for each other at the same time, the bag dropping to the ground, kissing like their lives depended on it. Her fingers clutched his shirt, his hand cupped the back of her neck, his arm banded around her waist. Flames. Fire. Incendiary kisses that scorched her resistance, leaving her in a puddle of need.
Ethan pulled away first, staring at her, hot lust in his eyes.
