Page 99 of The Mating Game
It’s much colderin the gray light of morning, even under the pile of quilts from the two makeshift beds—which became one makeshift bed in the course of the night—and I stir, feeling Tess shiver as she burrows deeper into my side. She still smells faintly of heat; it’s slight, nowhere near what it will be when it fully hits her, and based on her scent…we have some time.
She shudders again when I slip out from beneath her, immediately curling deeper under the covers to retreat back into the warmth. It doesn’t take long to find what I’m looking for, and as quiet as I try to be, I hear a rustling under the blankets after another thirty minutes or so.
“What isthat?” I look at her over my shoulder, watching her eyes move down my naked torso to my plaid pajama bottoms. “Aren’t you freezing?”
“It’s not that cold,” I tell her, a tone of excitement in my voice. “Come look at this.”
She only grumbles a little as she wraps her naked body in the thickest quilt she can grab from the pile, then shuffles over to thepolyester dome that I’ve been assembling while she slept. “Is that a…tent?”
“Yeah…” Her astonished tone has me feeling a little embarrassed now. “You said last night you’d never been camping…and we had this sitting in the storage closet, and I thought…I mean,technicallythis is what you’re supposed to do in this situation and all, and I just—” I press my lips together, as I realize I’ve started to babble. “This was stupid, wasn’t it?”
She smiles softly before crouching down to look inside, noticing I’ve deposited all the blankets that would have been my bed inside the tent along with a plethora of assorted pillows, ranging from couch cushions to ones that I’ve stolen from some of the upstairs bedrooms. It occurs to me that I may be nesting, that I’m subconsciously trying to make things more comfortable for her heat—something that usually only mates do. It’s a strange thought, but not an altogether unpleasant one, if a little worrisome.
She crawls inside, blanket still wrapped tightly around her as she plops down in the center of all the bedding materials. “Well,” she says expectantly. “Give me the full experience.”
My lips tilt up in a grin as I crawl in after her. “Now when the bear breaks in, it won’t be able to find you.”
“That joke gets more and more hilarious every time you tell it.”
I look around the tiny space, thinking it would probably be a lot grander out under the stars somewhere, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts. I’m almost too big for the damn thing, my head nearly touching the ceiling even with the way I’m sitting, leaning back on my hands with my legs spread in front of me to spill out through the unzipped opening.
“How is your ankle?”
She wiggles her toes. “Better. Just a little sore now.”
“Good.”
“I bet you take all the girls here,” she teases. “Is this how you would have wooed me if I’d grown up here?”
“This isdefinitelyhow I would have wooed you if you’d grown up here,” I say seriously.
“Oh?” She shifts so that she’s turning to face me, still wrapped in her blanket. “Tell me what that would look like.”
I keep myself propped on one hand even as I reach up with the other, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She looks so soft like this, and her scent is much thicker now, making every breath almost painful in the way it has me burning for her. It takes everything I have just to keep my hands off her. Does she know how enticing she is right now?
“I’d build us a fire first,” I say.
“Check,” she notes. “Although, maybe you should poke it or something. It’s freezing. Anyway…And then?”
“Then I would impress you with my spectacular tent-pitching skills.”
“I am thoroughly impressed,” she assures me. “Then what?”
“Then maybe I’d show you where all the constellations are.”
“Wow, astronomy nerd.”
I roll my eyes. “Trust me, you would be thoroughly wooed.”
“Oh, I have no doubt. Fire, tents, stars…sounds like you were regularly getting laid with this foolproof tactic.”
I shrug. “Never took anyone camping till now.”
“Really?” She feigns shock as she brings her hand to her cheek, the blanket slipping a little off her shoulder. “I feel so honored.”
I’m watching her face now—her full lips, her pert nose that is awash with freckles, her wide eyes that seem to sparkle—myexpression softening a little. “I’d probably tell you that you’re so beautiful it hurts to look at you sometimes.”
“Wow.” Her cheeks tinge pink. “You tell all the girls that?”
