Page 123 of Mr. Hook-up

“Okay. This is adorable.”

I laughed. “Sit. Get cozy.”

Once we were in the chairs, we held our glasses and clinked them together.

“To glamping,” she said, smiling.

“To making you scream under the stars.”

She took a drink. “Your toast was much better than mine.”

“It wasn’t just a toast, Drake. It’s a promise.”

“I don’t doubt that at all.” She glanced away from me and looked toward the range that surrounded us. “It doesn’t even look real.”

She was right.

Our view was so beautiful, it could have been the backdrop to a movie set.

The colors of the rock. The different textures of nature that drew my eyes in. The way the tops of the mountains were already covered in snow.

How every breath I took whittled away at the stress of work and fucking lawsuits.

Her hand rested on the armrest, and I set my fingers over hers and squeezed.

“Can I admit something to you?” she asked. “It’s kind of a biggie ...”

I nodded. “You can tell me anything.”

She straightened her head and closed her eyes. “I now know what you were talking about before when you asked me not to be closed off to the idea of what this can do for me.” She was quiet for several seconds, then opened her eyelids and turned her head toward me. “I feel it.”

“I knew you would.”

Her chest rose and fell. “It’s everything I needed—just like you’re everything I need.”

I brought her hand up to my face, smelling her skin, kissing it. “I love you.”

As she gazed at me, emotion moved into her stare. It thickened the longer she went without blinking. “Easton ...” Her teeth moved to her lip, dragging the ends across the bottom, back and forth, taunting me. “I love you too.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Drake

When we’d gotten into the car and started driving to the campsite, Easton’s warning had made me extremely nervous. Although I’d tried not to let on—I didn’t want him to think I was regretting my decision—I was certainly wondering if agreeing to this trip had been a bad idea.

He was just so excited about taking me camping and showing me Utah that I didn’t want to break his heart.

Still, I wasn’t sure if this type of traveling was really my thing. If I could become one with nature to where I was literally sleeping in it.

But once we parked and I thoroughly checked out the tent and we occupied the little seating area outside, where we drank champagne and took in the scenery, blanketed under a stunning canopy of mountains, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

This spot, this view, this ambiance—it was as perfect as he was.

And so was the dinner we prepared over the fire, using meat and vegetables that had been stored in coolers, even boiling rice to make it a stir-fry. When our stomachs were full, we cleaned up, making sure there weren’t any scraps left behind since the last thing we wanted wasto attract wildlife, and we decided to end the evening by warming up in the bath.

There was no electricity in the tent, so after sunset, we had to rely on lanterns, spreading them methodically throughout the interior, giving the whole space a dim glow. While I poured us more champagne, Easton worked on filling the tub, and by the time I joined him in the bathroom, there were already bubbles floating across the top of the water.

I dipped my hand into the soft foam, flinging a few suds at him. “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”

---