Page 56 of The Fangirl and the Playboy

I turn to see Willow standing there, a bunch of sticks and some dried brush in her hands while she shakes her head at me. Dropping her load where she stands, she moves toward me.

“Come on, Hollywood, let’s just do it together.”

I tilt my head back, close my eyes, and sigh toward the heavens before straightening and meeting her eye. “Thank you.”

She laughs and takes the pole from me, gently extracting it and reconnecting the segments before handing it back to me. Then she picks up the tent, holding the material straight and level so I can slide the pole all the way through without getting tangled up again.

We have the thing set up in less than five minutes, and she leaves me to stake it down while she finishes collecting firewood. Once I’m done, I unhook the lightweight folding chairs from my pack and set them up side-by-side near the fire ring where Willow is building a tower of sticks and branches.

“You’re good at that,” I say as she finishes and surveys her work.

“Lots of practice,” she says, brushing her hands against her jeans. “There’s not a lot to do in Evening Shade, so we had a lot of bonfires as teenagers.”

“I remember,” I say, memories of the night we met flashing through my mind.

I was so determined to make sure we didn’t cross any lines because of her age, and she charmed me from the start. I think I loved her even then, when we were just strangers getting to know each other.

Willow smiles like she’s remembering, too, then shakes her head as if to clear it. “I’ll put our stuff in the tent. Can you pull out some snacks? I’m starving.”

“Of course,” I say, watching her as I grab the soft-sided cooler and unzip it.

Pulling out the bag of beef jerky and a box of buttery crackers, I set them on one of the chairs before opening the other cooler and pulling out two root beers. When Willow comes back, she eyes the snacks dubiously.

“Don’t worry,” I say, handing her a soda. “I brought hot dogs and chips for dinner, and stuff to make s’mores. This is just to tide us over until we light the fire later.”

“Sounds good,” she says, lunging forward to snatch the beef jerky while leaving the plain crackers to me.

We sit in the chairs and relax, and eventually, Willow shares the jerky with me before taking a stack of crackers in return. We talk as we eat, our conversation about everything while somehow simultaneously about nothing at all.

We play Go Fish with the deck of cards I brought, and unsurprisingly, Willow wins every round. She pulls up a playlist of music she has saved on her phone, and we dance like nobody’s watching…because they aren’t.

And after roasting hotdogs, then marshmallows, we retire to our tent with full bellies and even fuller hearts. We undress each other slowly as we kiss and stroke every inch of skin we bare. Then we make love, soft and tender, keeping our eyes locked on each other the entire time.

It feels profound.

I think about it for a long time after Willow curls up in my arms and falls asleep, and I try to rein the feelings in. I don’t want to read too much into it.

I know I love her. I’vealwaysloved her.

I just don’t know how she feels about me. Hell, she only forgave me and decided to…do whatever it is we’re doing like five minutes ago. I sure as hell don’t want to pressure her. If she isn’t there yet, that’s fine.

If she never gets there?

I don’t know what I’ll do. But I refuse to make her feel guilty or coerced into loving me back.

At this point, I’ll take what I can get. And holding her in my arms all night while the nocturnal creatures rustle, hoot, and croak around us?

That’s a damn good start.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Willow

My phone starts to ring, and I pull it from my pocket, smiling when I see Gavin’s name on the screen. Telling my barista I’ll be right back, I rush to my office and close myself inside before answering.

“Hey,” I say, glad the Monday morning rush has thinned so I can actually take his call.

“Hey,” he replies, and my spine tenses when I hear the hesitation in his voice.

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