20. Cami #2
The fire glows brighter as one contestant passes Jack a marshmallow roasting stick. He takes it, twirls it in his fingers, and winksat me.
I nearly drop my mug.“Oh, for the love of God,” I mutter.
“You know,” Poppy said, “you could just jump his bones and put both of you out of your misery.”
I shake my head.
Poppy gazes at Jack and says, “You know, God gave us men. But then he gave us Jack Jessop as an apology.”
I snort and shake my head. She’s not wrong.
“No one has to know. You guys can have a little hate fuck action. You know that would probably be so hot.”
I snort laugh but it's not funny. Hate fucking Jack does sound so hot. Especially after he walked around in a towel last night.
I shoot her a look and tease. “If one of them touches him again, I will throw hands.”
“I would pay to see that," Poppy snorts.
Love barks.
“I think she would too,” Poppy says as she reaches down and pets her.
I take a deep breath, adjust my ponytail, and step forward, only for Jack to excuse himself from them and meet me halfway.
Like he knows.Like he’s been waiting for me to make the move.
He stops in front of me, marshmallow stick still in hand.
“Hey,” he says, voice low.
“Hey.” I shrug.
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I’ve been working," I say as I look everywhere but at him.
“You’ve been watching.”
I swallow. “So have you.”
He smirks, leaning just a little closer. “You look good tonight. ”
“Only tonight?”
“Don’t start with me, Wilder.”
I look up at him and notice the firelight casting shadows across his stupidly perfect jawline.
"Where's Beau tonight?" he asks as he narrows his eyes.
We stand there, suspended in the firelight and tension, neither one of us quite ready to break it.
"Flirting with Jenna, and she's flirting back," I admit with a grin.
He says nothing but just stares at me, and the corner of his lips quirk.
“You wanna kiss me, Jessop?” I ask, feeling bold.
“I want to," he admits.
“Then do it,” I tell him, thinking about how I challenged him to this same kiss years ago and it went completely different afterwards. But now we’re adults, and we’ve changed. I try not to think about our past and what happened all those years ago.
He takes the mug from my hands, sets it down on the nearest hay bale, and drags me by the hand away from the firepit, about twenty yards up the hill and down a path behind a smaller barn.
I don’t move and can barely breathe.
My back hits the side of the barn, wood warm behind me, and Jack steps in close enough that I can smell the mix of cedar and leather and the faint hint of soap on his skin.
He plants both hands on either side of my head on the barn wall, blocking me in, his eyes on mine, and they’re full of heat and longing.
He leans in and his nose traces a soft path up my neck before he cups my face, his fingers diving into my hair, his body pressing me up against the barn, our bodies flush. And damn how we fit together like puzzle pieces .
“Jack—”
I don’t get another word out.
He kisses me.
No warning, no slow build. Just heat, hands on either side of my head and him . His mouth is demanding, desperate, like he’s run out of patience and decided to ruin us both in the best possible way.
I gasp and moan against him, but that only seems to spur him on. His tongue tips into my mouth like he’s been dying to do it for years, and honestly? It feels like he has. Like every kiss I’ve ever had before was just a warm-up for this kiss right here, right now.
My hands find his shirt, fisting it like it can anchor me when my knees are very much not cooperating. His body presses into mine, solid and hot and entirely too much and not enough.
When he finally breaks the kiss, we’re both breathless. My lips tingle, and my brain is fried. I can still feel his lips on mine.
He rests his forehead against mine, voice rough and low. “What are you thinking right now?”
I don’t know what I think anymore. My brain is a half-melted puddle.
I open my mouth to say something, but then…
“Jack?” a voice trills, too close. “Jack! I think I lost you!”
No. I groan.
Jack stiffens.
I blink up at him, stunned, and then I start shaking with quiet laughter. I can't even help it.
He groans and drops his head to my shoulder. “I want to walk straight into the woods and never come back.”
I sigh, still breathless. “Better get back to your date, Jessop."
He pulls back just enough to meet my eyes and gives me that look that nearly undoes me all over again.
“Please don't make me,” he pleads, voice low. “I’ll kiss you again if you tell Jenna I got sick and had to leave. ”
My heart trips over itself. My entire body is still pressed to the barn like it’s the only thing keeping me upright.
Somewhere behind us, the voice calls again, closer now. “Jaaack?”
He sighs and finally, finally steps back. His hands twitch like he wants to touch me again.
“This isn’t over,” he says, like a threat. Or a promise.
My lips still buzz from that kiss. My heart still races.
“Damn right it’s not,” I say, and mean every word.
I want to have hate sex with Jack Jessop. Or whatever kind of sex. I just want him. I need him.