20. Jamie
twenty
Jamie
Sunbeams warmed my face, calling me to stare at the amazing wilderness outside my cabin window. I meant to cover my eyes with my hand but paused, realizing it was wrapped around the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
So it wasn’t a dream.
I had Autumn in my arms on a resplendent summertime morning. I couldn’t help but smile.
I realized we had never slept together before.
We’d been together, but we had never lied about where we were and gotten a hotel or drifted to sleep after a quickie and forgot to go home on time.
No, this was something new. I took a breath of Autumn’s hair and pulled her in a little closer, determined to savor this significant moment.
Autumn’s face was pressed against my chest, her deep breaths warming my skin.
We hadn’t taken the time to put on clothes.
The most I’d done was take care of the condom and crawl back into bed with her, so we were sticking together in all the places we were touching.
It was perfect except for one thing. I was famished.
I carefully kissed her forehead, lifting her so that I could slip my arm out to place her head back on the pillow.
Jesus, she slept like a rock. She also didn’t notice my removal of her leg from my shins or the noise I made as I pulled open a dresser drawer to get a pair of joggers, a shirt, and underwear.
I thought about whether I should wake her up, noting that it was seven thirty, a first for me in I didn’t know how long. Sleeping in felt amazing.
I stretched and gazed at her again. Her face was pressed into the pillow, tendrils of hair cascading over her face to show glimpses of her soft features.
Her partially open lips, still red from our nightly activities.
Her button nose led up to long eyelashes that drifted over her cheek.
I could have stood there like that forever—which would be a perfectly normal fleeting thought if I had deeper feelings, which I didn’t.
I opened the door to my cabin with as much finesse as I could muster, hoping it didn’t creak like it always did and wake up the beautiful woman nestled in my bedding. Just my luck, it didn’t. I thanked the door gods and stepped onto my porch, ready to get going on this glorious morning.
Ren’s small but high front window curtain was closed. Curious …
After I did my business and brushed my teeth, my stomach rumbled. I moved to the mess hall with zeal, ready to load up on breakfast and bring it back to my cabin. I only hoped that she would still be there.
“No, they are totally doing it,” one of Autumn’s campers, whose name I thought was Irene, said. “She didn’t come home last night.”
Shit .
“How do you know?” Ian whispered.
Probably Irene grabbed a slice of spinach and feta quiche. “She’s always in bed by eleven, and I’m a night owl. Plus, her curtains are open right now.”
My ears tuned in. Were they talking about Autumn?
“You are so damn nosy.”
“Are you at the same camp that I’m at? The gossip in this place takes me back to high school. It’s like riding a bike,” Irene mused.
Ian laughed. “I think you need to hook up.”
“Believe me, I would. Unfortunately, everyone I think is hot has a ring on their left hand.” She shrugged, picking up her tray and turning toward me.
I waited for a flash of recognition to cross her face, but she didn’t appear to recognize me or at the very least know me as the probable source of her gossip.
Maybe I was drawing the wrong conclusions.
I walked by Autumn’s pod. Her window blinds were shut, thank god.
Maybe we’d gotten away with it. I knew this was ridiculous.
We were grown adults, and she hadn’t mentioned a rule about fraternization.
But if I knew Autumn at all, we were walking a fine line between her freaking out and her being okay with what had transpired, and being found out would probably slant negative.
I tried to close my cabin door softly, but the thing wouldn’t give without some strength, and I gave it a little too much, slamming it shut. Autumn didn’t glance at me, instead speaking into her pillow, her words coming out muffled.
“You’re clothed.”
What I should have been doing was telling her to slip out as carefully as she could before the camp woke up. Instead, I dangled a croissant in her eye line. “It would have been weird if I showed up at the mess hall as naked as you are.”
Her eyes snapped open. “You don’t know that,” she deadpanned, getting up and pulling the blanket over her shoulders to create a cocoon. She took the croissant and unceremoniously bit right into the center of the thing. Monster.
I sat the two plates of food I’d procured on the bed and handed her a coffee. She took it as though it was her only lifeline, looking over the rim as she sipped slowly. I looked out the window to avoid her gaze as it did something to me.
“You trying for round two?” she flirted. “That’s the only explanation for this kind of treatment this early in the morning.” Her stomach grumbled.
Couldn’t I just get my girl a croissant? But that was the wrong answer.
“That’s the only explanation?” I asked as Autumn beamed at me, patting the space next to her. I did as I was prompted, taking a piece of bacon and biting into it. “What about if I was trying to impress you?”
“Then it worked. But I’m more impressed by that thing you did with my leg over your shoulder.”
“I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve, you know.”
“Don’t tempt me.” Her eyes took on a dark quality that had me wanting to dive right into them.
I took a piece of bacon and held it in front of her lips, and she took a bite, smiling at me as if I were the damn sun. Apparently, bacon was the way to her heart.
“This is a lot of sweet things, Davis.” She lifted her plate to demonstrate. “I don’t remember you having a sweet tooth.”
“I don’t, but I was really feeling like s’mores for some reason.” I paused as she snorted. “And since they don’t have those this early in the morning…”
She didn’t explain her burst of laughter, taking an apple chai scone and biting into it as though she was attempting to cover it up. Which reminded me of another thing she’d been covering up.
I tugged on the blanket and took a better look at her hip opposite her wildflower tattoo. It was a more subtle image, a small constellation.
“It’s Phoenix.” She watched as I traced the stars. “We each picked a constellation when we named the camp, and I chose this one because… Well, you’re going to think it sounds stupid, but—”
“Starlight was your fresh start.”
“Yeah.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “It’s my home.”
I tried to imagine a younger Autumn starting this new adventure with the hope that it would stick, to the point of branding it on her skin. She’d taken a risk, and it paid off. I didn’t think I’d ever put myself out there like that, and I couldn’t imagine taking such a leap.
The silence stretched between us as I gazed at her skin to the point that I realized it had been too long.
I looked up to find Autumn opening her mouth to speak before closing it.
Then she went through the same motion before opening her mouth one more time and spitting out whatever she was thinking. “I’m not wrong. It got better, right?”
Ah, the sex . A perfect non sequitur. “Well, I hoped we’d improved since we were teenagers.”
“I’d call it more than just an improvement. You’ve been practicing.”
“That’s not flippant at all,” I joked.
“Fine, I’m proud of you.”
“Not better.”
She smiled from ear to ear, and I wanted to reach out and touch her beautiful lips, wishing they were pressed up against mine.
“So, no regrets?” I asked nervously.
“No regrets.” It sounded like she meant it. “But obviously this can’t go anywhere,” she stated plainly.
I wanted to argue with her. It was where my talents lay. But in this case, she was right.
“I have to say, it was great connecting—literally.”
She sputtered out a laugh, opting not to respond to my cheesy joke. Instead, she changed the subject. “What’s your itinerary for today?”
“Well, to start: we’re gonna be missing morning yoga.”
Autumn’s eyes opened with glee. “That’s the hottest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
A memory of more than one occasion where I’d given her a courtesy wake-up call so she’d get to class on time reminded me how much she detested mornings. I’d forgotten how bad of a morning person she was.
I placed the plate on the tiny nightstand and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Wow, I really had no game when I was younger, huh?”
She took my other hand and kissed my knuckles. “Your game was more like ‘we have twenty minutes until my parents are home…’”
I cringed. We’d never had any time. “That’s right, and you loved it.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘loved,’ but it was effective.”
“Hey, Autumn.”
“Yeah?
“We have an hour until your first class.” I winked.
She pulled me to her and kissed me, her lips tasting like bacon and… Still, for some reason, marshmallows? It was oddly sexy. That made me sound desperate. Who cared? It was satisfying as hell.
She pulled away, tilting her forehead against mine. “Then we better make the most of our time.”