Chapter 3 Delylah
Delylah
This wasn’t camping.
This was a double date.
I stood in the center of the campsite, staring at three canvas tents.
The largest, in the center, was built on a permanent platform. Inside, the wooden floor was covered in plush rugs. Fairy lights were strung along the ceiling and over the king-size bed.
The other two tents were smaller, though not by much. The ground beneath them was covered with large indoor-outdoor rugs, and both opened to a campfire ring surrounded by couches and chairs.
The site itself was spacious enough for at least five other tents, and the furniture could seat at least ten.
Yet our camping party was exactly four. Emily and Luca. Jake and me.
Our host for this glamping nightmare, a guy named Mark, had assumed Jake and I were a couple. He’d apologized for setting up one too many tents.
I’d made sure to correct him in front of everyone, including Emily, that I was definitely not sharing a bed with Jake.
Where the hell were Luca’s other friends? Or Emily’s? She’d said there was a group, but I should have pressed for an attendee list. Why hadn’t they invited any of the married couples who’d flown to Montana for the weekend?
My best friend and I were going to have a serious discussion about her matchmaking attempts when she was done setting up her and Luca’s tent.
“Can I get you a drink, Delylah?” Mark asked, motioning to a cooler he’d brought up.
“No, thanks.” It came out snappier than I’d intended.
He dipped his chin and backed away slowly, like I was a wild animal he didn’t want to provoke.
Mark had just graduated from high school in Big Timber and was working at the resort for the summer to save money for college. It was the same job Noah had gotten when he was eighteen and working at the ranch.
If I begged Mark for the keys to the SUV, would he let me go back to the lodge?
It wasn’t that far of a hike. If I left now, I’d be back by midafternoon. All I needed was a can of bear spray and a bottle of water. Maybe I could find Noah and have another beer. Do something to turn this day around.
My morning hadn’t started out bad. After a lovely breakfast in the dining room, I’d met Emily and Luca in the lobby, my holey backpack loaded with sweats and my toiletries.
I was wearing tennis shoes, a pair of cutoff denim shorts, and a tank top with a chambray button-down over the top so I would be comfortable but wouldn’t risk a sunburn if we went hiking.
My maid of honor gown was strapless, and my self-tanner nearly perfect—a feat considering it wasn’t easy to apply when you lived alone.
I’d been taking a few candid shots of Emily and Luca when Jake had sauntered into the lobby, thirty minutes late. That’s when things had started to go downhill.
He was clearly hungover this morning but trying to hide his bloodshot eyes with sunglasses. His hair was damp from a shower, but he reeked of old booze.
It wasn’t until we’d pulled away and no one else had fallen into our caravan that I’d started to panic. When I’d asked Emily if the rest of our camping party was joining us later, she’d informed me that no one else had wanted to come along.
Any other weekend and I’d call her on that blatant lie. Instead, I was biting my tongue so hard I tasted blood.
“Isn’t this so fun?” Emily breezed out of her and Luca’s tent, a glass of champagne in one hand, her phone in the other. She came to stand beside me, pulling up her camera for a selfie, fitting us in the screen. “Smile.”
I stuck out my tongue.
She scoffed. “Delylah.”
“You know I hate selfies.” But I faked a smile anyway so she’d leave me alone.
“What are we doing?” Luca came out of the tent, sipping his own glass of champagne.
Emily sat in one of the nearby chairs. “This. Camping.”
He raised his sunglasses off his nose. “We just sit around?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Unless you want to go for a hike.”
“Pass.” He took another chair, digging his phone from his pocket, glaring at the screen. “I don’t have service.”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, sweetie,” Emily said. “That’s why we came up here. To disconnect.”
He frowned and set his phone on the arm of his chair, then downed the rest of his champagne.
“You look like you need something stronger.” Jake came out of his tent and held up a bottle of bourbon, flashing me a smile as he took a seat beside Luca. “Del, are you getting in on this?”
“Delylah,” I corrected, my nostrils flaring. “And no. I’m not much for getting drunk at ten in the morning.”
“Too bad. I bet you’re fun when you’re drunk.” He shrugged and poured the equivalent of four shots into Luca’s empty flute.
I went to a couch, plopping down on the soft cushion.
The second I settled into the seat, Jake stood, abandoning his chair to claim the space beside me. He sat so close his thigh brushed mine.
I scooted away, but the moron didn’t get the hint. For every inch I retreated, he followed, drinking straight from his bottle.
“Always running away from me.” He leaned in, grinning down at me. “Come on, Delylah. Give me a chance.”
If he thought using my name would score him points, he was mistaken.
“Yeah, give him a chance,” Emily said, smiling over the rim of her glass. “You have so much in common.”
“Like what?”
“Me.” She giggled. “And Luca.”
“Exactly.” Jake chuckled. “We have great taste in friends, and we’re both beautiful people. You’re hot. I’m hot.”
“And oh, so humble,” I muttered, standing to go to the other couch.
Yes, Jake was handsome. There was no denying it. Not ruggedly gorgeous like Noah, but Jake wasn’t hard on the eyes when he wasn’t talking. The minute he opened his mouth, he went from an eight out of ten to a three.
“What can I say? I’m confident.” Jake spread his arms across the back of the couch, staring at me as he licked his lips. “I don’t apologize for it.”
I scrunched up my nose. “Well, all those similarities aside, I don’t think we’re a good fit.”
“We both live in New York.”
“Along with millions of other people.”
He grinned again, his gaze roving over my body, lingering too long on my bare legs.
These were my favorite shorts, but never in my life had I regretted wearing them more.
“I’m going to win you over this weekend.” He tipped the top of the bottle my way. “Just watch.”
“My eyes are peeled,” I muttered.
“I love how determined you are. It reminds me of Luca.” Emily reached for her fiancé’s hand. “He had to chase me. And now look at us. Right, babe?”
Luca was too busy frowning at his phone to answer her question. He stared at the screen like he was willing it to find a signal.
But even if he was listening, I doubted he’d consider his pursuit of Emily a “chase.”
They’d met at a party in college. He’d asked her out, and she’d waited until the end of the night to accept. He’d had to chase her for three hours, max.
“Damn it.” Luca shut off the screen on his phone and tossed back his bourbon, the entire glass, then stood and stalked into his tent.
Emily’s eyebrows knit together as she followed him, leaving Jake and me alone.
“This is quite the setup,” Jake said, looking around the site. “Have you ever been camping before?”
“Yes. I grew up in Montana. My parents would take me camping in these mountains all the time.”
“Country girl. I like that.” His gaze dropped to my legs again. “Guess if I get scared in the middle of the night, I know which tent to knock on.”
“Mark’s.”
Our host was staying in his own tent, far enough away to give us privacy but close enough to be around if we needed anything. Maybe I could beg him to trade spots with me, just so I could have some space from Jake.
“Who’s Mark?” Jake asked.
“The host. He drove us up here.”
“Are you sure his name isn’t Matt?”
“I’m sure.” Not only had I paid attention when he’d introduced himself, but Mark was wearing a freaking name tag.
“Whatever.” Jake took another drink, eyes drifting once more on my legs.
I stood, tugging down the frayed hem of my shorts, and bolted for my tent, feeling Jake’s gaze on my ass as I hurried inside to hide. “Ugh.”
How could I get out of this camping trip? Could I fake food poisoning? A migraine?
“Delylah.” The flaps whipped open, and Emily stormed inside, her face red.
“Hey. What’s wrong?”
“Luca.” She’d refilled her champagne and took a gulp. “He’s not loving this experience.”
“We’ve only been here for an hour.”
“He’s worried about missing a call or an email.”
“But he’s on vacation. It’s your wedding.”
Luca worked for his family’s business, and I was fairly certain everyone at their company knew he was getting married this weekend.
“Exactly what I told him. Whatever.” She flicked a wrist. “So what’s your problem with Jake?”
“The list is long. I’m not sure we have that much time.”
Her lips pursed. “Delylah.”
“Well, he’s pushy. Arrogant. Snobby.” I ticked each item off by tapping a finger. “Do I need to keep going? Because I can.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Come on. Just give him a chance. Luca says he’s a great guy. And how cute of a story would it make if you got together because of my wedding?”
She’d mentioned that twice now, and I was starting to think this setup was more about the weekend than it was me. Did she want me to fall in love, or was she more enamored with the idea of it happening at her wedding?
“Em, I’m not interested. I’m sorry. He’s not my type.”
“You always say that.”
“Because you keep setting me up with the same type.”
“I don’t think you even know your type,” she said, tipping the glass to her lips.
Oh, I knew my type—Noah.
“Why are you so insistent on me and this guy?”
“Because you already turned down the others.”
“So?”
“So.”
I’d never met anyone who could stretch out a two-letter word the way Emily Chappel could.
“Is this because of Peter? What he did to you was—”
“Unforgivable.”
“Absolutely.” She gave me a sad smile. “He’s the worst. But not all men are like Peter.”
“I know that. I’m not saying no to these guys because I’m scared they’ll turn out like Peter. I’m just not interested in any of them.”
Emily pouted. “I don’t want you to be alone in the city. Now that I’m getting married, things are going to change.”