Chapter 22
JAKE
Well, that was one hell of a way to not get any sleep.
By the time the streaks of sunlight appeared in the sky, I had been awake for hours. All ideas of sleeping had vanished the second Shelby had crawled into my bag. Even now, she lay in my arms with her red hair fanned out across my pillow and the top of our sleeping bag.
Shelby had been legitimately freezing last night. She wouldn’t have orchestrated any of this, and there was no way she would have sufficiently warmed up without my body heat.
At least…that’s what I had told myself when I invited her in with me.
I kicked myself for not packing more blankets for her, or even a dang tent, but Logan had been licking his lips in excitement when I told him about this excursion.
The tent would never have made it. But the part that worried me the most was the fact that once she was in my arms, I could only feel grateful she’d been cold.
Holding someone who wanted to be held was a feeling I hadn’t had for a long time.
I even got out of the sleeping bag throughout the night to add more logs to the fire, half expecting Shelby to move to her own sleeping bag. But she hadn’t skipped a beat when I slid back inside, her head finding my chest like she’d been doing it for years.
Even now, she was curled into my side, and I couldn’t help but stare at the curve of her long eyelashes. Or the freckles that fanned across her cheeks and her nose. Even her lips were slightly parted.
I looked back up at the sky lit with oranges and pinks.
And I concentrated all my efforts on saying the alphabet backward in my head.
I had been a married man for three years.
Though most of those years weren’t happy ones, I knew what I was missing, and being in such close proximity to Shelby last night had brought up a riot of thoughts in my mind.
And my body was responding to her in ways it never had before.
I could say the word ‘safe’ all I wanted, but when I looked at Shelby May Tucker, safe was the furthest thing from my mind.
And that thought terrified me.
I needed to break this little spell, especially before Tom and Carter woke up. And I would. But the second I did, all of this would go away. And that seemed like a shame.
One more minute and then I’d move.
She yawned and stretched, her body tensing up while she did so. I lay perfectly still, eyes closed, willing her to give us more time. She settled back down, snuggling into me once more, though I could tell she was waking up.
I didn’t grow up having repressed feelings for Shelby. But I now had a strong suspicion that it was because I had never let myself go there, more than the actual idea that I couldn’t.
It’s that I wouldn’t.
Baring my soul to Shelby last night hadn’t been as hard as I thought it would be.
Talking through everything had helped chip away at the knife shoved into my heart over the past few years.
I didn’t hate Miranda anymore. But I was glad I wasn’t still married to her.
We would have been miserable, and that would have affected Sophie in other ways.
We both made mistakes, but ultimately, I was glad she had left.
Life has a way of providing the things we lack.
Last night, Shelby’s words had settled over me like a warm blanket.
I had grown up without a dad. But had I really?
I’d been given Layne Marten. And Dusty. Even Shelby’s dad had provided a steady presence in my life.
They were my rocks—my north stars helping to guide and raise me.
All of them made me better off than I would have been without them.
Sophie was surrounded by plenty of good women who would be at her beck and call when she needed them.
We were exactly where we were meant to be.
Whatever life threw at us, we’d be okay. I knew that now.
The only other immediate problem I could foresee in my future was the infuriatingly appealing redhead now stirring in my arms.
Life has a way of providing the things we lack.
“I can hear Carter talking in the tent. They’re going to be out any second. We need to get up.” Her voice was groggy as she tried to sit up.
Like a glutton for punishment, I held tight to her torso and pulled her back down; this time, half her body landed on top of me.
“Jake!” she whispered, trying not to laugh, her hands bracing herself on my chest. “Let me go! They’re going to think—“ She broke off, the rest of her words stalled on her lips.
“Think what?” I asked, innocence dripping from my voice.
In an exasperated move, she loomed over me, bringing her face close to mine, her voice etched in competition. “They’re going to think we wrestled and you just lost.”
I couldn’t help the grin spreading across my face. “I don’t think that’s what they’ll think at all.”
If she thought she’d intimidate me by her proximity, she was wildly mistaken.
After a sleepless and addled night next to her in the dark, she was right where my body seemed to want her.
Her cheeks grew an enticing shade of red, but the embarrassed tip of her head as she glanced away from me was enough to get me back on track.
“You'd better keep yourself in line, Tuck. This is a family-friendly campout, and you’re acting like some brazen woman who can’t get enough of—“
She covered my mouth with one hand while she pinched my side with the other before she scrambled off of me.
Laughing, I let her go…quite unwillingly, to my growing alarm.
After a hearty breakfast of pancakes and syrup on tin cups and plates, we broke camp.
This time, I put Shelby on Jimmy behind me, thinking it would help clear my head if I wasn’t breathing in the coconut tropics in front of me, but it failed to do that.
She snuggled in close, her arms tight around my waist and her head on my shoulder.
I was in trouble.
We were about a half mile from the lodge when we came back into cell phone range. Pings and dings and rings began erupting from both of our phones.
We fished out our phones, confused. Texts and missed calls from Cade, Logan, Kelsey, Layne Marten, Tessa, and even my dad’s number popped up on my phone.
Before we could investigate, we heard the pounding of hooves and horses running our way.
Layne Marten was on a horse, rushing toward us. A feeling of dread filled my gut.
He wasn’t smiling.
“What’s going on?” I called out.
“Did you get my messages?” he called as he slowed his horse to a stop, his gray eyes never leaving mine.
“No, we just got back in service,” I said, feeling Shelby’s arms tighten around me, bracing herself. Or maybe she was bracing me.
“I got here as early as I could to come find you.” Layne looked at me, and I felt my heart plunge into my gut. “Your mom got in a car accident last night. She’s in the hospital.”