Chapter 15
THEO
On Friday afternoon, I was hauling coolers through the Arizona wilderness like it was my job while loud country music blasted from somebody’s truck and tents were going up like they were materializing out of thin air.
The lake was tucked between rocky desert hills. Shimmering blue water was surrounded by brush with campgrounds scattered around the shore. It had only taken us about an hour to get here from Quartz Pass, but again, this felt like a whole different world.
I’d done a lot of things in my life, been to a lot of different places, and tried just about everything, but this was a new experience for me, the scene more reminiscent of what I imagined summer camp to be like.
Maybe Alex or Nate had gone to those. I wasn’t sure, but I did know that by the time I’d come along, Westwoods and summer camp hadn’t gone together. I’d always wanted to go, though.
Avery’s pontoon boat bounced lightly against the dock while people unloaded gear in loud, energetic waves. Plans were being yelled across our campsite as they debated what to do first. Since I didn’t know most of them, I gravitated naturally toward Raquel after I’d helped offload.
Avery drifted easily between groups, helping to set up camp, but I hung back with her, not really sure how to help when everyone else seemed to operate like a well-oiled machine.
Raquel stood beside me with her arms crossed loosely over her chest, watching her brother and his friends before she arched a dark, clearly skeptical eyebrow at me. “Are you actually looking forward to sleeping in a tent out here?”
“I am.”
Humor lit up those gray eyes, the faint curve of a smile appearing on her lips. “You do know there’s a crazy amount of scorpions out here, right? They’re very real, not props on a movie set or whatever you’re used to back wherever you’re from.”
“You think I’m from LA?” I laughed. “Chicago, actually, and I’ve never been on a movie set in my life. It’s just not really my industry.”
On the other hand, I had been on TV plenty of times. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been scripted or planned. Just my life—or my family’s—playing out for the world to see.
She nodded slowly, strands of black hair resting across her cheek in the breeze. I was itching to push them back, but I didn’t touch her. If I started, I probably wouldn’t stop at just tucking hair behind her ear.
“Chicago,” she said finally, those lips quirking into another smile that drew my attention solidly to her mouth.
So far, I’d been proud of my restraint—mostly—when I was around her, but it really was becoming exhausting.
“That’s not what I was expecting, actually, but okay.
Chicago it is. Do you even have scorpions there? ”
In a mansion overlooking Lake Michigan? Nope.
“I’ve never seen one,” I said. “At least I didn’t rent a cabin just because I fear nature, though.”
She scoffed. “I don’t fear nature, but I do respect climate control.”
“Right, because nothing says mechanic like AC and being unwilling to share your bed with a scorpion or two.”
“Laugh it up, City Boy. You don’t even have a bed. You have an air mattress. If you’re lucky. I, however, will have a real bed, a clean shower, and no unwanted visitors between my sheets in the middle of the night.”
Unwanted visitors. I wonder if I’d be a wanted?—
No. Keep it clean, Theo.
While this conversation was a little flirtier than I was used to with her, I had just a bit of tact. “You know, you didn’t strike me as high maintenance.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m not.”
“You don’t want to camp because you need air-conditioning and a proper bed.”
“I also shower regularly and believe in indoor plumbing, and the bed in that cabin will have a lumpy mattress you won’t hear me complaining about, thank you very much.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling now too, fully and completely, and once again, that smile had snuck up on me. Beautiful didn’t even begin to cover her when she was like this, relaxed and unguarded.
She grabbed a camping chair and expertly flipped it open, then lowered herself into it with the grace of a princess. If princesses had grease stains on their hands, wore minimal makeup, and would be caught dead in a cut-off, oversized T-shirt that had been torn up out of necessity.
I was pretty sure that had been Avery’s shirt last week, and that it was the same one I’d seen them cut up when Raquel had yelled at him for stealing her rag. Fun times.
Her denim shorts had ridden up when she’d sat down, but just as my gaze dropped to the newly exposed swath of tanned thigh, Avery appeared beside us and my eyes very quickly found something else to look at.
He was carrying a bundle of inner tubes over one shoulder, the wide grin on his face suggesting he hadn’t noticed where I’d been looking a second ago.
“We’re driving a few miles up the Pass to ride these down,” he said, then glanced at me. “The creek that feeds the lake is running nice and strong after the last storm. Are you in?”
“We’re going tubing?” I asked.
His grin widened. “Hell yeah.”
“I’m in,” I said, catching one of the inner tubes when he tossed it at me. Then we both turned to Raquel. “You?”
“Why not?” she said. “It’s just unsafe enough that we’ll be able to see what the city boy is really made of.”
I widened my eyes and shook my head. “Hey, the fact that it might be a little unsafe is how you know it’s going to be fun.”
Avery laughed. “I knew you would have a good time out here.”
A moment later, he was gone again, jogging over to some of his friends to start organizing coolers and who would be tied to who.
Other people were scattering toward tents and trucks to change and I turned back to Raquel to ask if she wanted me to walk her to her cabin to do the same, but she was already reaching for the hem of her shirt.
Before I could say a single word or even form another thought, she pulled it casually over her head. All I could do was watch, transfixed as the cotton slid up, exposing her flat stomach and her ribs. For just a second, I wondered if I was about to see it all.
Raquel had on a black bikini top underneath.
Which made sense. Her brother and most of his friends were here, people she’d known all her life.
Naturally, she hadn’t been stripping just for me, but fuck.
My brain stopped functioning anyway and heat rolled through me, making me deeply grateful that I was still wearing my jeans.
At least they were more forgiving to my current predicament than being shirtless in swimming trunks, but shit. Fully clothed, Raquel was a bombshell. With all those curves on display in a tiny bikini top and shorts, I nearly stuffed my fist in my mouth to keep from groaning out loud.
Her eyes snapped to mine as she dropped the shirt on the chair behind her, and although she’d just caught me with my eyes fixed firmly on the cookie jar, she didn’t look offended or annoyed. Instead, she seemed pretty fucking happy about it.
A slight smile formed on her lips as she bent to grab sunscreen from her bag. Avery wandered back over, so I pretended to be intensely interested in the inner tube I was still holding.
“Are you guys ready to go?”
“Just about,” she said, giving him a bland look. “For the record, if any of your idiot friends try to make a move on me this weekend, I’ll drown them.”
Avery shrugged. “Good.”
“I’m serious.”
He smirked. “So am I.”
“Alright, then.” Raquel started backing toward the trucks, snapping a hair tie off her wrist and pulling her hair up while still glaring at him. “Keep ‘em in line this time, Avery.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he promised with a grin but then sighed once she’d spun away from us. “That woman stresses me out, man.”
I laughed. “She seems capable of handling herself.”
“That’s part of the problem.” He let out another sigh, his head shaking before he turned to me. “Thanks for being patient with her, by the way.”
I frowned, about to ask him what he meant, but he’d already taken off, jogging toward the others as he called to me over his shoulder. “Let’s go! We’re burning daylight here.”
As I watched, he hopped into the bed of a truck and the engine revved. Then the first group was gone, taking Avery with them. The campground emptied pretty fast after that as everyone left for the creek, but Raquel hung back, peering at me from where she was standing beside her truck.
“You have a lot to learn,” she teased. “Those guys take tubing pretty seriously. When they say they’re about to move, they mean it.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think I get it now. I guess I should change.”
It took me a beat to rummage around the bags to locate my brand new swimming trunks, but once I found them, I walked to the opposite side to change. Raquel turned her back to me anyhow, but not before I’d seen the blush spreading on her cheeks.
“You’re dropping your pants right there?” she called.
“There’s no one else around, and like you said, they were serious about moving. If we take too long, they’ll be back here before we’ve even left.”
“Just put your stupid trunks on.”
I grinned but quickly changed, noticing that Raquel was very deliberately not looking. I could hear her shifting on her feet, though.
“Are you good over there?” I asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You sound stressed.”
She scoffed. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t need to. I can hear you squirming.”
“Why are you still talking?”
I laughed and folded my jeans and boxers, dropped them on top of my bag, and walked around the truck.
Raquel looked up, her eyes traveling over me before snapping back up to my face.
I had a feeling she hadn’t been able to help herself, but the deepening flush on her cheeks wasn’t doing me any favors right now either.
“See something you like?” I joked, flexing just a little bit.
“Oh my God.” Her face turned even redder, but then she rolled her eyes so hard, I was surprised she didn’t injure herself. “You really are full of yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“And yet, I’ve chosen to receive it as one.”
She laughed, and this time, unless I was very much imagining things, she sounded just a little breathless.