But she would get through this, and she knew she’d be stronger for it.
Her phone vibrated and her pulse kicked up again. Gabriella. She opened the text, fighting a wave of disappointment, and couldn’t help but smile at the picture of her bestie and her new husband, their cheeks pressed together with wide smiles that reached all the way up to their eyes. She couldn’t even be envious, because she could have had that with Jake. He could be with her right now, getting ready to share another hot and sexy night under the stars.
Oh shit. The sun was setting and she still had to set up camp.
She typed another quick text to Jake. Shutting off my phone to conserve the battery. She held her breath as she added what had seemed impossible two days ago but now was inescapable. You were right. There’s no shutting off thoughts of you.
As she sent the text and powered off her phone, she wondered if she was in over her head—on the trip or with Jake.
One day at a time, she reminded herself, and set to work putting up her tent.
After unrolling the nylon protective sheathing that was supposed to protect the floor of the tent, she slid a thin metal spike through the nylon rings at each corner and used a rock to hammer them in. Easy-peasy. Soon she’d have a place to call home for the duration of her trip. Against the advice of the salesman, she’d splurged on a four-person tent so she’d have plenty of room to unpack her things and move around.
True to the salesman’s promise, the pop-up tent was easy to erect, and within half an hour she had it secured over the protective flooring. She tugged her backpack to the edge of the nylon sheathing, which extended beyond the frame of the tent, creating a small, clean place for her to sit, and began unpacking. She unrolled her sleeping bag and set it up inside the tent, set her clothes out in neat piles, blew up the inflatable pillow, and having forgotten a pillowcase, wrapped it in one of her T-shirts. She didn’t know what everyone had been so worried about. Besides the hike up the mountain, this camping stuff was a breeze. It wasn’t the Hilton, but the tent was spacious enough for her to keep her cooking supplies and food in one corner and still have room to move around.
After Jake had insisted she eat that enormous breakfast, she hadn’t wanted to discuss her meal plans with him. She was pretty sure he’d balk at her choices. Energy bars, soups, and prepackaged camping meals she’d found online were light and easy to prepare. She opened one of the collapsible bowls she’d bought and tossed in the energy bars. She lined up the prepackaged meals and cans of soup, bottles of water, and water-purification tablets and sat back to take it all in. She was really doing this. Ten days in the wilderness. Alone. So far so good, except for the dull ache of missing her boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
Even with how happy she’d been for Gabriella when she’d met Duke, she’d been a little envious, too. She never thought she’d find a man who could make her feel all swoony like Duke made Gabriella feel. She was so very wrong.
Her stomach growled, and she looked at her food. It seemed silly to start a fire when it was almost dark, and she was too exhausted to go in search of the stream to clean dishes. She grabbed an energy bar and went back outside to finish setting up her campsite.
She hung her lantern on the limb of a tree and used her hand shovel to dig a small fire pit. By the time she was done collecting rocks and lining the pit, she was so tired it was all she could do to lower herself to the little vinyl front porch. She grabbed the leather journal Jake had given her, wishing she could crawl into his lap and let his big, strong hands ease all her aches. She smiled as she ran her hand over the distressed leather. When he’d given her the gift, she hadn’t taken the time to appreciate just how thoughtful it was. She gazed out at the inky sky, wondering what he was doing. Was he at his place? Out with friends? Was he thinking of her? She could call him, but that would make her seem needy.
She flipped open the journal and lifted it from her lap to read Jake’s handwritten note. Sexy girl, you can hike for miles, but everything you’re looking for is waiting for you right back here. Your Neanderthal, J.R.
Butterflies took flight in her stomach, and she reached for her phone.
Maybe I am a little needy after all.
AFTER HAVING DINNER with his parents and picking up his luggage they’d brought home from the island, he hugged them goodbye, tossed his suitcase into the back of his SUV, and headed home. His parents still lived in his childhood home, just outside of New York City. He debated staying at his cabin, which was only twenty minutes farther out than his parents’ house, but his place in the city put him that much closer to Addy. He wanted to be as close as possible in case she ran into trouble. He never minded the drive, but tonight, as the lights of the city came into focus, it took all of his resolve not to hit the highway and head for the mountains. When he’d received Addy’s text earlier in the evening he and his parents had been eating dinner out on their deck, and it had sparked a lengthy conversation about how he was doing the right thing by giving her the space she’d asked for. But that didn’t mean it didn’t suck.
He navigated through the busy city streets, trying to distract himself. He’d been doing that a lot lately. Trying to distract himself from the woman who was staking claim to such a large piece of him he didn’t think he’d ever recover if she walked away.
As he pulled into the parking garage his phone vibrated, and Addy’s picture filled the screen. He snatched it from the console, swiping the screen as he parked between two cars.
“Hey, baby. You okay?” Static filled the line. He jumped from the truck and sprinted out of the parking garage. Goddamn concrete jungle. “Addy? Are you there? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, that’s better.”
Her sweet, calm voice brought a smile to his face. “You’re okay?”
“Of course. But you sound stressed. You okay?”
He paced the sidewalk. “I didn’t expect you to call. I was worried something happened.”
“Aw, you were worried about me.”
“Of course I’m worried about you.” Jesus, woman. “How are you? Are you staying hydrated? Did you get the tent set up okay?”
“I’m…pretty great, actually. Yes, I’m staying hydrated, and I got the tent up. I told you I could do it.”
“I knew you could do it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish I was there with you. You sure you’re okay?”
“Mm-hm.”
The stretch of silence that followed made his stomach knot up. “Addy, what’s wrong?” She sighed, cinching the knot even tighter. “Baby, what is it? Are you scared?”
“No,” she snapped. “Why do you jump directly to that? I told you I could handle this.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “You were so adamant about not calling me, and then you did, and I’m glad you did, but you sound like something is wrong.”
“Maybe it is,” she said softer. “But not because I’m scared of the dark.”
Could she be more frustrating? “Addy, you’re freaking me out here. Please tell me what’s wrong, or I swear I’ll be up that mountain faster than you can get pissed off at me for doing it.”
She laughed. “Right now that’s not exactly a threat, because I miss you a lot. More than I probably should.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against his building. “I miss you, too, baby, but you should miss me. That’s what girlfriends do.”
“Yeah, I’m getting a real good dose of the whole girlfriend thing right now. I just opened the journal.”
He was wondering when she’d open it up, and he wasn’t sure how she’d react to his note. “And?”
“And…it’s a good thing you’re there, because I kind of want to throw myself at you right now.”
“That is not a good thing. Want me to come up?”
“That’s a loaded question.”
Hope sparked inside him.
“But I need to do this alone, Jake.”
He bit back the terse response vying for release. “Right. Listen, I’m out on the sidewalk. Let me get up to my place and call you right back.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Addy, I want to. You’ve been on my mind all day. I just don’t want to stand on the sidewalk while we talk.” After they ended the call, he took the elevator up to his apartment, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and headed out to the terrace as he called her back.
“So this is what it feels like to miss a boyfriend?” she said without saying hello.
“It’s pretty new for me, too, this whole missing you thing.”
“I don’t hate it, but it’s hard on the heart. So tell me, boyfriend, where do you live, anyway?”
Jake stretched out on the lounge chair of his penthouse terrace. “I’ve got a little place not far from yours.”
“I’m trying to picture what your place might look like, but all that comes to mind is us lying on a blanket on the bluff. What’s your place like?”
He smiled with the memory of her freaking out when Gabriella’s relatives showed up at the villa the morning after the wedding. “I’ll show it to you when you get back from your trip. What are you doing right now?”