Jackson strolled back into the room and grabbed her bag. “We’re just friends. No making out.”
Just friends?Who was he kidding? Louisa knew better.
Of course, they weren’t much more than just friends, but still. She stalked after him. She’djust friendshis ass off. “I can get my own bag.”
“Shoot, Anna Grace, I haven’t been this useful since that day we met.”
He shuffled ahead of her, fast enough that she couldn’t catch up. “I don’t have problems like this when you’re not around,” she said.
“You saying you want me to leave you alone?”
The thought sent a pang through her heart, but she stomped it with her hiking boots and an irritated growl. “Why do you like to be so difficult?”
The full-force grin he tossed at her made her stomped heart flutter as if it had grown butterfly wings. “Too easy, Anna Grace.” Her duffel over his shoulder, he snagged the cooler too. “We all ready, or you need to give your fish some counseling on account of his near-traumatic experience?”
The betta fish banged his face into the glass. She gave the bowl a little finger stroke, and Walker’s blue gills flared out.
“That fish has issues,” Louisa said.
“He’s a good fish.” She dropped a couple of fish flakes into the bowl, gave it another little tap, then grabbed her tent and followed Jackson and Louisa. Radish leaned her head out the truck window. She looked happy as a puppy in a field of rawhide bones.
While Jackson had his hands full putting Anna’s stuff in the bed, she took advantage of the opportunity to open her own door. Radish leaned off the seat to nose her cheek. Anna scratched her ears. “Hey, pretty girl.”
Louisa boosted herself into the backseat with the dog. A minute later Jackson climbed in. “Y’all ready?”
“Been ready,” Louisa said. “Let’s go make a campfire.”
“You didn’t tell her?” Anna murmured. Kaci had cancelled her classes for the day, and she and Lance had been out at the campsite since noon. Odds were good the fire had been going since 12:03.
She’d known Jackson had a devious streak, but his evil chuckle and the glint in his eyes sparked some sympathy for Louisa. “Anna Grace, you think you might could talk Louisa through that algebra homework she’s been whining about not understanding?”
Louisa heaved a sigh. “It’s gonna be a long ride, isn’t it?”
“You bet your x-squared.” Anna twisted in her seat to face the younger girl. “Bet you a marshmallow I can explain it better than Jackson.”
Louisa straightened. She met Anna’s gaze for a long minute, then pulled up a backpack. “You’re on.”
Jackson squeezed her knee. She settled her hand over his, and got down to the dirty business of talking math while he pulled on an old Bama cap and pointed the truck toward a little spot of land Kaci had borrowed for them for the weekend.
Camping wasn’t hunting,but Jackson loved sitting in front of a roaring campfire under a full moon next to a pretty lady. Even Louisa wasn’t irritating him so much, though it looked like Radish wanted earplugs. Anna was being a right good sport about it all.
Come to think of it, she was a right good sport about everything. Right down to his getting in her way when she was putting her tent together.
He bet the fire was driving her crazy too, all those logs stacked up in the haphazard way that made a campfire good. But she was doing a good job hiding it as she rotated her marshmallow the perfect distance over the coals to get a nice, even brown over a gooey center.
His groin got tight thinking about her gooey center, but with his sister three feet away on his other side, he’d have to burn all his own marshmallows if he didn’t want to embarrass any of them.
“They don’t,” Anna said beside him.
“Hm?”
“The logs. They don’t bother me.”
He rubbed his chin. Now heknewhe hadn’t said that out loud. “I was thinking about your marshmallow.”
“Not doing either of us any favors withthattonight.”
It wasn’t funny, but he chuckled anyway. Because maybe it was a tad bit funny.
