I lowered my voice to confide, "I think I can take 'em."
Tessa laughed. "Yeah, andIthink we'd get kicked out." She pointed to something past my shoulder. "And we haven't even seen the barracks yet."
I glanced around, taking in the sights as I considered what I knew of the place. Fort Mackinac sat atop the bluff, all whitewashed walls and weathered cannons, watching over the island like it had something to protect.
According to the guide at the entrance, the fort had seen battles and treaties while standing through centuries of storms.
But today with Tessa, it was obnoxiously charming. Field trips weren't usually my thing. But with her standing beside me, smiling in the morning sun, it felt less like a tourist trap and more like a secret worth sharing.
Plus, there was the cannon, which I'd told her from the start would be an excellent way to solve the problem of Evan Carver. I'd said it as a joke, but now that I'd seen its true potential, the idea wasn't sounding half-bad.
As if reading my mind, Tessa leaned toward me to say, "Youdoknow we can't actually take the cannon to Chicago, right?"
I grinned. "So we'll bring Evan here." And even though I was grinning, I was liking the idea more than was decent. Then again, I wasn't a decent kind of guy, not when protecting something I cared about.
And when it came to Tessa?
Yeah, I cared.
I couldn't even say why.I'd known her for barely a week, and we'd kissed exactly three times. But right from the start, there'd been something about her that had slipped under my skin before I'd had the chance to stop it.
And now?
Call me crazy, but I didn't want to stop anything.
I hadn't planned to spend the morning touring a fort that was over two centuries old. But with the coffee shop closed until noon, the idea of showing Tessa a good time – and within walking distance of the shop – had been impossible to resist.
Now, with the cannon spent, I reached for her hand as we left the overlook and headed toward the group of buildings that had housed, fed, and healed soldiers back in the day.
Her hand was soft in mine as we explored everything from the cramped barracks to the luxurious mansion – at least by the standards ofthosedays – that had served as quarters for the officers.
Inside those quarters, we strolled from room to room, taking in everything from the antique furniture to dress uniforms and porcelain chamber pots.
At the sight of one pot in an upstairs bedroom, Tessa said with a laugh, "You know what?"
I gave her hand a tender squeeze. "What?"
"I think we take a lot for granted."
I was dying to say,No shit. But we weren't alone, so in a heroic burst of self-control, I gave her the modified version instead. "No kidding."
With a quick glance at a family of four standing a few feet away, Tessa stood on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear, "What Iwantedto say was, 'Holy shit, people used to pee in bowls.'"
I laughed way too loud compared to the whisper. But so what? It was funny as hell that we were on the same wavelength even when it came to this.
For someone who looked so sweet, there was a wicked twist under her civilized surface that called to my inner delinquent. With a grin, I told her, "And those were the lucky ones.Theygot to go inside."
As the family of four moved out into the hall, she stifled a laugh. "Don't you dare mention the outhouse."
So far, we hadn't seen an outhouse, and none had been mentioned by any of the guides. So of course I had to say, "The only one who mentioned it wasyou." I gave her a smug look. "So technically you started it."
"I didn't start anything," she protested. "It wasyouridea to come here." She said it with a smile that told me in spite of her words, she was having the time of her life.
That made two of us.For something so simple, I couldn't remember the last time I'd had this much fun. "Yeah, but coming here wasn'tmyfault."
She asked, "How do you figure?"
"I was driven here."
