“Unless,” she said again, tapping her finger against her lip, “you’re like Cher. Madonna. Bono. Sting. I mean, no offense, but Fritz is a bit odd, so it adds up.”
“Anthony,” I said, about ready to throw myself into the lake. Why, of all the names in the world, did I have to saythatone? My birth name. The hidden identity I’d been protecting. I pulled at the collar of my green plaid shirt and focused on an ant hill on the ground. It was about the size of my fist, a little uneven. There weren’t too many ants running around it, andoh my God,I was such a moron.
“Fritz Anthony. Nice name. Leanora is a real mouthful and makes me sound a million years old.”
“A mouthful, sure, but it’s a nice name. Fritz is an old nickname from the name Frederick, which…I don’t even know a Frederick,” I said, sighing in relief that the last name debacle came and went. Tuesday. After Tuesday, I’d tell her everything.
She just had to get through that presentation first.
“Okay, Freddie, let’s get this tent up.”
I showed her how to assemble the poles and stakes, and after fifteen minutes and only one other freak-out—where a rustle sound came from the trees—we had our tent ready to go. Nora crouched down and went in.
“Whoa, this is roomy.” She plopped onto the ground and sat crisscross. “I’m camping. Quick, take a photo of me.”
“Great idea. No one would ever believe you.” I got my phone out and snapped a photo of her sitting there with a huge smile. “There. I should post it with a crazy hashtag, right? Hashtag save the poor trees or hashtag save the firewood.”
“You.” She narrowed her eyes, reached out to grip my shirt, and yanked me into the tent so I fell onto her. Her eyes lit up as I lay on top of her, her lips inches from mine. “You’re trouble.”
I pressed my mouth against hers, just because it felt good, right, and peaceful. She dug her fingers into the back of my head and pulled me closer so she held all my weight, and when I went to push off, she held me tighter.
“I like this,” she said, a new vulnerability in her voice. It lacked the usual luster she carried around like an accessory, and instead, there was a hesitancy.
The pang in my chest swelled up in a painful way, and I nodded. I knewexactlywhat she meant. She traced a finger over my eyebrow, and her gaze flicked between my eyes and my mouth. “You push me to try things, and no one has really done that. My parents tried, but it took them freezing my funds. How pathetic is that?”
“Pathetic isn’t the word.” I chewed on it for a second, trying to say the right thing. Because she wasn’t pathetic at all. “We all go through things that make us change, grow, learn. Yours is no different than that. You grew up.”
She chewed her lip and played with the end of my hair. “I think I can do this. On my own, for real.”
“Like stay here and start your business?” I asked, my chest expanding with hope, and an unfamiliar warm sensation spread through my limbs. It had nothing to do with her body pressed underneath me and everything to do with the feelings I couldn’t seem tostopfrom happening.
“Yeah.”
“I think you can too. Iwantyou to.”
“There are a few things I need to solidify, hash out, then…I can’t wait to share it with you,” she said, swallowing loudly. “You’re the first person I want to tell about what I’ve been working on, just not yet.” Her earrings twinkled on her ears and her lashes fanned over her cheeks when she blinked, and fuck, Nora sneaked her way into my heart so much, I wasn’t sure how to get her out.
She wanted me to be the first? What an exhilarating feeling.
“I can’t wait to hear about them,” I said, kissing her again. “Okay, I want to spend hours with your body, but we need to get some things set up before dark. So let’s tackle that and then return to this very position?”
She grinned. “You got it.”
“Great. I need you to find wood for the fire while I unload the truck.” I reluctantly got off her and held out a hand. She gripped it and I pulled her up, but the previous joy left, and a scowl replaced it.
“Wood? I need to get wood?”
“God, the amount of that’s what she said jokes you just set up,” I said, laughing. She didn’t though. She glanced at the trees while she picked at a nail, and it hit me. She was nervous. “Okay, we’ll be buddies. Unload together, then get the wood?”
“So I won’t be a lone target for a panther?”
“Correct. Plus, I read that panthers don’t attack people who aren’t alone,” I said, teasing her.
She swatted my arm, and God, I loved camping, but it had never beenthisfun. It was all Nora’s fault.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nora proppedher feet up on a log as she stared up at the midnight sky. The flames from the fire danced perfectly to capture her cheekbones and pointed nose, and for the millionth time, her innate beauty hit me right in the heart. I took a sip of the beer and nudged her foot with mine. “What are you thinking about?”
