* * *
We slipout through a side door onto the courtyard. The night air is crisp and invigorating as I fill my lungs and release it in a giggle. The moon is high, three quarters full, and the lights from the lodge flood out onto the courtyard, but we duck back into the shadows behind a pergola heaving with ivy.
Luke grins from ear to ear. “That was amazing. I’ve never done anything like that.”
I raise a brow and he laughs.
“Well, apart from the plane.” He runs his eyes over me in the half-light. “You have a way of making me do crazy things.”
It’s funny, because he has the exact same effect on me. I was hardly shagging strangers on planes or in dark corners before I met him.
He steps closer and slips his arms around me. I snuggle into his warmth, realizing how cold it is out here.
“There’s something about you, Harri,” he murmurs, and I remember what he said inside—that he didn’t like me insisting Alex was wrong. What did he mean by that? I think I know, but I don’t dare let myself believe it.
“There’s something about you too,” I whisper in reply, unable to bring myself to ask all the questions swirling in my head. He checks the time on his phone and I draw away. “I guess you need to head back,” I mumble. Displeasure crashes through me at the thought of him getting into bed with Dena tonight.
No, that’s not right. It’s straight-up jealousy. Perhaps a little rage.
“No way.” He pulls me close again. “I told Dena I’d be busy for a few hours setting up the hall and wouldn’t be back until late.”
“Did she buy that?”
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I don’t care.”
Oh God. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about her. I knew it. His words from last night come back to me:There’s just you, Harriet.
“So, what does my wild girl want to do now?” he asks, his eyes glittering playfully.
My heart flutters. He called me his girl. I’mhisgirl.
Well, he called me hiswildgirl. I feel the familiar thud of guilt as I think about the lie that led him to believe that’s who I am. As much as I’ve grown into my alter ego, there’s still one thing I’m too scared to do, and that’s be honest with him. Not just about what I told him on the plane—about everything. I want to tell him what I’m feeling, which is, I don’t know—not love,obviously—but that I’m so devastated at the thought of going home and not seeing him again, I’m so miserable to think of going back to my life as it was, and I can’t imagine not having him with me all the time. That I don’t know who I am without him anymore, and I don’t want to be that person, anyway.
What’s the word for that?
I wrench my gaze from Luke, afraid that he can see everything in my eyes. I spy the lake down below us, shimmering in the moonlight, and suddenly I want nothing more than to plunge into that icy water, to see if I can wash these intense feelings away.
“Can we get to the lake from here?”
Luke’s eyebrows push up. “I think so. Why?”
“I want to go skinny-dipping.”
He emits a disbelieving laugh. “It’s freezing!”
“So?” A smile plays on my lips. He wants wild, he’s getting wild.
He studies me for a moment, perhaps trying to figure out if I’m serious. “You’re a little scary sometimes, you know that? Beautiful, but scary.”
The Ron Weasley quote makes me laugh, especially because he intentionally butchered it. Still, being compared to Hermione is a freaking honor.
“Okay.” Luke’s mouth stretches into a grin. “Let’s go.”
We step out of the shadows, checking to make sure no one can see us, and I follow him to a path. Once we’re out of sight of the lodge, he spins around and grabs me, kissing me hard. Then he turns and continues down the path, picking up his pace, and I follow breathlessly.
There’s a rustle in the leaves beside us and my pulse goes haywire. It occurs to me that we’re out in the wilderness, in America, where there are bears and snakes and things. But—and I know this is stupid—with Luke’s hand snug in mine, guiding me along the path, I feel secure and safe. I feel okay.
The path opens out onto a small, pebbly beach with a jetty, tucked down below a line of trees, out of sight of the lodge. Our shoes crunch over the stones as we approach the water. The air is much colder down here, and I look out at the cool, smooth lake stretching ahead of us in the moonlight, wondering if this is a good idea. Are we going to get hypothermia or something?
