While Petit Jean Mountain had registered briefly in his mind when he’d been making a list of places to take her this week, he wanted her to see the special property he loved. The one he intended to purchase. The one he wanted to build his home on and raise a family. Perhaps he could erase the unpleasant memory of his last visit there with a woman he thought he’d loved.
Or perhaps he was foolish to contemplate taking Ria, the woman hedidlove, to the treasured place where he wanted to build his life and live forever, if he didn’t get to keep her.
Ria had read about camping in her Earther book. She’d also seen a few videos about the basics. She was keen to try it, but didn’t want to see any snakes or get eaten alive by bugs. Luckily, they didn’t have crust-fish here. The disagreeable little critter thrived in most saltwater sources on Alpha-Prime. She wouldn’t mind learning how to fish for something nicer than crust-fish.
“How far away is this mountain camping place?” she asked as he took her hand and they headed for the exit closest to where he’d parked his SUV.
“A couple of hours from here.”
“Is that too far to go?”
“No. But I know a spot where there is a dock and a rowboat on a lake with a rustic cabin nearby. Then we wouldn’t have to travel so far.” They came to a stop on the passenger side of his vehicle. “Does that sound like something you’d be interested in seeing?”
“Yes, please!” They were standing close together again. She desperately wanted to kiss him, but figured he’d hit his capacity of letting her have her way. For now. So she backed up a step to give him some space. And to save her recently applied lipstick.
He looked surprised, but then did the same, putting more distance between them.
“Let’s head back to my house. We’ll have to get to bed early. We want to get there before it gets too hot.”
He used his fob to unlock the SUV and opened the door for her.
“Okay.” Ria wondered briefly where she’d be sleeping tonight. He likely wouldn’t let her snuggle up to him no matter how many vows she made about not jumping his bones if they shared the same bed. Truthfully, she didn’t trust herself. It was better if they slept apart.
She knew he had a couch and she expected to spend the night there, even though she wasn’t in the doghouse. Not exactly. Not snuggling with Cam sure felt like a punishment though.
It was raining hard the next morning and the forecast for the rest of the day called for pretty much more of the same, so Cam let Ria sleep. He left a note and drove out to the truck stop to fetch some staples to last them the next couple of days.
They tucked in at his house and spent the day watching movies, playing board games and trying not to fall more in love with each other, even though that seemed a wasted effort from his perspective.
Late that evening, Cam made a fire in his rarely used fireplace to roast marshmallows for s’mores. Ria added the fireside treat to her bucket list and crossed it off, declaring s’mores her favorite treat so far. She liked lighting her marshmallow on fire until it was completely charred before making her warm, gooey chocolate graham cracker sandwich.
They fell asleep on the fake white bearskin rug he put in front of the fireplace and snuggled together, but fully clothed. Pity. However, it did mean he’d succeeded in keeping his vow for one more day. Yay.
Every day they found a different place to go to fulfill the constant demands of her bucket list. Each and every night, it got harder and harder to keep his hands off her. She didn’t make it easy on him, either. She wanted to thank him with a kiss after each and every new item she tried and delighted in.
They hadn’t slept together since karaoke night, but rebuffing her each night took a heroic effort on his part.
Cam wanted nothing more than to make Ria a permanent fixture in his life.
Chapter Twelve
Two days until the Royal Caldera Forte returns to Earth
The week since their big day at the biker bar, carnival and mall had flown by for Cam.
A zealous photographer hired by the town to take photos of the crowds thronging the main street for a fair in Old Coot had snapped their picture another day while they’d stopped to look at a woodcarver’s wares. Cam had almost had a heart attack, but Ria said not to worry so much and told him not to be an old fuddy-duddy. The pain in his chest returned when their photo ended up on page three of the local paper.
He told himself the picture was so small, no one could recognize them. If they did, the phone calls from Alienn’s nosy Parkers would have flooded his line before the papers hit the welcome mats in time for coffee and toast.
Somehow, they’d dodged another bullet and he was grateful.
He and Ria spent every single moment together. They had done lots of different things on their mission to get through her extensive list. She crossed many things off, but added just as many items as she drew a line through. They laughed. They talked endlessly about everything. They barely slept, each and every night staying up into the wee hours talking about anything and everything they could think of. It seemed neither wanted to waste a moment of their dwindling time together.
