“I don’t mind sleeping on the floor,” I say.
“No,” Kayla and Liam say together, turning to me.
“There’s camping stuff in the shed,” Kayla says.
Liam nods. “I’ll pitch the tent. Are there any spare linens?”
Kayla nods, grabbing my hand. “Paige and I will get what you need.”
She drags me down a dark hallway, and only once she gets to the end of it, mutters, “I amsosorry about that. The last thing I want is for you to feel unwelcome. Our mom hasn’t been herself, and Heather and her husband are between houses, so they’ve been living here in close quarters. Everyone’s just tense at the moment.”
“No biggie at all. I know your family has a lot going on,” I promise her, lifting her hand so I can better see her engagement ring. “This is beautiful, by the way.”
“Thanks,” she says, beaming. Her eyes are just like Liam’s. Big and expressive. “I can’t believe you exist. Liam used to swear he’d never date until after he graduated. He must really be obsessed with you.”
My blush is rampant. “It’s mutual, believe me.”
We grab pillows, sheets, and quilts, and Kayla guides me through a side door to the backyard, where two men—presumably the husband and husband-to-be—are drinking beers in front of a TV on a card table.
“Lucas, Benny! This is Paige, Liam’s girlfriend,” Kayla announces.
They look up, eyes scanning me from matching lawn chairs, but don’t stand.
“He brought a buffer?” one of them mumbles, but I still heard it, loud and clear. Kayla smacks him on the shoulder. The other guy laughs.
“Nice to meet you both,” I say sweetly, then move toward Liam when I see him coming out of a small shed near the tree line. He’s frowning at the tent equipment in his hands. When he sees me, he whispers, “Don’t call Benjamin ‘Benji’ unless you want to get reamed out by Heather.”
“Noted. Can I help you with that?”
He smirks. “Did you come from a camping family?”
“The only vacations we ever took.”
“I had a feeling you wouldn’t mind this,” he says, grinning. “But thank you for also being okay with it.”
Even if I did mind, which, coming from a big family, I actually don’t, I’d lie through my teeth about it to set Liam at ease right now.
“You met the spouses?” he asks as we spread out the tarp, build out the tent poles.
“Yep. They called me a buffer.”
Liam glares at them across the yard, which makes me snort. I turn to see Kayla’s been pulled onto the lap of the man who made the comment. “You know that’s not why you’re here and that’snotwhat I expect from you.”
I nod and say, “I know.”
He studies me over the tent as we erect it, his eyes loaded with a meaning that I have no difficulty parsing.You’re here because you matter to me.
Once the bedding has been organized over the sleeping pad and Liam and I are grabbing our things from the car, I say, “You called me your girlfriend.”
“Yeah, well. Just because I said I wouldn’taskuntil after the draft doesn’t mean I’m going to let my family assume you mean less to me than you do.”
“What if I askyou, right now?”
“Try it,” he dares me.
“Will you be m—”
“Yes.”
