She ran her fingers over the short beard along my jaw. “Good boy.”
I chuckled and pulled her close. “You’re such a brat.”
She giggled sweetly, and soon my eyes were too heavy. Nat’s gentle touch was relaxing, and within moments, sleep coaxed me under.
TWENTY-SIX
Nat
The mattressin this fire watch was so much better than I thought it would be. I languorously stretched out. I was warm and so comfortable and?—
Wait a second.
My eyes blinked open. Jack was under me, and not in just the sweetmy head is on his chest by mistakesort of way. But in theapparently I’ve become a koala bear, and this mountain man is now my treesort of way.
And then I noticed Jack’s soft snore. Jack, who never slept, was dead to the world.
I didn’t move.
After what I could only guess was an hour later, Jack shifted under me, and his hand clutched the back of my head as he pulled me tighter against him and placed a chaste kiss on top of my head. “Natalie?”
His voice was rough with sleep as his fingers glided through my hair.
“Yeah?” I asked, not moving an inch.
“You’re sort of crushing my junk.”
I took stock of where my legs were and realized my knee was pressing directly into his abdomen. I tried not to laugh,removing it carefully and garnering a relieved sigh from him. “Sorry about that.”
“All good.” We lay there like that for a minute before he broke the silence. “Want some hot cocoa?”
I grinned and went through the Herculean effort of pulling myself off him.
A little while later, I sipped hot cocoa out of a chipped mug, a baby-blue wool blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
“We can’t ever do that again, can we?” I asked, looking out at the vast view.
Jack stepped up behind me and placed his chin on top of my head. “Probably not.”
I nodded, which was a feat with his heavy head on top of mine. He lifted off me and curved his neck so that we were looking into each other’s eyes.
“Do you regret it?” I asked, my voice just above a whisper. It was the last thing I wanted to hear, but I had to know.
He shook his head. “Not at all.”
“Good. Neither do I.” And I didn’t. I’d had an amazing time with him last night. The date that wasn’t a date and everything that followed would leave an indelible imprint on my mind, and it was all because of him. But this moment was just that: a moment. Something fleeting that could never be replicated for fear of it messing everything up. “We’re friends now, and I’m happy to be okay with you.”
“I’ll take friendship over what we had before, hands down. I thought you’d never be able to forgive me.”
Had I forgiven him too easily? I took a sip of my cocoa as I pondered this. One of the mini marshmallows dissolved on my tongue as he smiled sadly.
I never wanted to see that sad smile again. “Stop beating yourself up about it, okay? You’ve more than made up for it.”
“If you’re sure. I keep feeling like I’m messing up with you. Even last night feels like a turning point. Did we go too far?”
“I’ll never think about it that way. I can move on if you can.” I swallowed, hoping that if I said the words, I could mean them. “If all else fails, we’ll just blame it on the stars.”
This conversation was worth being late for, but as much as we’d tried to postpone the inevitable, it was time to go back to Camp Starlight. The next cohort of campers would be arriving shortly after we returned.
