Page 77 of Forbidden to Fall

“What if I want the Batman one?”

James handed me one of the folded blankets for a pillow. “Mama would have my head.”

I was sure he was right, but I knew James Carver pretty well by now, and he wouldn’t have let me switch him sleeping bags even if he was positive May would never find out.

I shook out my bag and climbed into it, pulling the top up to my chin. It smelled like campfire with a hint of James’s cologne. He must’ve used it recently. My feet found the bottom, which was warm from the fire a couple feet away. I smiled at the coziness of it all.

The smile grew when I looked over at James. A sturdy, 6’2” man shimmying into a Batman bag was a sight I’d never known I’d needed.

A little snort escaped me, and James’s gaze flicked to mine.

“Are you laughing at me?”

I rolled my lips between my teeth and shook my head.

He gripped the top of his bag with both hands and looked down at the Batman symbol. “The gift that keeps on giving.”

My laugh faded as I realized that the top of the bag barely came up to his chest.

“James,” I said. “You’ll freeze. You don’t even have a sweatshirt. And on you, that sleeping bag is more like a sleeping skirt.”

“I’ll be fine—thanks to the amazing fire someone built us.”

I looked at my creation, admiring the dancing orange flames. “It is a pretty good fire, isn’t it?”

“Top five.”

I snorted. “You’re such a liar. But really…you’ll be too cold.”

He lay down and interlaced his fingers behind his head.

I blinked away the déjà vu—I’d imagined him just like this once before.

“Nah,” he said. “I’ll keep adding logs to the fire. Besides, I sleep hot.”

That, I could believe.

I studied him, the fire casting flickering shadows across his profile. He obviously wasn’t worried, so I lay down and stared up at the sky.

I took in a sharp breath.

We’d been out all night, but somehow this was the first time I’d looked up. The inky blue sky was littered with twinkling stars, like someone had taken a shaker bottle of glitter and gone wild.

A leaf dropped from one of the branches in my peripheral vision, fluttering slowly to the ground. I couldn’t tell if it was orange or had just taken on the color of the flames.

A shiver of pleasure vibrated through me at the sense of magic in the air.

I was really, really glad I’d said yes to James.

I looked over at him, staring up at the sky, his expression unreadable. I felt a sudden and increasingly familiar hunger to know the thoughts in his mind, to understand him. Really understand him like no one else in this town did.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Mrs. Rigby at the hardware store yesterday,” I said softly.

James’s head turned so his gaze met mine, the fire reflected in his eyes.

“Do a lot of people treat you that way here?” I asked softly.

“Some.”