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Goddamn stubborn woman is what I meant to say.

“I’m sitting because I want to, not because you told me to.”

I hide my smile. “Okay.”

“You don’t believe me? Why—ow!”

The poles go flying, and I’m at her side a second later. She’s standing—like she shouldn’t—a wince on her lips.

I press my hands to her arms. “Sit. Down. And stop being so proud all the damn time.”

She listens to me this time—and without so much as opening her mouth.

Smart girl.

The tent is ready no more than five minutes later, but it’s long enough that I turn to find Charlee shivering like a leaf. Shit. She needs to get out of those damp clothes ASAP, or she’ll catch a cold worse than death.

I help her stand and slide my arm around her waist. “Come on, get inside the tent and change.”

Charlee grabs her bag, handing it to me. “I don’t think my clothes survived the fall.”

I peek inside. Her spare clothes are soaked through and utterly unusable, and her sleeping bag is unsalvageable.

“Okay.” I go over the available options in my head until one becomes the most obvious. Fuck me. “I have a spare sweatshirt in mine. Just go into the tent and change. Call me when you’re done.”

I make sure she’s steady, then fumble in my bag until I find my sweatshirt.

“Thanks,” Charlee says as she takes it.

I nod and dart away from the tent to leave her to change.

Into my shirt.

Charlee. In my shirt.

I take a slow breath, throwing my head back to the sky and closing my eyes, letting the first droplets of rain run down my face.

The universe is testing me and my restraint. Putting me in impossible situations, one after the other. Situations where her legs are tightly wrapped around my waist and all my senses are zeroed in on the warmth radiating from her body, on my fingers digging into her thighs to hold her close, her breath caressing the nape of my neck, tickling my ears, raising goose bumps with each exhale.

And now this?

I let out a bitter laugh, dragging a hand down my face to wipe the rain away. For all the times I imagined this, for all the times Charlee and I talked about it, this isn’t how I expected our first camping experience would go.

“All good!” Charlee shouts from inside the tent.

I exhale sharply. No need to delay the inevitable.

I unzip the tent and slip inside, careful not to get too much water on the mat I laid down. It’s not a big tent, but three people could easily fit in here, so it gives us ample room to discard our drenched clothes and boots in one corner and keep the rest of the area mostly dry.

I keep my eyes on the ground as I kneel and start untying my shoes. “Do you mind if I change quickly too?” I ask, my back to her.

I can’t see her face when she replies. “Sure, go ahead.” But I’ve gotten used to hearing her voice now, and its rough edge betrays her. I tuck that knowledge away.

I toss my vest, thermal gear, and socks into a puddle of clothes on the tent floor. In nothing but my boxers, I grab the only black shirt I packed and slide on my second pair of thermal leggings.

Behind me, Charlee clears her throat, and I can’t keep my lips from stretching upward. I know I’m gonna have to look at her at some point, and we’ll see if I feel like smiling then too.

“Well, this whole thing took an unexpected turn,” she says, her tone heavy with derision. “Didn’t think I’d be trapped in a rainstorm in the middle of the woods with you.”