Shit.

Dropping down on the bed, I ran my hands over my face. Things were all over the place with Andrea and me, but I felt like we’d moved forward. It wasn’t just because what she and I had done in that bed, but because of everything before, during and after that. But now? I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d taken one huge step backward.

Chapter 12

Andrea

My brows rose as I watched Syd place a backpack by the kitchen island. It looked like it weighed more than she did.

“You’re going to carry that while hiking?” I asked.

“Yep.” She tugged her hair up and secured it with a hair tie. “It’s really not that bad and it’s smart to be prepared in case something happens.”

“Like when a rabid bear tries to eat you?”

She grinned. “I don’t think we’re going to run into any rabid bears. And we’re not just going to hike. We’re going to camp out for the night.”

I gaped at her. “Seriously?”

Walking over to the counter, she grabbed the pot of coffee and began pouring the steaming liquid into her Thermos. “Yeah.” She looked over her shoulder at me and laughed. “You should see your expression. It’s like I just told you that we’re going to go camping on Mount Everest or something.”

I hopped up on the barstool. “When did you guys decide this?”

“Last night. After you went to bed.” She screwed the lid on the Thermos and faced me. “You know, after Tanner also went upstairs.”

Schooling my expression blank, I picked up my mug. “Okay.”

“Yep. Kyler and I thought it would be kind of cool to do. We used to camp out all the time when we were kids, so it’ll be fun.” Syd skipped over to me, placing the Thermos on the counter. “We were going to invite you and Tanner.”

“Oh really?” I murmured.

She nodded. “Actually, Kyler went upstairs last night to ask Tanner if he wanted to camp with us.”

My hand tightened around the warm mug.

“Strangely, Tanner wasn’t in his room.” Syd paused, lowering her voice. “And the funny thing was, he heard these noises coming from your—”

“Stop it,” I said, cheeks flaming. “I know where you’re going with this.”

Her eyes narrowed as she climbed onto the stool next to mine. “You need to spill, right now, and make it quick before Kyler gets his butt down here.”

Any other time I would’ve given her all the juicy details, but I shifted uncomfortably. Tanner could walk in on us at any moment. I took a deep breath and said in a quiet voice, “We didn’t have sex.”

She gave me her best serious look. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Andrea.”

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t say we didn’t do other things, but we didn’t do that.”

“What other things?” A wide smile broke out across her face as she smacked my arm. “Tell me. Tell me now.”

“Stuff. Things. Use your imagination.”

She folded her arms and waited. “My imagination sucks. I need help.”

I glanced at the stairwell. “It involved his hands and my mouth. How about that?”

“Oh!” she chirped. “You dirty girl. He’s a dirty boy. You all are getting dirty together.”

“Oh my God,” I moaned, tucking a stray curl back. “You shouldn’t be talking. I know the dirty things you and Kyler do.”

“Hells yeah,” she replied, giggling. “The things we did last night were pretty freaky. Loved every second of it.”

I simply stared at her.

She tilted her head back and laughed, and I shook my head. “We spent most of the time just hanging out, to be honest,” I admitted after a moment. “It was really nice.”

“I’m sure it was.” Sincerity filled her words. “Tanner is a really good guy and you’re awesome. So it had to be nice.”

I wanted to deny that last part. Tanner was an awesome guy, and I was…well, I wasn’t sure what I was on most days.

“You two have always been circling one another,” she continued, drawing my focus. “It’s about time that you let go of what happened freshman year and he recognizes what’s been in front of his face a lot longer than he even realized.”

My heart stuttered and then sped up. I thought about the way he’d looked at me last night. “I don’t know, Syd. I’m…” I was afraid to open myself up, to expose myself to all that hope.

She touched my arm. “Just don’t stress out about it, okay? And if you feel up to it, give it a chance. Give it one shot. Use your time alone with him and see what happens. Kyler and I aren’t planning to come back until tomorrow evening. You two will have all day today and tomorrow.”

Understanding seeped in. “You guys are going camping because of us—”

“We’re going camping because we want to.” Her sly grin said otherwise. Footsteps sounded from above, nearing the stairs. She hopped off the stool and then leaned in, kissing my cheek. “Have fun.”

I said nothing as she danced off toward the stairway. Sitting there, I stared into my mug as my pulse began to race. Sweat dotted my palms, but I regulated my breathing, taking deep breaths before the overwhelmed feeling could take hold and spread like a virus.

When I heard Kyler’s deep voice, I looked up and closed my eyes. In a lot of ways, I was a coward. And I didn’t like that about myself. Not at all, but it was scary—the idea of giving us a chance when I wasn’t even sure Tanner would be on board.

But there’d been last night, and there’d been the time in the pool. He had said it meant something to him, and maybe…I wasn’t seeing what I thought I saw in the way he looked at me. Maybe I was reading too much into that and not enough into what he was actually saying. I opened my eyes, I decided that I could at least try.

I would try.

Tanner

I normally wasn’t a suspicious man, but I had this distinct feeling that Kyler and Sydney’s impromptu camping trip reeked of a hidden agenda. With them gone, Andrea and I had the whole place to ourselves.

And I totally wasn’t complaining.

When we got back to Maryland, I was going to buy Kyler a drink, or maybe one for Sydney—for whichever was the mind behind their deviously brilliant plan.

The two of them had left about three hours ago, and I was still giving Andrea some space. She was downstairs for the most part, at least not hiding, and neither was I. I’d plopped myself in the living room and had been flipping channels for a while when she reappeared in the room.

My thumb paused over the remote as I glanced over at her. Her red hair was pulled up in some kind of twist so there was no hiding the pretty flush creeping across her cheeks.

Fingers clasped together in front of her, she shifted her weight from one foot to the next. The skirt of her lavender dress swung just above her knees. She was barefoot, and I noticed that the paint on her nails was a different color than before. They were now a pale blue.

I had never, in my entire life, noticed a chick’s toenail polish until now.

“I was going to go outside.” Her gaze met mine and then flickered away. “I wanted to see if you wanted to, um, to join me?”

What I wanted to do was jump to my feet and thrust my fist into the air, but I managed to calmly turn off the TV, place the remote on the couch, and stand. “Yeah. I can do that.”

Her smile was quick, but beautiful nonetheless. As she turned around and walked toward the glass doors, I trailed after her, wanting to start spewing poetry and shit. Rubbing a hand along my jaw, I shook my head as we stepped outside. She went to the side of the pool, sitting down and dipping her feet into the water. The rain last night had raised the levels, and the water nearly reached the edge.

Following her, I rolled up the legs of my jeans and did the same. Since the storm yesterday, the temps had dropped. While it was still warm, it was bearable—we could sit outside and not have sweat pooling in uncomfortable places.

Andrea stared at the slowly rippling water. “So…when you leave for the police academy, how long will you be gone?”