by C. R. Ellis
He leaned back against the new railing, his arms supporting his weight on either side of his body. “You like it?”
I turned my attention from the tree house to Dean and walked to him. “Like it? Dean, it’s by far the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. It’s perfect. I love it.” I hooked my arms around his neck, standing on my toes to merge our mouths together. I felt his apprehension melt away beneath my lips. He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me closer, and then completely off the floor. A muffled squeal vibrated from my mouth into his.
He gently brought me back to stand on my own two feet. “Good. I’m glad you like it. Also glad I don’t have to worry about you falling through the floor anymore.”
Ignoring his comment, I pulled away to admire more of their secret handiwork. It was nothing short of incredible.
“It still needs to be stained, but I figured you’d want to pick the color out yourself,” he said, following my gaze as it traveled over the interior of the space where I’d spent countless hours of my childhood.
The floors had been totally redone and looked infinitely sturdier than they had the last time I’d been up here. Maybe Dean had been right about this place not exactly being in the greatest condition when he first saw it, but it was definitely picture perfect now.
I looked around and felt my chest constrict. “I’ve always wanted to bring this place back to its former glory. For years, I hated that a part of me imagined having a family and kids to run around and make this tree house their own someday. I told myself that the family, 2.5 kids and white picket fence thing wasn’t for me, but now I’m not so sure,” I said, slowly turning to face him. My heart was racing; I was sure I’d have a panic attack from admitting my feelings to Dean, but I owed it to him to be honest after everything he’d done for me.
His eyes met mine, and I felt the warmth and love held in his gaze. “For the record, I think you’d be an amazing mom. I’ve seen you with Nathan, and you’re a natural with kids.”
“Nate makes it easy. I’m not so sure I’d handle all kids that well.” I walked to the balcony’s arm rail and let my eyes admire the view from there. “Do you want kids?” I asked.
“I do. I’ve wanted kids for as long as I can remember. That was part of the reason I joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in college. Then I met Nate and eventually took over the role of a parent for him. Feeling like a stand-in parent made me more convinced that I wanted kids of my own. Someday.”
My heart constricted again, and I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. Hope? Fear? Longing? I knew we weren’t specifically addressing the notion of having kids together, but it still felt like a momentous conversation. I knew I was in love with Dean—I think a part of me had known all along—but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still at least a little terrified at the prospect of our future together.
I turned to fix my gaze on the tree house again. I needed to focus on something other than my visions of tiny little toddler versions of Dean running around my childhood home. That wasn’t helping matters.
Eventually, I stopped admiring the updated tree house so I could admire the man who’d made it all happen. He knelt to inspect something, and I had to force myself to suck air back into my lungs. He’d stolen all the oxygen from them without even being aware of his effect on me.
Dean Preston’s particular brand of sexiness wasn’t the kind that took any sort of effort on his part—he didn’t need to wear designer suits, didn’t need expensive haircuts, and sure as shit didn’t need some outrageous opening line for women to fall at his feet. I wasn’t entirely convinced he didn’t have some sort of rare, mythical-like gene of sexiness woven into his DNA that would explain how he was able to achieve such a feat without even trying.
By themselves, dark, chestnut-colored hair, forest green eyes, dimples, and a heart-stopping smile were all perfectly desirable features for a man to possess. Together, they were even better. But all of them at once, combined with the fact that Dean was proving to be a man I could count on was enough to make me question how I’d ever managed to go so many years without having him as a permanent fixture in my life.
Dean looked up and over at me, as if he’d felt my gaze. I didn’t even try to avert my eyes.
He grinned his cocky grin, but his eyes flickered from my mouth to my eyes, and the humor evaporated instantly, replaced by an intensity that made me involuntarily squirm.
“Keep looking at me like that and we’re going to be even later to meet everyone than we already are, Goldie,” he threatened, swiftly closing the gap that had just separated us moments ago.
My body was a live wire, drumming with the untamed passion that came exclusively from being held possessively in Dean’s arms. There was nothing else like it, and I wanted to stay right there in his arms for the foreseeable future. I’d been so consumed with thoughts of Dean and the approximately four trillion butterflies he set loose in my stomach that it took me a second to register his words.
Camping. We were going to his parents’ property to go camping.
I groaned and did my best to replicate the look I’d just been giving him.
“Jas,” he warned.
“We could just blow it off,” I said, angling my head up so I could pepper his neck with kisses.
“And prove Jade right about this being an excuse for us to sneak off and have sex?” he countered, arching a dark brow.
Damn it. Why did he have to be so effortlessly gorgeous and right all the time?
This time a groan of defeat escaped my mouth, and I removed my lips from the sensitive spot on his neck. I rested my forehead against the hollow of his neck and tried to convince myself it was better that we pumped the breaks before we really tested the tree house’s sturdiness. My arms refused to move though, so I kept them slung around his neck, fingers absently twirling the short locks of hair at the base of his skull.
“But then again…” he started, as if he was contemplating an alternative.
I stiffened and subtly arched up into him to angle my head toward his face. I’d never been very good at not getting my way. I pulled out the blindfold-tie from where I’d stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans.
His eyes grew and his tongue flicked across his lips. “Fuck it,” he huffed, hauling me up and pressing me against the wall of my tree house that, ironically, used to hold a sign saying No Boys Allowed. Ever.
The careful dam that held Dean’s self-restraint in check had broken; his hands were rough and demanding, one of them holding my wrist against the wall and the other gently wrapped around my neck, while his body pressed into mine to hold it in place against the wall.
“You’re too good for me, Jas,” he mumbled between fast-paced, desperate kisses that had lost all traces of tenderness. “Do you have any idea how fucking incredible you are?”
His words caught me off guard. I studied his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to form words of my own.
“It’s always been you, Jasmine. It’s like…it feels like I was living in black and white without you. You bring the color to my life. Your smile is the last thing I picture before I fall asleep, and your beauty, inside and out, is what fantasies are made of. Having you in my arms makes me wonder how I could’ve ever let you go.”
I cupped his face with my free hand and pressed my forehead against his. “Then you should probably hold me a little tighter this time.”
He swiped a loose hair from my forehead and smiled. “Count on it.”
Chapter 27
Jasmine
I know food karma is real. How else do you explain ordering extra fries and getting steamed carrots instead, after trying to get away with eating dessert before dinner?
Jasmine Winters, eating carrots and tasting disappointment
Jade, Emmett, and Nathan had already left the house by the time we arrived. Dean loaded our bags and the rest of the camping gear onto the back of the four-wheeler and helped me climb on behind him. This time, I wrapped my arms around Dean’s torso
without hesitation.
Within a few minutes, we’d found the others at the same spot we’d camped out as kids on the outskirts of a thickly wooded part of their property. I caught Dean staring off somewhere outside the clearing. Following his line of sight, I realized he was looking at the two trees connected by a zip-line off in the distance.
“I haven’t been able to look at that zip-line the same way since we were kids,” he said.
I laughed. “You totally deserved it!”
Jade and I were eleven and swore we were old enough to camp out by ourselves. Her parents always made Dean tag along with us until then, but he was busy that night. At the ripe old age of 15, he had way better things to do with his time than babysit his sister and her friend. After some serious begging and promises that we wouldn’t get too scared, they agreed to let us go on our own.
Approaching delirium from too much candy and too little sleep, we took turns riding the zip-line from tree to tree, trying to see who could make it farther with their eyes closed. On my third attempt, I opened my eyes just in time to stop before colliding with the tree. I’d been so focused on not crashing that I hadn’t noticed a masked figure waiting for me. A second after landing, I registered the unfamiliar face and screamed bloody murder, simultaneously extending my fist out to punch my assailant in the face. My actions caught him off guard and sent him stumbling backward until he fell off the small landing deck attached to the tree.
That was the first and last time Dean tried to scare us while we camped out.
“I can’t believe you actually punched me.”
“Hey, you’re the asshole who scared me half to death! I stand by my actions.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. Remind me to never scare you like that again.”
“Never scare me like that again,” I echoed, pulling up my fists to show that my form had improved.
Dean laughed. “Cute.”
I rolled my eyes. Clearly he underestimated my abilities.
We approached the rest of our group, and I broke into a jog when I realized Elliot was sitting next to Jade. The boys were setting up two tents while Jade and Elliot “supervised” with travel wine glass tumblers in hand. Jade gave me a why-am-I-not-surprised-you’re-late look, but she didn’t give me any shit about it. So I didn’t give her any shit about making the boys do all the work while she and Elliot sat around with their wine.
Elliot’s tent was already set up, which made it even more laughable that the guys were still working.
“El, to what do we owe the honor?” I asked, pulling up a chair to sit between her and Jade. Ever since Elliot came to work for us, we’d all enjoyed hanging out as a trio, but it rarely happened when she had a boyfriend, which was most of the time. Unlike myself, Elliot was a serial monogamist, though, and only did serious relationships.
Her ever-present smile faltered momentarily, and her baby blue eyes darted to the ground. “I, uh, wanted to get away for the night. Plus, Jade said y’all were going camping, and I haven’t been in ages,” she added, finding her smile again.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot you’re one of those people who willingly ditches air conditioning to ‘become one with nature,’ or whatever,” I said teasingly.
She arched a brow. “You have met my grandparents, right? Plus, it’s always good to ditch the city lights and unplug occasionally.”
She had a point about her grandparents. I’d met them a few times, and they’d both been sweet, genuinely happy people that seized any and every opportunity for adventure. They owned a chain of hotels and a bed and breakfast outside of Austin, where they raised Elliot and her sister. George and Millie were the kind of grandparents every kid wanted to have—always supporting their granddaughters in all of their endeavors, carving out time to take them on all kinds of adventures every summer, and not even hesitating to raise Elliot and Sophia.
I shrugged and gave a half-nod. “If you say so. Where’s Aaron? Did he come too?”
Elliot shook her head. “No. I broke up with him.”
Jade and I both whipped around to gape at Elliot. “What? El, what happened?”
Her eyes moved between Jade and me as she slowly shook her head. “Nothing. Guys, it’s not a big deal. Look,” she sighed before explaining, “I realized I’ve never really been on my own. I’m twenty-three and haven’t been single since I was seventeen. I was comfortable with Aaron, but it wasn’t something I want forever. I realized I shouldn’t stay in a relationship just because it’s comfortable. I want to focus on work, focus on being young, and just enjoy my early twenties, like you did, Jas.”
Like I did? No way. Elliot was so not the no-strings-attached type. “El, I don’t think you mean that,” I countered after clearing my throat.
“What Jasmine means is that we just want you to be happy, and this seems like a big decision,” Jade offered, subtly clarifying my assertion and less subtly elbowing me in the ribs.
Elliot laughed and shook her head. “Relax, okay. I didn’t mean that I want to go crazy and jump in bed with every other guy I meet. More like, I want to be on my own and enjoy single life, with like half your amount of wild sex.”
“Hey! I resent that,” I cried.
Jade erupted in laughter. “Oh, come on, Jas. You know she has a point.”
“Whatever,” I huffed. I opened my mouth to question Elliot further, but Jade shot me a look that said just let it go and held out two wine bottles.
“Red or white?” she asked, not even bothering to ask if I wanted wine.
“Red.”
She poured while I watched Dean work on our tent. I figured Emmett would be the one to make things awkward about why we were late, but he was too busy setting up his tent to give me anything more than a brief hello by way of a head nod. Nate stopped to give me a smile and a quick fist bump, but then quickly turned his concentration back to the tent.
Eventually they finished with the tents, and Nate pulled out his phone, but quickly realized he had no signal out here.
“Are you having texting withdrawals already?” Jade asked.
“Nah, it’s not important. We are seriously in the middle of nowhere, though,” he muttered, craning his head in every direction.
“Nate, that’s what camping is all about. No technology, no video games, no take-out,” Dean said.
“Can’t forget s’mores,” Elliot added enthusiastically.
When Nathan looked at her with a skeptically raised brow, she jumped out of her seat. “You have made s’mores before, haven’t you?”
Nate shrugged. “Uh, do the Girl Scout cookie ones count?”
“No! Good thing I brought all the supplies!” she said.
“I guess that means we’d better go get wood to start a fire,” Emmett noted, standing from his chair.
“Come on, Nate. You’re going to be able to give Bear Grylls a run for his money by the time we’re done with you,” Dean said, following Emmett’s lead.
With the boys gone, Jade, Elliot, and I gave the tents a closer inspection, just to be sure they weren’t going to come crashing down on us while we slept. Confident in their sturdiness, we went back to our seats and organized the s’more supplies.
“How long has it been since we did this, y’all?” Jade asked.
“Too long,” I replied.
Elliot nodded. “I know I’ve been M.I.A. lately, but I promise that’s going to change.”
Jade smiled. “I’ve been pretty preoccupied myself, and I’m sorry. I promise to carve out more time for my girls.”
I shook my head after taking a sip. “JP, don’t apologize. We’ve all been busy. I’m happy y’all are happy, and I don’t hold it against you. I’m just as guilty, since, y’know, I’ve been shacked up with your brother lately.”
“So I’ve noticed. I take it things are good between y’all?”
“Things are great. I’m actually shocked at how well it’s going,” I admitted.
“I’m not. Jas, I know I have a thousand reasons for wanting t
hings to work out between y’all, but you two couldn’t be more perfect for each other. The only thing I’m shocked about is how long it took me to realize how obvious the inevitability of you two getting together was.”
Elliot nodded in agreement.
I rolled my eyes at both of them. “Whatever. Six months ago, I would’ve called you both bat-shit crazy for suggesting such a thing.”
“Maybe so, but I’m serious. Think about it. Neither of you had a real, meaningful relationship after what happened in New York; now it makes perfect sense. You two were always supposed to be together.”
I forced myself to truly think about her words. Not too long ago, I would’ve brushed them off, just as I’d done with the words my mom had left me. I would’ve had a million and one reasons why she was crazy enough to charter her own loony bin for thinking that.
Not anymore.
I turned to meet Jade’s inquisitive gaze. “You know, it’s just as annoying when you’re right as when your brother is.”
Jade laughed. “There’s no way it’s as annoying as when Dean’s right.”
“You’re right; it’s worse,” I said with a smile, knowing it would annoy her.
She gave me an eye-roll in response. “Seriously though. I want you to know that you can always tell me about things in your life, including anything Dean-related. He’s my brother so I love him, but obviously, you come first. Sisters before misters. Hoes over bros. Chicks over dicks,” she quipped with a grin. “You too, El. You’re one of us now.”
I winced. “That was cheesy, even for you, JP. And speak for yourself, I’m still on the fence about this one,” I teased, tipping my head in Elliot’s direction.
“Gee, thanks. Love you too, Jas,” Elliot laughed before chunking an acorn at me.
I grinned. “I wouldn’t give you shit if I didn’t love you, El.”
“It’s the Jasmine Winters stamp of approval. And hey, I meant what I said, Jas,” Jade reiterated. “Even if things with Dean go down in flames, I want you to know I’ll always have your back.”
