Oliver stretched his neck and did an amazing hind leg stand in an effort to sniff Milo. Milo yipped at him from the safety of his mother’s arms.
“Even if I didn’t have this guy—” he pulled on Oliver’s leash to make him get down, “—I’d still be here to help out with the tent and stuff.”
Holly elbowed him in the ribs. “I was just showing Candace that Milo is not going bald.” The not-balding Yorkie wiggled in her arms with abandon. “You don’t want down.”
“Of course he wants down,” Mark told her. “He’s dying to play.”
Holly eyed Oliver. “What if that behemoth squishes him?”
Candace shook her head. “Oliver’s gentle with the cats. I’m sure he’ll be fine with Milo.”
As soon as the two puppies met on ground level there was much gleeful barking and bowing at one another.
Mark rolled his eyes. “It looks like the cousins are getting along.”
Candace laughed, and she and Mark shared a look that suggested that Lee and Holly had slipped over the edge of sanity where people called dogs their children and dressed them in little clothes. For the record, Oliver didn’t have any actual clothes—just a Rockets baseball cap with little holes cut out for his ears. That dog rocked the hell out of that hat. Lee figured it was good luck or something and made him wear it while the games were on.
While the puppies romped and played tag, the ladies chatted.
“So, dude.” Mark grabbed his attention. “I’m going to have next weekend off from the restaurant. The first time in months I’m taking the whole weekend away.”
“Wow.” Lee was impressed, certain that Holly had demanded he take a break. Mark had been intimately involved in every aspect of his restaurant since it was conceived.
“Yeah, and I was thinking about taking Holly camping down at the river by Dad’s old spot. You and Candace want to come? I thought we could make a fun trip out of it. Everyone could get to know each other again. We can ask Marisol and that guy she’s been seeing.”
Dad’s place at the lake. It could only be reached by boat, so it was fairly remote. It wasn’t a cabin or anything, just a great place off the river bank with giant shady trees. It made for an excellent place to pitch a tent, lie in a hammock, do nothing. That’s where Dad had taught Mark, Sarah and him to fish. He was thrilled for the opportunity to share something that meant so much to him with Candy. This was a family event, and her willingness to participate would tell him a lot about her feelings. “Oh, man. I’d love to.” He turned to her. “Honey, did you hear about this?”
* * *
Candace was going camping. Yay. She imagined an unenthusiastic cheerleader in her head, weakly waving her pompoms. It was the last open weekend before the clinic opened and would probably be her last free one in a while. She hadn’t imagined spending it wet, dirty and plagued by bugs, but nevertheless, here she was. Going camping.
When the idea had been presented to her, her instinct had been to decline, but Holly gave her such a plaintive stare that Candace couldn’t say no.
“Don’t make me go by myself,” Holly had whispered.
“I’ve never been camping,” Candace told the crowd of expectant faces.
“Never?” Both Mark and Lee said it at the same time.
“I went once.” Holly’s expression was grim. “My uncle took all the cousins.”
“Honey.” Mark stepped over the wrestling puppies and took his wife in his arms. “We’re gonna have fun. I promise.”
“What do you say, babe? Wanna go?” Lee’s grin was fraught with important subtext. It felt like a test. How could she say no? Slowly but surely, she was slipping back into the bosom of Lee’s family, and as long as she didn’t think about it too much, she had no issue with it. When she did think about it, it scared the hell out of her. She didn’t know if she’d live through another crash and burn.
“Sure. Yeah, okay.”
Lee whooped in excitement and the dogs paused in their romping to see what was going on. Holly’s smile was more along the line of relieved.
The week leading up to the Grand Expedition, as she was beginning to think of it, was filled with planning. She’d always thought camping involved throwing a tent in the back of the truck with an ice cooler and a twelve-pack of beer, but she’d been so very wrong.
When she got to Lee’s house after the animal fair wrapped up, he had pulled out several storage containers and had a veritable sporting goods store’s worth of supplies spread out on the back lawn, including a full-sized tent pitched in the grass. Oliver thought this was great fun. He barked with glee as he dashed out of the tent, ran a tight circle around her, and then dashed back into the tent.
Candace laughed. “I hope you’re planning to bring Oliver with us.”
“He’s been like this for hours. I wouldn’t have the heart to leave him.”
Oliver answered with woofing from inside. She could see his shadow spinning through the tent material.
Lee snaked his arm around her waist from behind and nuzzled her cheek. “How did the rest of your day go?”
She nodded. “Good. Hopefully we’ll pick up some neighborhood patients from it. Besides, it’s fun to see all the animals.” She turned her face so she could kiss him, long and slow with a puppy soundtrack in the background.
He broke the kiss and turned her to face him, wrapping his arms around her. “I wish you had let me come and take the canopy down for you.”
It had always seemed as if Lee’s mission in life was to take care of his people. There wasn’t any task too small or insignificant. As independent as Candace was, especially during the last five years, she would have thought that she would have found it annoying or overbearing. Surprisingly, she didn’t. She’d always kind of enjoyed him fussing over her, making sure she’d eaten, that her car had gas. Since they’d gotten back together, it seemed he’d made it a point to make her feel valued and loved. Every day her guard disintegrated more and more, and she was finally getting to the point where she didn’t feel like things were going to implode if she let herself love him again.
“It’s fine. I made Clay do it. Then he got to impress the dog-treat girl with his physical prowess. The two of them made moony eyes at each other all day.” She slipped her hands underneath the back of his shirt and rested her palms on his warm skin. “I’m certain the women who come to the clinic will be disappointed that the Dr. Claesson they end up with isn’t my brother.”
“But it will all even out when the guys come in and there is the Dr. Claesson they were expecting. Yours will be the only clinic in town with a primarily male patient base.” He pinched her butt.
“You mean all those guys who steal their sister-in-law’s dog and the neighbor boy’s snake?” She pinched him right back. In fact, she may have lingered with her hands down his shorts a bit longer to get her point across.
One of his sneaky hands found her breast and gave a gentle squeeze. “Yep, those are exactly the kinds of guys I’m talking about. Who knows what bullshit they’ll come up with to get the gorgeous vet into bed.”
“I should be careful, then? Be wary of strange men with girly dogs who are afraid of rats?” She unbuttoned the button on his fly and slipped the zipper down. With one swift motion she pantsed him in the back yard—jockey shorts and all.
His waggled his eyebrows at her and gave his naked ass a little shake. “Oh, baby, they’re the worst kind.”
Candace laughed at his antics. Undeterred, he pulled off her shirt and bra. She got his shirt over his head while he undid her jeans. Her sandals came off with her pants.
“Come here, Dr. Claesson.” He pulled her by the hand. “Let me show you what we can do in a hammock. You’re going to love camping.”
* * *
As far as Candace could tell, camping consisted of being wet and staying wet. Firs
t there was a light rain, just a sprinkle really, while they unloaded the trucks of all the gear necessary to mobilize the seventh fleet and placed it in boats. She’d had no idea that Lee actually owned a boat, but he did, a big blue-and-white thing that he kept under a tarp in one of the outbuildings on his property.
She pointed at the words Lee Way lettered on the back in big black letters. “That’s clever.”
He grinned at her and stacked up the coolers in the bow.
Marisol’s guy, Jason, was actually out on the disabled list while his foot healed from an Achilles tear, and Candace was thrilled that he and Marisol were coming along, too. From the looks of things, her roommate’s unnamed relationship seemed to be doing pretty well, too.
The rain let up on the way up the river, but the spray off the boat kept her damp, and Candace was even wetter by the time they arrived at the fabled spot.
Lee pointed to the shore. “That’s where we’re going. That’s the place.”
“Wow,” she said, hanging on to Oliver’s leash to keep him from jumping overboard. “That is...Wow.”
She could see why they loved it. A small green meadow surrounded by an arc of massive cottonwood trees spread away from the water’s edge. A fire ring in the middle left plenty of room for three tents and all the other flotsam and jetsam they’d brought in all those boxes and packs. The place seemed carpeted in soft grass. She half expected a deer and his rabbit friend to gambol through the place with a cartoon soundtrack playing in the background.
Oliver strained at the leash, half of his body already hanging over the side of the boat. She grabbed his collar to get a better hold on him. He paid her no mind, hanging over the side and barking into the spray.
As they approached the bank, Lee jerked the throttle just enough that she lurched from her half-seated position at the stern, which allowed Oliver just enough give on the leash to make a dive for the water. She lunged for him putting herself off balance so that she started over the side as well. Unfortunately, the leash was still wrapped around her wrist and the momentum of the six-month-old Great Dane going into the lake was enough to pull her in too. She grasped at the closest thing to her, which, unfortunately, was her tote bag full of her clothes and necessities for the weekend.
She and Oliver came up sputtering, surrounded by all her clothes. The boat hadn’t gotten far. She could still hear Holly screeching. Oliver looked as shocked as she felt.
“Candy!” Lee’s voice rang over the water. “Are you okay?”
She waved her arm high over her head. “Yeah. I’m here.”
Oliver splashed around, getting the hang of the doggie paddle. She treaded water and tried to wrangle her clothes before they all sank while the boat made a circle and came back for her. It wasn’t that far to the bank. But it would have been harder to make it while holding all her clothes and the dog.
As the boat neared, Holly peered over the side, her eyes wide. “Oh my God, are you all right?”
Lee nudged Holly aside. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m fine. Oliver’s fine.” In fact, the dog seemed to be having a grand time.
“That was amazing.” Holly’s and Milo’s heads reappeared behind Lee. “The way you just flipped right over the edge. One second you were there and the next you were gone. All I saw were your legs disappearing over the side.”
The humor of the situation was not lost on her, and she was certain that, years later when this story was told for the seven thousandth time, she would be laughing at it. She’d probably tell the story herself. This one time when I went camping...Ha. Ha. Ha.
“I’m fine. Get the dog up first before he exhausts himself.”
Mark dropped the short ladder over the side and stepped down far enough into the water that he could grab Oliver around the middle and haul him back up. Holly squealed when he shook off the river water all over the inside of the boat.
Lee leaned far over the side to scoop out her things still floating in the water. “I’m really, really sorry.” There was no hint of the amusement she’d seen from Holly and Mark.
Jason slowly motored his boat near enough that Marisol could call out her concern. When Lee promised she was unharmed, the two of them laughed at her as well.
With a weak smile, Lee said, “Well, at least the water’s not too cold, huh?”
“Actually, it’s quite nice. Why don’t you join me?” She flashed her beauty-queen smile and the tension on his face relaxed. “I know you didn’t do this on purpose. Just get me out of here.”
He helped her up the ladder. Oliver was there to lick the water as it sluiced from her legs and arms. She squeezed water from her hair, which now felt nasty and tangled from the icky lake.
Holly watched in amusement. “Honey, I’m so sorry, but that was funny.”
She laughed and noticed Lee relax further. “Call me Grace.”
Lee very cautiously drove to shore. Mark jumped out and moored the boat, tying the bow to one of the trees. Then, swear to God, Holly slipped over the side and Mark carried her and Milo to the shore. The woman never got wet. Not even a toe.
Screw it. Candace jumped over the side and landed hip deep in water, then slogged herself up to stand next to Holly on the bank. “I hate you,” she told Holly.
Holly put down her dog, who immediately ran off with Oliver to investigate the camp site. She smeared a look of false indignation across her cute features. “These shoes are Giuseppe Zanotti. They were made in Italy, and they do not get wet.”
Candace looked down at the absurd wedge sneakers the girl had on. “You always wear three inch heels camping?”
“I don’t go camping.”
Candace started to giggle. “Those are ridiculous. You understand that right?”
Holly raised an imperious eyebrow. “Ridiculous shoes are my trademark.”
“She likes them ’cause they make her taller.” Marisol squished up. It seemed that she’d been brave enough to jump in the water and wasn’t too concerned about the state of her old canvas tennis shoes.
“No.” Holly grinned and smacked her friend on the arm. “I love my shoes because they’re glorious.” She turned to her husband. “Hey Mark, you love my shoes, right?”
Her husband stopped unloading the boats and gave her his full attention. “Sugarplum, I looove your shoes.”
The look Mark and Holly exchanged was heated. Candace felt a little like she was intruding on something very intimate.
Marisol rolled her eyes. “All right you two, simmer down.”
Holly made a kissy face at her man then turned back to the ladies with a huge, satisfied smile. “That’s why.”
Candace looked to Marisol. “You wanna know why I love her shoes?” Marisol nodded. “’Cause she can’t run in them.”
Holly’s expression was blank for a moment before realization of what Candace intended became clear. “Oh, no.”
She turned and made a valiant effort to escape, but it was useless. Candace caught up with her easily after only two or three strides. She grabbed her and wrapped her in a big, wet, soggy hug. Holly squealed.
“That’s what you get for laughing at me.”
It turned out a lot of her stuff was at the bottom of the lake. Her hairbrush, toothpaste and deodorant were all gone. None of her underwear made it, but her swim suit had. Her shorts and T-shirts were about fifty-fifty. Of course, all of it was sopping wet. Marisol had lent her some clothes, so at least Candace wasn’t chafing anymore. What she had left was hung on a tree branch to dry.
Once everything was unloaded, they got the camp set up. The three tents were pitched in a triangle formation with a good fifteen yards between them—close but private. Lee hung a hammock between two of the cottonwoods and gave her a randy grin. She looked at the rest of their group and shook her head. There was no way she could imagine repea
ting what they’d done before in the hammock with all these people around. He waggled his eyebrows at her. She turned away and wrapped her arms over her erect nipples, the memory of that afternoon making her hot and breathless.
Despite the water-logged beginning, she enjoyed the first day. She napped in the shade, they went swimming with the dogs in the afternoon, and then they ate outrageously excellent steaks cooked by a very talented chef.
In a ring around the fire, they laughed into the night, drinking cold beer and telling stories. Oliver and Milo lay together in a doggy heap, exhausted from so much activity.
Camping might not be so bad. In fact, it might actually be fun. Who the hell would have thought?
* * *
Candy smelled like outdoors with a hint of smoky nature and an undertone of musty lake water. Lee wrapped his arms around her and she leaned her back into his chest. He rasped his day-old beard against the skin of her cheek when he nuzzled her. He pulled her hair to one side and kissed her hairline, making her shiver.
The light of the dying fire didn’t reach all the way to the big chair they were cuddled up in. He slipped his hands under her borrowed T-shirt and released the strings on her bikini top. Her breasts were warm and the nipples were already peaking against his palms. He lifted and fondled each one, gently massaging and pressing her flesh against her chest. He took it as an encouraging sign when she sighed heavily and reclined her head against his shoulder. Copping a feel in the midst of their huddle was a total turn-on and the fact that she allowed it made it that much better.
“Mmm,” she hummed and subtly scooted her butt back into his crotch, where his dick was already hard for her.
As he rubbed her nipples between his thumb and forefinger, he nibbled her earlobe. Pinching a bit harder, he bit the sensitive place where her neck met her shoulder.
She inhaled through clenched teeth. Her hand rubbed up his thigh and she shifted between his legs again.
He sent one hand smoothing down her belly, then tucked his fingers down the front of her shorts. He petted her there for a long teasing moment, stroking her wiry hair. She turned her face and he bent to kiss her, tangling his tongue with hers, stroking in and out, mimicking what he was going to do to her pussy soon. He found her clit and pressed gently with his finger. She jerked against him. When he slid one finger inside her, he found her damp and welcoming.
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