She didn’t wait for his reaction. She couldn’t. The only people who knew about her father’s betrayal were her mother and her godmother, Rosemary. She had never told anyone, and she’d never intended on sharing anything so personal with this jerk.
She stormed past him into the woods. She needed to get away. Her body itched, and it wasn’t just a reaction to Nick. The mosquitos loved her. She brushed violently at her limbs, trying to stop them from feasting on her flesh. Nick needling her about having some perfect life and the bugs biting at her skin and buzzing in her ear was too much. She stopped and ran her hands through her hair.
“Hey,” Nick said. He rested his hand on her shoulder. “They bite you because you’re so sweet.”
Lindsey kept her back to him.
Nick released his grip and took a step closer. Twigs and bits of dirt and rock rustled beneath his feet as he slipped something over her shoulders.
“Wear this. At least it’ll keep the bugs from going at your arms.”
It was the flannel shirt he kept tied around his waist. She stiffened, but not because her body didn’t welcome his touch, but because it did. The flannel smelled of him. Not quite a man, but definitely not a boy. Hints of sandalwood, night air and endless sky. His scent was that terrifying intake of breath before jumping off a precipice into the great unknown.
She faced him. “What if you get cold?” she asked. But she was already pulling her arms through the sleeves.
He leaned in and pressed a finger to her lips. They were almost eye to eye, gazes locked. Nick cocked his head to the side, removed his finger, and gestured to his ear.
“Listen,” he mouthed.
“What is it?” Lindsey hadn’t heard anything. Could it be an animal? She hadn’t even considered that they would encounter wildlife prowling around in addition to preteens.
Nick pressed an index finger to his lips. She nodded. His hand fell to his side, but it didn’t stay there. The breath caught in her throat as a hand, Nick’s hand, solid and warm, wrapped around hers. Without a second thought, she tightened her grip, and their fingers laced together like corset strings pulled tight. He guided her deeper into the woods then stopped and gestured toward his ear again. Lindsey tried to figure out what Nick was hearing.
There was nothing quiet about the Ozarks at night. In the darkness, the forest was alive with activity. Between her heart beating like a drum as a result of Nick’s touch and the chatter of nocturnal creatures, she had almost missed it. Voices, low, but clear once she was able to factor out the nightscape of sound.
Lindsey gave Nick’s hand a quick squeeze and motioned for him to come close. “I think it’s Rachel and Rory.”
They followed the voices to a small clearing. They were close to the edge of the bluff. The gentle gurgle and splash of the water down below muffled Rory and Rachel’s words, only allowing Lindsey to catch bits of their conversation. The pair sat on a large, flat boulder facing the lake. Her head rested on his shoulder.
Lindsey met Nick’s gaze. “It looks like they’re just talking.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, but they shouldn’t be out here alone, especially this close to the edge.”
“I don’t want to embarrass them.”
“We won’t,” Nick whispered. He released her hand and retrieved something from the ground.
He held up a stone. “This should spook them enough to send them running back to the cabins.”
Nick threw the stone, and it landed with a hard crack against Rachel and Rory’s rock. The preteens sprang up, their heads turning back and forth. They slid off the rock and Rory took Rachel’s hand as they ran back toward the cabins.
Lindsey watched their clasped hands until the pair faded into the night. She flexed her fingers. They missed Nick’s touch. She missed Nick’s touch.
Nick shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Sorry about…” His gaze dropped to her hand. “I didn’t want you to trip on anything out here. I’m used to running wild in the woods. I used to do it all the time when I was younger.”
“It’s okay,” she said, the buzz of his touch still dancing on her fingertips.
Nick gestured toward Rory and Rachel’s rock. “Do you want to sit?”
“You don’t think we should make sure they made it back?”
“Nah, Rory’s a good kid. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Rachel. I’m ninety-nine percent sure they’re climbing back into their cots right now.”
Lindsey nodded and took Rachel’s spot. Nick took Rory’s.
Nick rubbed his hands on his thighs then let them rest on his kneecaps. Lindsey gazed out onto the water, but she could still see Nick from the corner of her eye. He rocked forward, fidgeting. She had never seen him like this, edgy, off-kilter. Bathed in moonlight and surrounded by water and wood, his aloof, unconcerned disposition faded.
“I’m sorry,” Nick said. His voice was low, gaze trained on the water.
“About what?”
“I shouldn’t have come at you like that. I didn’t know about your dad.”
“It’s okay.”
Nick shifted on the rock, and his hand rested next to hers. “Did you ever think that your dad’s doing you a favor?”
“By cheating on my mom and leaving us?”
Nick angled his body toward her. He rested his hand on top of hers. “No, that part is unforgivable. I just mean, it might be better not to have somebody living with you that would treat you so badly.”
She had never thought of her situation like that. Since her father left, she’d been mourning the good times. The trips to Acadia National Park. Watching the windjammers sail into Boothbay Harbor. But those happy memories were from when she was a little girl. The father she had known for the last several years had stopped taking her camping. He didn’t ask about her day anymore. He didn’t offer to join her in their basement’s makeshift darkroom while she processed black and white prints. He wasn’t around much at all. She and her mother had settled into a routine that treated her father more like a guest in their lives than a part of it.
“Maybe you’re right, but I can’t stop wondering why I wasn’t enough. Why my mom wasn’t enough. What did we do? What didn’t we do?” She took a breath. The words were coming faster. “My dad hasn’t called me once since he left. My mom sent me to Langley Park for the summer so that she could sell our house in Camden. She wants to start over someplace new.”
Nick’s hand engulfed hers, and he ran his thumb along her knuckles. The warmth of his touch sent a rush of heat to her core. A tangle of pain and lust welled in her chest. She swallowed, unsure of how to interpret the hot current of emotions coursing through her veins.
He met her gaze. “How do you do it? All that bullshit and you’re still singing with the kids, laughing and cheering them on day after day.”
He wasn’t trying to smooth over her pain or round out its jagged edges. She felt naked, her soul bared to this boy who, only hours ago, she had thought was a selfish prick.
She parted her lips to speak, but the words weren’t there. Her entire universe centered around this moment. The ribbons of water caressing the side of the bluff. The hum of insects. And Nick Kincade, looking at her like she made up the entirety of his universe.
“I want to kiss you,” he said on an exhale of breath. “Not because you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, but because, despite all you’re going through, you’re still such a good, kind person. And your eyes, all I can see in them is strength.”
She nodded. It was a subtle movement that would have been lost to anyone else but not Nick. He tightened his hold on her hand and laced their fingers together. She’d held hands with boys back home. Those experiences were clammy, awkward exchanges that never set her body aflame. Nick’s solid grip wasn’t like anything she’d ever known. It was like being anchored in a safe harbor, tethered together with an unbreakable bond. His other hand found her face, and he drew his thumb back and forth across her jawline as his lips hovered a fraction above hers. The ai
r stilled, and the chorus of lake water and wildlife quieted like nature itself was wrapped in this moment.
“Kiss me, Nick,” she whispered.
He released a sound, something between a growl and a sigh of relief, and his lips met hers. Nick’s breath was sweet and warm as he pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. Lindsey gasped, and he drew the tip of his tongue across the seam of her lips. His hand shifted into her hair, and he captured her mouth, their tongues meeting in a clash of heat and desire.
After what seemed like minutes or maybe hours, Nick pulled back and ran his finger along her bottom lip. “Lindsey,” he sighed. “I never want to stop kissing you.”
She smiled and kissed his fingertip. She couldn’t answer, not with words. He tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her again. Warm and urgent, his mouth claimed hers, and all she could do was fall deeper and deeper into this forbidden place where only she and Nick existed.
Nick looked across the dining hall and into the kitchen. The second day at Camp Clem was the first day he had known real joy in a very long time. Lindsey had worn his flannel shirt around her waist all day. The red plaid sleeves tied in a knot swayed with her every move, and he’d probably watched every step she’d taken. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Her smile was sunshine. Her blue-green eyes were the magical place where the sky met the earth.
It was the same drill as last night. Langley Park did the dinner dishes—which they had learned wasn’t a bad gig. One camp group had compost and recycling. Another, latrine duty. Compared to those camp chores, he’d gladly bus tables.
Lindsey’s back was to him. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that swished side to side as she sang and dried dishes with the campers. She must have sensed him watching her. She looked over her shoulder and met his gaze.
Holy fuck, he wanted to kiss her again.
They had been together all day, but he couldn’t touch her. Not surrounded by twenty bouncing, rambunctious kids. And speaking of campers, his boys seemed to sense the shift in his energy. He’d hardly known a second’s peace without one of his campers vying for his attention. But instead of ignoring the boys like he usually did, he laughed with them. He listened to their stories. He guided them attentively through the zip line course. He even sang along with that fucking, stupid fruit song and loved every minute of it.
“We better head up to the field,” he called out and gestured to his watch. “It’s almost time for capture the flag.”
Lindsey nodded and dismissed the campers from dish duty. They joined the others in the dining hall, and twenty Langley Park twelve-year-olds ran out the door and up the hill. Nick waited at the door for Lindsey. His chest tightened just looking at her.
Last night, after their first kiss on the rock, he had walked her back to Becky Cabin, but he was too amped up to go to sleep. He took a few laps around the camp then stopped at the garden. Flowers were never his thing. But the sunflowers, growing in a tangled cluster along the far corner, caught his eye. Even in the dark, he could make out the golden petals—delicate, yet so strong. He found a small one, clipped it with his pocket knife, and left it tucked in the window screen next to where Lindsey’s cot was pressed up against the side of the cabin. She had found it, but she hadn’t said a word about it. Instead, she’d tucked the stem into her hair near the top of her ponytail. Every time he caught a glimpse of it, he smiled. The yellow blossom was a constant reminder that their kiss had meant as much to her as it did to him.
She met him at the door. “I hope you’re better at capture the flag than I am.”
“I may have a few tricks up my sleeve,” he replied, falling into step with her. He had to be at least a foot taller than she was, but their bodies easily slipped into a comfortable rhythm. He looked down at the sunflower in her hair and let his fingertips glide past the ends of her ponytail. Her soft chestnut-brown hair glowed a subtle auburn hue in the late day summer sun.
The children gathered on the field. Nick whistled and called them over. He knelt down and retrieved a folded piece of paper from his pocket. During his time walking the camp last night, he had paid a special visit to the grounds used for playing capture the flag.
Twenty campers huddled around him. Lindsey stood behind them. He glanced up and met her gaze, and she gave him a little wink as Rory’s voice cut into their exchange.
“Mr. Nick, do you have a plan?”
Nick shifted his gaze away from Lindsey and nodded. “I sure do guys. Remember, yesterday didn’t count. Put that loss behind you. Today, we are going to rule the field.”
The campers were still for a second before a chorus of whoops and cheers broke out.
“Okay! Settle down. It’s time to focus.” Nick retrieved the folded sheet of paper from his cargo shorts. “We’ve got offensive and defensive positions. We also need people on the jail, and we need people to guard the flag.” He looked around at the group. “On offense: Rory, Rachel, Gavin, Meghan with an H, Hannah with an H, Jacob, and Tyler.” He met each child’s gaze as he called their name. “Never run in a straight line. Always zigzag back and forth. And no hogging the flag. Pass it off if you’ve got somebody hot on your tail. We’re a team. We play as a team. We win as a team.”
The kids nodded.
“Defense: Christine, Justin, Billy, Heather, Alex, and Megan. Spread out. Tag as many of the opposing team’s offense as you can.” Nick focused on the remaining campers. “Kayla, Joey, and Taylor, you guard the jail. Brandon, Hanna, Heather, and Austin, you guys guard the flag. But don’t get too close to it. We don’t want to give away the location. I’ve marked the perfect place for it on the map.” He held up the piece of paper, and the kids leaned in to see.
Nick glanced up to see Lindsey’s eyebrows raised in amazement.
“Okay, Team Langley Park. Miss Lindsey is going to stick with the defense, and I’m going to stick with the offense. Don’t worry if you didn’t get the position you wanted. We’ll rotate through. Everybody good?”
The kids nodded. Their expressions were as serious as a Seal Team before deployment.
Nick stood and clapped his hands. “Let’s go!”
The kids took off, and Nick walked over to Lindsey.
“You didn’t think I knew their names, did you?” he asked with a teasing smile.
“My godmother was right.”
“Right about what?”
“Nick Kincade really is a prickly pear after all.”
He had no idea what she meant, and his expression must have shown it.
Lindsey laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s a good thing. Now go catch up with the kids! We’ve got a game of capture the flag to win.”
4
“And then, Mr. Nick, remember when Hannah with an H tossed the flag to Meghan with an H, and she ran it in?”
Nick ruffled his camper’s hair playfully. “Dude! Tyler! I was right there. It was awesome!”
“The girls are pretty badass,” Tyler said, then turned crimson and gave Nick a panicked look.
“Just don’t say badass around your parents and teachers, and you’ll be fine—and don’t drop the cookies. Come on, fellas, let’s bring up the rear,” Nick called back to his campers who were carrying an assortment of drinks and snacks.
Team Langley Park cleaned up in capture the flag. They won every game that night and learned winning had its perks. As the top team, they were allowed to pick up snacks from the dining hall to be eaten in their cabins after lights out. His boys’ arms were filled with jugs of bug juice, cookies, graham crackers, Chex mix, Hershey bars, and marshmallows. He was in such a good mood he didn’t even give Austin shit when the kid grabbed a bag of rice cakes.
“Do we get to eat with the girls?” Rory asked, jogging a few steps to catch up.
“Sorry, buddy. Girls stay in their cabin, and we stay in ours. Camp Clem rules.”
The director shared this rule with him not once, but six times, before they’d even filled the pitchers with the super-sweet Kool-Aid concoction.
“Of course, you don’t. Rachel’s there,” Tyler said, making obnoxious kissing noises.
“Shut up, Tyler. You’ve been staring at Hannah with an H all day,” Rory shot back and added his own barrage of over exaggerated kissing sounds.
“Guys, we’re all going to drop off the snacks. But no messing around. You heard the director. We have to stay in our cabins.” Nick put a hand on Rory’s shoulder and dropped his voice to a whisper. “I’ll send you over to Becky Cabin to collect the empty pitchers to bring back to the dining hall.”
Rory beamed. “Thanks, Mr. Nick.”
The sound of girls singing met them as they made the last turn toward their cluster of cabins.
“Is that…” one of the campers asked but trailed off.
Becky Cabin glowed like a beacon. Girls sang into hairbrushes and danced in groups of three and four to a bubblegum, boy band beat.
Nick and his ten campers stopped, slack-jawed and frozen in place. It was like something from a Disney movie. The girls were twirling and singing their hearts out. Lindsey was in the middle of the pack, standing on a cot, hips swaying, head tossed back, laughing. That’s when he felt it. The final click of his heart being set free. He had locked it away behind layer upon layer of anger, powerlessness, and pain. And now it belonged to her.
The music stopped, and the girls of Becky Cabin stared out at the boys.
Lindsey smiled and jumped off the cot. She turned to her campers. “Girls, if there’s one thing I want you to remember from our time at Camp Clem, it’s that you never stop dancing. Not for a boy. Not for anyone. And when you meet the right person, they’ll love you for just that reason.” She pressed a button on the little radio, and a Britney Spears tune filled the night air. The girls stared at the boys and then back at Lindsey, who was already moving to the beat. An invisible rush of energy surged through the cabin, and the preteens threw their hands in the air, twirling and singing at the top of their lungs in a wave of near-tangible girl power.
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 54
