I almost died laughing. “Seriously?”
“—just in case you get bored watching me.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” I said softly, not admitting that watching him was anything but boring, more like consuming to the point of stalking.
“I try,” he said with his back to me. “Give me around ten minutes, and I’ll have things ready to go. Don’t forget you have to help with the campfire hole.”
“How could I? When I’m looking so forward to digging.”
“Yeah, I have a lot of experience with digging myself into holes,” he said, more to himself. But then he snapped out of it and winked. “You good? Need anything else? Oh, final thing, I swear.” He pulled out a patchwork quilt that looked older than dirt and brought it over to me, wrapping it around my body tight.
It might look old, but it smelled like a mixture of fresh detergent and Drew.
I was tempted to steal it later.
Maybe sleep in it naked or just ask to be buried in it.
“I like this blanket.” I hugged it tighter around my body.
Drew’s eyes flashed with an emotion so deep that I almost apologized. “Yeah, my grandma actually made it for me when I went off to my first tour.”
My heart melted. Did he have to be so easy to like? “That had to be the best gift you were ever given.”
His face softened as his voice cracked out. “It was.”
“Are you two close?”
A sad smile was his response. “She died later that year. Cancer.”
“Oh, Drew.” My hand moved to his cheek. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, well…” With a half-shrug, he pulled away and dusted the sand off his jeans. “…I try to think about the fact that she never got to see me go down all the dark roads she warned me about, so her death was a blessing. She would have done more than make me dig holes in the back yard. She would have been… disappointed.”
“You don’t know that,” I whispered. “And we all make mistakes.”
He winced. “Yeah… but some of us… don’t exactly recover from them.” He turned around. “All right, no more sad talk. I have a tent to build.”
“Ever build a tent?” I went with his change of subject.
“Of course, I was a Boy Scout!” he said defensively.
I eyed him up and down with amusement. “I can’t see it.”
“Watch and learn, baby girl, watch and learn.”
My heart pumped way too fast at the cute nickname, damn it. Why was it so impossible not to fall a little bit more each time he opened his mouth?
Weirdly enough, the should-be-spoiled rockstar moved fast. He had the cute blue tent set up in no time. I grinned when he grabbed the shovel and motioned me with his pointer finger.
I looked behind me in mock confusion. “Oh, you mean me?”
“Yes, you.” He laughed and handed me the shovel. “You start.”
“What if I do it wrong?”
“Doubt you do much of anything wrong.” His expression sobered, and I immediately wanted to list all of my sins, so he knew I wasn’t perfect. But it wouldn’t matter if I did because Drew seemed like the sort of guy who was convinced that nobody could be as bad or have as much darkness as he.
It was sad compared to me. I had stolen a candy bar once and had unprotected sex.
He’d probably laugh at the fact that I’d never once smoked pot, or smoked anything, that my only vice was bad TV and a glass of wine, or maybe two if it was a special occasion.
“I wonder,” he whispered, his intense gaze studying my face, “what goes through that head sometimes.”
We are too close.
That was what was going through my head.
The fact that I could see the specks of light blue in his eyes and smell his skin.
I quickly handed him my wine can and then gave him my back and burrowed the shovel into the sand. I dug around until I had a good circle shape and was about to turn around and give him the tool again when I felt both of his hands on my hips, pulling me back against him.
I nearly dropped the shovel in shock at feeling the heat of his body encompass mine from all sides.
He wasn’t just tall; he made me feel small in his arms. He smelled so good I wanted to cry. How was that even physically possible? Was there some secret rockstar cologne they handed out once you had millions of albums sold?
Like “Here, congratulations! You’ve finally hit Sex God status. Wear this cologne wisely!”
He rested his chin on my head as his arms slid around the front of mine, and then he slowly turned me toward the shoreline. The sun had painted the sky in streaks of purples, pinks and oranges as it slid toward the ocean. I’d never paid much attention to sunsets, but the combination of brilliant color in the sky above and intoxicating male behind was showing me what I’d been missing. His body was hot against mine.
“Thought you might want a minute after digging so hard.”
With the sun setting, it should have been growing cooler, right? But here I was, my entire body on fire. “Are you mocking my hyperfocus?” I asked, unable to keep the wobble out of my voice.
Pressed against my back, his chest rumbled with a laugh. “No, actually, you just looked so damn cute and were concentrating so hard that I felt guilty for staring at your ass and decided, rather than staring, I was going to do something about it.”
I frowned. “And what did you do?”
“I’m doing it now,” he rasped, his lips next to my left ear. “I’m holding you and watching the sunset.”
Stiffening, I swallowed hard. “Oh.”
“Don’t get tense.” He continued his assault on my senses as his lips roamed down my neck. “I just want you to enjoy yourself. No pressure. I’m not going to suddenly strip you naked against the sand and propose, all right?”
Though my emotions still churned, I exhaled.
“Plus, I mean, I left the ring at
