Falling for the Groomsman (Wedding Dare #1)(27)
Author: Diane Alberts

He averted his eyes. “Do you…date much?”

“Not really.” More like, hardly ever. None of the men she met interested her. Not like him. She bit her tongue. “Just here and there. Like I said, not much going on in the love department for me.”

He flexed his jaw. “I’m not going to lie. I like that answer, for selfish reasons. I don’t like sharing what’s mine.”

“I’m not yours.” She laughed. “I haven’t seen you in years.”

“I know that all too well.” He glanced down at the forest floor, his shoulders tense. “I hear you have a new roommate now that Kady’s with Colt?”

“Yeah. She’s awful.” She hesitated. “I don’t know why I followed Kady out here in the first place, besides out of habit, but it’s time to live alone. To have my own place. I already told my roommate I was leaving once I get back.”

She declined to mention the fact that she was moving to Maine, but it didn’t matter anyway. It didn’t change a thing between them at all.

“Is this the first time you’ll be alone?”

“Yeah.” She glanced away, her cheeks heating. “At first I didn’t want to live by myself because it made me miss my parents too much. I got used to having Kady around, so we moved in together out of college, too. But now…”

“She’s getting married.”

“Yeah.” She lifted a hand and let it fall back to her lap. “And I’m stuck with the roommate from hell. She hasn’t paid her portion of the electric bill in three months. And she took my favorite nail polish, and denied it.”

He leaned closer and closed his fingers over hers, squeezing. “She sounds like pure evil.”

“She really is,” she said, laughing. “It’s time for me to go it alone, for once. I didn’t think I would be, but I’m excited.”

His eyes latched onto hers, understanding shining from within their green depths. “I definitely get that, more than you’d think. It’s why I left the States. I needed to be on my own. Have no one waiting on me…needing me…you know? Be free.”

“I know.” She met his eyes and held her breath. “I get it.”

And she totally did.

He held her gaze, neither one of them moving for a while. “Good.”

She knew what just happened there. She hadn’t misunderstood the weight behind those words. He’d been explaining why he left, and she really did get it. They’d been so young back then. What had she expected from him? A proposal?

That would have been a disaster.

He looked down at his lap before handing her a protein bar. Once she took it, he stood up and stalked toward the shadows with a flashlight in his hand. “Stay there. I’ll be right back.”

Her heart faltered. “Where are you going?”

“To collect firewood.”

As he disappeared into the shadows, she nibbled on the protein bar. He’d left four on the sleeping bag, but she planned on eating one. He needed to eat, too, and who knew how long it would take for them to find their way back to the resort? No matter how hungry she was she had to control her portions as best as possible.

As the time passed, and she was left feeling even more alone than when she’d been in the trees, she fidgeted with the empty wrapper. Tyler’s backpack rested a few feet away, so she dragged it over and pulled out the other flashlight. After turning it on, she shone it into the shadows to search for any signs of movement. Nothing.

No bears. No wolves. No bigfoot. He lived in the forest, right? At least she didn’t have to worry about the abominable snowman or the Loch Ness monster.

Her heart sped up with each passing minute, but she didn’t know what she was worried for. It’s not like Tyler would leave her out here alone to die or something. But…he could have fallen down a cliff or gotten eaten by a bear…

Why did all of her thoughts end with someone getting eaten by a bear?

She swallowed the rising panic and shone the flashlight into the backpack. What else was in his bag, anyway? That’s just the distraction she needed. Placing the flashlight in between her teeth, she dug around a little bit. There was a handful of condoms in blue wrappers, a few more protein bars, a thermos, and…a bottle of vodka.

Damn, he’d been holding out on her. She pulled out the liquor and undid the lid. This should warm her right up. As she lifted it to her lips, a twig snapped behind her.

She spun and shone the flashlight in that direction—right into Tyler’s eyes. He flinched and squeezed them shut. “Jesus, Christine. Can you remove the spotlight, please? I can’t see a damn thing with that shining in my eyes.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She shone the flashlight toward the middle of the clearing instead, watching as he made his way there and arranged the logs and sticks in his hands. “So…vodka and condoms. Is that standard Boy Scout fare?”

“No.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “I’d been planning on maybe camping out here today. The vodka was my company.”

Interesting. “And the condoms…?”

“Left over from an excursion in Africa.” When she opened her mouth, he held up a hand. “No, not an orgy. I was giving them out to teenagers to try to help prevent the spread of STDs. That’s all.”

“Hmm.” Every time he told her something he did, she admired him more. She lifted the bottle to her mouth and took a tentative sip. “How long were you in Africa?”

“A year.” He looked up at her. “Then I went to Brazil for six months. I just came back from there.”

“Business or pleasure?”

He set twigs up on the ground. “Business. Always business. But I tend to stay in whatever country I’m in for a week after my assignment is over for pleasure.”

Jealousy hit her with its big, ugly, sharp green nails. “What kind of pleasure? Do you have a woman in love with you in every country?”

He snorted. “No.”

“Then what do you do?”

“Skydive. Bungee jump. Hike.” He glanced her way. She wished she could make out his expression. “Basically, if it can kill me? I love doing it. Probably why I’m addicted to you.”

She swallowed hard. Jeez, maybe now she preferred him sleeping his way around the freaking world. At least it wouldn’t kill him. Time to change the subject. What had they been talking about? Oh. Right. His alone time in the woods. “Sorry I interrupted your man time.”