Chapter Seventeen

Laia

 

We arrived back in Cobalt by early evening, just as the shadows were getting longer, and the western sky was filled with hot tints of pink and orange. Sleepy birds were twittering in the trees as we skirted around the town, both of us looking the worse for wear.

I assumed we were avoiding people to avoid questions for as long as we could—although I imagined I'd have to deal with Xander at some point.

I was waiting for the waves of embarrassment to come over me at returning less than twenty-four hours later, in tow of the big bear. But there was barely a blip there. I was more relieved than anything, and I smiled as we walked down the path to Rett’s.

“You’d never know you were out in the woods all night,” Rett mused. I dropped my eyes from the sky to his blue eyes, and my heart bumped against my ribs. He was giving me a conspiratorial smile: the smile of two kids who'd gotten away with something. “How?”

I looked down at myself, still wearing his flannel shirt, although now it was unbuttoned and open onto a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of black athletic pants. "Nice try. I've been wearing this for almost a day and a half. And I can't imagine what kinds of birds are roosting in my hair."

Rett reached over and tugged on a loose strand, then tucked it behind my ear. His callused fingers briefly touched the top curve. I tried to appear nonchalant. But cascades of sparks ran up and down my skin, then swirled around my spine.

You came after me. You found me. You care.

All day long, there’d been brief bursts of sweetness like this. A brush of our fingers. A bump of our shoulders. Any small excuse or reason to touch me. Or so it seemed. I couldn’t be sure that this wasn’t all in my head, since I was clearly more than a little infatuated with him. Then he’d give me a Rett Deacon smile, and I’d pretend it was just for me.

“No birds,” Rett said, and it took me several seconds to realize what he was talking about.

Feeling like this particular moment had the potential to liquefy me, I hastily said, “Well, the same could be said for you. I mean, you can tell you were out in the woods, but, if anything, it ups your game.” It was true—his heavier scruff, dirty boots, and wrinkled clothes gave him a woodsy, mysterious edge. “Distinctly unfair, Deacon.”

“Ups my game?” Rett asked, eyes dancing with mischief.

“You know what I mean,” I said.

“No, I think you should clarify, point by point,” Rett responded. “A busy guy like me could use the advice.” Now I was going hot all over, and he was grinning. “You’re saying I should forget all about clean-cut and go straight for dirty?”

An image of Rett, shirtless, sweat-streaked, and covered in strategically placed dirt, hit me as though the bastard had planted it there. It made kindling of my brain, and I nodded, biting my lip as I fleetingly glanced at his. Framed by black scruff, deliciously sculpted, his lips were full and soft. There was a small scar in the corner of his lower lip.

Now I was caught in a tangle of half-formed daydreams about those lips and that shirtless chest, pressing against me, laughing and devouring.

I shivered, and suddenly a big arm came around me. “Cold?”

Swallowing a squeak, I shook my head and barely glanced up at him. “No, just a chill.”

It was such a casual, unconcerned gesture on Rett’s part, I immediately gave in to it. Besides, I liked the hard press of his obliques into my side, the heavy weight of his arm, and just the fact that he’d done it. The woman who ended up with him would be the luckiest woman alive.

I hated her with every fiber of my being.

All down the path to his house, Rett kept his arm around me, and I desperately wanted to put my arm around his waist, but I sternly told myself to keep my heart in check. It had been running amok, and I needed to get a grip on myself. Even for a Llary, I was acting outrageously.

Coming up on the house, I felt a flutter in my stomach, a mix of nostalgia, longing, and elusive joy, along with a pinch of self-pity. If I’d been a damn adult, none of this would’ve happened.

“Kind of nice to get away so we could come back,” Rett said with genuine cheerfulness.

If I thought I’d wanted to kiss him earlier, now it was so bad I had to clamp my arms around my waist and take several deep breaths. “Happy to be of service,” I murmured.

“I mean it, Laia,” Rett said as we continued on, and his big hand cupped my shoulder. I almost broke out into a cold sweat. Part of me wanted to pull away, but a hungrier part of me wanted more. “I was getting mossy with all that paperwork. Hadn’t been out in the woods like that in about a month.” He grinned. “I’m a bear; I need to get away from civilization, or I lose it.”

“This is civilization?” I asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” he said and let me go. I almost stumbled with the loss. Rett stretched his arms overhead and headed around the side of the house. “Need to get into nature, let the wild side out.”

“Rett, you couldn’t ask for a more nature-oriented place to live,” I said.

"I beg to disagree," he said and tossed the packs against the back door. "Where's that hose?"

Suddenly, he stripped off his shirt, leaving him in nothing but camo pants and boots. I froze, watching him rummage through a tool chest and trying to understand what was happening.

“Wh-what are you doing?” I stammered and whipped my gaze away as he stood up.

“Gonna hose off out here,” Rett said absently. “Wash these boots, the packs, me.”

Rett, naked in the woods, under a hose, rubbing away the dirt with one big hand…

“What, we can—I mean, you go shower first, and I’ll clean off the packs,” I said and folded my arms. “It’s the least I can do after the trouble I’ve caused.”

“I hose off out here all the time,” Rett said. “I like cold water.”

“Yes, in the outside shower,” I said, now aware of its existence underneath the porch. “Why not use that?”

“Still need the hose,” he said. “Gotta clean this stuff. I gave Kal my usual one, so now I have to find the spare.”

“What if someone comes by?” I demanded.

“I’d hear them,” he said, and his gaze caught mine, growing mischievous. “What’s the matter? Oh, you wanna stay out here and help?”

“No,” I said, my face heating up and feeling irritated at his borderline flirting that wasn’t flirting but that made me think he was flirting. “But I’ll help you find the hose. I think I saw one in the shed.”

“Okay, I’ll look in the back, and you go there,” he said and strode off.

Shaking my head, wondering at the convolutions of this day, I went to the shed. It was big and packed with random things like a wheelbarrow, chairs, and buckets. On a shelf, I found the green hose and lugged it off, tossing it over my shoulder. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to hose off these boots, as they were caked in mud from the rain.

“Rett, I found it,” I called out.

He reappeared, grinning, with one of his own. “Looks like I had two extra. Will you put that one back?”

I sighed and traipsed back to the shed, stashing it on a shelf. When I came back out, Rett had connected the other to a spigot on the side of the house and spun it on. There was a creak and a splutter as the water gushed out. He lifted it and pressed his thumb on the end, creating a fan of water. Then he spotted me and grinned.

“Rett, don’t you—” I jumped back as a fine mist of water sprinkled over me. “Hilarious.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he said and smothered a grin. Then he frowned and nodded beyond me. “You didn’t shut the shed door.”

“What?” I asked and spun around. “Yes, I—”

The words were cut off as I yelped. A jet of water soaked my backside, and I ran, while Rett howled with laughter.

“Rett Deacon, you…” I shrugged off the sopping flannel and held it up. “This is your shirt.”

“Worth it,” he said and flicked another fan of water at me. I danced back and glared at him. “I’ll stop, I promise.”

Squinting at him, I edged a little closer, keeping an eye on that damn hose. He flicked it up faster than my eyes could follow it, and my entire side was sprayed down.

“Rett—Rett!” I shrieked and ran backward, slipping in my stupid boots. “Stop!”

“Payback for taking off.”

“I thought we were cool,” I shouted and ducked behind a tree.

“Now we are.”

Pressing my back against the tree, I didn’t believe that for a second. Instead, I leaned down and stripped off my boots. It took me a few tries because the laces were stiff with mud. Poking my head back around, I saw that he was unconcernedly washing off his own.

I’d have to make a run for it.

Clutching a boot in each hand, I sprinted across the lawn, and he swung the hose around. I lobbed one boot, which he dodged, but the other caught his thigh. He let out a bark of laughter and pain, dropping the hose.

Suddenly, my feet changed trajectory, and I sprinted towards him, reaching for the hose. Rett snatched it up when I was only a foot away and turned it on me, hosing me down from head to toe.

Growling, laughing, and gasping for breath, I fought through it and grabbed his wrists, trying to turn it on him, but he just sprayed the top of my head.

“You are so going to pay for that,” I panted, trying to blink through the water.

Rett was laughing so hard, he couldn’t even respond. However, that was his downfall, as his grip loosened, and I got it away. Finally. I sprayed him straight in the face. Holding up his hands, Rett backed away, and I chased him down, soaking him as thoroughly as he had soaked me.

Breathless, I stopped and pushed back my wet hair when Rett lunged for the hose again. We grappled for a few seconds until he got it and sprayed me. When I went running, his arm looped around my waist, and he sprayed me down as I shrieked and squirmed.

“You win, you win,” I gasped out, and he stopped, gently putting me down. I stepped away, watching him as I brushed the hair out of my face. He was grinning from ear to ear. “What the hell got into you, you lunatic?”

“Aw, I’m just messin’ around,” he said and shook the water from his hair.

This was the happiest I’d ever seen Rett, and my heart was throbbing in my chest at it. Thank God he’d found me. If I’d missed this…I mean, I almost wanted to grab the hose and have another water fight. Water droplets winked across his bare skin, and he cocked his head.

“Why are you staring at me?” His smile became devilish, and he smoothed one hand over his hair. “Ah, wait, I think I know the reason.”

“I’m just trying to figure out why you’re so happy.” The second I said it, Rett blinked, and I rushed to add, “I mean, you’re pretty goofy for someone who had to traipse all through the woods and mountains last night and today…”

Why are you ruining this moment, you idiot? I screamed at myself.

Rett’s brow furrowed. “I told you, I like doing that. Lettin’ the wild side out.”

“Right,” I said. Internally, I told my feet to move, but I was frozen. “Okay, well.”

“I don’t know, Laia,” Rett said and gripped the back of his neck, glancing towards the bay. “I think I’m happy nothing happened to you, you know? You’re back home, and you’re okay.” His eyes met mine, and I was downright giddy. “And you finally trust me—a full one hundred percent.”

“Um,” I said. “Not after drenching me with the hose, bear boy.”

Rett’s hand fell, and he gave me a wounded look. “I lost points? How do I get them back?”

I shrugged. “Remains to be seen if you can.”

A smile played around Rett’s lips, and he glanced down at the hose. “Well, if I’m already down…”

I grabbed his wrist. “Don’t you dare.”

Rett’s other hand seized mine, and suddenly his fingers were locked against mine. He pressed down, and I pushed back, but he didn’t even budge.

“Are you even trying?” he asked, leaning in and giving me one of those damn smiles.

I slipped and almost went down, but Rett caught me, one big hand on my back. My hands were gripping his biceps, his bare skin warm under my fingertips. Almost nose to nose, there was nothing but the sky and Rett over me. A pale wash of blue filled with fading light and feathers of golden clouds. In contrast, Rett’s eyes, this close, were a far deeper and richer blue than any sky.

My heart seized with a bubbling kind of hysteria. He was going to see right through me.

Then I blinked. The blue of his eyes was burning, piercing through me with both longing and softness. I almost thought I was imagining things, but it was all there.

No one had ever looked at me like that.

Somehow, my hand found his cheek, and Rett’s eyes closed as he let out a ragged breath. Slowly, he pulled us upright, and I watched as his eyes slowly reopened.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured. “That’s why I’m actin’ like this.” His throat worked. “Dammit, Laia, I didn’t know I could be this happy.”

“Me neither,” I said.

“I…”

My body knew what to do, arching into him and rising on my tiptoes.

But my mind wasn’t there yet.

Not until our lips crashed together.