“This is your family’s camp?” she asked. She shouldn’t be surprised, but of course she was. She was expecting some small little cabin, not some brand new house that was bigger than most of them in the developments Chapman’s owned.
“Yeah,” he said. “Why?”
“I was expecting something older.”
“It’s twelve years old. My parents built it. Or rather Chapman Construction did. They wanted a place they could retire to, but they barely spend much time here.”
“Could they live here all year round?”
“Yeah. Lake George is a great lake and it’s a nice tourist area. But they don’t end up coming here often. Neither do Rachel and I.”
“You guys are nuts, this is beautiful. I’d love to live here.”
All she could see was how much fun Angie would have here. She’d have to be careful and not let anything like that slip. It was bad enough she’d let Reed talk her into bringing Mutt along tonight so he could try to “convince” her to spend the night and not worry about the dog.
She told him she’d play it all by ear, but had to be home by no later than eleven and prayed that Jack didn’t call with a problem regarding Angie. She actually hoped Angie was staying with her grandparents tonight, as they were more equipped on handling a child. Too bad they didn’t do so well with their own son.
“It’s not a fun commute to work,” he said, turning his head to smile at her. He’d been doing that a lot more lately. Giving her looks that could be interpreted as something more along the lines of lovers who felt something for each other than friends that just wanted some nookie.
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as they walked to the front door. “Not every day, but in the summer it might be worth it.”
“I work a lot more in the summer than I do in the winter. I guess the planning of it wasn’t so great, but my father doesn’t necessarily work full time anymore. My parents do spend long weekends here. My mother doesn’t like to stay alone.”
“What’s your mother like?” she asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“I know your father. He’s even talked to me.”
“What? When?”
She laughed at the look on his face. He’d been in the process of unlocking the door and had just frozen on her. “Why do you look so stunned? It was a few weeks ago. Closer to a month actually. After I was your wingman at that party.”
“Oh,” he said. “What did he have to say?”
The door was unlocked and Mutt took off running when it was pushed open before she could grab him. “Crap.” She set her bag down and tried to catch him.
“Don’t worry. He’ll be fine. My parents have a dog too. Back to my question. What did my father say to you?”
“Nothing much other than you didn’t have a lot of friends.”
“I’ve got plenty of friends,” Reed said, outraged.
“I think he meant women friends.”
“In that case. Nope. You’re it.”
She wasn’t sure how to process what he’d said, but then realized she didn’t really have any guy friends either. Like her brothers used to tell her, “no guy really wants to just be your friend, that’s only their way to get in your pants.” She should have remembered that advice when it came to Reed.
Then again, he’d been pretty upfront about it. Or after their first date he’d been upfront.
Since she was so interested in getting in his pants too, she really couldn’t fault him and wondered now if it held true for women.
“So what are we going to do here?” she asked.
“Go out on the boat of course.”
“Of course,” she said with an eye roll that caused him to yank her in and hold her tight, his lips searching hers and branding her like only he knew how.
“Or we can find something else to do,” he said, his lips moving over her neck and to her earlobe now. He sure had magical lips!
“We’ll be doing plenty of that, but even I have my limits on the amount and we’ll be here for a bit. I’d like to check out the lake.”
“You’re no fun,” he said, pulling back and running his finger down her nose. Those moves again, playful ones that friends didn’t share.
“I can be fun.” She reached forward and cupped what was already growing in his pants. “But I’d prefer to make you wait for it a bit. Maybe prance around in my bathing suit first?”
“I can get on board with that,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the stairs. “Let’s go get changed right now.”
Her head was swiveling left and right trying to take in her surroundings, but he wasn’t letting her. She’d have a better chance later to look around some more.
“Is this your parents’ room?” she asked, not feeling really comfortable about that.
“Of course not. They’ve got the master. This is my room and Rachel’s is next door, we share a Jack and Jill bathroom between us. There are two other bedrooms and a hall bath on the other side.”
“Why so many rooms?” she asked. This house was bigger than she originally thought.
“My parents like to entertain and people often stay with them here. It gives everyone the needed space and privacy.”
“We had three bedrooms in our house growing up and one and a half baths. I don’t have a clue about privacy or space.”
She hadn’t meant to say that, to remind him again that she came from so little and he had so much. It was something Jack threw in her face all the time, calling her a gold digger that had gotten pregnant on purpose. There was no amount of convincing him that it was the last thing she’d planned in her life.
“Well, you’ve got plenty of privacy now since it’s just you and Mutt. Why don’t you hurry up and strip for me?”
She laughed and pushed aside the guilt that now might be the time to say it’s not just her and Mutt, but then told herself that Angie had nothing to do with what the two of them had right here and right now.
Once they were both changed into their bathing suits, Reed asked, “How do you think Mutt will be on the boat?”
“Only one way to find out. He’s barely a year old and I’m pretty sure the shelter he came from didn’t lean toward boat trips.”
“Very true. I’m willing to bet this isn’t the first time you’ve been on a boat since you lived in Miami.”
“I’ve been on one a time or two.” She let it go at that. No need to say she’d been on boats when she was partying. The last one was the one Jack rented and wined and dined her on during their brief relationship.
She and Reed drove around the lake for hours, Taylor moving around the large speedboat from sitting on the front bow to reclining in the back with Mutt with his borrowed doggie life vest on. At one point, she said, “Don’t get too used to this, Mutt. It’s not in the budget for us.”
Reed was several feet away steering the boat and hadn’t heard. She could get used to this too but told herself that things like this didn’t happen in her life. She knew that by now.