Chapter 4
Audrey woke to birdsong.
Bird song?
She rolled over, instantly regretting it as her legs screamed. Cracking one eye, she scanned the wooden walls and screen covered windows. Windows that were open to the cool, early morning air. It was a cabin, and she was at camp.
Sam sat up on the bed across the way, a book propped on her knees, reading glasses sliding down her nose as she looked over at Audrey. “Who is he?”
“Who’s who?” Dear God, she wanted coffee like she wanted her next breath. But coffee was at the lodge, which required walking, which required she do her morning PT so that she could actually use her legs. Damn it.
“The mystery guy who carried you off last night.”
Hudson.
Sam set the book aside. “I mean, way to go for getting right on out there. But who is he?”
“It’s not like that.” Not in real life anyway. But the snatches of dreams she remembered said otherwise. “I spent too long sitting yesterday, and I was having trouble walking.”
Sam’s amusement instantly faded. “You okay?”
Audrey covered her eyes with her forearm. “Just embarrassed. Hudson overreacted.”
“I saw him carrying you when I was on my way to the campfire—we have to go tonight. You’re gonna love the s’mores. I thought you were going off to have a romantic tryst.”
Audrey flipped the covers back and began to push through the stiffness and pain to stretch and loosen up her muscles.
He’d said people would make that assumption. But more in a matter-of-fact sort of way than in an I’d-be-into-that tone. Not that her dreams had gotten the message. In that version, he’d kissed her goodnight, taking her mouth with the same unhesitating confidence with which he’d scooped her up to carry her back. Even the memory of that dream kiss had heat crawling up her cheeks.
“Sadly, no.”
“It’s early in camp yet. There’s time. I mean, there’s obviously interest there since you two sat outside and talked for two hours.”
If the party hadn’t broken up, would they have talked more? Audrey felt like she could’ve talked with him all night. When was the last time she’d met anyone interesting enough for that?
She pulled one leg into her chest, straightening her knee and pointing her toe toward the ceiling. “It’s not that simple. We have a sort of history.”
“Oh really?” Sam drew the word out to four syllables. “How does one have a ‘sort of history’?”
Audrey readjusted and held the stretch, breathing through the pain until the cramp in her calf released. “He’s the firefighter who cut me out of my car.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.” Her own, personal hero.
“How does that even come up in conversation? I thought you didn’t remember much from the accident.”
“I don’t. But I remembered his voice. It’s a great voice. Sort of deep and rumbly, like the purr of a giant cat.”
Sam pursed her lips.
Audrey felt her cheeks heat. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like it’s a weird thing to fixate on.”
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“That voice kept me sane and grounded, when there was a very good chance I was dying. It stuck with me.”
Sam sobered. “Well, I think the fact that he’s here, now, is a thing. Sounds like fate to me.”
Now it was Audrey’s turn to give her the side eye. “There’s no such thing as fate.”
“You don’t think it’s weird that you’re both here?”
“He’s the one who told me about this place. He talked about it while he was cutting me out. I remembered. That’s it.”
“So, really, you came here because of him.”
Had he been somewhere in the back of her mind when she’d discovered Camp Firefly Falls was an option? Maybe. “I suppose, in a roundabout kind of way, yes. But that’s not fate. It’s just…logical consequence.”
“Logical consequence. God, you’re such a scientist.”
“We didn’t all get our PhDs by analyzing the literary ravings of dead white dudes.”
“Dead white women, thank you very much. So you, from your vaunted, rational science position, are saying you didn’t dig the hot firefighter?”
“I never said he was hot.”
“So, he’s not?”
“No, he’s smoking.” The words slipped out before Audrey could think better of them. But why not? Sam would see for herself it was true at some point.
“I rest my case. Look, you came here to make up for all those experiences you didn’t have before the accident. A time-honored tradition is the summer camp fling. He seems like an excellent candidate.”
Audrey had no desire to analyze the way her heart jumped at that idea. Sure, she was here to push outside her comfort zone, but deliberately pursuing a guy? She couldn’t imagine doing something like that. She was too awkward, too cerebral, too…something. Ignoring the faint whisper of Chicken in the back of her mind, she turned the conversation back on her friend. “Did you have a camp fling?”
“My first kiss was at camp.” Sam’s face took on a dreamy expression as she wrapped her arms around her pillow in a hug. “Jordan Marshall on the last night of camp, when I was thirteen. It was terribly romantic.”
First kiss at thirteen? Audrey had been a senior in college before she’d crossed that bridge. And when the other senior she’d gone out with had found out she was about to graduate at nineteen at the top of their class, he’d suddenly gotten very busy pretending she didn’t exist. She didn’t want to think about Cas the Ass.
“So, what happened to Jordan?”
“No idea. He never came back to camp. At least not while I was there. We just had the one kiss. Helluva kiss though.” She shifted her focus back to Audrey. “I want that for you. A helluva kiss. A superior make out session. Hell, a flaming hot affair. You deserve to live as much as you want while you’re here. Whether that’s with your firefighter or with somebody else.”
Her firefighter. Audrey shouldn’t like the sound of that so much. Hudson wasn’t her firefighter. Her hero, yes. Whether he wanted to admit it or not. But definitely not hers in any real sense of the word.
Did she want to change that? And if she did, did she have the guts to try?
Audrey didn’t know. Beyond their unusual circumstantial connection, he intrigued her. More, he’d treated her like a normal woman, not a freaktastic brainiac. Not as damaged. Even when accommodating her condition because of her injuries, she hadn’t felt like he thought she was broken. So, yeah. Fling-bait or not, she wanted to get to know him better. But that meant she had to find him first.
Physical therapy exercises complete, Audrey stood and reached for some jeans. “Right now, the only relationship I’m interested in is the one with my coffee cup. Let’s go get breakfast.”
~*~
Despite the hundred or so other people wandering the grounds, Hudson managed to spend the day completely alone out on the water. He’d kayaked the full length of the lake, well past the bounds of Camp Firefly Falls property. He’d seen others out on the water but hadn’t come close enough to speak to any of them. He’d even found a hidden cove to beach the kayak and string up his portable hammock for an afternoon nap. It had been nice not having any of his friends or family checking up on him, trying to poke without looking like they were poking, to see how he was. He’d forgotten how peaceful it was up here.
But he’d found himself thinking about Audrey off and on all day, wondering how she was getting on with her first day of camp. He hadn’t seen her. In the privacy of his own head, he could admit he’d been looking. He hoped she hadn’t suffered any lasting ill effects from whatever was going on with her legs, and that she could get out and enjoy herself the way she wanted. He told himself it was a craving for s’mores that drove him to the nightly campfire, not that he was seeking her out. The little bump of pleasure under his breastbone as he saw her sitting to one side of the fire made him a liar.
She was in animated conversation with some other campers. “It was awesome!”
He had no idea what was awesome, but the delight in her voice made his lips curve. Good. She deserved to have a good time and check some more stuff off the life list she’d told him about last night. He didn’t interrupt her conversation, instead heading for the s’mores supplies. She caught his eye as he dipped a hand into the bag of marshmallows, sending him a sunny wave before going back to her conversation. Sliding a couple of marshmallows onto his stick, he settled on the opposite side of the fire, where he could covertly watch her as she smoothly rotated her own marshmallows above the flames.
She was so… Bright was the word that kept coming to mind. Even with the hesitation he’d noticed last night, she was so thirsty for new experiences, showing a level of enthusiasm for totally basic things that most people took for granted. Who got that excited about paddle boating? It was something he’d always found dull, but listening to her talk about her afternoon on the lake, he couldn’t help but smile.
“Okay, marshmallow toasting perfection achieved. There is no way to top that.”
“Of course, there is. With chocolate and another graham cracker.” Another woman held some out and sandwiched the marshmallow goo between them.
Audrey took the treat with careful hands and bit in, her eyes going comically wide as she started fanning with one hand. “Hot!”
Her friend laughed. “You’re supposed to wait a little bit for it to cool off. Here, have some water.”
Audrey washed it down, then almost immediately took another bite. “I didn’t need the skin on the roof of my mouth anyway. Holy crap, this is so much better over a real fire.”
“Told ya,” her friend said, smug.
Audrey polished off the s’more with a happy little moan that had parts of him thinking happy thoughts as well. His stick dipped and his marshmallow caught fire.
“Shit.” Hudson yanked it back and blew out the flame.
Eyes twinkling, Audrey stood up and stepped forward, extending her hands to warm them. “Need a refresher?”
“Some people like them charred.” He wasn’t one of them, but she didn’t need to know that. He popped the blackened lump of sugar into his mouth and chewed. “Good day?”
Her smile spread wide. The sight of it did funny things to his chest.
“Great day. I made pottery.”
“Enjoyed getting your hands dirty, huh?”
“So much.” She laughed. Someone called her name and she turned.
Everything seemed to snap into slow motion. Hudson could see her pivot, see her knee buckling, her balance failing, tipping her toward the heart of the fire.
He didn’t hesitate. He exploded up, leaping through the flames. With relief, he felt the impact of her body against his, their combined momentum carrying her away from certain disaster. He twisted, wrapping himself around her so that it was him who hit the ground first, cushioning her landing.
For an instant, he froze, his body remembering the fall as the roof gave way. Phantom flames licked him from all sides, and he could see Steve falling beside him, slamming into a railing, and plummeting down the stairwell.
Not real. Not now. Audrey.
Hudson shoved himself up, running his hands over her, checking for flames, for burns. Frantic. A dim, distant part of himself recognized he was kind of losing his shit. Which was the reason he hadn’t been out on any fire calls in three months. He couldn’t be trusted to hold it together.
Soft, cool hands pressed against his cheeks. “Hudson, I’m okay.”
His brain short circuited, abruptly cutting off the panic.
Audrey was sprawled across his lap. As he focused on her face, she gave him a lopsided smile. “Well, I guess you can take the fireman out of the turnout pants.”
God, yes.
It was clearly meant to be a joke, but his dick didn’t get the message. It leapt to attention, ready and willing to burn through some of the adrenaline still pumping through his system.
He saw the moment she caught the sexual undertone. Those bright blue eyes went dark, and the pulse at the base of her throat began to throb.
And they were surrounded by at least a dozen other people.
“Dude, that was amazing.”
“Are you insane?”
“No, he’s a firefighter.”
“Are you burned?” Audrey asked.
Would he even register if he were? “No.” If he found anything later, he knew well enough how to deal with it.
They disentangled themselves. Hudson rolled to his feet and reached down to pull Audrey to hers. She wobbled a little but stood on her own, no apparent lingering issues in her legs.
“Why don’t you walk me back?”
Which was how Hudson found himself on the trail, alone with Audrey a few minutes later. He was mortified to realize he was shaking. The adrenaline dump was a killer.
Once they were out of earshot, she touched his arm. “Are you okay?”
No, no he was definitely not okay. He hadn’t been okay for three months. But he wasn’t gonna talk about that.
“You’re really okay?” he asked instead.
“I really am, thanks to you. Again.” Her face twisted with chagrin. “I swear, I’m not normally that much of a klutz.”
She’d nearly fallen into a campfire from nothing more than turning wrong. His heart still hadn’t quite settled back to normal. He could too easily imagine the damage if he hadn’t caught her in time. The woman needed a keeper.
They arrived back at her cabin, and he found himself in the exact same position he’d been in last night. Because he wanted to touch her, Hudson shoved his hands in his pockets.
Audrey turned toward him with a sweet smile. “Thanks for walking me back.”
“Sure.” Hudson wanted to maybe thank her for getting him the hell away from all those people before he made more of a fool of himself. But that would require admitting it had happened, and he wasn’t doing that either.
She lingered, tucking a chunk of hair behind her ear. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
She’s waiting for me to kiss her. The realization slammed into him. He wanted to. And it wasn’t just because of the lingering adrenaline buzz. He’d been thinking about it since last night, wondering if her hair was as silky soft as it looked and if she’d be hesitant or if she’d throw herself into a kiss with the same kind of enthusiasm she’d shown for everything else at camp. Which was stupid. He didn’t know this woman. Not really. She’d come up here to have some fun and accomplish some stuff on her bucket list. The last thing she needed was to get dragged down by all his shit.
Hudson took a step back. “Glad you’re okay.” He ignored the way her face fell a little and told himself he was doing them both a favor. “See you around, Audrey.”
Before he could change his mind, he turned away and disappeared into the darkness, her soft “Good night” lingering in his ears.