Merritt closes the bathroom door, and Willow looks back at me with wide eyes, like a mom who just caught their kid in bed with their teenage boyfriend.

“What’s going on?”

“Not much.”

“Quinn, don’t lie to me. I’m your best friend.”

“We were just talking, and you startled me.”

She crosses her arms. My best friend knows me so much better than that. “Did you guys hook up?”

“Maybe, and so what if we did?”

“Quinn,” she sighs and sits down on the bed. She pats it for me to join her and I’m sure I’m about to get the mom lecture. “Do you really think hooking up with Merritt is a good idea, after what you’ve just been through?”

“What does my past have to do with any of this?”

“I don’t want to see you end up hurt again is all I’m worried about.”

“That’s not going to happen, don’t worry.”

“How do you know?”

“Merritt and I agreed that whatever happens here, stays here. Plus, we’ll never see each other after this.”

“Until next year’s trip.”

“He’s not coming.”

“You really thought this all out, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did,” I tell her because I don’t want to end up hurt again either. My heart is guarded, and I’m going to keep it that way.

“So was he good?”

“Oh…now you want to know.”

She bumps me with her shoulder and nods. “Really good and big. I couldn’t deny the attraction between us anymore.” I try and keep my voice down, so he doesn’t hear us.

She holds her hands a distance apart, trying to gauge his size, and I look at them mouthing “bigger” to her, and out walks Merritt with a towel around his waist, already fresh from the shower. My eyes eat him up, and right away, I’m shocked—he’s tattooed. I had no idea. He was inside me—twice—and I never saw his chest.

Willow puts her hands down and swallows, she’s looking at what I’m staring at too. “So…you have that thing I needed to borrow?” she asks me still gawking at Merritt.

* * *

“Biggest fish of the day gets three hundred and fifty dollars,” Ari says as we all get situated around the fishing holes the guys drilled. It’s surprisingly sunny and not too cold.

I jig my pole off the bottom of the lake, and Ari says to me, “You know you’re only scaring the fish away by doing that.”

I stick my tongue out at him. He’s just trying to get under my skin. Every year this is the one thing I consistently win. I grew up fishing with my dad—he’s the best, so I’ve got a trick or two up my sleeve.

“Don’t be jealous. You can just hand the money over now, if you’d like.”

The guys all bust up laughing, and Merritt asks me, “You’re really that confident?”

“I’ve won this every year we’ve fished…so yeah, I am.”

Merritt rolls his eyes, and just then I get a nibble. I wait for the second bite before hooking it, and once I do, they all gawk at me. The fish must be big as the tip of my pole is bent like an “n.” It’s fighting coming up, and I keep the slack tight, taking my time. Kami gets one on too, and I see the frustration on Ari’s face as we both battle.

Pulling my fish up, it’s massive. Ari throws his pole down and storms off walking in a big circle like a baby. “Oh…come on,” I holler to him as I remove the hook from its mouth. Right away it’s obvious it’s a keeper.

The rest of the morning goes by the same. I keep hooking fish after fish. The others do too, all except for Ari and Merritt. Ari keeps glaring at me, and I look outside of our tent for Merritt but don’t see him. He walked out a while ago, I assume to pee or something, but hasn’t returned. Knowing I am in the lead fishing wise, I reel in my line and go in search of him. At the edge of the lake is a small hill and I can see the top of his hat.

Walking to him, the ice cracks beneath my feet, but I know it’s safe. They race Jeeps on this ice every year.

When I reach Merritt, he has his hands beneath his head and is watching the sky. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he responds with a huge grin on his face.

“What are you doing out here?” I ask.

“You want the truth?”

“Always.”

“Trying to keep my dick down.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I…I don’t know if you have dry lips or something, but the way you keep licking ‘em has my dick ready to fuck your mouth.”

I giggle a little and lie down next to him. “I don’t think I’ve ever been fucked in the mouth.” I look up at the sky, the fluffy clouds slowly rolling by as they morph into all sorts of different things. The sun is warm, the reflection on the snow helping it to warm me.

“You should let me do it to you then.”

“Okay.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“When?” he questions me turning his head and the second I respond, “Now,” he reaches over and pulls my body on top of his. Taking my nose, I brush it against his, looking into his clear brown eyes.

“You smell good,” I tell him. He kisses me, our mouths lingering together for a moment.

“I love the way you taste.” And with those words, we get lost, kissing one another. With me lying on top of him, his rock hard shaft is grinding against me, and I push back against him, wishing he were inside of me.

My gloved fingers dig deep into the snow and a cold breeze whips through the air, covering us in a fresh blanket of whiteness. We stop kissing, but our mouths are still connected. I shiver, and he does the same.

“Holy fuck, that was cold,” I speak against his lips as I pull back a tiny bit.

“Yeah, it was.”

“We should probably stop.” He agrees and even though I said it, I don’t want to, but the truth is, this isn’t the place to be messing around.

“Come on. I need to catch a fish; I can’t have you one upping me,” he chides.

“You’d need to catch seven to beat my six,” I gloat and hop up, brushing the snow off of me. Walking back to where the group is, he wraps his hand around mine, the gesture catching me off guard. We agreed to fuck, nothing more, so him holding my hand worries me that he’s got other intentions.