Page 113 of Wildest Dreams

Okey-dokey then.

He carts me over to where Fallon and Hunter are messing around at the edge of the clearing, before leaning down so that I can slide off of his ‘shoulder throne’. Fallon shoots me an excited smile as Hunter wraps his arms around her waist, stabbing his stubbled jaw into the curve of her neck as he gives Connell an easygoingwhat up, man?smile.

“I’m so excited!” Fallon exclaims, her eyes alight with happy sparkles. “I’ve never been camping before!”

“You’re gonna have the best time,” Hunter murmurs, his voice a deep country drawl. “Used to spend every summer here with Tanner and his brothers. Sleeping outside is fuckin’ awesome.”

At the mention of Tanner, Connell’s eyes slide my way, and my cheeks instantly burn crimson.

“You guys used to spend every summer at Larch Peak?” Connell asks, and I roll my eyes at his not-so-subtle digging on my behalf, the lazy grin on his face obvious without my even glancing up at him.

I give him a swift elbow to the ribs but he just chuckles, pulling me into a side-hug.

Fallon’s eyes flash to mine and she smiles mischievously, but she cuts in anyway because she can tell that I’m way embarrassed right now.

“So are we setting up camp tomorrow afternoon or in the morning?” she asks, deflecting for me like an angel. “We need to grab supplies in town so that we won’t have to do any morning trips down the mountain, and that way we can just chill out and explore while we’re up here.”

Hunter and Connell exchange a look, both of them shrugging to indicate that it doesn’t really matter.

“Early afternoon,” Hunter decides, to which Fallon nods eagerly and unlocks her phone, tapping the information away into her neat digital planner.

Hunter jerks his chin at Connell and asks, “Y’all wanna see any of the other campsites, or are we set on this one?”

“This one’s good – equidistant between the cabins and some of the vantage points overlooking the lake.” Connell grips at the brim of his cap and winces a little as he adds, “Don’t really wanna godeepinto the mountain just in case there’s any… animals, or whatever.”

Hunter nods in understanding even as he rumbles, “The wildlife here isn’t really like that.” He gives Fallon a little squish with his bulging forearms and adds with a smile, “You think I’d bring my girl here if it was?”

Connell breathes out a laugh and drops his eyes, nodding down at his boots as a gentle blush spreads up his cheeks.

It’s no secret that Connell adores Fallon, although now he sees her like a second sister rather than as a potential girlfriend. But I wonder if seeing Fallon and Hunter together, as well as Winter and Caden, has made him think about his own romantic status as I’ve been thinking about mine.

An exhilarated squeal snaps my attention to my right and I look toward the narrow break in the trees just in time to see Winter flying into the clearing, excitement sparkling in her eyes as she glances back over her shoulder. She lets out another happy scream before meeting my gaze and grinning, and then using my arm to propel herself so that she can whip around and hide behind Connell.

Connell glances down at her over his shoulder, an amused smile on his mouth as he gives her a wink, and then we turn back to the trees where Caden – her huge, tan, tattooed boyfriend – is trudging as quickly as he can down the slope without slipping,eyes on his boots because he’s too large and muscular to race down the incline with the same lithe agility as Winter.

When his eyes flash to our small circle he instantly skids to a stop, his small smile immediately dropping as he takes in the fact that he’s looking at Fallon, Hunter, Connell and me – rather than his girlfriend.

He blinks down at us and a hint of colour blooms on his cheeks.

But then he drops his eyes to our boots, spots his girlfriend’s, and that almost-smile reappears again.

He restarts his trudge down the slope, not running this time, until he’s walking slowly over to us. That is alotof ink on his forearms. His palms smooth over his dark spiky hair so that he can push it back from where it’s fallen over his tan forehead.

Hunter glances between where Winter is ‘hiding’ and where Caden’s smirking, and he shares a brief grin with him, shaking his head in amusement. Caden being shy and love-struck is such a contradiction to his intimidating exterior.

Slowly Winter peeks out from behind the swell of Connell’s biceps and Caden’s arms immediately fly out to grab her, making her scream with giggles as he hauls her against his chest. He hides his quiet laughter in her hair before pressing a quick kiss to her flushed cheek.

“Found you,” he murmurs.

Connell slaps his hand over his eyes and groans, “I amsoooooosingle.”

I roll my eyes and laugh, shoving my elbow in his ribs.

Hunter snickers and tips his chin at Caden. “Y’all wanna hike, or d’you wanna head back down and we can grab some tents in town?”

Caden looks a question at his girlfriend, searching her eyes to see if she has a preference, and they have a telepathicconversation filled with sparkly eyes and dimply smiles. Then Caden glances back up at Hunter and nods.

“Yeah,” Caden rumbles quietly, his voice deep and gravelly. “We’ll head down with y’all.”

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