Page 34 of Wildest Dreams

I wrap my fist around the top of the takeout bag and glance back toward the dirt track, knee bouncing up and down as I wait for her to get back here.

A cabin door creaks gently open behind us and we twist around to watch Caden hold the door open for his girlfriend,quickly locking up after them and then sliding two big tattooed forearms around the small waist of her flower-dotted sundress.

Winter gives us a smiley “hey y’all” while her boyfriend, who has lived with us for the past two freaking years, doesn’t even seem to notice that we’re here. Even when he joins us on the logs and sits right goddamn next to me.

I stare at his face in bemused disbelief, but he’s one-hundred percent preoccupied with rubbing his palms down Winter’s thighs.

I roll my eyes and give his boot a kick.

“Earth to fucking Caden.”

He glances at me in confusion and I can’t help but huff out a laugh.

Honestly, I don’t even blame him – I wish that I was in a loved-up little daydream right now instead of pining from fifty feet away.

I inhale a deep breath and decide to stop being an asshole.

“If y’all want coffees there’s some in the back of my car,” I begin, and Winter is off like a little pocket rocket, hauling open the backdoor and then exclaiming a literal verse of prayer.

I breathe out a laugh and slide my eyes over to Caden, who’s watching her without blinking, hearts in his eyes.

I surprise both of us when I say, “You’re a lucky guy.”

Caden’s eyes meet mine and he watches me carefully before nodding.

“I know,” he says quietly, before turning his attention back to his girlfriend, widening his sitting position so that she can perch on one of his tattooed thighs. I can’t help but notice that she only took one coffee, which she hands to Caden, before wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Thanks for the coffee,” she says to me in her twangy Kentucky accent, all giggles and smiles like this is the best day of her life.

I have never in my life met anyone as happy as Caden’s girlfriend.

I glance at him again, wondering what the hell he did to secure a chick like Winter.

He takes a sip of the coffee and then places it firmly back into Winter’s hands.

“Y’all coming hiking?” Hunter asks, jerking his chin at Caden, just as we hear Aisling’s truck crunching its way over the track that leads to the head of the lake.

My eyes flash over to her car and I can see that she’s talking animatedly to Fallon. Her hair’s in a curly bun and she’s wearing those cute denim overalls.

Caden looks down at his girlfriend and she twists her lips as if contemplating Hunter’s question.

“Wanna hike?” Caden asks her quietly, bouncing her on his quad to make her giggle.

Then Caden brushes the soft pink hair away from her ear and murmurs something against her cheek in a low reverberating rumble. Winter’s eyes go wide for a second and then she turns to blink at him with blushing cheeks.

She clears her throat and whispers a tiny, “Okay.”

Caden smirks, squeezes her waist, and then slides his eyes over to mine. “Yeah, we’re coming.”

I give him a grimace that readsway too much information, man, before shoving his shoulder with mine and hauling myself up off the bench.

I glance across the lake, one hand quickly shoving my hair back as I clutch the breakfast muffin bag in a death grip. “I’m gonna, uh, head over there for a minute,” I mumble. “Meet y’all in a few.”

Hunter gets to his feet too, eyes on Fallon as she dismounts from the truck across the water. “I’ll join.”

We begin trudging around the head of the lake in silence, both entranced by the squeals and laughter coming from the girls as they make their way up the porch steps.

I glance down at the fallen wooden railing that still hasn’t been remade, not much caring for the fact that their fenceless porch is an accident waiting to happen. I scratch roughly at my stubble, wondering if Aisling has made any calls about getting that fixed up yet.

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