Page 39 of Delirium

It didn’t mean Camp would see it the same way. At the end of the day, I only wanted Scarlett to be happy.

She emerged from beneath the surface with a smile on her face, dark hair glistening. “Oh my God, you didn’t tell me it was cold!”

Finally, Camp laughed next to me. “I’m pretty sure I said just that,sweet girl.”

Ah. There was the pissing contest I was expecting. All the while, James just watched us from the shore.

Scarlett screwed up her full lips, looking from me to Camp, and back again, solving a puzzle in her head.

I expected her to say something, to call us out on the elephant in the room, the tension filling the air between the three of us. Instead she grinned. “Last one to the waterfall and back has dinner duty tonight. I’m tired of cooking.”

“Is that a challenge you’re willing to wager?” I laughed. “I swam varsity in high school.”

“Well then, let’s see what you’ve got.” She waited until Camp and I framed either side of her, both of us a full head taller than her. “On your marks…get set…”

“Go!” Camp shouted. He took off through the water before either of us could even start. To her credit, Scarlett kept pace with me for the most part—she had to have been a swimmer herself. Camp started out strong, but fell off as we reached the thundering waterfall. I turned, flipping in the water, Scarlett close on my heels. By the time we neared the bank once more, Scarlett was just behind me, with Camp trailing her.

“Ha!” she crowed, pulling herself to sit on one of the rocks that lodged itself half in and half out of the water. “No cooking for me tonight.”

I laughed, jerking my thumb toward Camp. “Okay, but are you really sure you want him cooking you dinner?”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Camp muttered.

He was saying something else, but I couldn’t make it out over the throbbing of my heartbeat in my ears. Scarlett looked like a goddess sitting on the rock, dark nipples pebbled beneath the thin fabric outline of her pale sports bra. Water dripped off her freckled skin, trails I wanted to trace with my fingers and my tongue. I needed to snap out of it. I couldn’t be thinking about her like this, not while she was exploring things with Camp.

Her laugh brought me back to the present. “Don’t pout,” she said to Camp. “Do you need a consolation prize?”

“Depends on what it is. Do I still have to cook dinner?”

“Yes.” Scarlett slid off the rock, wrapping her arms around Camp’s neck. “But I can try and make it a bit better.”

My heart sank to my stomach, a rotting pit of jealousy. I couldn’t breathe as she locked eyes with me over Camp’s shoulder, never once looking away as she pressed her lips to his.

Fuck. Me.I had never been harder than I was at this minute. Camp lifted her so she wrapped her legs around his waist. He deepened the kiss, and her eyelids threatened to close, and still…

she held my stare.

Watch me, her eyes said.Watch me and imagine this was you. Imagine your hands holding my waist. Your mouth on mine.

Watch me. Want me.

Own me.

For a moment, it worked.

Until Camp’s moan tore through me, a reminder that Iwasn’thim. Iwasn’tthe one touching her.

But what if I could be?

I let my body guide me, ignoring my brain shouting at me that this was a terrible idea, sure to end in heartbreak for all involved.

I ignored my heart demanding me to step away.

I paid no attention to James taking us in, eyes unblinking, observing the scene before him unfold.

I stepped forward until I was behind Scarlett, brushing my hands over skin softer than I’d ever imagined. She shivered, breaking her kiss to watch me run my hands over her body, over her waist I’d dreamed of touching, across her delicate collarbone, up her neck, making her tilt her head back toward me.

I leaned forward, pressing my lips against her neck, against the fragile skin, where the blood pumped dangerously close to the surface. Scarlett sighed, her hips moving against Camp’s body.

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