Page 22 of Only One Tent
Lee looked smug. “Your go, Crow.”
I slapped my seven down, now that it was in my head, and changed with Lee. “Uno, in case I need to say it.” I smirked, then looked at the card. It was a blue two.
Skyler gave me a sexy, pouty look. “Hmm…red, right?”
“Yep.”
“Well…I don’t know what I have to do here except…” He played a red zero. He hadn’t let on at all. I did not want to play poker with him. Now he had the single card and said, “Uno.”
Danny giggled. “If this keeps up, I might actually get that back. At least we all know what it is now.”
That meant keeping the play off of blue at all costs. But. Skyler rubbed my leg with his, and I looked at my new hand, which had been Lee’s. I held up a red one that had an arrow in a circle. “What’s this?”
“Skip everyone. It goes all the way around and back to you. It’s a way to get rid of an extra card,” Lee answered.
“Ah…” I put it down because that only helped me. But then I played the same card in blue. And then a blue reverse. “Uno.” I was also down to one card. And it was another Wild.
“Fuck.” Lee dropped a blue three. “That was my plan, you know.” We all laughed at that.
Danny made a little growly sound as he examined his cards. He was too cute, but not as cute as Skyler. He was also staring at his remaining card and making a face. We all knew what his card was, so the question was, what was Danny going to play. “No blue.” He drew. And drew. And drew. “Fuck.” He slapped down a blue card. A four.
Skyler dropped his card on the pile. “I win!”
The rest of us groaned, but I secretly was very happy.
We played a few more games, and the entire time, Skyler nudged and rubbed my leg. He even put his hand on my thigh at one point. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to distract me or not but combined with the sultry looks he kept shooting my way, I didn’t fucking care. I wanted to get him back to the tent and show him what his little flirting was actually doing to me.
We helped put up the table and chairs when we finally finished playing and then walked over to the food station for lunch. Today was simple sandwiches and chips. All the fixings were laid out on the table set up between the RVs, and everyone hit it buffet style. Lee had his piled high with every meat and cheese available. “Dang, Lee, you eating for two?” I teased.
He smiled back at me with a cheesy-ass grin. “It’s a Dagwood special.” He added potato chips to the top of the sandwich before topping it with another slice of bread.
“How the hell are you even going to eat that thing?”
“I have a big mouth.”
Danny snorted a laugh. “You can say that again.”
Skyler giggled at their banter. Out of everything, it was his smiles, laughs, and snarky giggles that I enjoyed the most. Every time one popped up, my heart felt like champagne had been poured over it.
We headed back to our campsite to eat since it was closer than Lee and Danny’s. Everyone else’s sandwiches were more modest, but I did put extra chips on my plate when I noticedSkyler skipped them altogether, and I was glad I did. He was stealing them off my plate before we even sat down. But I loved it. Loved everything about him. I recognized I was falling hard and couldn’t stop, but I was also scared to death because I could easily see him breaking my heart. In fact, all the evidence pointed in that direction. He was having fun and enjoying the attention now, but as soon as this trip was over, he could swing right back to hating me. And I did not want that to happen. If it did, I’d be devastated.
After we ate, Danny and Lee decided to go put their kayaks in the water. The sun was out, and it was getting hot. They cleaned up their plates and headed off to get ready.
“Hey, Skyler. Would you like to go with them?”
“Uh, I don’t have a kayak or paddleboard. And I don’t think the tubes were organized for us again.”
I had a solution to that. “You can get on mine.”
He looked at me with those big green eyes and made an O with his mouth. Damn, if anyone needed a daddy, it was this boy. And I wanted to be that for him so hard. “You won’t have to do anything but sit on the end of the board. Or lay across it.” I shrugged like it was no big deal. “Put your feet in the water. Swim. It’s fucking hot, right?”
“Yeah. It’s hot. I think that sounds good.” He didn’t sound sure. He seemed skittish and ready to bolt. I couldn’t have that.
“It’ll be fun. We’ll paddle upriver and float back. A shorter trip than last time.”
He threw his hands up. “How can I say no to that?”
I had him pack a bag with a few things, including the water pouch for our phones and a couple bottles of water, sunscreen, and towels, while I inflated the board and got us ready. Then we hauled the board and our asses down to the water.
