Page 42 of A Vine Mess
“I thought you were mad at me,” I whispered.
“Wildflower, it’s impossible to be mad at you with this perfect ass in my hands.”
“God,” I breathed, willing myself not to react to his words. “Are you high too?”
“Duh,” he said, and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“So I get paranoid, and you get…”
“Horny,” he supplied. Then, with a soft kiss to the top of my head, he said, “Where weed apparently makes you anxious and paranoid, it mellows me out. Lowers my inhibitions. With you in my arms right now, an unfortunate side effect of that is I want to fuck you. But don’t worry, Wildflower. I’ll keep my dick where it belongs.”
While I reeled from that pronouncement, Liam appeared entirely unburdened. A moment later, his soft snores filled the space between us, leaving me with a throbbing clit and no idea how I’d gotten myself into this mess.
While Liam had passed out quickly, sleep did not find me easily. I was comfortable, and thanks to Liam’s heat, had warmed up quickly. Even with our bodies pressed tightly together, I’d managed to relax in a way I never had before when sharing a bed with a guy.
Alfie wasn’t a cuddler.
But the thought of Alfie reminded me why I was having difficulty sleeping in the first place.
As silly as it was, I felt guilty.
To be wrapped in another man’s arms when I obviously still wasn’t entirely over the shit Alfie had put me throughfelt…icky somehow.
I realized that sounded insane given he’d cheated on me, and I was a free woman to do what I wanted with my time, but the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Liam. I’d never forgive myself for dragging him into my mess, but I couldn’t ignore that…something was brewing between us.
He hadn’t minced words when he told me he’d wait for me. Was that something I wanted?
Honestly, it felt good tobewanted. To be reminded that I was desirable for who I was. For a man to be interested in what I had to offer the world without trying to change me.
I could do a lot worse than Liam Danvers.
In fact, he was one of the best men I’d ever known.
With that thought, I burrowed deeper into his embrace, his arms tightening around me in his sleep, and drifted off at last.
We took what Liam referred to as “the back roads” from our campsite in the Badlands to Hermosa, South Dakota, which was about an hour south of Rapid City and where we’d be staying for the next two nights.
The KOA campground Liam selected was full of amenities, including a restaurant within walking distance of our cabin, a corral where people could feed and pet horses—or take them out on a trail ride for the more adventurous guests—a playground, and a massive outdoor swimming pool.
Once again, Liam had encountered a minor snag in that he couldn’t secure us two separate cabins as they were fully booked,but thankfully the one he’d already booked had two bedrooms.
Although, us sleeping separately seemed to be a moot point after we’d spent the night before tangled together in the name ofbody heat.
My body was heated, alright, and it had nothing to do with the balmy temperature outside and everything to do with the man in the driver’s seat of our van.
I’d woken this morning with his hand still firmly gripping my ass and the other tangled in my hair, his morning wood pressing insistently between us.
I didn’t acknowledge it when I extricated myself from his embrace, merely hopped to my feet, wrapped my sleeping bag back around me, and rushed out of the tent in search of the bathroom before he could rouse himself from sleep.
And we’d barely spoken since then.
God, we needed to do something to break this awkwardness. We were only four days into the trip, and I wasn’t sure I could survive another minute of this.
“What do you say we get our stuff unloaded, take a quick grocery run, then spend the rest of the day at the pool?”
“Deal,” I grinned, feeling a bit of that tension bleed away.
Our cabin wasn’t very large, probably less than five hundred square feet total, but it did have a small kitchenette, bathroom, living area, and two bedrooms. Despite the close quarters, it was clean, bright, and comfortably furnished.
