“Evie? I know an Evie.”
Double shit.
“Evie Fuller?”
I took a sip and nodded. To our right, the sound of a waterfall. In front of us, a crackling fire. Even so, I could easily hear the sound of my heart as it threatened to pound out of my chest. He’d know I was asking about him. Marco sat next to me in a camp chair, his legs extended in front of him, a Yuengling resting on his thigh. Casual. Relaxed. So easy to talk to. I hadn’t even been thinking.
“Yep.”
“And I assumed you talked to her about me?”
I totally trapped myself. “I did.”
“And she warned you away.”
“Also, yes. But in her defense—”
“She doesn’t need one. I’d warn you away from me too.”
I answered his honesty with my own. “No doubt, agreeing to this trip was a mistake too. Just like dinner on Friday. But,” I shrugged, “glutton for punishment I guess.”
“I know you don’t believe me yet, but you will, Rae. I promise. You’re different. This is different. I respect you too much to bullshit you on this.”
“What about all the other women? You didn’t respect them too?”
“I never once promised anything other than what I was willing to give. To any of them. If they wanted more from me, I told them I couldn’t do it.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said, not willing to hold back. “Wanting more.”
Of course, he didn’t promise he could give me more. A guy like Marco simply couldn’t do that. So it was up to me to accept what he offered. But I honestly wasn’t sure I could. It wasn’t in my nature to be casual in a relationship.
“A one-night stand won’t be great for our business relationship,” I said finally.
Marco looked genuinely surprised. “Is that what you think I want?”
“You just said—”
“I just said I’ve never wanted to give more. But I wasn’t lying when I said you were different.”
So it was on me to decide. Though I believed him, that Marco thought this was different, that didn’t mean much in the long run. “You’re proposing, what exactly?”
“That we explore this,” he said. “Obviously there’s something between us.”
“Obviously,” I agreed, still not sure I wanted to go there.
“Listen, you saw the tent. There are separate rooms. Separate beds. Let’s just enjoy the scenery, eat some of Tony's hoagies,” he smiled, “Yes, I brought meatball parm. And enjoy being disconnected for the night. No supply issues or hail nets or anything but this,” he lifted his beer. “And us.”
And us. As if there was an ‘us.’
Marco couldn’t give me any promises, but it’s not like I wanted them anyway. I wasn’t in Kitchi Falls to find a boyfriend. I was here to establish a path for my future. Whether or not that included him, or another guy, was a totally separate issue.
I just didn’t want to be another one of many for him. But I believed Marco, stupidly or not, that I wasn’t. And that had been a pretty spectacular kiss.
“Deal,” I said.
I could sense the shift between us as we talked and ate. A wall that had come down. Marco never stopped flirting with me, as he’d done nearly from the start, but essentially deciding to give in completely meant I could do my own share of flirting too.
When he’d bent over to get me another drink, I didn’t hide my appreciation of his very fine ass. When he tossed a log on the fire, I fired back at his not-so-subtle innuendos with some of my own. By the time darkness fell, the light of a now decent-sized fire casting a warm glow around us, the air crackled nearly as intensely as the fire itself.