“I guess so.” She looped her arm more tightly through Mia’s and did her best not to think any more terrifying thoughts. Everything was going to be okay. She just had to make it a few more days and Pike would be gone and life would return to normal.
And normal was good, even if it was a pale shadow of the bliss and perfection she found when she was with Pike.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Pike
Seven years ago,all it had taken was a phone call from Tulsi telling Pike she was pregnant with another man’s child to end things between them. He’d been so hurt and jealous he hadn’t been able to think past the rage inspired by the realization that Tulsi—hisTulsi—had been with someone else.
After that miserable phone call, he’d crawled into a bottle for five days and only come up for air when his assistant coach caught him puking in the locker room and told him he’d be cut from the team if he showed up drunk to practice again. Since then, Pike had run from his pain with women instead of booze.
In the year after he and Tulsi split, he’d slept with more women than he had in his entire life to that point. He was determined to fuck her out of his system and for a while it had worked. He’d been too angry to let himself remember how good it had been between them. He’d forgotten that making love to Tulsi was as natural as breathing or how beautiful and right the world seemed when she was in his arms.
But now, he remembered. It wasn’t nostalgia that made his heart insist that Tulsi was the best he’d ever had. She was even better than he’d remembered—innocence and abandon, heart and heat all wrapped up in the sexiest little body in the world. Having her taste on his lips, seeing her hands tremble as she reached for him, hearing her sweet, sexy voice whispering in his ear had been a thousand times more earth-shattering than even his most vibrant memories. She’d devastated him, broken through every line of defense, and exposed all the lies he’d told himself to the light.
He’d never even started getting over Tulsi Hearst. She still owned him—body and soul. She was everything he wanted and needed and this time he wasn’t giving up on her without a fight. He was going to get through to her and earn a second chance, no matter what it took.
He didn’t blame her for being skittish. He’d been out of her life for seven years and had made no effort to mend the rift between them until this week. She had every right to doubt his love and push him away. She had a life in Lonesome Point and a daughter to protect and couldn’t afford to let herself get swept up in something that might vanish as quickly as it had appeared. He had to prove to her that he was someone she could trust, someone who didn’t make idle promises or run when the going gets tough. He was going to have to lay himself bare and beg for her to have mercy on his suffering heart, and he had a pretty good idea how he was going to do it.
He spent the rest of Wednesday afternoon gathering supplies, and by Thursday morning, when he, Mia, and Sawyer met the rest of their group at the float launch to start their overnight trip, he was prepared to make his case to the woman he loved. Best case scenario, he and Tulsi would wake up tomorrow ready to make the most of their second chance. Worst case, he would be leaving Lonesome Point in a few days knowing some mistakes were forever, no matter how much he regretted the things he’d done.
But he wasn’t willing to admit defeat yet. Ross and his new girlfriend, Meg, were together in one canoe, Mia and Sawyer in another, which left Pike and Tulsi in canoe number three. He would have the entire day, with her close enough to hear his every whisper, and he intended to make the most of it.
“I’ve been thinking about some of the things you said yesterday,” Pike said softly after they had pushed their canoe into the water and were floating down a peaceful stretch of river behind the other couples. “I was hoping we could talk.”
“Let’s not,” Tulsi whispered back. “Let’s just enjoy the scenery. It’s so beautiful here.”
Itwasbeautiful. Cottonwood trees arched gracefully over one side of the river and a steep bluff loomed on the other, providing shelter from the harsh morning sun that would beat down on them later in the day. The water was a dark gray-blue, the sky bright and cloudless, and the entire world seemed to scream that today was a day for optimism and belief in the endurance of beautiful things.
But every time Pike tried to start a conversation, Tulsi shut him down. She refused to talk about anything more intimate than her favorite stretches of the river, how much she loved camping, or what kind of sandwich she wanted from the cooler for lunch.
By the time they dragged the canoes ashore and went for a swim mid-afternoon, Pike was discouraged. By the time they reached their usual campsite and started setting up tents and preparing to cook supper, he was grinding his teeth with frustration. He was in a foul mood and assembling his small, sleeps-one tent on the opposite side of the campground from Tulsi’s only made it fouler. He and Tulsi shouldn’t be sleeping apart and pretending to be old friends. They should be making up for lost time and figuring out how they were going to move forward. The passion between them yesterday had been real. It was still there, simmering below the surface—no matter how many polite smiles and cool glances Tulsi shot his way—and he meant to prove it, as soon as he could get her truly alone.
The chance didn’t come as they were making camp, helping Ross cook a supper of ribs, broccoli rabe, and roasted potatoes that rivaled the food in some of the best restaurants Pike had frequented. It didn’t come as they were cleaning up or tying the remaining food in plastic bags that they hung in nearby trees to keep it safe from animals. It wasn’t until it was nearly dark and they all went their separate ways to get ready for bed that Tulsi unglued herself from Mia’s side and started down a narrow path toward the river on her own.
After making sure the rest of the group was busy with their own pre-bedtime rituals, Pike followed Tulsi down to the riverbank, his shoes crunching onto the fine gravel beside the water just as Tulsi squatted behind a shrub.
“We need to talk,” Pike said, summoning a surprised yip from Tulsi.
“Ohmygod, you scared me!” Tulsi said. “I’m peeing, Pike! Go away!”
“No,” Pike stubbornly insisted. “I’ve been trying to have a real conversation with you all day. If this is the only way I can get you to listen, I’m not above taking advantage of a captive audience.”
“At least turn your back, for goodness sakes,” Tulsi snapped. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“And you’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you pretend yesterday didn’t happen.” He turned, granting her the privacy she’d requested though he couldn’t see much behind the bushes anyway. “It happened, and I meant what I said. I’m still in love with you, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to convince you to give me a second chance.”
He hesitated, waiting for a long, silent beat before he asked, “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you, but I’m not talking to you while I pee,” she said. “Or any other time. I meant what I said yesterday, too. I got over you when I was eighteen and I’m not interested in living in the past.”
“You’re lying,” he said, turning back around just as Tulsi stood, hitching her shorts up over her black underpants. He couldn’t keep his eyes from sweeping up and down her petite frame as she started toward the water with her toiletry bag. She was so beautiful, even in gym shorts and an oversized Ticklish Iguana tee shirt that hung on her slim shoulders.
How had he ever convinced himself this woman was flawed? She was perfect, from her upturned nose to the square little feet encased in her sandals.
“I am not lying,” she said, crossing her arms at her chest. “What happened yesterday was just sex, Pike. It had been a while for me, and you look good in a pair of blue jeans. That’s it.”
“Is that why you were crying when it was over?” he asked, not missing the way Tulsi’s lips tightened at the words. “That was more than sex, and you know it.”