After more chitchat, and Rodney rubbing my arms up and down as the fire got dimmer and dimmer, people started to retire to their cabins. I heard Heather whisper to Cade, “I’ll see you later, then.” She kissed his cheek, and he let her.
He even nodded like he intended to go meet her somewhere in the woods for a rendezvous. If he brought her back to the cabin, I would truly lose it. The jealousy that slithered through me was fierce as it wrapped around my lungs and stole my breath.
“Want to go to bed?” Rodney whispered, and I glanced at Lucas as he yawned.
“You two keep it PG tonight.” Lucas hugged me and whispered, “Text me if you need anything.” Then he headed off, and the dominos kept falling. The last few people stood and stretched, not willing to go too far with drinking or staying up late since Cade was in our presence.
Cassie and Penelope said good night, but I saw Penelope slip Cade a note before she walked down the darkened dirt path that led to our cabins.
“Yes,” I jumped up. “I definitely think it’s time to go to bed, Rodney. Walk me?”
With only Cade still sitting and Rodney getting up from behind me, I took in the man I’d avoided the whole day.
The fire illuminated his skin, licked at the Italian tones of it, and highlighted the jagged edges of his cheekbones. “Ms. Hardy, I’ll walk you back to our cabin. I need a word before you turn in for the night.”
Rodney stopped and turned, his eyes studying Cade and then me. Cade didn’t hide the way he stared at me, how his gaze tracked up and down my body slowly, like he wanted Rodney to know he was staking a claim.
“I got her, Cade.” Rodney’s arm was around my neck, insinuating he was going to hold me through the night, implying we were a couple used to this stance.
Cade nodded once, then twice, before he got up.
He walked slowly over to us, then his hand went to my waist. Both Rodney and I watched how he slid it around me. Then he jerked me forward so hard I stumbled into his chest. I would have stopped him, but the look in his eye told me now wasn’t the time to fuck with him.
I could practically feel the stare down happening over my head. “I’vegot her.” Cade made it clear.
“I’m down to stay if you two are into that,” Rodney offered, but his arm had fallen from me, willing to give me up. Most people would with Cade’s dark glare on them.
“I’m not into sharing her. Ever,” Cade growled.
“Okay. Izzy, you got my number, right?” he murmured, and that was the moment I could have taken the out and gone with him, not stayed with a man nobody really understood, who a lot of people either feared or revered.
“It’s in my phone, Rodney,” I replied.
As Rodney walked off, we let the silence stretch between us. Finally, I stepped back and put my hands on my hips. He didn’t address what had just happened. Instead, the man dug through his sweatpants pocket and pulled out a pocketknife. He grabbed a marshmallow from a food station and stuck it on the tip of the blade.
I widened my eyes at his lack of attention. “Um, hello? Do you feel good about that?”
He held the marshmallow near the flames, and we watched the sugar sizzle, the white of it burn. A moment before it would have caught fire, he pulled it back sharply. Him standing over the fire with that knife reminded me how he could dominate a space, how tall he was, how he owned all of us in one capacity or another.
“What did you eat today, Izzy?” His tone was measured.
“Food,” I shot back, annoyed that he wasn’t giving my question an answer.
He hummed. “Want a taste of the marshmallow?” He held it out to me.
“No.” I stepped back. “It’s after eight.”
“What’s one marshmallow after eight when you eat at least five candy canes a day?” he asked in mock shock.
I scratched my forehead, giving myself a second to cool off, trying to make sure he didn’t get a rise out of me. “Were you watching me out your window today?”
“Anyone could guess you and Lucas were still eating those things all day, woman.”
I waved off his explanation. “Answer me. Do you feel good about staking a stupid claim on me with Rodney when you’re supposed to be my boss? I don’t want that getting around.”
“Why? You that into Mr. Rodney?” he asked because he, like all men, was completely dense in that category.
“This isn’t about Rodney!” I stomped right up to him and his stupid marshmallow knife. “You’re jeopardizing my reputation with this team by walking around claiming me as your fuck toy. Which I’m not. I’m not hooking up with you anymore.”