“What’s the emergency?” I ask.

  “No emergency. I wanted to hear more about camp.”

  I sigh. “My cabin flooded last night.”

  “You’re not going to report that to LandStar, are you? I’m sure that jerk would want you to find a way to use it against the camp owner.”

  “Matt called me to gloat about the charity event tonight.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t drive down for it.”

  “I considered it.”

  “But?”

  “I checked the traffic report, and it would’ve taken me almost an hour longer than usual.”

  “That sounds like an excuse. The Charlie I know would’ve done whatever it takes to show up.” She pauses. “I like this Charlie better.”

  “Thanks … I think.”

  “Are you still enjoying yourself?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  Jeannie chuckles. “No, it isn’t, Charlie. It’s an easy question. Yes or no.”

  “Then yes.”

  “Good. Milk the time for all its worth. You deserve it.”

  “Except the client is paying me to be here and I’m not doing the thing he sent me to do. It’s unethical.”

  “Then don’t bill him for the time. Maybe talk to Joel to write some of it off. You’re a smart guy. You’ll figure it out. Forget we exist for another few days. It won’t kill you.”

  I smile into the phone. “Have a good night, Jeannie.”

  I no sooner put down the phone when there’s a knock at my door. I hope my visitor didn’t overhear my conversation.

  I open the door to reveal Cricket. In ripped denim shorts, a plaid red shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a hint of cleavage, she’s giving off sexy farmer’s daughter vibes that immediately trigger a throbbing sensation in places I’d rather not acknowledge. I force myself to focus on her face instead.

  “No glasses tonight?”

  “I don’t have a pair that matches my outfit.” She crouches down and places her palms flat on the hardwood. “Your floor is still damp. You shouldn’t sleep in your cabin tonight.”

  “It’s not too bad.”

  “What if there are mold spores?”

  “I doubt mold grows that fast.”

  “We should ask Olivia. I bet she knows.”

  “Is that why you’re here? To save me from ingesting a lungful of mold and avoiding a lawsuit?”

  “Actually no.” She holds out her hand. “Come with me.”

  “If I want to live?” I ask in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, which admittedly isn’t very impressive. I sound more like the Count from Sesame Street.

  “No, I want to show you something.”

  “I saw Stefan’s balloon animals at the firepit earlier. Very impressive.”

  “Not the balloon animals. This is better.”

  My curiosity is piqued. “It obviously isn’t a runaway Buffy.”

  “Nope. This is a special treat. It only happens on certain nights in the summer, and lucky for you, you’re here for one of them.”

  I clasp her outstretched hand and let her guide me to the dock.

  “Your chariot awaits,” she says, and points to the double kayak bobbing in the water.

  “You want to kayak now? It’s dark out there.”

  “Not for long. You’ll see.” She offers a cryptic smile. If I’m Superman, her smile is my Kryptonite.

  I climb into the kayak and hold it steady while she slides between my legs, which feels more natural to me than it has any right to. Our paddles slice through the darkness as we head toward the middle of the lake. I have no clue what to expect. I hope the Poconos doesn’t have its own version of the Loch Ness monster. On the plus side, though, a ferocious beast might persuade LandStar to abandon their plans.

  “Stop paddling,” she says in a voice that’s low and reverent.

  Then I spot them. To be fair, they’re impossible to miss.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “It’s magical, isn’t it?” Hundreds of tiny lights hover above the lake’s surface. “This is as close as I’ll ever get to the Lantern Festival in Rapunzel.”

  Charlie’s breath seems well and truly taken as he gapes at nature’s own fairy lights. “I’ve never seen this many fireflies in my whole life combined. My cabin is close to the lake. How have I missed this?”

  “It doesn’t happen every night. You need the right conditions.”

  He cranes his neck toward shore. “Where’s everybody else?”

  I wave a hand in the direction of the campground. “Either asleep or part of an RPG campaign. They’ll be holed up for hours.” Which means we have the entire lake to ourselves. I tilt my head back to look at him. “What do you think?”

  “This is spectacular, truly. Thank you for sharing it with me.” He’s quiet for a beat. “Why did you decide to share it with me?”

  “Because it’s part of the camp’s charm. I want it to win you over.”

  “I already told you I won’t give any intel to LandStar.”

  My pulse accelerates, knowing what I’m about to confess. “Okay fine. Maybe I want to win over you.” I hold my breath and await his reaction.

  “Maybe you already have,” he says, and wraps his arms around me.

  Relief ripples through me as I nestle against his chest. The steady beat of his heart joins the other soothing sounds of the night.

  “What’s the most romantic night you’ve ever had?” I ask.

  He’s quiet for a moment as we let the kayak drift. “It was a Phillies game.”

  I choke back laughter. “Your most romantic date was at a baseball game?”

  “What? We had seats right behind home plate. It was awesome.”

  “Awesome, maybe. Romantic? I’m not so sure.”

  “How about you? Anyone ever chase you down in an airport to declare his love?”

  “That’s neither romantic nor realistic. They’d never get past security.”

  “No romantic highlights then?”

  Not until now, I want to say, but I simply shake my head instead.

  “Do you ever sleep outside under the stars?” he asks. “I don’t mean in a kayak. With the way you wriggle around in your sleep, that would be too dangerous.”

  I bask in his playful teasing. Patrick used to tease me, too, but there was often an undercurrent of meanness to it. A putdown buried amongst the ribbing rubble. Charlie is different. Despite his so-called competitive nature, he has a calming energy. It occurs to me that he may not know himself as well as he thinks.

  “I’ve slept outside a few times, but I usually wake up covered in mosquito bites.”

  “And how many times have you been skinny-dipping?”

  “That would be zero.”

  “Wait one second. Are you telling me that in all the years you’ve lived here, you’ve never once been skinny-dipping in this lake?”

  “Why is that so hard to believe?”

  “Because the lake is right here and you’re alone much of the time.”

  “When I’m alone here, the water is too frigid to swim in, let alone naked. Most of the summer I’m surrounded by children. Skinny-dipping would get me arrested.”

  “We have to remedy this right now.”

  I shift to look at him. “Charlie Thorpe, there is no way I’m climbing out of this comfortable kayak to strip naked and hurl myself into a body of cold water.”

  He sticks his hand in the water. “Bath water. Feel it.”

  “Why does it have to be skinny-dipping? Can’t we go for a moonlight swim?”

  “Because it isn’t the same. There’s something primal about swimming in the nude. You can’t die without having done it at least once in your life.”

  “My parents and grandparents would beg to differ.”

  “How do you know they didn’t skinny-dip?”

  “Because it wasn’t their style.”

  “Oh, did they wear baggy Princess Leia T-shirts that hid their bodies, too?”

  I grow still. “I don’t hide myself.”

  “Of course you do. Your fake glasses.”

  “Fashion frames.”

  “Your fashion frames. Your head-to-toe pop-culture clothing.”

  “It’s called self-expression.”

  “It’s called hiding. I get it. You don’t want to be seen.” He nudges me. “But I see you, Courtney Abernathy, and you’re amazing. Everything about you is amazing.”

  His bolstering words dance along my bare skin.

  “Come on. I’ve been doing all sorts of things outside my comfort zone. Now it’s your turn. If it helps, I’ll turn away until your lady parts are submerged in water.”

  I cast a sidelong glance at him, sizing him up. “And you’ll be naked too?”

  “Of course. I love it.”

  How about that? Charlie Thorpe loves naked swimming. I guess I don’t know him as well as I think. I would, however, like to know him better. Much better.

  “You’ll keep your dangly bits away from my lady parts?”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  I stare at the water. “All right. You’ve been such a good sport about everything we’ve thrown at you. I’ll do it for you.”

  “Don’t do it for me. Do it for you.” He picks up a paddle and maneuvers us closer to shore. “You’ll thank me later.”

  I avert my gaze as Charlie strips down first, leaves his clothes in a pile in the kayak, and launches himself straight into the lake. I turn back when I hear the splash.

  His head surfaces a moment later. “Feels great. The temperature is perfect.”

  “Don’t look,” I tell him.

  He switches to his back and floats, staring up at the night sky overhead. With his ears submerged in water and only the stars within sight, I imagine it’s the most peace he’s experienced in a long time.

  I remove my clothes and nearly capsize the kayak in my rush to enter the water before being seen.

  “I’m in,” I gasp.

  “How do you feel?” I ask.

  “Chilly.”

  “Are you kidding? This is bath water.” He swims closer to me. “You should float.”

  “So you can see my boobs? Nice try.”

  He points. “I can already see your boobs.”

  I fold my arms to cover my bare breasts. “I can’t float.”

  “What do you mean you can’t?”

  “I mean it doesn’t work. My body sinks like a stone.”

  “Then you’re not doing it right.”

  I glare at him. “It’s floating, Charlie, not rocket science.”

  “But it is science. Come on. I’ll help you.”

  “I’m not floating on top of the water when I’m buck naked.”

  “What if I promise not to look?”

  I feel a sensation against my leg and look down. “I think there’s something in the water.”

  “Like a sea serpent?” he teases.

  It touches me again and I jump. The next thing I know, my legs are wrapped around his torso. Without any clothing, the nudity adds an extra layer of complication.

  “Your lady part is dangerously close to my dangly bit,” he whispers.

  My arms tighten around his neck. “Now that we’re up close and personal, I’m here to tell you dangly bit is an understatement.”

  His low chuckle reverberates in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “Is it gone?”

  “Can’t tell. I’m afraid to feel anything,” I say, and in that moment, I recognize the bald truth of my statement. Our gazes lock and Charlie seems to understand.

  That’s when he kisses me.

  One hand moves to cradle the back of my head and the other wraps around my waist to pull me closer. My boobs crush against his bare chest as the kiss intensifies. I lose myself to the hunger that’s been growing inside me since the moment I met him.

  Hot, wet, and a little wild—not a description I’d expect to apply to either one of us, yet here we are. The kiss is so electric that, for half a second, I worry about our safety given that we’re engulfed by water.

  “How about now?” he murmurs.

  “I definitely feel … something.” All the things, in fact. Tingling. Aching. Breathless.

  “Sorry,” he says, and releases me. It takes me a second to realize he mistook my response for a comment on his throbbing erection, which I also felt because it was impossible not to. Sea serpent, indeed.

  “No need to apologize. I had no idea you packed your own light saber.”

  He doesn’t laugh. His eyes seem to generate their own heat. My heart pounds as we stare at each other like it’s a contest, which maybe in his mind, it is. People talk about being ‘in the moment,’ but I’ve never felt as fully present as I do right now. Admittedly, I haven’t experienced many romantic evenings in my life, but tonight is top of the charts. I’ll still be thinking about our moonlit kiss on my deathbed. Quite frankly, I didn’t expect someone like Charlie to be capable of injecting a kiss with that much passion. It feels like a dream. An incredibly pleasant dream.

  I’m not sure what persuaded me to give in to his request. I’ve always been self-conscious about my body, not because I think there’s anything specifically wrong with it. I realize that Charlie is right about me. For reasons that I don’t need to dig very far to unearth, I’m uncomfortable feeling seen.

  And Charlie Thorpe sees me.

  Those blue-green eyes are worse than Superman’s X-ray vision because they see straight to my emotional core. All this time I’ve been working on his vulnerability, trying to coax him out of his Gucci shell, when I was hiding behind my geek-chic outerwear.

  Charlie clocked me—I don’t choose those clothes for style alone. Like the lawyer in his tailored suit, I wear loose Marvel shirts like a protective suit of armor that announces to the world which kingdom I belong to, that way if they reject me, I can blame the kingdom. I can say they failed to get past the armor, so they can’t be rejecting me. But without a willingness to remove the suit, I also don’t give people a chance to know me.

  To be seen.

  Well, Charlie has seen all of me tonight, more than I ever intended to show him, in fact. It feels scary.

  And it also feels really, really good.

  If I never have another experience like this for the rest of my life, I’d die a happy woman, but if any falling stars happen to be passing overhead right now, please know I’d really like to have another experience like this, preferably with Charlie and preferably tonight.

  I can’t believe I kissed Cricket. It wasn’t my intention when I convinced her to skinny-dip with me. I fully expected a flat no to that request, like her response to LandStar’s proposal. The kiss seems to have shocked the entire world around us because absolute silence has descended upon the lake, and I’m too distracted by the taste of her to think of anything clever to say to break it.

  Thankfully the water is high enough to keep her covered, although I can see the swell of her breasts, which makes me grateful my lower half is deeply submerged.

  I clear my throat to break the spell. “Would you like to try floating now that the moon is behind some clouds? I can only see your silhouette. No sensitive areas.”

  “How big is the cloud?” She glances skyward.

  “Very big and very slow-moving.”

  “That’s what she said.”

  I crack a smile. “Think of this as a trust exercise.”

  “Well, that explains why I can’t do it.”

  “You’re naked in the water with me. There has to be a certain amount of trust there already or you wouldn’t have agreed.”

  “You did already feel me up in the woods. I suppose nudity is the natural progression of events.”

  “That was for ticks!”

  Laughing, she shifts to her back, and as promised, immediately sinks. My hands catch her lower back, one dangerously close to her bare ass, and lift her toward the surface. Her perfect breasts rise to my eye line. Whose idea was this anyway?

  “Relax, Cricket. You’re not going to drown. I won’t let you.”

  “It won’t look good for you if you do. Naked camp owner found in the arms of the primary suspect.” She closes her eyes. “Even your law firm will have a helluva time defending you.”

  “We don’t handle criminal cases.”

  Her legs start to drift down, and I move my hand lower to buoy her.

  “Your hand is on my ass, Charles Xavier Thorpe.”

  “Is it?”

  “Either that or this lake has a small octopus.”

  “This lake is pitch black. Nessie herself could be living here, and no one would be the wiser.” I realize my hand is still cradling her backside. “Want me to move it?”

  She turns her head toward me and opens her eyes. “Only if you want to.”

  Gauntlet thrown. The first kiss wasn’t planned; we could write it off as a heat-of-the-moment situation and never speak of it again. This one, however, would be premeditated. This one would say not only that we meant it, but that we liked it enough to do it again.

  Challenge accepted.

  I lean in for another kiss, removing my hold on her in the process. As my lips reach hers, her head slips beneath the surface.

  “Shit! Cricket!”

  Her head pops up and bangs straight into my chin. I bite my tongue and my mouth fills with the metallic taste of blood.

  “Omigod, Charlie! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  I can’t speak.

  Her lips find mine, soft and searching. When they part, there’s a sudden painful reminder that my tongue suffered a grievous wound. I groan, prompting Cricket to draw back.

  “Was that a sexy groan or an ouch-that-actually-hurts groan?”

  “Can it be both?”

  She threads her fingers through mine. “I know first aid. Let me kiss it better.” She takes my tongue in her mouth and gently sucks. It takes all my self-control not to⁠—

  Pain stabs my calf, and I jerk away.

  “Charlie?”

  The intensity leaves me breathless, and not in a good way. “Leg cramp,” I croak.