Page 108 of Tell No Lies

Cassie and Mckayla put their arms around me, and Alexis joined in the group hug. She ended up on my lap, and Talia moved in next to her. There was no warning before we suddenly fell back and landed on top of each other on the ground. We were all laughing too hard to try to untangle ourselves, so we lay like that for a few minutes until the laughing spree ended.

“Well, what do we have here?”

I looked over the top of Talia’s head and saw Tucker looking down at us with an amused expression. That was enough to get the girls to scramble off each other.

Alexis ended up kneeling next to me. “What do you want, Tucker?” she asked.

I smirked at her normal greeting for him.

“I was just coming over to see if you guys were ready for s’mores, but if you’d rather continue this, I’d be happy to join.” He winked at Alexis, purposely adding to her anger.

She stood and helped Mckayla and Talia stand. Cassie jumped up, too, leaving me alone on the ground.

Tucker stepped over the log and extended his hand to me. I accepted, and he pulled me up, bringing me closer to him than was necessary.

I looked up at him and caught his signature smirk. Pushing him away from me, I turned and dusted myself off before walking toward the fire, where others were gathering.

I noticed that people were beginning to pair off. I looked around to see if the girls would save me from this awkward situation, but they had already found their guys. I sighed and considered my options.

I could find Mike and potentially lead him on, ruining our friendship in the process. Not a good idea.

I could find the other single ladies, but I didn’t really know them. More importantly, I couldn’t see any of them alone. Did everyone have a date here except me?

I looked around for any of the football guys to hang out with, but they were all occupied. What was happening?

Before I could officially panic, I felt an arm slip around my waist. Tucker.

Was this really what the world had come to? He didn’t have a chance with me at the airport when we met, and he didn’t have one now. I opened my mouth to tell him that, but he stopped me.

“I know you’re not my biggest fan, but just give me tonight. I’m not as big of a jerk as your friends give me credit for.”

I knew what it was like for people to misjudge and hold things against you, even when they were true. Not wanting to be that kind of person, I looked up into his eyes. “One night, Tucker. Don’t make me regret it.”

He smiled in response and dropped his arm to go get us each what was needed for s’mores. He returned and handed me a metal stick with a marshmallow already on the end.

There was only one chair left around the fire. Tucker tugged on my elbow to follow him. He sat and patted his lap.

One of my eyebrows shot up. Did he really expect me to go along with that?

“I promise I’ll be a gentleman. This is the only spot left.” He looked genuine enough.

I perched myself on his knees, as far away as possible. His arm slid around my waist and pulled me closer to him. He left one arm around me and reached the other with his stick toward the fire. I took a deep breath, trying to get myself to relax. He seemed to be behaving himself.

I held my stick with both hands. The flames were mesmerizing, and Tucker had to nudge me to get my attention back on my marshmallow, which was quickly turning brown.

“Oops!” I giggled.

Tucker took the stick away from me and offered me the graham crackers and chocolate with his other hand. I made us each a s’more and turned back to offer it to him. He looked down at his hands, which were holding our sticks, then back at me.

“You’re really expecting me to feed you?”

“I can only do so many things at once, Aubrey. I promise I won’t bite.”

I shook my head at him but held up the s’more and watched him open his mouth and bite in. The gooey mess covered his lips, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Very smooth, Tuck. You might need to lick your lips.”

“You could do it for me.” He winked as I made a move to stand up, but the arm around my waist held me down. “I was kidding!”