Page 129 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

Jade turns toward me, and before I can say anything, she grabs the front of my shirt and pulls me down.

I laugh against her mouth. “Well, hello to you too.”

She kisses me again, harder this time.

My hands find her waist, pulling her closer as she presses against me, and for a few seconds, neither of us seems particularly interested in remembering that there are other people ten yards away.

I slide my hands into her gorgeous hair, and introduce some tongue, and she makes this little sound against my mouth. It nearly knocks every coherent thought right out of my head. My pretty girl, my Jade, so hot.

She pulls back just enough to breathe, her forehead against mine, and then she's kissing me again before I can catch my breath. Her confidence is sexy. So damn sexy, the only wood I’m thinking about is the situation, growing very aware of her… confidence.

I let her take the lead for another few seconds, my hands settling at her waist as she kisses me until neither of us can catch a breath.

Then I have to stop; there will be no way to walk out of here ‘decent’ if I don’t. I pull back, breathing harder than I should be.

She looks at me, confused and I laugh softly and brush a strand of hair away from her face. “Pretty girl.”

“What?”

I shake my head, trying to get my brain back online. “I still haven't given you a proper date.” She stares at me. “And I'm already so on fire for you.”

Her cheeks turn pink when she glances down.

I smile and press a quick kiss to her forehead. “Which means I'm going to have to start showing a little self-control.”

She gives me a look that tells me she has absolutely no intention of helping with that.

“You’re going to get me in so much trouble, pretty girl.” I press my forehead to hers. “Something tells me you’re more than worth it.”

Walking out of the woods, holding hands, I see Alex eyeballing me. I lean down and tell Jade, “Never thought anyone could take the wind out of Big T’s sails faster than my mother’s voice, but your cousin rivals⁠—”

Laughing, she hip-checks me, “Oh, my gosh, shush.”

We men get busy cleaning up. Not that I’m complaining; it’s cool to do shit like this. My family is traditional in that sense. Certain jobs, like washing pans, cooking, and cleaning inside the house, would be considered women's work. On the other hand, Linda wears the pants, sooo…

Tessa is laughing about something, Phoebe is adding to whatever they’re talking about, Becca’s face is covered as if she’s ben scandalized, and my pretty girl is sitting between them with that smile she gets when she's having a genuinely good time. Both Lucas and Alex are looking in the same direction. Yeah, I kind of love this Blue Valley roster.

With everything as packed and cleaned up as possible, Alex jerks his head toward the tent. “Come on. Let's get our stuff settled before they decide we're sleeping under the stars.”

We grab our bags out of Alex’s truck, and Lucas says, “I thought that was the plan.”

“It was. Then I remembered there are mosquitoes.”

Laughing, I ask, “And you call yourself an outdoorsman?”

“I call myself smart.” He pulls a giant bag from the back. “Either of you two know how to set up a tent?”

“As of right now, no. Ask me in like an hour.”

Twenty minutes later, the three of us crawl inside, toss our sleeping bags into place, and start figuring out who is sleeping where.

I drop my bag near the back and look toward the opening. From here, I can still see the glow of the fire through the trees and hear the girls laughing.

Alex follows my gaze, then he looks at me, “So…”

I look at him. “So?”

“Woods.” He states.