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That caught me by surprise. Rhett and Lila had gotten along great the couple of times they’d met. They were so similar. “I thought you liked her.”

“I do like her. I like her a lot, actually. Maybe I had my doubts about how long it would last, considering you’d known each other for, what, fifteen days when you tied the knot? But she pulled you out of a really dark place, and it was clear to anyone with eyes that you two were crazy about each other. I still don’t know what happened to make you call it quits, but I do know you were a goddamn wreck. The way you’re looking at her right now…I’m not going to lie, Seb. It scares the shit out of me. I don’t want to see you wrecked again.”

I was quiet for a moment as I absorbed his words. “It wasn’t her fault I left.”

Rhett snorted a laugh. “I believe you. But that doesn’t change what I’m saying. You two tried to make it work, and it didn’t. What makes you think this time will be different?”

I rubbed my aching chest. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s not different.”

The look Rhett gave me was pure Dad. That was the exact expression he’d made when I said I was bypassing college and enlisting in the Navy. “Well, I guess not, if you’re going to give up the first time your relationship is challenged.”

“Hey. You said I was in over my head.” I pointed my soda at him.

“So? It’s not my relationship. Who gives a shit what I think?”

My eyes narrowed. “Thanks, Rhett. You’ve been real helpful.”

“You’re not giving me much to go on. Why did you leave when you’re clearly still in love with her?”

I blew out a breath, rubbing my chest again. “It was her rock climbing accident. I don’t know. She was fine, just banged up a bit, but it brought a lot of stuff to the surface that I had been repressing. I know it makes no fucking sense, but it felt like if I stayed, I would die. Because she might die, because everyone died except me, and I’d have to reckon with that.”

“Shit, Seb.” Rhett rubbed his head, making his dark hair stand up at the crown. “I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t know how to stay after her accident. I left because I couldn’t bear to live in a world without her in it.” Across the field, Lila laughed. Very much alive. My chest tightened. “So maybe you’re right, and nothing has changed. Because the truth is, I still can’t bear to live in a world without her in it.”

“Yeah?” Rhett cocked his head, regarding me with a quizzical expression. “And how is that working out for you? Because from where I’m standing, that’s exactly how you ended up. Without her.”

The truth of that hit me square in the chest. My jaw clenched hard as I looked away. “Honestly, it’s been shit.”

“Well, there you go, then.” Rhett smirked. “You should tell her that.”

We waved goodbye as the Cessna rumbled overhead. Maybe Rhett saw us, because the left wing dipped and then the right, like the aircraft was waving back.

Lila fell against the passenger side door of Relly like a deflating balloon. “I think I’m having an adrenaline crash,” she laughed.

“I can drive,” I offered. “You drove us here.”

“I was thinking we could stay here for the night.” Her hands fisted in my shirt. “Please? We’ve done it before. I know the mattress isn’t as big as your bed at home, but it’s not so bad, right?”

Some of my best memories were in the back of her Land Rover. I grabbed the roof rail and loomed over her. “I could be convinced,” I said.

“Yeah?” Her head tipped back, her hazel eyes darker and deeper in the blue twilight. Her hands closed around my belt, pulling me in closer. “We have snacks in the car.” Her lips found my jaw at the same time her thumbs slid under my shirt. “We have a bed. Wouldn’t you like to be in a bed with me right now?”

I didn’t answer in words. Instead, I caught her hand and hauled her to the back of the truck. With a look that promised very good things for me, she took off her boots, slid them into the plywood storage space under the mattress, and crawled up. I followed her in, putting my boots next to hers, and pulling the curtains closed to give us privacy and locking the doors. We were in a campground right outside Yellowstone National Park, and this late in the season we had it all to ourselves, but I wasn’t taking chances with Lila’s safety.

Her gaze locked on mine, she wiggled out of her jeans, then tossed her shirt aside. I watched her, my eyes eating up all that creamy skin and kissable freckles, as I unlatched my belt. It was as far as I got before she pushed my hands aside and went to work on my clothes.

My shirt went first. She nipped at my collarbone and then went lower, dragging her lips along my chest, softly kissing the scar on my abdomen that was so faded I couldn’t remember where I got it, and the whole time her hands were busy undoing my jeans.

Her tongue dipped into my navel, and her hand dipped into my pants to find my cock, and the groan I made startled some small innocent woodland creature outside the truck and sent it scurrying to safety.

Lila looked up at me with eyes that were gleefully devilish in the dark. “Are you all right?” she said with mock concern. Her hand slowly stroked my cock, which was now only an inch from her face.

I wanted to tease her, take back some of the control she’d stolen from me, but I could feel her warm breath gusting against my dick, and I was so desperate for her to put her mouth on me, I could barely breathe in anticipation. I was suddenly excruciatingly aware that it had been years since she’d done that, and I could not go another five goddamn minutes without it.

“No, baby. I am not all right. I will fucking die if you don’t suck my dick right fucking now.”

Her teeth flashed in the dark. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?”