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  “When we met, I wasn’t ready for you,” he told her, drawing his stick out of the fire to look at the lightly blackened hotdog. “Remember when I told you about how I’d dealt with losing my brother and my family’s faith?”

  “I do. When people lose loved ones or are scared, they say or do things they later come to regret.”

  Ignoring the rest of her hotdog, Eve carefully set the stick aside and got up. Remy rocked back in his camp chair, placing his stick next to hers and patting his lap. She climbed on willingly, loving their sudden closeness.

  “Blair may have been younger, but he was a great brother. When he was gone I…”

  Eve shifted on Remy’s lap as his words trailed off. “Broke your fiancée’s heart?”

  “Beth didn’t deserve what I did to her,” Remy said, nodding. “We’d gotten engaged shortly before going off to college, with the understanding that we’d plan our wedding on holidays and breaks. Then Blair went missing, everything was placed on hold and I developed a crush on my RA, Stefan.”

  “I can understand how that would happen.”

  “Eve, here’s the plain truth, I had many lovers while I was engaged to Beth, gay and straight. Stefan was only the beginning.”

  “Remy, don’t go back to a time when you were hurting and trying to soothe your pain. No one’s a saint when it comes to poor choices.”

  “What if I told you that Beth had too much to drink and crashed her car after I broke off our engagement? She was in ICU for twenty-four hours then went through weeks of physical therapy and rehab.”

  “I’m sorry she was hurt, truly. It doesn’t change my opinion of you. Did she eventually understand why you called off the wedding?”

  Remy wrapped his arms around her, pulling her farther against him. With his body heat, his jacket and the campfire, she was toasty warm and incredibly comfortable.

  “I told her the truth, that I’m bisexual, about Stefan, everything. At first, she suggested we have an open marriage so I could continue being with him. I insisted it would be wrong. She’d sacrifice her own chance at happiness in the future and I couldn’t live with that.”

  “Remy, you did the right thing in letting her go,” Eve said. “She loves Gary, right?”

  “Yes, my parents assure me they are very happy together.”

  “Then be happy for them. I can’t speak for either one, but I’d think they’d want you to live your life for you.”

  “After what happened with Beth I vowed to be upfront with whomever I was dating.”

  “Including me?” Keeping his arms around her, he leaned back a little, the campfire illuminating his handsome-as-sin face.

  “Especially you, Eve, I want to fuck you as much as I want to take you out and show you off to the world.”

  “Would you get jealous if I’d dated someone else since we met?”

  “It would’ve crushed me,” he answered, confusing her some. “Listen, before things get out of hand tonight promise to tell me to take a hike if I push you into something you can’t handle or look at someone else, male or female.”

  “You’re still trying to protect me,” she concluded.

  “Don’t let me break you the way I did Beth,” he insisted, lifting his head to look down at her.

  “Remy, forgive yourself for the past,” Eve coaxed, lifting her hand up to place it against his face. He’d shaved. His skin was smooth and warmed by the campfire. “You were right not to commit to marriage when your heart wasn’t in it.”

  Remy’s hand left her waist and trailed upward, coming to rest atop hers against his cheek.

  “Know this for certain, I’ve got it bad for you, Evelyn Stratham,” he murmured, shifting to pepper kisses along her temple to her earlobe, nipping the delicate skin there.

  “I’ve got it bad for you too, Remington,” she stated honestly.

  “Good, I’m glad. I’m still afraid, here, sugar. I want to give you all the assurances you need to hear, but I’ve made mistakes and choices in my dating life because I couldn’t turn off my sexuality. That’s what I’m trying to protect you from.”

  “Thank you for being honest with me,” she said, believing he meant to do right by her, she wished he’d give her the chance to explore both sides of his sexuality with him.

  But they were a long way from that and telling him about her fantasy sex life now didn’t seem right. This night, this trip, was about the two of them getting to know each other on the most basic level.

  “Remy, wanted you to know up front that my dad wants me to date one of his star VPs. That’s not going to happen now, but he may be tricky to deal with when we’re home.”

  “Selfishly, I’m glad. But you haven’t promised to kick me to the curb if I make a mistake with you.”

  “All I can say is that I’ll be open and honest with you going forward. I’m a strong woman, one who is willing to share a lot with you.”

  “I’ll do the same with you.”

  “I was wondering about something,” she said. “Are you aware that Morgan Maddox came to me and predicted our lives are going to change when we get to Dare?”

  “She said something similar to me, yes. In truth, she’s been right whenever she’s given me a reading thus far. Maybe that’s what I’m afraid of.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, curious.

  “Your favorite author’s name came up, Eve,” he answered.

  “Ransom Hunter?”

  “Yes, many times. She keeps linking him to the two of us and the town’s investors. But you knew he could be living there. That’s the whole reason we tried to swing out that way back in October.”

  It was true. In October the two of them intended to make a trip to the revamped ghost town because they’d heard about it through the grapevine. Coincidentally, while Eve was busy researching potential sites for Remy’s ghost hunting team to investigate, she came to believe Ransom Hunter also lived there.

  “Yes, but now we’re concentrating more on the paranormal than an elusive author,” she said.

  “An author you admire. I know what his books are about. Whenever you read them, your lips move, your body shifts, your eyes widen. You get into them to the point that I can imagine living out those erotic scenes with you.”

  Eve smiled at that. “I’d love that, Remy.”

  “I’m sure you mean it. Understand what’s written in those Vampire-For-Hire books is erotic fantasy. Trust me, I have engaged in the most unorthodox relationships you can imagine and they were never easy, all ended badly or lasted a night. I don’t want that for you.”

  “Will you tell me about them? The relationships that went badly, I mean. I’m only asking because I want to understand you.”

  “I will, over time. There’s a lot to tell. If I gave away all my secrets in one night, you’d be bored.”

  “Never happen,” she stated hotly.

  “Fantastic, now since Ransom Hunter and Dare are several states away, how about we concentrate on us?” he suggested, catching her face in his hand and bringing her chin up. “Kiss me.”

  “Yes, boss,” she agreed a split second before Remy’s mouth crashed down on hers, his kiss as intense as it was loving and sexy. An erotic tongue tango ensued, compelling her to grab hold of his hair and hang on.

  The snap and crackle of the campfire ultimately drew them apart. The fire was small but still hot so neither would retreat to the camper until it was safe to do so.

  Still on Remy’s lap, she enjoyed the way he let go of her long enough to grab a bottle of ale, offering her a drink. Taking a generous sip, she hummed appreciatively. This was nice, being with him in such a simple way was important.

  They’d taken such a huge leap from where they were when they’d left Massachusetts, it was almost surreal. But looking back over the road trip so far, there’d been evidence of the change in their relationship.

  “Would you like dessert?” Remy offered.

  “Yes, please.”

  Helping her get off his lap and int
o her seat, he stood and made his way to the back of the camper. He returned with s’mores fixings and a trash bag.

  “After the fire goes down, we should dispose of the trash in the receptacles over by the bathhouse,” Remy said when he returned. “We don’t want to wake up in the morning to coyote or bears looking for an easy meal.”

  “Good thinking,” she agreed.

  Depositing the hotdog sticks with the uneaten portions into the trash bag, Eve waited until Remy set out crackers, chocolate and bag of marshmallows on the rock and joined her. More sticks were nearby. He selected one with a forked end, handing it to her.

  “Would you care to sit in my lap again?” Easing back, he opened himself up, allowing her to climb onto his lap. Feeling as if she’d come home after a long, cold winter, she sighed and settled so that her back rested against his chest.

  Remy proceeded to assemble the stick with marshmallows, handing it to her.

  “You’re going to have to hold this over the fire,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder.

  “Do you prefer your marshmallows blackened or lightly browned?”

  “Whatever you do will be fine.”

  “Amiable guy, aren’t you?” she quizzed.

  “Wouldn’t say that,” he replied. “Wouldn’t say I’m all that good for you either, but I sure intend to be good to you in bed.”

  “If I didn’t think you were a good man, I wouldn’t have waited for you this long. For some reason, people learn who my father is and assume I’m a snob or treat me with kid gloves. What’s it going to take to convince you that I’m a woman with desires I’m hoping you can fulfill?”

  “While your dad can be intimidating, I’m grateful for his decision to invest in my show because he believes in you, not in ghosts. Personally, I think you’re an amazing, intelligent woman with a heart of gold and rarely ever bitchy.”

  Eve squinted as she toasted two marshmallows on the forked stick. “Ah, Remy, did you say bitchy?”

  Remy made a smirking sound then shifted his head to begin nibbling up and down the curve of her neck. Shimmers of delight followed the path of his mouth, increasing her arousal to the point that her panties were soaked and dampening her pajama pants.

  “My mistake, you’re a sweetheart,” he corrected, with not an ounce of humility.

  “Whew, but I’m sure there have been times in the past year when I snapped at you. I should warn you now, PMS hits me hard and I’m grouchy early in the morning.”

  “You’re not a morning person either, awesome, neither am I. Tomorrow we’ll sleep in, eat breakfast whenever we want and do laundry if you’re up to it.”

  “Here I am on a road trip with one of the sexiest men alive and you’re plotting when to do laundry. Never knew Remington Sinclair had a domestic streak.”

  “My dominant streak is about to bite, sugar,” he warned, shifting her on his lap in such a way that she couldn’t miss the hardness of his cock. “Marshmallows are burning.”

  “Dammit!” she exclaimed, distracted by a serious case of lust as the marshmallows went up in flames.

  Hauling the stick back, she blew on the marshmallows frantically, to no avail. Remy caught hold of part of the stick and assisted in dousing the mini-fire.

  “I like toasted marshmallows,” she said after the smoke cleared. “Charcoal briquettes are disgusting.”

  Remy laughed. “Oops, sorry, let’s try this again.”

  Working as a team, they managed to scrape the burnt mess off the stick and toasted two new marshmallows. When they were golden-brown Eve and Remy assembled s’mores and ate them slowly.

  The treat Eve had been given earlier had been delicious. This one was even better because she was on Remy’s lap and she enjoyed the humming sounds coming from his throat as he ate his.

  “Were you a Girl Scout?” Remy asked.

  “I was and still talk to my former troop on Facebook or Twitter. Confession, I detested selling cookies as I was very shy and going door to door was hard for me. My mom was wonderful about it. She’d go every step of the way, never pushing, always encouraging.”

  “Is that when you learned to like camping?”

  “Yes, plus, my mom and dad went camping. We’d gone to the Grand Canyon, Acadia National Park in Maine and Yellowstone before my mom became too ill to travel.”

  “Those must have been good memories for you.”

  “They were wonderful. My dad was fun when I was little, adventurous. Then my mom died and it made him guarded and focused on only business. At times, I felt as if our only conversations ended in ‘no, you can’t see that boy or hang with that crowd’. It was hard. I was a teenager who wanted to do things other girls did, date, go to the mall and wear makeup.”

  “Would you be upset if he ever met another woman?”

  Eve took a minute to polish off the last of her graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate decadence.

  “No, I would want him to find someone special. I think my mom would too. Maybe if he did, he wouldn’t be so controlling of my dating life.”

  “If he wasn’t protective of you, I’d be concerned. He’s a dad, it’s their MO, don’t you think?”

  “If he had his way, I’d be married off to one of his top executives with a suitable number of kids calling him Grandpa. At least his brothers and sisters have given him nieces and nephews to dote on during holiday gatherings.”

  “It’s a damn good thing you’re not married, Eve. I may not be a saint, but after a bad experience I don’t make it a habit of sleeping with another man’s wife anymore.”

  “Wait, you’ve been with a married woman?”

  “Honestly, I had an affair with her and her husband. When I first met them, they seemed to have everything, beautiful marriage, children, a well-connected family, financial success and a vacation house in the Berkshires.”

  “The vacation house wasn’t for vacations, I take it?”

  “They hosted swinger parties there. I’d rented out the cabin next door one summer to study and work on my thesis and was invited over. You can imagine the rest.”

  “How long did your relationship with them last, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “Better part of a year,” he answered. He might not realize it, but he began shaking ever so slightly and Eve scrambled to hold him closer. “I fell in love with them, Eve.”

  “Remy, you don’t have to confess anything you’re not comfortable with.”

  “I’d like you to know.”

  “Please continue then.” Wanting to see him better, she shifted until she was able to study his expression.

  “For me the relationship was sexy, somehow freeing, if that makes sense. If I said it was the first ménage I’d had in my college days, I’d lie. That was experimenting, fun, harmless. This was real for me until Kurt became vindictive when Sharon got pregnant.”

  “Oh no,” Eve said.

  “The baby wasn’t mine, swear it. But she came to me one night with packed suitcases, claiming she’d asked her husband for a divorce.”

  “Oh! Whoa, she didn’t love him anymore?”

  “To this day, I think she was using me to make him fight for their marriage. Apparently, they played mind games on each other in private.”

  “I’m sorry they did that to you. Did she go back to her husband?”

  “I sat her down in the family room, got her a glass of ice water and called him to come get her. Kurt stormed into my cabin, promising his wife that he’d be the husband she needed.”

  “The threat of leaving him worked?”

  “They’re still married. I’d found out through an acquaintance that they’re expecting another baby. As it is, they have five kids.”

  “For the sake of the children, I hope they gave up the mind games.”

  “That I can’t say,” Remy admitted. “Discovering I was really a pawn in their marriage was tough to get over.”

  “I’ve had bad experiences dating, but nothing like what you’d gone through.”

&n
bsp; “At the time, I thought what happened with them was karma’s way of biting me on the ass after Beth. I tried to date others, sometimes men, sometimes women, sometimes…”

  “Both,” she concluded.

  “Exactly, but it’s been a long time since that happened. And right now, I’d rather concentrate on you.”

  Taking her hand in his, he brought it up to his mouth, suckling her sticky fingers, his tongue lapping at marshmallow and chocolate. Whoa, that felt good, especially when he drew her middle finger into his mouth and sucked long after the chocolate was gone.

  “Hmm,” she murmured, her eyes closing as he paid particular attention to her index finger. With each pull and drag of his mouth or sweep of his tongue, a corresponding flutter ignited a curious tension in her pussy.

  Increasingly aware of her wet panties, she shimmied on Remy’s lap, trying to alleviate the tension that tugged at the center of her pleasure, her clit.

  “Face me, sugar, come and straddle my lap,” he invited, halting what he’d been doing to help her to turn and sit astride his lap, her feet resting on the ground.

  “Seems as if I’ve been waiting my whole life for you,” she said, very much aware of the size of his erection snugged up nice and close to her pussy.

  His jeans and her comfy pants stood no chance at preventing her from feeling his cock as he guided her into a circling, rocking sort of motion that put added pressure on her clitoris. Sexual tension vibrated, drawing her close to orgasm.

  “Do you mind if I take this jacket off you?” he asked, wrapping one arm around her back to guide her into riding him.

  “I’m plenty hot enough,” she answered, the heat of the campfire at her back and Remy’s body heat was ten times better than the jacket.

  “You’re scorching, sugar.”

  Bending his head to kiss her, he continued to fuck her through their clothes. It was the craziest thing. They weren’t physically joined and she’d never felt closer to a man in her entire life.

  She was very aware of him, of the strength in the arm secured at her back, of the taste and smell of s’mores, hotdogs, apple ale, campfire and hot-blooded man. His thighs were rock hard, his cock thick and long behind his jeans.