Love a Little Sideways (11 page)

“You and I should go on a fishing trip soon. Tents, beer and fishing poles. Nothing else.”

“Since neither of us can fish worth a damn, maybe a package of hot dogs, too.”

Mitch laughed and slapped him on the back. “That’s a plan.”

It was a plan that would probably sound less appealing with fewer beers in them, but Drew agreed and started the long walk back to his tent. The campground was dark and quiet, since they’d outlasted the women, so he did his best to be quiet. Rather than dump the cans into the barrel, he set the bag next to it to add tomorrow, then walked around the bathhouse to take a leak, doing his best to stay in grass and avoid the gravel.

* * *

Liz shouldn’t have had that second rum and Coke. Actually, she shouldn’t have had
any
of the rum and Coke. Terry had started handing out the drinks and it dawned on Liz way too late that the rum wasn’t the problem. Coke not only had sugar, but it had lots of caffeine.

Now she was wide awake, damn near twitching, and she had to pee. Again.

It took her a couple of minutes to get out of her sleeping bag and crawl out of her tent, and the zipper sounded incredibly loud in the still night. Not that it would matter to the rest of them, since they had the white noise of all those lovely rooftop air-conditioning units.

She was getting ready to push open the door when she heard a rustling next to her and froze. Bear? Maybe it was just a raccoon.

Slowly turning toward the sound, she bit down on a yelp as a dark shape—too tall to be a raccoon and too skinny to be a bear—came toward her. “Drew.”

He jumped and she heard him suck in a breath. “Liz. You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing out here?”

“Probably the same thing you’re doing.”

“I was leaving the beer cans next to the recycling barrel.”

“Okay, then maybe not. I have to pee.”

“Oh. Okay.” He didn’t keep walking, though, which would have been the polite thing to do. “Want me to stand guard?”

“I’m good, thanks.” She went into the bathroom without giving him the chance to say anything else.

When she came back out, she saw him sitting on a rock waiting for her in the spill of light from the bathroom before she flipped the switch. He was persistent when he wasn’t running in the other direction, she’d give him that.

After a lot of blinking, her eyes adjusted to the darkness again and she made her way toward him. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to make sure you got back to your tent okay.” He shrugged, then she saw the white of his teeth when he grinned. “And ask what word got you middle-named by Rose during your dirty Scrabble game.”

“Ah, the truth comes out. Too bad. We don’t spell naughty words and tell.”

“You look pretty tonight.”

“Since it’s too dark to really see me well, let me describe to you the raggedy T-shirt and sloppy braid for sleeping.”

He got off the rock and moved closer to her. “Since you always look pretty to me, it was a safe bet.”

“How much have you had to drink?”

“I had a few beers. How about you?”

“I had a couple of rum and Cokes which I’m regretting now. I don’t really do caffeine anymore, so the caffeine and sugar combination is why I’m roaming around wide awake.”

“Want to go for a walk?”

As appealing as that sounded, she needed to zip herself back up in that little tent before she did something a lot more stupid than kissing him. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

At least where they were, it was only a semblance of privacy. If they went for a walk and ended up someplace where they were
really
alone, she might forget she was irritated with him.

“I guess you’re right.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Look where drinking got us last time.”

She started to walk away, but turned back. “Drinking didn’t get us in a bad place, Drew. I liked that place. It’s where we are now that kind of sucks.”

“I know. I’ll go home if you think that’ll make it easier.”

She didn’t want that. As much as his presence tied her up in knots, she’d miss him if he left. “I don’t want you to do that. Maybe I should just tell him.”

“No. If he finds out, it has to come from me.”

“That’s stupid. He’s my brother. We’re adults.”

“It’s a guy thing, Liz. A code.”

She snorted, then waited for him to continue. To say he’d talk to Mitch tomorrow or when they got back to Maine. Anything to signal he wanted her enough to risk pissing off her brother, but he was quiet.

“Let’s go sit on the swings for a while and talk,” he finally said, which wasn’t what she’d been hoping to hear.

“I don’t know. It’s probably not any better an idea than going for a walk.”

“We’ll be in full view of anybody who cares to look, so I’ll have to keep my hands to myself.”

She arched her eyebrow. “So, to recap, we’ll be in full view of anybody who cares to look.”

“We’ve known each other forever, Liz. We’re allowed to talk.”

He was right, and she felt silly about her paranoia. “I’m not going to sleep anytime soon, anyway.”

They kept a respectable distance between them as they walked down to the playground, sticking to the grass as much as possible. She could hear the hum of the air conditioners running all through the campground and knew that, as hard as the family played, everybody was probably sound asleep already.

She sat on one of the swings, smiling as he took the one next to her. “I haven’t been on a swing since I was a kid.”

“Me either, but it beats trying to sneak chairs out of the campsites.”

Looking up, she gazed at the star-speckled sky and sighed. “You’re like a yo-yo, you know. You flirt and then you run away. You kiss me and then you run away. I’m starting to not like it.”

“I know.” His swing was swaying back and forth, his toe dragging in the dirt. “I’m not trying to play games with you. But there’s Mitch to consider, and being here with him has reinforced how much his friendship means to me.”

Rose had warned her there would be no going forward with Drew until one of them had told Mitch, but at the time she’d still been able to convince herself they weren’t really going forward, anyway. But now she knew whatever was between them might be stronger than she’d thought.

But, as she’d told him, she wanted to turn a man inside out. She wanted a man who’d walk through fire for her, and Drew wouldn’t stand up to her brother. “I don’t want to come between you and Mitch. You’ve been friends for as long as I can remember.”

“You know I want you.”

The quiet words tugged at her heart, but she kept her gaze on the dark shadow of the tree line. “It’s too messy.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, the only sound the slight creak of the swing chains. Then she heard him inhale deeply and blow out a slow breath. “Your family’s really great. I’ve enjoyed them. Even the kids. Maybe especially the kids. They’re tough to keep up with, but I like them a lot.”

“I know you and Mallory split up because she didn’t want children, so it must be a little hard to be around them if you want kids that badly.”

“It was the lying about wanting kids someday that ended the marriage. Sure, I want them, but who knows how things would have turned out if she’d told me up front how she felt.”

“But you’ve always wanted to be a dad?”

“Yeah.” His swing stilled as he stared out at some point in the darkness. “I’m an only child. My parents were pretty quiet people and, after my mom left, it was even quieter. My stepmother was a good woman, but I felt a lot like a third wheel. Then it was Mallory and I. So quiet and neat and orderly.”

“Some people like that.”

“I want loud and messy and crazy. I want crayons on the wall and bicycles in the driveway and playing ball in the backyard. I want to teach my kids to read and climb trees and drive a standard. I want noise and laughter and yelling and the kind of love that can’t ever be broken.”

Her heart ached for him, even though it was a strong reminder that Mitch wasn’t the only thing between them. “You’re still young, Drew. You’ll find the right woman and, before you know it, you’ll be scrubbing your walls and listening to the gears in that Mustang grind.”

“I’ll find the right woman, huh?” He looked at her then, his gaze holding hers in the darkness.

“She’s out there.” The idea of him finding that woman made her stomach hurt, but Drew already knew Liz wasn’t on the fast track to babies, baseballs and bicycles.

“It’s hard to find her when all I can think about is how much I want you.”

But not enough to risk his friendship with Mitch. Rather than continuing down what was turning out to be a depressing conversational path, she forced a humorless chuckle. “Pretty sure a baby would be a hard secret to keep from my brother.”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t seem inclined to say anything else, so Liz let the silence envelop them again. But sitting on the swing, wishing there weren’t so many stumbling blocks in the way of the chemistry neither of them could deny, just made her feel cold and she couldn’t stop the shiver.

“You want my sweatshirt?”

“No, I’m good. I think if I go crawl into my sleeping bag and get warm now, I might actually be able to sleep.”

“It’s probably pretty late, so I’ll turn in, too.” He stood at the same time she did, but didn’t move closer to her. Whether it was because he was afraid somebody was watching or because of her telling him the right woman was out there somewhere, he’d pulled back again. It was for the best.

“Good night, Drew.” She walked back to her tent without looking back and zipped herself in.

Once cocooned in nylon again, she heard his slow walk back to his tent and screwed her eyes shut. It didn’t help. The look in his eyes when he talked about finding the right woman still haunted her, the tears of frustration still leaked out, and sleep still didn’t come.

Chapter Eleven

Getting out of bed the next morning was a little rough, so after dragging herself out into the sunshine and into the shower, Liz was good and made one cup of instant coffee. No more soda for her, rum or no rum.

Everybody else was running a little slow, too, so at least she didn’t miss breakfast. She helped the others get it ready, buttering pancakes as Terry took them off the griddle and passing them off to Keri and Lisa, who were adding sausage links to the plates and handing them out. Finally, Rose and Aunt Mary stopped making more batter and she got a chance to have a couple herself.

Feeling a little restored, she helped clean up and then flopped onto one of the chairs. “Today is going to be a lazy day.”

There were a lot of murmured agreements, but they were quickly drowned out by the kids listing off all the things they wanted to do that day. Everything from riding their ATVs all the way into town for lunch to a croquet tournament to more water ball of doom.

“Love these kids, but right now I’m so glad they’re not mine,” Liz said, tipping her head back against the chair. “Because I might not move until it’s time to go to bed.”

“Me, either.”

She realized Drew was sitting next to her and rolled her head sideways to look at him without picking it up. “I shouldn’t have had a second pancake.”

“I won’t tell you how many I had.”

She pushed herself upright in the chair again, mostly so she wouldn’t nod off. Everybody seemed to be scattering in a dozen different directions, probably getting ready for whatever activities they were going to do. It made her even more tired just watching them.

“Hey, Liz.” Drew’s voice was very low, which put her on guard as she turned back to him. He was about to say something he didn’t want anybody else to hear and, honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. Her heart still felt a little bruised from last night. “I’m going to talk to him.”

For a few seconds, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right, but the intensity in his gaze held hers and she realized he was serious. “Why?”

“Why? Why do you think?”

“Are you going to talk to him so you don’t feel guilty anymore about what happened at his wedding or...why?”

“I’m going to talk to him because I want to take you out. I want to take you out to dinner or a movie. I want to walk down the street holding your hand, not just settle for little touches when we think nobody’s looking.”

Her heart tumbled hard and, when he smiled at her, she knew her return smile was a little shaky. “Really?”

“Really. But I don’t want to do it here, with your entire family around. And if it gets ugly, it’ll ruin everybody’s vacation. When we get back to Whitford, I’ll have him stop by my place and we’ll talk.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” She didn’t want to wait, but she knew he was right. And what mattered was the fact his desire to take her out was stronger than his desire to hide his transgression from her brother.

“In the meantime,” he said, “I’m going to do my best to behave, but it won’t be easy.”

“Anticipation makes it all the sweeter.”

He laughed. “If I anticipate any more than I have been, I won’t be able to walk.”

She didn’t get to respond to that because his laughter had drawn attention and there were two boys bearing down on them.

“Drew, Uncle Joe wants to know if you’re riding today,” Brian said.

“I don’t know. I’m pretty beat.”

“Uncle Kevin said if you said no,” Bobby said, “to ask you if you lost your ba...uh, testicles in a tragic accident overnight.”

“Oh, really?” Both boys shrugged. “I might do a few miles.”

“Sucker,” Liz said when the boys ran off to report to their uncles.

“If I don’t go do something, I’ll just fall asleep sitting in this chair and then I won’t be able to sleep tonight. Again. How about you? You going to ride?”

“I’m out of jeans. I have to stay here and do some laundry because I was lazy yesterday.”

Drew stood and she let herself watch him stretch because she didn’t think anybody was paying attention and because she wasn’t going to have to deprive herself of touching him very much longer. Just a few more days and then he could stop beating himself up every time he looked at her a little too long.

He looked down and what she was thinking must have shown on her face because his smile turned decidedly naughty. “Soon.”

She would have watched him walk away, but female voices were closing in so she stood and started putting the chair away. They liked to have their morning coffees and breakfast in the early sunshine, but then the chairs went under the huge tarp. If it rained, they’d stay dry and sometimes people used the tarp for shade if they didn’t feel like wrestling with the screen house zipper.

Three hours later, she’d at least started her load of laundry. She’d also read for a while and taken a nap. Then she’d remembered her clothes were sitting in the washing machine and forced herself to get up, only to realize she was out of quarters.

Strongly suspecting she wasn’t the only one napping, Liz decided to walk down to the campground store for quarters instead of going from camper to camper scrounging for some. It was hot and humid once she left the trees that shaded her site, and she didn’t like the clouds that were rolling in. The riders in the family must not have, either, because she could hear them approaching in the distance and they were going a little faster than usual. The first machines were pulling into the overflow site when she reached the store.

She traded a ten-dollar bill for a roll of quarters, then gave four of the coins back to buy a fudge pop. Standing inside, she soaked up some air-conditioning and took her time eating her ice cream while reading the day’s newspaper.

Halfway back, the rain started. And it wasn’t a drizzle. The sky opened up and the rain fell in what could only be described as a deluge. She broke into a jog as it soaked through her T-shirt and shorts and headed for the bathhouse. There was a small overhang over the bathroom doors where she could hang out for a few minutes and wait for the worst to pass. These kind of humidity-busting storms were fierce, but didn’t last long.

She didn’t see anybody as she ran, so she assumed they were all smart enough to take shelter. By the time she reached the bathhouse, the deluge had eased up, but the rain was still coming down pretty steadily.

When she reached the overhang, she stopped, panting a little. Her work kept her on her feet all day, but she wasn’t much for running. As she squeezed water out of her hair, the bathroom door she was standing in front of opened and Drew stepped out. He was fresh out of the shower and he stopped short when he saw her.

His gaze skimmed down her body and when it returned to her face his eyes were hot. “You have about five seconds to change your shirt before I push you up against that tree behind you and give the chipmunks a show they won’t ever forget.”

Liz looked down at her chest, displayed quite well by the soaking-wet light pink T-shirt. “I got caught in the rain, obviously. And if you want to give the chipmunks a show, that’s between you and your right hand.”

He set his shower bag down and took a few steps toward her, his gaze focused on her so intensely she felt like she was under a spotlight. “Is that right?”

“I have four brothers. I can hold my own, so you don’t want to mess with me.”

“I have police training.”

“Are you abusing your power, Officer Miller?”

Drew moved fast, but she was ready and at the last second, she turned. Taking him by the shoulders, she gave him a shove and he fell back against the tree. Ignoring the rain, she planted a foot on either side of his leg, pinning it between her knees. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

She realized her mistake a second too late. He hooked his foot behind hers and they went to the ground, his arm under her head to protect it from impact. His body pinned hers and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

“It’s
Chief
Miller.”

“Does that mean I’m in trouble?”

“I don’t know about
in
trouble, but I know you
are
trouble.” He was staring at her mouth and she shivered. “Now that I have you in custody, got anything you need to confess?”

She hadn’t robbed any banks lately, and he didn’t need to know she was still having a little trouble adjusting to the lower speed limits in Whitford. What else about her didn’t he know? “I wasn’t drunk at Mitch’s wedding.”

His gaze shifted from her mouth to her eyes, and she tried to ignore the weight of his body on hers. “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anybody confess to not being drunk before.”

“I mean, I wasn’t sober. But I wasn’t drunk.” She wasn’t sure why she was telling him this. Maybe he had some kind of police officer superpower when it came to confessions. “I know, the day I wrecked my car, I tried to laugh it off as too much alcohol, but that’s not why I went upstairs with you.”

“And I was a designated driver so I obviously didn’t drink, but if letting you blame booze got us over that whole awkward thing we had going on, I decided to let it slide.”

“It wasn’t booze.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

Because his body was hot and hard and she wanted him again. “I plead the Fifth.”

“I’m a police officer, not a judge.”

“Fine, then I’m using my right to remain silent.”

He slid his hand down her side until his fingertips found the gap between her T-shirt and her shorts. Stroking that tender strip of skin, he lowered his face almost close enough to kiss her. “If you’re going to be uncooperative, I’ll have to frisk you.”

“Do you guys learn cheesy, clichéd cop pickup lines at the police academy or do they come to you later?”

“Okay, that was lame. I’ll give you that. And we’re getting rained on.”

“We’re also outside. In full view.” Not to be a mood killer, but he had made it clear he didn’t want to ruin anybody’s vacation with family drama.

“Everybody’s inside, except us, because it’s raining. Or they’re under the tarp, which is halfway across the campground.” He pushed himself up and then took her hand to haul her to her feet.

She expected him to pick up his stuff and head back to his tent. Maybe give her a quick kiss first. Instead he kept her hand and pulled her into the bathroom he’d just vacated.

The room was warm and humid from his shower, and she shook her head. “The bathroom?”

“It’s here. It’s private.” He spun her to face him, backing her against the wall and kissing her so hard it took her breath away.

She yanked his T-shirt up and he broke off the kiss only long enough for her to haul it over his head. Then his mouth was back on hers, hard and demanding. She moaned as his hands slid under her shirt, his skin hot and a little rough against hers.

As his tongue danced over hers, he shoved her shirt higher so his hands could cup her breasts. His thumb stroked her nipples through the damp fabric of her bra, and she grasped the loose waistband of his flannel pants, yanking them down. He kicked them off, along with the sandals he wore to the shower, and pressed his body—now bare except for navy boxer briefs—against hers. Trapped between him and the wall, she buried her hands in his hair.

“Someday we’re going to take our time doing this,” he murmured against her mouth.

“Next time,” she gasped. She was through with waiting.

He slid his knee between hers and nudged her foot, opening her legs as he started kissing his way down her neck. Groaning, she reached between them to undo the button on her shorts.

“What the hell?”

Oh
,
no.
Drew jerked away from Liz so fast she almost fell over and she saw Mitch staring at them from the open doorway.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Mitch,” Liz started, taking a step toward him, but Drew put his arm out, keeping her behind him.

“Get your hand off her,” Mitch said in a low voice. He was moving toward Drew, who pushed Liz back toward the sink and started circling around.

“Calm down and let me talk,” Drew said.

“Calm down? Really? When I find you in here pawing my sister?”

“Liz and I—”

She gasped when Mitch swung, even though Drew easily dodged it. He’d circled his way around so he was at the door and he was backing toward it.

“There’s no Liz and you. You’re my friend. She’s my sister.”

“And she’s an adult.”

Liz saw Mitch’s muscles bunch and knew he was about to throw himself at Drew. But Drew must have seen it coming, too, because he cleared the door and took off. Her brother took off after him and Liz ran to the door.

“Mitch, don’t.” They were moving fast and already rounding the corner as she struggled to pull her wet T-shirt down. “Mitchell Kowalski!”

He didn’t even slow down. Cursing men in general—and Drew and Mitch specifically—under her breath, she took a minute to make sure she was decent and then took off after them.

When she turned the corner, she was surprised to see the other women sitting in their camp chairs along the side of the road. They were sharing big umbrellas instead of sitting under the tarp that wasn’t ten feet back from the road.

“Did you guys see which way Drew and Mitch went?” They all pointed toward the bend in the road that led up a hill. “Thanks. What are you guys doing, anyway?”

“Honey, Drew Miller just ran by here in his boxer briefs,” Keri said.

Emma nodded. “And since he’s the only hot guy here not related to or married to one of us and that road doesn’t loop all the way around, we’re going to sit right here and hope he runs by again.”

Unbelievable. Her brother was going to kill his best friend with his bare hands and they were lined up to catch a second glimpse of Drew in his underwear. Not that she blamed them, of course, but there was a time and a place and this was neither.

“This is the best damn family camping trip ever,” Terry said.

And they wondered why she’d lived in New Mexico for so long? Her family was insane.

She only had to detour about twenty feet off the road to knock on the door of Aunt Mary’s camper. When she heard a welcome called out, she wiped her feet on the mat and went inside. Not surprisingly, Mary was in the RV’s kitchen.