Beyond Wild Imaginings (17 page)

She shoved him again, this time succeeding in knocking him backward off the log they were sitting on.

Garren smiled and glanced over at Kelly, who had just finished putting their tent up. She crawled out of the opening and dusted her hands off before proceeding to throw the sleeping bags into the tent and bending down to situate them inside. He smirked and couldn’t help but let his eyes travel to her backside. He felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment over his bold assessment of her body, but he tried to ignore it. She wasn’t a child anymore. She was a grown woman. A woman he had slept next to and made out with. He shouldn’t feel guilty for appreciating her assets.

He glanced back at Chad and Rachel and, at seeing that they were still bickering, he walked up behind Kelly and placed his hands on her hips. “You are in a very compromising position,” he teased. She threw him a less than amused expression and he chuckled.

“Yeah, well, I’m the one doing all the work over here,” she grumbled. She backed out of the tent and sighed as she looked over at Chad and Rachel. “Are they even going to set their tent up?” She shook her head, stood, and put her hands on her hips. “Hey, just an FYI here,” she called out, “but usually campers eat dinner together, and I am not setting up your tent for you, so if you’re expecting me to, you can just forget it.”

Rachel looked over at Kelly with a frown. “Excuse me, did you just say ‘your tent’ in a plural sense? Because I am so not sharing a tent with this man.” She pointed at Chad, who appeared affronted.

Kelly grinned. “You two better either get off your butts and put up your tent or you’re going to be sleeping out here in the wild blue yonder.”

Rachel and Chad started to mutter under their breath, and Kelly turned to Garren with a look that suggested her patience was quickly wearing thin. He couldn’t blame her, really. The entire drive down to their campsite Rachel and Chad had argued like two little children and fought over the radio, making Garren flip back and forth between two stations for about an hour. It had gone in between what Kelly called emo music to something else she said was Big Hair eighties music. That didn’t really mean anything to him, but it had grated on Kelly’s nerves so much that she’d actually threatened to turn the car around. She’d finally seized control of the radio and put it on a station that played obnoxious, thumping music she classified as rap. Needless to say, it had shut Chad and Rachel up, but he was also pretty sure that it had given everyone in the car, including Kelly, a headache that throbbed just like the pounding beat.

Then, of course, once they’d arrived at the campsite, Chad and Rachel had left all of the supplies in the car and had gone straight for the ice chest. To Chad’s credit, he had been the one to actually get the fire going, but he’d burned his fingers twice, singed off an eyebrow, and caught his shoe on fire in the process. It had been nothing short of mayhem.

Garren turned to Kelly, who still looked irritated and fatigued. He gave her a gentle smile and reached out to take her hand in his. She looked up at him, and her facial features softened as she bestowed a meager smile upon him. His heart fluttered, and it threatened to take his breath from him. “Let’s walk,” he suggested.

Her fingers tightened around his, and she turned away from Chad and Rachel. “Gladly,” she grumbled.

He grinned and led her away from the camp and through the trees. He marveled over the feel of her hand in his. He’d held her hand as a child, but it had always been so different. Everything from when she was younger went back to the fact that he’d been her protector. He’d held her hand to comfort, to keep her safe. Now, it was a simple pleasure that he treasured. He loved the feel of her fingers twining with his. He loved the feel of her skin and how he still felt like he was protecting her, but on a completely different level. He no longer felt like her playmate and her bodyguard. He felt like her companion, her equal, her chosen one.

He stole a sidelong glance at her, and his heart felt so full he thought it might burst. Strands of her sunset-colored hair had escaped her ponytail and wisped around her face. She’d always had such a wildness about her, an untamed spirit that he adored. She had grown up and become a successful adult, yes, but she’d never bridled herself the way most people did when they reached adulthood. She’d never conformed, never become one of the masses. It was what made her so special to him.

Kelly slowed to a stop as their path came close to the riverbank, and she sighed. “This is much better,” she said as she turned to look out over the water. “Only the sounds of nature. No Rachel and Chad bickering like an old married couple.”

Garren smiled and let her wander to the river’s edge. He had spotted some wildflowers and had an idea of his own. As she stretched and tried to rub away some of the tension in her neck and shoulders, he hastily picked several of the flowers and weaved them into a very bad example of a chain. It was rather pitiful, but passable.

“What are you doing back there, Garren?” she asked. She turned to face him right as he came up behind her and he placed the wreath around her head with a grin. She looked startled for a minute before she reached up and touched it. A slow smile spread over her lips, and her eyes filled with warmth.

“That is the way I remember you,” he murmured.

She met his eyes. “Do I look different?” She struck a silly pose.

He chuckled and reached out to grasp her wrists. He pulled her over to him and lifted her chin with one finger. “You look like every vision that’s ever haunted my dreams.”

She gave him a devilish smile that set him on fire. “Imaginary creatures have dreams?”

He cupped her face in both of his hands and brought his mouth close enough to hers to feel her breath on his lips. “My dreams have always been about you.” He kissed her slowly and luxuriated in the feeling of her arms coming up to twine around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, and held her tight. Her body felt so right pressed against his. She fit in his arms, and they shared the same heartbeat when they were near one another. He didn’t know if she’d noticed, but he definitely had. It was like their hearts recognized each other. It was extraordinary and strange. He hadn’t known it was possible, but there were many things he’d thought were impossible that Kelly was disproving. She was nothing short of a miracle, and he wanted to keep her with him for all time.

As if to mock him, that burning pain returned in his arm. Not as intense as before, but enough to make him feel dread wash over him. Something was wrong. He knew it. He felt it in every part of his body. Something was threatening to take him from his Kelly. He just hoped that, whatever it was, he was strong enough to fight it.

Chapter Fourteen

“All right, Kelly, I admit it. This isn’t half as horrible as I thought it would be.”

Kelly looked at her sister from across the fire and smiled. “It’s relaxing, isn’t it?” She handed the package of graham crackers to Chad, who was well on his way to making his third charred-marshmallow s’mores. He hadn’t actually eaten any of them as of yet. He’d let Garren taste the first one, and that had been the end of that. Considering Garren’s bottomless gut, he would be lucky if he didn’t end up making them for him all night long.

Night had descended. Rachel and Chad had managed to get their tent up after about an hour of theatrics that had amused Kelly to no end. After that, they’d sat around the fire flapping their jaws and enjoying the serenity of the great outdoors. Kelly couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt so at peace. She’d been stressed and depressed for so long, but as she sat there, listening to the crickets, frogs, and the sound of the river, she felt the tension ease out of her. Garren sat close, constantly holding her hand, or playing with her hair, touching her in some way. It seemed so natural and easy, like it was supposed to be. She had never felt so content with a man. Not even with David when things had been good between them. His presence eased her, his touch made her shiver in the most delicious kind of way, and her heart was attached to him in a way that went beyond attraction. She was quickly coming to realize that she never wanted Garren away from her again. She couldn’t imagine her life without him now that she had him. That realization made her heart sigh in happiness, but it also scared her to no end. Their relationship went against the laws of nature. When people started messing with the unknown, terrible things could happen.

“I haven’t made these since I was a kid,” Rachel said whimsically as she pulled her marshmallow off the stick and smashed it between the chocolate and graham cracker.

Kelly smiled. “Remember when we used to camp out in our backyard?”

Rachel grinned. “Yeah, Beth was always terrified. She’d always come running into my tent in the middle of the night and sleep with me and Rebecca.” She shook her head. “And she snored so bad. We never got any sleep.”

“Keeping the childlike part of you alive is important,” Garren said, his voice soft. “It reminds you of where you came from, who you really are inside.”

She smiled. “What is your favorite childhood memory?” She moved off the end of the log, sat down on the ground in front of Garren, and leaned back against his legs. He placed his hands on her shoulders and trailed his fingers in absent caresses up her neck. She sighed.

Chad frowned in thought for a moment as he speared another marshmallow. “I think one of my favorites would have to be when my family and I went to this carnival. I spent all day with my older brother playing games, and I couldn’t win anything to save my life. He won this huge stuffed tiger, and I was all bummed out, y’know?” He chuckled. “At the end of the day, he gave me his tiger and tried to pass it off that he was too old for stuffed animals anyway. He was trying to keep his pride in tact by playing the tough guy, but I know he did it just to be nice to me. I never forgot that. Still have the tiger too.” He shrugged and held his marshmallow stick over the fire.

Kelly smiled. “What about you, Rachel? What’s your favorite?”

Rachel sighed and stared into the leaping flames for awhile while she thought. “You know, I think it would have to be that time we made Aunt Miranda think she was going crazy.” She met Kelly’s eyes and giggled. “Do you remember?”

Rachel laughed. “Yeah, remember? You were five and I was eight, and she came to visit. We spent her whole trip making her think that there were ghosts in the house by playing terrible practical jokes on her.”

Kelly raised her eyebrows and looked over at her friend, who was guarding his s’mores and holding it just out of Garren’s reach. She grinned. “Garren,” she answered without hesitation. “Garren is my favorite memory. Him and all of the Lucienus.” She felt his fingers squeeze her shoulders, and she closed her eyes. “I loved all the adventures we had.”

They continued to talk late into the night, sharing memories and silly stories. When Chad and Rachel decided to go to bed, Kelly doused the fire and headed over to her tent with the lantern. She set it outside as she unzipped the tent opening and glanced up to see Garren’s silhouette standing not too far off. His hands were on his hips, and he gazed up at the sky. She smiled. He always looked so powerful and strong.

She stood, left the tent, went over to him, and slipped her arms around his waist. She pressed her cheek against his back and closed her eyes, breathing in the wood smoke scent that clung to his body and enjoying the feel of him.