Page 77 of Wrecked

Jessica jumps up and down at Adam’s performance. “That was amazing! How do you know how to do that?”

Shaking the water out of his hair, Adam takes his vest off, the sun glistening off his tan skin. “I used to be out here every weekend. Man, I haven’t been on skis in years.” His teeth gleam white, and those dark eyes reflect the sun. “Thanks for suggesting this. I forgot how much I missed it.”

“Don’t thank me. It was Leah’s idea,” Jessica says.

Adam’s head turns toward me, and for a moment, the world stops.

The smile falls from his face but not because he’s mad or sad or confused. Astonishment and a dash of intrigue show in the way his brows curve in slightly as the sides of his mouth rise. It’s a look I’ve been secretly hoping to revive since I was sixteen years old.

I swallow down the lump that’s still in my throat.

“Yeah, and you should have seen her. Leah was shitting a brick while you were on the skis. ‘Rory, slow down. I think he’s hurt!’,” Rory teases in a mocking voice.

“The girl who would do anything on a dare was like a mama hen over there,” Jessica adds. “Look at her; she’s still holding on to her chest.”

I instantly drop my hand from my heart. Mortified, I look back at Adam, and his face has changed. Those eyes have turned black as night, the heat of his gaze burning through me from the opposite side of the boat. My skin is on fire, and it’s not from the sun.

I find my breath, and my chest begins to rise. An electric current rushes up my spine and into my head. He’s back to staring into my soul, and if I don’t cover it up, he’ll see all my secrets.

Suzanne clears her throat. “Who’s ready to head back to camp? I’m starving!”

“Hear, hear!” Rory cheers. He starts the boat up.

The five of us go back to the campsite. Rory and Suzanne return the boat while Adam lights a campfire. Jessica went for a run, so I unload coolers from the truck and get things ready for dinner.

Using the folding table we set up, I line the skewers I brought and place the containers of precut foods down. A package of cherry tomatoes, cubed steak, pineapple, chicken, onions, and triangles of zucchini are placed on a skewer. I brush them with a little olive oil mixed with salt and pepper before placing the skewer down to the side.

“Fancy meal you’re preparing there.” Adam takes a spot next to me, wiping his hands down on his shorts. His shirt is still off, and there’s a delicious scent of pine and smoke from the fire seeping off of him. “Leah, I want to—”

“Don’t just stand there. Get to skewering,” I order, keeping my eyes on poking the skewers through raw meat.

Adam pauses for a brief moment before turning around. He uses a canteen to wash his hands and rubs them down with some antibacterial soap. He takes a spot next to me and goes to work.

“She cooks, too.” Adam sounds impressed with my spread.

“Told you, Bob taught his daughters how to cook. I just had to ask my own Bobby Flay how to cook in the great outdoors. What do you think? Will this work?” I hold up the skewer I just made.

He appreciatively looks at me. “I think you have many talents no one gives you credit for,” he says.

I feel myself blush.

I hold up a bundle of wet skewers. “Put anything you want on them. No specific order.”

He takes the sticks and starts with a piece of chicken. “This will be the best meal I’ve ever had while camping. My dad used to bring a can of baked beans and hot dogs. You don’t know what it means to me that you—”

“Hot dogs,” I say with my finger pointed up in the air. I walk to the cooler and take the dogs and crescent rolls out. “I found this recipe, too. Don’t know how good it will turn out, but you just roll the dogs in the dough and cook them over the fire.”

Adam lets out a small sigh. “We’d better get to work then.”

And we do.

As I slide the tomatoes onto the skewers, I tell Adam about the tree house in my parents’ backyard. Luke, Emma, and I used to have mini campouts back there, but I never made it the full night.

“Mostly because, just as we were about to pass out, Luke would pop up from his sleeping bag with a flashlight under his chin and scream, ‘Redrum! Redrum!’

“Emma nearly broke her ankle with how fast she jumped down the ladder and into the house.”

The memory of Luke’s face lit up in a bright yellow-and-orange tint, making poor Emma go as white as a ghost, has me laughing out loud. To my surprise, Adam is laughing along with me.