Page 64 of You First
“What do we do now?” she asked, unable to move. Unable to stay.
“Whatever you want,” Gray said, his eyes soft and sincere.
Meredith told the truth. “I can’t do what I want.”
His eyes closed then, and she watched him inhale. He nodded slowly, and then he opened his eyes again. “Don’t move. I have an idea.”
Gray let go of her hand and walked into his bathroom. She heard a door open and a light flip on. A closet? A thump, a rustle, and zip later, and Gray emerged with two sleeping bags.
“Have you ever been camping?”
Meredith blinked at the two cocoon-like bags, one blue and gray, the other green and yellow. “Um… no.” She giggled nervously. What the hell was he doing?
Her giggles made him smile. “I love to go camping. It’s fun by yourself, but it’s even better with someone else.” He tossed her the green and yellow one. She caught it and looked back at him, frowning.
“You want to go camping now?”
Gray nodded, a wicked smile lighting his eyes. “Right here.” He pointed to his bed.
“What?”
“I want you to stay with me tonight, Meredith, but I know it’s not fair if I ask you to sleep in my bed,” he said, his eyes locking on hers. “But if I offer you a way to stay where I can’t touch you, but I can still lie next to you and talk to you… and look at you…”
This time, she had to close her eyes and breathe deep. The piercing look he gave her was too much.
“…then it’ll be the best night I’ve had in months.”
She opened her eyes again. The thought of lying next to him — even if she couldn’t touch him — warmed her from the inside out.
“I guess I’m sleeping in a sleeping bag.”
A few minutes later, her efforts to scoot into hers left them both in fits of laughter. Gray got into his by, of all things, unzipping it first, climbing in, and zipping it back up again.
“Why do you have two?” she asked, settling into the silky cocoon and noting with a little spark of joy that it smelled like him.
Gray rolled onto his side and propped up on his elbow. “Yours is rated to thirty-five degrees, and mine is rated to fifteen.”
“You go camping when it’s fifteen degrees?” There was no disguising her shock, and Gray laughed.
“Not often. I usually use that one,” he said, nodding to hers. “But when it is below freezing, this one is definitely necessary.”
Meredith shook her head. “I can’t imagine sleeping outside when it’s freezing.”
“It’s the best time to go when it’s cool in the daytime and cold at night.” He grinned at her. “It’s comfortable to sit by the fire until it’s time for bed… not many bugs… no snakes.”
“Ew.” Meredith shuddered, kicking her feet inside the sleeping bag and hoping Gray hadn’t missed any stray critters on his last trip.
“It’s clean. I promise,” he said, laughing.
“I don’t think I’d make a very good camper.”
“Well, you look damn cute in that sleeping bag.”
Meredith’s eyes bugged, and she bit her lip, unsure how to respond.
“Sorry,” Gray said, shaking his head. “That wasn’t very platonic. I’ll try harder.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered, meaning it. Whatever they were doing, it wasn’t going to be easy. He’d come up with a creative way for them to stay together, and Meredith felt lucky.
