Wrapped Up in You (Heartbreaker Bay, #8)(22)

Ivy choked out a laugh. “I’ve got you all beat to hell there.” She shook her head. “But fine. Whatever. I’m in.” She thrust out her pinkie and the girls all hooked theirs with hers. “To more adventures.”

Kel couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was smiling sweetly and openly and it was a good look on her. She wore faded jeans that fit her like a glove and a white long-sleeved tee with an army green puffy down vest and her usual work boots. She’d let her hair free and it flowed past her shoulders in thick rich red waves that he wanted to sink his fingers into.

Yeah, he was in trouble when it came to her.

They all continued walking, the girls ahead, arms linked, chatting and laughing and talking the whole way.

“Nice view,” Lucas said.

“Oh yeah,” Spence said.

Kel took in the row of great asses in front of them, his gaze locked on those faded jeans, and had to agree. Great view.

The night had gotten cold enough that their breath crystalized in front of their faces, but seeing wasn’t a problem. The moon was a huge ball in the sky directly overhead, lighting the world in a blue glow that cast through the night and banished the shadows to the distance.

At the top, they sat at the ledge and ate the homemade cookies that Haley’s date, Dee, pulled from her backpack. Dee was a waitress at O’Riley’s pub, and apparently also a talented baker. “I hope no one’s allergic to warm, soft chocolatey goodness,” she said.

They then ate the most amazing chocolate chip cookies and watched the world go around. Or everyone else watched the world go around and Kel watched Ivy, sitting at his side. He could smell the scent of her shampoo and he kept straining to get another sniff. Their arms were touching and so were their thighs, and—

“Which constellation is that?” Molly asked, pointing up at the sky. “I recognize it from astrology, but can’t remember.”

No one seemed to know, and in unison, turned to Caleb.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re the resident genius,” Sadie reminded him. “You’ve got more degrees than I can count.”

“Yes, but I was mostly busy studying girls.”

Sadie rolled her eyes, but looked at Ivy. “Didn’t you say once that your brother’s an astronomy wizard?”

Ivy froze for a beat and then seemed to forcibly relax. “He’s three hours ahead.”

“You could just text him a pic and if he’s awake, he’ll solve our problem.”

Ivy hesitated and then nodded, and for some reason, Kel’s bullshit meter started to hum.

Ivy pulled out her phone and shifted very slightly, just enough that, accidental or not on her part, he couldn’t see her screen.

“Brandon’s an astronomy wizard?” he asked casually. “I thought he was an antique dealer.”

Ivy shrugged. “Astronomy is a hobby for him.”

Okay, he thought. Interesting. But then he caught a quick glimpse of her phone.

She wasn’t texting her brother. She was Googling constellations.

“Just sent him a text,” she said lightly, still working her phone, most definitely not texting but scrolling through images of constellations. “He says it’s . . . Orion.” She slid away her phone, took a breath, and looked up. She smiled at Kel.

He managed to return it, but . . . what the hell had just happened? She’d just lied right to his face and he had zero idea how to feel about that. No. Correction. He knew exactly how he felt about it.

Shitty.

He stared out into the night and wondered why the hell she’d lie about her brother? And it wasn’t like this was the only time either, he would swear she’d done it that first morning to Caleb. And just like then, no one else seemed to notice. How was it that he, the one who’d known her the least amount of time, was the only one who knew she was making shit up?

Turning his head, he went to look at her and found her eyes on his. He caught a brief flash of incredible vulnerability before it was gone.

And in that quick beat, he knew. Whatever she was up to, it had nothing to do with him. Or her friends. It was about self-preservation, and damn.

He understood that.

But for the record, he still hated it.

“Last one back to the cars buys drinks,” Haley said.

Dee smiled at her.

Haley blushed.

And just like that, it was a race. But Kel wasn’t too surprised to find everyone else immediately slowing to a walk so they could talk on the way back down.

Not Ivy though. She was still flat-out running like demons were on her heels. Kel caught up with her and then had to laugh when her response was to speed up. Competitive to her sexy core. But it turned out laughing and running at the same time was a bitch on his still healing ribs, and at the bottom, he stopped and bent over at the knees to breathe through the pain.

Ivy made a point of touching the trailhead in victory before turning to him. Her smile faded. “You okay?”

“Just an old injury not fully healed.”

“Old injury?”

“It’s nothing,” he said.

“So . . . I win fair and square?”

“Yeah. You win not buying everyone drinks.” He laughed. They’d left everyone else way back in their dust. “I take it you like to win.”

“Of course. Don’t even try to tell me you don’t.”