She shudders again when I slip out from beneath her, immediately curling deeper under the covers to retreat back into the warmth. It doesn’t take long to find what I’m looking for, and as quiet as I try to be, I hear a rustling under the blankets after another thirty minutes or so.

“What is that?” I look at her over my shoulder, watching her eyes move down my naked torso to my plaid pajama bottoms. “Aren’t you freezing?”

“It’s not that cold,” I tell her, a tone of excitement in my voice. “Come look at this.”

She only grumbles a little as she wraps her naked body in the thickest quilt she can grab from the pile, then shuffles over to the polyester dome that I’ve been assembling while she slept. “Is that a…tent?”

“Yeah…” Her astonished tone has me feeling a little embarrassed now. “You said last night you’d never been camping…and we had this sitting in the storage closet, and I thought…I mean, technically this is what you’re supposed to do in this situation and all, and I just—” I press my lips together, as I realize I’ve started to babble. “This was stupid, wasn’t it?”

She smiles softly before crouching down to look inside, noticing I’ve deposited all the blankets that would have been my bed inside the tent along with a plethora of assorted pillows, ranging from couch cushions to ones that I’ve stolen from some of the upstairs bedrooms. It occurs to me that I may be nesting, that I’m subconsciously trying to make things more comfortable for her heat—something that usually only mates do. It’s a strange thought, but not an altogether unpleasant one, if a little worrisome.

She crawls inside, blanket still wrapped tightly around her as she plops down in the center of all the bedding materials. “Well,” she says expectantly. “Give me the full experience.”

My lips tilt up in a grin as I crawl in after her. “Now when the bear breaks in, it won’t be able to find you.”

“That joke gets more and more hilarious every time you tell it.”

I look around the tiny space, thinking it would probably be a lot grander out under the stars somewhere, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts. I’m almost too big for the damn thing, my head nearly touching the ceiling even with the way I’m sitting, leaning back on my hands with my legs spread in front of me to spill out through the unzipped opening.

“How is your ankle?”

She wiggles her toes. “Better. Just a little sore now.”

“Good.”

“I bet you take all the girls here,” she teases. “Is this how you would have wooed me if I’d grown up here?”

“This is definitely how I would have wooed you if you’d grown up here,” I say seriously.

“Oh?” She shifts so that she’s turning to face me, still wrapped in her blanket. “Tell me what that would look like.”

I keep myself propped on one hand even as I reach up with the other, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She looks so soft like this, and her scent is much thicker now, making every breath almost painful in the way it has me burning for her. It takes everything I have just to keep my hands off her. Does she know how enticing she is right now?

“I’d build us a fire first,” I say.

“Check,” she notes. “Although, maybe you should poke it or something. It’s freezing. Anyway…And then?”

“Then I would impress you with my spectacular tent-pitching skills.”

“I am thoroughly impressed,” she assures me. “Then what?”

“Then maybe I’d show you where all the constellations are.”

“Wow, astronomy nerd.”

I roll my eyes. “Trust me, you would be thoroughly wooed.”

“Oh, I have no doubt. Fire, tents, stars…sounds like you were regularly getting laid with this foolproof tactic.”

I shrug. “Never took anyone camping till now.”

“Really?” She feigns shock as she brings her hand to her cheek, the blanket slipping a little off her shoulder. “I feel so honored.”

I’m watching her face now—her full lips, her pert nose that is awash with freckles, her wide eyes that seem to sparkle—my expression softening a little. “I’d probably tell you that you’re so beautiful it hurts to look at you sometimes.”

“Wow.” Her cheeks tinge pink. “You tell all the girls that?”

“Just you,” I say quietly.

She bites at the inside of her lip, holding back a smile before telling me, “A line like that would definitely get you a make-out session.”

I kiss her softly then, closing my eyes as she leans into me. She’s so warm, so soft and sweet—it’s hard not to pull her closer, to let her warmth bleed into the coldest parts of me, thawing them, making them come back to life.

I haven’t felt as alive as I do with Tess in a very long time.

“I’m sort of jealous I didn’t grow up here,” she murmurs. “Seems I missed out on a lot.”

“Well,” I tell her, gathering her in my arms and pulling her down into the blankets, “I could show you a thing or two.”

I reach up to trace my finger against the polyester ceiling of the tent, drawing shapes. “That’s Ursa Major right there.”

“Oh, is it?”

“Mm-hmm.” I move my hand, drawing another shape above her. “And that’s Andromeda.”

“You really are a nerd,” she laughs.

I eye her from the side. “You got something to say about that?”

“No way,” she teases. “I think it’s pretty hot.”

“Sure you do,” I murmur.

She cuddles closer to me. “Show me another one.”

“Well. This would be Orion,” I tell her. I draw a line across where its middle would be. “And this would be his belt.”

“Sure, sure,” she says.

“And then there’s Lupus,” I point out, drawing it on the polyester with my finger.

She cocks her head. “There’s a constellation called Lupus?”

“The wolf,” I say. “Yeah.”

“Huh. I bet I would have known that if I’d grown up like this.”

“Maybe,” I tell her. “Maybe not.”

“It’s still so weird.”

“I can only imagine.”

“One day I’m one way, and then the next…Poof. Something else.”

“Do you regret it?”

She looks up at me, smiling softly. “Not really.”

Her soft look does something to my insides, like she’s saying without words that I’m the reason she doesn’t regret all the changes she’s going through. It’s like a knot that’s been tightly wound for ages slowly starting to unravel. That’s a heady thing for someone who isn’t sure they’re worth all that.

She shifts beside me, squirming a little as her face scrunches up.

“Are you okay?”

She looks sheepish. “Just a little sore.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her.

“Don’t be,” she sighs. “You’re just fucking huge. My poor vagina’s eyes are bigger than its stomach.”

“That’s horrifying,” I laugh.

“But not untrue.”

She looks up at me then, her eyes shining a little. “Hunter?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m glad it was you,” she tells me. “I’m glad that you’re the one here with me.”

And the knot that’s inside unravels a bit more, turning me into this loose, lax thing, and I might actually believe I’m worth all the fuss. I’ve never felt the way I do when I’m here with her, doing something as simple as this.

It makes it impossible not to lean down and capture her lips, my tongue sweeping through her mouth, my lips lingering at hers, my voice rougher than it was before. “Still cold?”

“Nope,” she sighs.

My lips curl against hers. “Good.”

“You know…” She shifts a bit, looking mildly uncomfortable. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me.”

Something squeezes in my chest, and I wind my arms around her as I pull her tighter against me. “That’s a real shame.”

“I think I like camping,” she says softly, looking almost shy.

“I haven’t even shown you how to make breakfast over the fire.”

“That might be hotter than anything you’ve done so far.”

“Oh?” I make an indignant sound. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“I might need another point of reference,” she says seriously. “Just to be sure.”