“I didn’t think I’d ever get you to myself,” I say, as I pretty much attack him when my bedroom door closes. His arms wrap around me and he’s a willing partner.

“I’ve missed you, Cate. You are a sight for my greedy eyes. But we need some sleep because we’re getting up to catch the sunrise in the morning.”

“Huh?”

“The sunrise. Tomorrow is a nature day for us.”

Nature day? What the hell does that mean? I had plans to wallow in the bed with my sexy boyfriend and he wants to what—watch the birds and bees in the sunrise. What the hell?

“Don’t look like that. You’re going to love it. Just wait. Lift your arms.” When I do, he strips me of my shirt. Then he helps me remove my jeans. When I’m down to my unders, he tells me to get in the bathroom and brush my teeth. As I’m brushing, I keep trying to guess where he’s taking me. I come up with one huge blank.

When I come out of the bathroom, I fully intend to interrogate him, but he stands here, shirtless in his boxers and wearing the cutest smile. All my questions evaporate.

“My turn.” He disappears and I ogle him as he goes. I climb into bed and wait. When the door reopens, he’s smacking his lips and he reminds me of a cute little kid.

When he slides under the covers, my eager hands reach for him but he grabs them and kisses them.

“Cate, honey, you know if we start we’ll never wake up before dawn.”

“What in the world is so blooming important that we have to get up so early?”

“I can’t tell you.” He stills my roaming hands. “Showing you will be so much better.”

Damn, this better be worth putting off sex for the night.

“Okay. Then kiss me goodnight, oh secretive one.”

“You’ll love it, I promise,” he says as he presses his lips to mine.

“I won’t love it nearly as much as I love having you inside of me.”

“Damn, woman, you drive a hard bargain.”

“Um, I think you have that backward. You’re the one driving the hard bargain.”

He pinches my butt and says, “Smart ass.”

Curling up along side of him, I lay my head on his chest and the next thing I know, he’s shaking me awake.

“Cate, come on. Get up and shower.”

“Huh?”

“Up. Shower. It’s time.”

“What the hell time is it?”

“Five.”

“Shit.”

He drags me out of bed behind him, and we hit the shower. While I’m drying my hair, he tells me he’s going to pack for me since he refuses to tell me where we’re going. I find that unusual, but he’s seen me pull clothes out before so he knows where I keep everything. Since it’s only one night, I don’t worry too much. In record time, we’re out the door.

We drive to a local diner and grab breakfast to go—bacon and egg sandwiches and coffee. Then we hit the road. It’s still dark out and I pester Drew about our final destination.

“You’ll see. You don’t have much longer to wait.”

About twenty minutes later, we pull into a state park and drive through the entrance.

“A state park?”

“Yep.” It’s all he says.

He drives a bit before he parks the car. “Come on,” he says, extending his hand. I follow him along a trail that leads to a wooden bridge. The bridge crosses a narrow river and on either side there are steep rock formations. It’s quite beautiful even in the pre-dawn gray light. I’m sure when the day is bright, it’s spectacular.

“Have a seat, my lady.” Drew indicates a place on the side of the bridge so I sink down and sit. He does the same. “Now watch over there.” He points over the rocks and we wait. About fifteen minutes later, the sun inches up over the horizon and its rays cast the rocks in an orange-red glow. At first, it’s not noticeable, but when the sun gets to a certain point, it makes the rocks look like they’re glowing. It happens so fast and lasts for only a minute or two, if we weren’t here at precisely the right moment, we would never have seen it.

“Oh my god! How did you know?”

“By sheer accident. I literally stumbled upon it camping one day. It’s really something, isn’t it?”

“It’s phenomenal. I’ve never seen anything like it! Thank you for showing this to me.” I scoot my butt around to face him and notice he’s not watching the sunrise at all. He’s staring right at me. My body heats and my stomach flutters as that familiar sensation begins to grow within me. But then his words cause my heart to trip all over itself.

“Cate, it’s nothing compared to you.” His hand reaches for mine as he leans in to kiss me. Before my brain goes to mush, all I can think is Drew McKnight is all kinds of amazing.

We stay wrapped up in each other until the sun is high and the day is brighter. When he helps me to my feet, I can’t help but observe his impish grin. “So what do you have up your sleeve now, mister?”

He winks. “You’ll see.”

We walk back to the car and after a few minutes of driving we pull into the ranger’s station. “Stay right here. I’ll be back in a second.” He hops out and jogs inside. A couple minutes later, he gets back in the car. We drive around and soon we pull into a parking place that’s marked as number twelve. It has a gravel square, picnic table, campfire ring, and now I figure it out.

“So, hot shot, I take it we’re camping?”

“Yep,” he says eagerly as he pulls the car to a stop. When he turns to me he still wears his boyish look. “How do you feel about it?”

“Hmm. You know, I went to camp as a kid and loved it, but I’ve never tent camped. So I’m game. But I have a question. Is this one of those tests?”

Confusion furrows his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve known guys who’ve tested girls before by taking them places or doing things they loved and if the girl didn’t love it then that was it.”

“So, you’re asking me that if you don’t love camping, am I going to end it with you?”

“Pretty much,” I say, with a slight frown.

“Cate Forbes, do you really think that little of me?” He looks crushed. “Because if you do, I’ve done a terrible job of showing you how I feel about you.”

I suck in my breath at his words. I can’t let him feel like this so I blurt out, “No! It’s just my inexperience, I suppose.” Now I feel shitty for asking him that.

“Hear me now. If you hate camping, we will never do this again. That’s not to say I won’t, but you won’t have to endure one more night of it. Understand?”

“Perfectly. And thank you. So you really love this, huh?”

His smile returns as he says, “Oh, yeah. Just wait.” He starts pulling out all this gear from the back of his 4Runner and who knew? There is so much you need when you camp. After a while, I stop asking him what things are because I don’t want to be a pest.

The day has warmed up significantly, and Drew has shed his sweatshirt, so now he wears a short-sleeved t-shirt. He’s putting up the tent and I stare at the muscles in his arms as he works. I’ve never really focused on them before because I was always lured in by his abs and pecs, but damn, those arms are amazing, too. They ripple as he grabs this and that and I find myself licking my lips over and over. But what I really love is when he has to raise his arms and his shirt exposes that sexy strip of flesh. It gives me all sorts of ideas and makes me want to fall to my knees and take a nibble here and there. I think I’m going to love camping.

“Hey Cate, can you hand me that hammer over there?”

“Yeah, sure.”

I find said hammer and then stand behind him as he pounds in the stakes. Only I don’t watch him do that, because now I’m riveted on his ass. He’s wearing my favorite jeans. They mold to his cheeks perfectly and I want to drop to my knees and bite him.

“Cate? Cate? Cate where are you? Helllllooooo?”

“Oh, sorry. What do you need?”

“I need help with the fly.”

“Really? You need help with your fly?” Excitement surges through me.

He rolls his eyes, something he never does. “No Cate, not my fly. The fly. It covers the tent to protect us if it rains.”