Such a Naughty Girl (Hot Creeps #2)

Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY

EMMETT

Summer came with the chirp of crickets and the buzz of mayflies, blissful warms sweeping through the forest. Newborn deer grew from wobbly-legged babies into bouncing youths. Buds turned to blossoms,decoratingthe forest floor with pockets of colour.

Chunk darted between the pines, chasing after the scent of some creature or another, zoomies making him think he was a puppy all over again.

I hadn’t set out with any direction inparticularwhen leaving the cabin, yet again my feet took me to her.

Always to her.

The clearing hummed with the chitter of birds, our tree alone amongst the brimming forest.

Chunk amused himself as Iapproachedthe weeping willow, finding our initials and tracing my fingers over their indented forms.

Taking a long inhale, I rested my forehead against the rough bark, letting the months-old memory of her wash over me. I shivered as the imaginary cold swelled around me, the distant echo of a howl, now nothing but a fading memory.

I’d tried to find her online. Hell, I’d gone to three nearby colleges to see if I could find her; but had come home kicking rocks.

She hadn’t tried to contact me.

Why would she?

It was one thing to allow yourself to fall into a situation, to befriend the lion while you’re stuck in the pit with it to avoid becoming its dinner. It was another to come back and pet the lion for fun.

Izzy sparkled where I wrinkled. She was soft where I’d grown hard. Life bubbled from her andinvigoratedme.

I barely knew her, yet months on from our brief encounter, I found myself thinking about her. She plagued me.

How long would it take for herimpressionto fade? Months? Years?

She’d likely gone back to college and settled back into her usual life. Hell, after the few days we’d had, she was probably living it up.

As she should be.

Isolated in my cabin a million miles fromcivilisationwas no place for someone so vibrant. Heck, even Chunk deserved better. A family with snot-nosed tots who’d drop toast for him every morning and sneak him chicken nuggets at night.

I sighed, inhaling the woody scent and pressing my hand harder into the bark,impressingher initials into my skin. More than anything, I wanted her nail marks on my arms, my lips swollen with her desperate kisses. I wanted to make her smile. To swallow her giggles before making her squeal my name into the night.

Chunk nudged at my legs, urging me to continue our walk.

With a nod, I pushed my way back from the tree and followed Chunk back through the woodland.

With every step, I ran my fingers over the I and E imprinted in my palm.

It faded too soon.