I wasn’t casual about sex.
I’d only been with one man.
And I knew I’d hate myself if I gave in to Eli Stone.
Problem was, I could also end up regretting not experiencing what this man could do to me, even if it just happened once.
Later, was I going to wish I’d felt what it was like to truly experience a mind-blowing orgasm like I instinctively knew Eli could give me?
He was silent as we walked, and I didn’t trust myself to speak as we arrived back at camp.
By the time we’d hiked back, my brain was finally functional again.
Deep inside, I knew that I wasn’t really afraid of having a fling with a man who could bring me nothing but pleasure.
But I was terrified that when it ended, I’d never be the same.
CHAPTER 5
JADE
Later that evening, I realized that there was one good thing about Eli buying out all my spots in the class: it left a ton of s’mores for us to eat without other students around.
Eli hadn’t said another word about our personal dilemma, and I certainly hadn’t encouraged him. In fact, I’d been relieved when he’d asked me about other methods of getting fire if there was no fire starter available.
I’d taught him how to make a bow drill and a hand drill. Surprisingly, he’d been able to get an ember with both of them. By the time we’d finished, it was dinnertime.
Since it was only an overnight beginner class, I’d pulled out the hot dogs and s’more fixings for dinner.
“Mine is done,” I said as I watched my marshmallow turn a nice golden brown.
Eli chuckled as he handed over the graham crackers and chocolate. “You like to eat,” he said with humor in his voice. “I think you’re the most unusual woman I’ve ever met.”
Yeah. Okay. So I had downed several hot dogs before I’d started in on the s’mores. I’d stopped counting how many I’d inhaled after the first few.
I turned my head and glared at him. We had a nice fire going, and I could see the glint of amusement in his eyes.
I shrugged. “I do like to eat. I’ve never been a woman who could exist on salad and water. And I burn a lot of calories. But what’s so strange about that?”
Expertly, I slid the marshmallow between the crackers to melt the chocolate, giving the treat a good smash after it was in place.
“Nothing,” he answered. “I like it because I love food myself. I guess I’ve just never found a woman who liked it as much as I do.”
I moved from a kneeling position and plopped my ass on the ground beside him. I’d noticed that Eli could consume more food than I could, and that was saying something.
“I have four brothers,” I said, like the statement explained everything. “They all love to eat, but there was a time when we didn’t have enough money to feed all of us. Now that I have the money, I think I’m making up for lost time.”
“What did you do when you couldn’t all eat?” he asked.
“We survived. We rationed until we could get enough money to buy more groceries.”
I took a big bite of my cooled-down s’more and closed my eyes as the sweet taste exploded on my tongue.
After being poor and hungry, I guess I appreciated food more than most people.
“What happened to your parents?” he said in a husky voice.
I opened my eyes, only to realize he was watching me intently. I swallowed before I answered, “My mom died when we were young. Noah was barely out of high school, but he still managed to keep us all together. We never really knew my father.”
It was still hard to talk about the man who had sired us. We’d gotten to know our father through Evan and his siblings, and none of it was good. He’d been a mean, abusive man, and I actually felt lucky that he’d never been around much.
After I consumed the rest of my dessert, I licked my fingers until they weren’t sticky anymore.
When I looked up, I could see the ravenous expression on Eli’s face.
I held out the box of crackers and the chocolate. “Do you want more?”
He shook his head. “No.”
The tension between us was still there, but the discomfort had eased for a while during the period that I was teaching him some new skills. Now it was back with a vengeance.
I looked away from him, unable to keep my eyes locked with his without falling under his seductive spell.
“So will you tell me about how you ended up sharing the same father with the East Coast Sinclairs now?” he asked huskily.
I let out a quiet sigh, glad he was at least trying to make normal conversation. “Only if you can keep it a secret. It’s not like we’re hiding it, or that it’s in any way our fault, but gossip gets out of control. I already have every local guy in Citrus Beach trying to date me for my money, and some reporters have started hounding me for my story.”
Now that Brooke had been home and found out about her inheritance, there wasn’t much danger in telling Eli the truth. It had already leaked. But I didn’t exactly want the whole world to know.
“I’d never repeat anything you tell me in confidence, Butterfly.”
Strangely, I believed him. “It’s not a pretty story. Martin Sinclair married his first wife and started a family on the East Coast. But he also married my mother after he already had a few children with his first wife.”
“His first wife? He had two?”
“My father was a bigamist. I have no idea why he married my mother when he already had a wife. But I don’t think my mother knew until he was already dead. She never told any of us the whole story before she passed away from an aggressive cancer.”
“So none of you had any way of knowing that you shared blood with a rich and powerful family,” he concluded.
I shook my head. “Not until I decided to do an ancestry DNA test. Since I love primitive survival, I wanted to see if I had any Native American blood. Really, we had no way of knowing my father’s ancestral origins. So I was curious about our heritage on his side. There was a sale on the test, so I decided to go for it.”
“So you matched with one of your half-siblings?”
“Evan. The oldest.”
“I know him,” Eli revealed. “Not well, but we’ve had some business dealings together. He is a cocky bastard, but not a bad guy.”
I finally turned my head and smiled at him. “I think most of it is bravado with Evan. He put his DNA on the sites because he had suspicions that he might have more family in the world somewhere. When he settled his father’s estate, he put a portion of our father’s fortune aside and kept it growing in case we were ever found. That’s a lot more than most rich people would ever do for their father’s bastard kids.”
“Agreed,” Eli mused. “I guess he’s a lot nicer than I thought.”
“And look who’s talking about being cocky,” I said. “You’re not exactly humble or considerate yourself. Is that a billionaire thing?”
“Is your conclusion because I left you waiting at my office?”
I nodded.
“Believe it or not, I’m actually very punctual. I have to keep a tight, organized schedule. But we had a crisis that day that forced me to push your appointment back. A lot of people were about to lose their jobs. Sometimes emergencies happen.”