They had just pulled into Ty’s driveway and he put the car in park as Imogen watched him. He was serious about his offer, and it intrigued her. What would she like Ty to experience? And was she willing to venture into the woods for a weekend of bug bites, misery, and uncertain hygiene to introduce Ty to something from her world?

Without hesitation, she realized she was. Because it occurred to her that both she and Ty had lived very narrow lives and could only benefit from a little broadening of experience. Plus she knew that he underestimated his own intelligence, and she wanted him to appreciate and understand that he was a very bright guy.

“Okay. I will go camping if you read Much Ado About Nothing in its entirety.”

Something flickered in his eyes, but he only hesitated a second before saying, “It’s a deal. I’ll pick me up a copy in the next few days. And you look at your calendar and see when you have a Monday and a Tuesday free and we’ll hit the woods.”

“Oh, that’s going to be tricky,” she said, seeing an out for herself immediately. “I have class.”

“Don’t you have any days off? Veterans Day is next week, don’t you get that off?”

“I don’t know,” she lied. Then because she never lied and wasn’t comfortable with it, she immediately admitted the truth. Her mother had always said she didn’t need to confront Imogen about her lies, she just needed to wait thirty seconds and Imogen would confess. It was clearly still true because she said, “Yes, we have the day off.”

“So we’ll go then. We can leave first thing Monday morning and come back Tuesday. Just one night. I’ll clear those two days with my assistant Toni and find a campsite.” He smiled at her. “We’ll have a great time.”

That she seriously doubted. “You’re going to regret taking me out into nature. I am confident I’m going to complain the majority of the time.”

But Ty just said, “You can’t complain if your lips are busy doing other things.”

“Like what?” she said, even though she knew full well what he was talking about.

“Come inside and I’ll show you.”

He didn’t need to ask her twice. In fact, he’d only needed to ask her once—she’d been ready the night before. Of course, she had been a nervous wreck about the whole thing and probably wouldn’t have enjoyed herself as much as she could have. She couldn’t say why precisely, but it was only twenty-four hours later and she was experiencing none of the anxiety she’d had the night before. It wasn’t logical but she decided not to question it and just accept it for what it was.