I, on the other hand, was pumped. I wanted nothing more than to be out in nature with her, sitting by a bonfire with our friends, not thinking at all about what was next and just being with each other. There would be no cell reception so she’d finally be forced to take a break from preparing for interviews for this supposed dream job of hers. If you asked me, it was freaking ridiculous to put a potential candidate through this many hoops just to decide if you wanted to hire them or not. Frankie had already killed three rounds of interviews; they should have known what they had by now.

“My tent is pretty small, but we should both be able to squeeze into it.” I grinned up at her, but it faltered when I found her frowning back at me. “What?” I questioned.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said. “I mean, your best friend and his girlfriend are coming up. I would totally get if you didn’t want to say that we’re together—or whatever it is that we are. It’s so confusing, and they’re only here for a few days.”

My smile remained frozen to my face, but I could feel the vein in my neck start to bulge. “Frankie, you’re overthinking this,” I said carefully, because like hell was I letting her sleep anywhere except for my tent. She’d be lucky if I didn’t squeeze her into my sleeping bag.

“It’s confusing,” she insisted.

I stood up slowly, dropping my smile and raising an eyebrow. “Confusing? What are you talking about? No, it’s not.”

I mean, I guess it kind of was. I was confused as hell. I’d never felt this way in my entire life, yet we were only temporary. Everything in me was screaming to fight for whatever this was, but every logical thing in my brain was telling me we weren’t meant to be. Actually, come to think of it, “confusing” about summed it up.

“Look,” she said in a gentle tone I kind of hated—like she was bracing to let me down or something. “There will be a group of us. It’s not like it’s some romantic getaway, just the two of us. We can keep it casual in front of your friends. Mattie and Giles have an extra tent I can borrow. I’ll just use that one. It isn’t a big deal.”

I opened my mouth to protest again, but she shuffled off the couch and cut me off.

“I don’t want to have to explain myself to your friends, okay?” She let out an exhausted-sounding sigh, and I fought the urge to pull her into me. “They’ll ask questions that I don’t feel like answering. I’d rather get to know them in a chill environment—without any pressure.”

If she knew Harrison, she would know that he’d be as likely to interrogate her as a monk that took a vow of silence. He was not the chatty type, nor would he ever stick his nose in anyone’s business.