“Unless you like an audience,” Tina adds.
“I don’t know about an audience,” Oliver whispers into my ear. “But I’ll have you screaming.”
My face heats, even as his words send a shiver down my body. I turn to look at him. He’s still so close that my nose bumps his and I can feel his breath on my lips. Before I can think of what to do next, the car comes to a stop.
“There it is,” Ryan announces. “Home sweet home for the weekend.”
Oliver and I turn away from each other to look out the window at the cabin. It’s a two-level building with log siding. There’s a wooden porch that wraps around the whole house, and on the front of the cabin are windows that extend from the floor all the way to the arched roof. I wasn’t expecting it to be this nice. I know that Tina and Ryan are rich, but this is Ryan’s parents’ cabin. They didn’t have any money until Ryan made it big. He and Tina made all of their money from designing apps, which is also how they met. Since this cabin has been in Ryan’s family since long before that, I guess I assumed it would be a lot smaller, like a hunting cabin with four walls and an outhouse. This cabin is by no means a mansion, but it’s nicer than my apartment.
Then again, most places are nicer than my apartment.
I get out of the car and take in the view. We’re surrounded by tall pines as far as the eye can see. Beyond the pines are mountains with hiking trails, which I only know about because Tina told me. There are stacks of wood on one side of the wraparound porch. A porch swing hangs by the front door, looking inviting. It’s colder up here in the mountains than it is back home. Even though the sun is out, I find myself wishing I had worn a long sleeve shirt.
“Let’s get inside,” Tina says. “I want to unpack and go for a hike.”
“A hike?” Oliver and I repeat at the same time. I exchange a look with him, and then I look back at Tina.
“We were just in the car for four hours,” I remind her. “Don’t you want to relax for a bit?”
“I just relaxed for four hours in the car,” she says. “How much more relaxing do I need to do? I need to stretch my legs.” She narrows her eyes and looks back and forth between me and Oliver, then smiles. “Oh, I get it. You were hoping for a little alone time with Oliver.”
“No. I mean—yeah, but…” I trail off and start over. “I guess we could go for a hike.”
“Don’t worry,” she says. “I brought something special for you two for later.”
I frown. “What did you bring?”
“Come inside and find out,” she says. “It’s in my bag.”
We grab the bags from the trunk and head inside. The front door opens onto a large main room. The open kitchen is on one side, a living area in the middle, with a fireplace on the other side. There’s a staircase toward the back of the room that leads up to the second-floor landing, where I can see the bedroom doors lining the far wall. It doesn’t smell dusty like I might have expected for a cabin that goes unused for weeks or months at a time. It smells like fresh cedar with a hint of cleaning product.
“Wow. It’s so clean in here.” I run a finger over the top of the kitchen table. No dust.
“We have a cleaning service that comes in monthly and again whenever we’re planning a trip,” Ryan says.
“So the beds are nice and clean,” Tina says with a wink.
I ignore her, hoping for a subject change. “What’s the special thing you brought?”
She smiles, then lifts her suitcase up onto the table and unzips it. Without letting me see inside, she digs through her things for a minute, then pulls out a thick foil square. She holds it up, letting it unfold as it drops down to reveal a long strip of foil-wrapped condoms.
My jaw drops, and I blush. I’m sure my face is bright red. I don’t dare to look at Oliver.
“Why would you bring these?” I ask when I can compose myself again. “You don’t think we have our own?”
She shrugs. “Just want to make extra sure you’re careful. It’s bad luck to conceive a baby in a cabin.”
Oliver snorts behind me, which makes me laugh too. “I don’t think that’s a thing, Tina,” I tell her. “And I don’t think anyone here is talking about having babies.”
“Talking doesn’t make babies,” she says. She holds the condoms out, forcing me to take them. “Sex without these does.”
“How many even are there?” Oliver asks. I don’t realize how close he is until he reaches around my shoulder to take the condoms out of my hand. “Twenty? Who needs that many condoms for one weekend?”
Tina stares at him blankly, then looks at me. “I feel bad for you, Priscilla. You need a man with better stamina.”
“No, I agree with him,” I say. “That’s like…” I do the math in my head. “We would need to have sex at least ten times a day if you don’t count Sunday morning. And even then, that’s a lot.”
She grits her teeth. “Is it, though?”
