Wicked Places (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 4) (3 page)

J
ack and Ivy
got so carried away with their game – and Jack’s incessant need to bark throughout the romantic interlude – they lost track of time and fell asleep. Ivy curled her arm around Jack’s chest as he held her close – neither one bothering to cover themselves under the bright sun as it cascaded through the roof of their tent – and dozed off before they realized what was happening.

That’s exactly how Jack’s friends found them an hour and a half later.

“I see you’re taking to camping better than I expected, Jack,” one of the men said, his wolfish grin the first thing Ivy saw when she wrenched her eyes open. “I can see why.”

“Holy crud,” Ivy said, reaching for her discarded clothes to cover herself as Jack blocked her body with his by sitting up.

It took Jack a moment to realize that six sets of curious eyes were fixed on him through the open flap at the end of the tent. “Get out,” Jack ordered, reality washing over him. “Don’t stare at us.”

“We’ll be unpacking and getting settled. Come and join us when you’re ready.”

Jack watched them go, their laughter simultaneously amusing and irritating him. He rolled his eyes until they landed on a mortified Ivy. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

Instead of yelling and screaming like he expected, Ivy broke out in raucous laughter and buried her face in her hands. “That is not how I envisioned meeting them.”

“The good news is that you just made the best first impression ever,” Jack said. “The bad news is that I’m going to have to kill all of them for seeing you naked.”

“I’m not sure how much they saw,” Ivy countered. “I was kind of … crushed … against you.”

“That’s exactly how I like you to sleep,” Jack said, grabbing the back of her neck and kissing her. “I’m sorry about that, though. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“I think you wore yourself out with all that barking.”

“Trust me, honey, that’s not what wore me out,” Jack said, smiling as he released her. “Come on and get dressed. I’ll introduce you to everyone. They’re going to love you – although I’m fairly certain some of them already do.”

It took Jack and Ivy about ten minutes to get situated, Ivy insisting on running a brush through her hair while Jack watched with a wide smile. Once she was ready, Jack linked his fingers with hers and led her out of the tent, widening his eyes as he watched his friends toil with metal beams that appeared to mechanically lower toward the ground at the front of their campers.

“What are they doing?”

Ivy smiled. She loved that Jack seemed so uncertain regarding camping. He was usually sure of himself in almost every situation. She found his confusion cute. “They’re balancing the campers.”

“It looks … difficult.”

“I’m sure they know what they’re doing,” Ivy said, squeezing his hand. “Do you want to introduce me, or are you afraid I’m going to embarrass you because they’ve seen me naked?”

“Oh, honey, there’s nothing embarrassing about you when you’re naked,” Jack said, locking gazes with her. “That’s the most glorious thing ever.”

“So cute,” Ivy said, pinching his cheek and jiggling it.

Jack wrinkled his nose. “I wish they weren’t here so I could drag you right back into that tent.”

“We’ll have plenty of time for that,” Ivy said. “It looks like your friends with the tent are thinking ahead and pitching their tent on the other side of the campsite.” Ivy pointed and Jack watched his friend struggle with the nylon contraption.

“Do you think I should help?” Jack asked.

“No. Then they’ll know you didn’t put up our tent.”

“Ha, ha,” he intoned, gripping her hand. “Come on. I’ll make introductions.”

For the first time since Jack suggested she join him on his camping trip, Ivy was nervous. What if they didn’t like her? What if they took one look at her pink hair and thought Jack had lost his mind? What if they tried to talk Jack out of dating her?

In her heart, Ivy knew Jack was committed to the relationship. They’d had issues with communication at certain points, but she believed him when he said he wanted to be with her. He struggled with doubt after meeting her, the same way she did when she first laid eyes on him. They overcame that, and Ivy was happy. Now her biggest worry was something coming along that would torpedo that happiness.

“Well, there he is,” the man working on the tent said, straightening. “I’m glad to see you found your clothes before you joined us. Otherwise that might have been embarrassing.”

Jack rolled his eyes but extended his hand and greeted his friend. “Alex. How are things?”

“They’re good,” Alex replied, his eyes twinkling as they shifted to Ivy. “I see things are good with you, too.”

“They’re definitely good,” Jack said, moving Ivy in front of him. “Alex and Maria Scully, this is Ivy Morgan.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ivy said, slipping her hand in Alex’s to shake it and offering Maria a pleasant smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Alex said, vigorously shaking Ivy’s hand before releasing it. “It would’ve been nicer if we knew you existed so we could’ve prepared ourselves for that … wonderful moment at your tent.”

Ivy faltered. “I … .”

“That’s my fault,” Jack said, stepping in smoothly. “We’ve been extremely busy and I forgot all about the camping trip until you sent that email reminding everyone a week ago.”

“Have you two only been dating for a week?” Alex challenged, lifting an eyebrow. “That’s not how it looked to me.”

“We’ve been dating for a few weeks,” Jack replied, not missing a beat. “We’ve been … verbally sparring … a few more weeks. Don’t give her a hard time.”

“I was just joking,” Alex said, making an exaggerated face. “I’m just … surprised. You haven’t had a girlfriend in a long time – well, at least one you’ve brought around us.”

“I haven’t had anyone I’ve cared enough about to bring around you in a long time,” Jack said. “Ivy is special.”

“I can see Ivy is special,” Alex said. “Now I know why you’re selling your house downstate and moving up here for good. I was wondering, and now I know why.”

Ivy shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable as Alex’s predatory gaze washed over her.

“Ignore him,” Maria said, shaking Ivy’s hand. “You have to understand, we thought Jack was going to be a monk at the rate he was going. In fact, we were all so worried about him we planned on finding a woman for him at the campground this week. We’re all relieved he already found someone on his own.”

Ivy smiled. “I don’t think you have to worry about Jack being a monk,” she said. “That was his plan when he came to Shadow Lake, but I talked him out of it.”

“How did you do that?” Alex asked.

“She smiled at me,” Jack answered for Ivy, slipping his arm around her waist. “How was the traffic coming up here?”

“Not too bad,” Alex replied. “It’s not a holiday weekend, so that helped.”

“Where do you live?” Ivy asked.

“We live in Bay City,” Maria supplied. “Here, I’ll make introductions since these two are such idiots. That couple over there arguing about if the trailer is level or not is Donnie Thompson and his girlfriend Lauren. They’ve been together about three years, and yet they’re still not married. Most of us think Donnie is scared she’ll say no, but we’re going to work on him this week because if he’s not careful, Lauren is going to take off on him because he’s such a coward.”

Ivy’s eyes widened. “Um … okay.”

“That couple over there – the ones who look like they want to rip each other’s hair out because the truck was backed in at an odd angle – is Scott and Melissa Graham,” Maria said, pointing toward a brunette couple as they gestured angrily at one another. “They’ve been married for five years and they really do get along … kind of. They had to drive up from Detroit, though, and it was a long five hours. They’ll be fine once they eat and have a few beers.”

“Good to know,” Ivy said.

“I think you’re overwhelming her,” Jack chided.

“Oh, I don’t mean to do that,” Maria said, feigning innocence. “We should take a break from our gossip and focus on her. I’m just dying to hear about Miss Ivy and how she managed to snag you.”

Ivy exchanged a worried look with Jack, a silent plea passing between them.

“You wanted to come camping, honey,” Jack said, smirking. “Welcome to my world.”

“
S
O
, IVY,
what do you do for a living?”

Jack’s friends spent two hours setting up their campsites and then everyone grouped around the bonfire to eat dinner and gossip. Ivy was happy when the conversation involved old stories about Jack’s wild college days, but when the onus was shifted to her she couldn’t help but be uneasy.

“I own a plant nursery in Shadow Lake,” Ivy replied, leaning back in her chair as Jack reached over and captured her hand.

“That’s a cool job,” Lauren said. “Did you go to school for that?”

“I didn’t go to college,” Ivy replied. “My father has always had an interest in plants and he taught me.”

“You didn’t go to college?” Maria furrowed her brow. “You missed out on the experience of a lifetime. Are you sad you didn’t go?”

“Not really.”

Jack squeezed Ivy’s hand and fixed Maria with an unreadable look. “Ivy is very talented and she works really hard. College isn’t everything, and she’s done very well for herself.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Maria protested. “It’s just … don’t you wish you would’ve been able to say you had an adventure?” She looked wistful.

“I have an adventure every day of my life when I go to work and stop my father from talking a customer’s ear off,” Ivy replied. “I’m not sure I was ever geared for college.”

“How come?” Donnie asked, sipping his beer. “Is it because you have pink hair? You shouldn’t worry about that. You would fit right in on a college campus with that hair.”

Lauren smacked Donnie’s knee. “Don’t be rude.”

“I didn’t think I was being rude,” Donnie offered ruefully. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ivy said, wetting her lips and glancing down at her feet. “I just didn’t ever want to go to college. I always knew I wanted to run a nursery. My dad helped me learn the things I needed to learn and gave me money to help with a down payment … and then he just left me to do my thing.”

“And you do it very well,” Jack said, lifting their joined hands and pressing a kiss to Ivy’s knuckles, earning exaggerated eye rolls from his male friends and soft sighs from the females.

“Do you make a lot of money?” Maria asked.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Jack said, straightening in his chair.

“It’s okay, Jack,” Ivy said. “They’re curious because they thought you were going to be a monk for the rest of your life. I get it. To answer your question, yes, I make a nice living.”

“Are you satisfied?” Jack asked, his eyes flashing.

“I honestly didn’t mean anything by it, Jack,” Maria said, holding her hands up. “She’s just … not what I expected. I thought when you finally found someone she would be more … .”

“What?” Jack challenged.

“I was hoping she would be ugly so I could be the prettiest one in the group, if you must know,” Maria replied. “Once I saw what she looked like naked – I’m so going on a diet, by the way – I was hoping she was stupid. Unfortunately, she’s smart
and
pretty. Now I have to hate her.”

Despite herself, Ivy chuckled as Jack relaxed back into his chair.

“She is definitely smart and pretty,” Jack said.

“How did you two meet?” Melissa asked, changing the conversational topic to something less likely to set Jack off. “I’ll bet it’s a romantic story.”

“I found a dead body in the ditch by my house and called the police,” Ivy said. “That was Jack’s first day on the job. When he met me I was barefoot and I yelled at him.”

“And I was smitten from the first word that came out of her mouth,” Jack added.

“Oh, nice,” Alex said, nodding. “You had a dead body in your front yard, though? That had to suck.”

“It wasn’t fun,” Ivy said.

“Did you start dating right away?” Lauren asked.

“No,” Ivy answered. “In fact, Jack made sure I knew in no uncertain terms that he did not come to Shadow Lake to date. He told me about eight times the first week we met.”

“That’s insulting,” Maria said, making a face. “You don’t say that to a woman out of the blue like that. How did you know she even liked you?”

“I could tell she liked me by the way she undressed me with her eyes whenever we were alone,” Jack replied, laughing when Ivy shot him a murderous look. “What? Are you going to sit there and deny you thought I was hot the day we met?”

“I didn’t think you were hot,” Ivy argued. “I thought you were interesting to look at. I wouldn’t take that as a compliment. I find Pee-wee Herman interesting to look at too.”

Jack’s friends broke into uproarious laughter as his smile tipped down. “Are you honestly saying you weren’t attracted to me right away?”

“Actually, the second I saw you I thought you were very attractive,” Ivy conceded. “I also thought you were a pain in the ass because you kept telling me I was imagining the body in the ditch.”

“That is not my fault,” Jack shot back. “You were wandering around the middle of the road in a skirt and no shoes. I thought there was a distinct possibility you were crazy.”

“Was I right about the body?”

Jack’s nostril’s flared as he gripped the arms of his chair. “It’s been great catching up,” he said after a moment. “It’s getting late, though, and Ivy and I need to go to bed.”

Ivy raised her eyebrows. She knew exactly what that was code for. Fighting with her – no matter how minor the argument – turned Jack on. “I am really tired.”

“Of course you are,” Jack said, helping her up from her chair. “We had a really long day.”

“When we got here you two were sleeping after having sex,” Scott argued. “How long could your day have possibly been?”

“Are you blind?” Melissa asked, slapping his arm. “That’s what they’re going to do now. They’re not really tired. That argument flipped Jack’s switch.”

“How could you possibly see that from across the fire?”

“It’s obvious whenever they look at each other,” Maria said, smirking as Jack supplied everyone with a tight smile and a half-hearted wave.