Chapter 15 Ruby
Grant and I woke up around lunchtime. While he went to shower, I stretched across the bed, looking out the window. The sun was high in the sky, beckoning me to go out.
I wanted to pinch myself. Last night had been amazing . I didn’t even realize we’d stayed up all night chatting—and feeling each other up, too, of course.
When Grant opened the bathroom door, I pushed myself up into a sitting position.
“My turn,” I exclaimed.
“Be my guest.”
His smile was a bit different. Yesterday, he was relaxed, but now he seemed completely at ease. This was a good look on him.
“And we’re going on that hike after?” I checked.
“Yes. We should take advantage of the weather while it lasts.”
“I’ll be quick,” I assured him.
I didn’t need much time in the bathroom. When I went downstairs, there were already a lot of goodies sitting on the table: English muffins, jam, and fruits.
“Breakfast of champions,” I said.
Grant and I ate quickly. It was funny being in sync like this, both of us eager to get out and explore.
The cabin was perfect, but I was starting to get cabin fever quite literally.
I wanted to stretch my legs a little, since I was used to being on my feet all day in the restaurant.
My shoes weren’t exactly made for super-long hikes, but they’d be comfortable enough.
The second we stepped out of the cabin, Grant took my hand, leading me up a small trail. He had a backpack hanging off one shoulder.
“You know where we’re going?” I asked him.
He tapped the screen of his phone, showing me a map. “This is our GPS. It’s straightforward. There’s only one trail starting from here anyway. It goes around in a circle, and we’ll come out on the other side of the cabin.”
“Perfect!”
As we walked, I kept peeking at him sideways. I liked his trekking clothes. They were molded to his muscles, even better than anything he’d worn before.
“You can just openly ogle me, Ruby. No reason to hold back.”
“I really like your trekking gear.”
“Why don’t you say what’s really on your mind?” He waggled his eyebrows.
“I like all those muscles,” I admitted, and he burst out laughing.
Will you look at that? I loved his huge smile. It was so light and carefree.
“You fill those clothes out fucking perfectly yourself, Ruby.”
I opened my mouth, intending to be even more shameless, but then tripped over some roots. I instantly lost my balance and was going to face-plant, I was sure of it. But then I felt Grant’s strong arm wrap around my middle, catching me just in time and helping me straighten up.
“That was close!” I gasped. I pinched my eyes closed because I was getting a little nauseous.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. ”
A few seconds later, I blinked my eyes open. My vision wasn’t blurry anymore, and the nausea went away.
“Just a scare, that’s all,” I insisted. “I wasn’t watching where I was walking.”
“No, you were too busy ogling me.”
I laughed. “That I was. But from now on, I’ll keep my eyes on the trail.”
“Don’t worry, Ruby. I’ll watch out for both of us.”
Oh, I loved the sound of that.
We resumed the hike. It was easy to forget all of my problems out here in the woods—although the company of this spectacular man certainly had the most impact.
“How long is this trail?” I asked after some time had passed.
“Three hours, give or take.”
I gasped. “Grant.”
He stopped walking and turned to me. “Is that a problem?”
“Well, I thought we’d go for a nice walk for, like, half an hour or something.”
He looked at my shoes. “Feeling okay?”
“Good so far.”
“If you’d prefer, we can go back.”
Usually, I would do exactly that. But right now, I wanted to keep exploring things with Grant. Being here among these huge trees was downright magical.
“Nah. Why not continue exploring?”
He stepped closer, cupping my face between his hands. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“I’m not. Just surprised how far this goes.” I licked my lips, then said, “But we’ll need water and stuff.”
He patted the strap of his backpack. “I’ve got us covered.”
“Now that is sexy.”
He raised a brow. “What? That I packed water and snacks?”
My eyes bulged. “Snacks too?”
What the hell? Have I just been dating man-children my entire life?
I wasn’t sure how to explain this to him without coming across as a loser, so I just said, “That you take care of these things. I don’t even have to think about it.”
“I have lots of other things with me,” he said.
“If you say, ‘I’ve got condoms in there...’”
He burst out laughing. “Nah. Those are waiting for us back at the cabin. Didn’t want us to be too tempted.”
“Oh, that’s very smart.”
Although I was getting other dangerous ideas right now. Did we really need condoms? I was on birth control, after all.
Y es, you do, Ruby. God, you’ve only been with this guy once. Get a hold of yourself!
The first part of the hike was relatively easy, but after an hour, the terrain started to slope up. After walking an incline for twenty minutes straight, my left side started to hurt. I started to massage it as we kept going.
“Do you want to take a break?” he asked. “There’s a viewing point in about two minutes.”
“Two minutes? You should’ve told me that. I needed the motivation.”
He laughed. “Duly noted. Want me to carry you up?”
I gasped. “There is no way you can do that. We’ve been walking for an hour. Your fitness level can’t possibly—”
I yelped as he lifted me off the ground. One arm went under my knees, the other on my back. Just like that, Grant was carrying me up a fairly steep slope.
I looked at him intently. “You’re not even breathing hard.”
“This is no hardship whatsoever, babe.”
Babe. I like that.
I put my nose in the crook of his neck, taking a deep breath. He smelled fresh.
“You’re so strong.”
Since he couldn’t truly defend himself, I started to touch him everywhere I could. Mostly his chest, of course. I had the easiest access to that .
“Ruby! Remember what I said about those condoms?” he growled. His nostrils were flaring.
“Yeah, I do,” I whispered.
I could tempt him some more, but to what end? We were in the middle of the woods, and I wasn’t outdoorsy enough to have sex out here.
Seconds later, we reached the viewing point.
“Oh my goodness,” I gasped as he slowly set me down. “This is breathtaking!”
Grant stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. It seemed to be his favorite position, and I didn’t mind one bit.
“I swear, the Pacific Northwest is the most beautiful place in the world.” We were on a platform above the forest. The mass of trees stretched endlessly before us, almost like a sea. “This was definitely worth the hike.”
When he didn’t say anything, I looked up at him sideways. He seemed lost in thought.
“Earth to Grant,” I whispered.
He looked down at me. “Sorry. I was somewhere else.”
The first instinct was to ask where, but I decided against it. Everybody needed privacy.
I usually didn’t need to know everything my date was thinking, but when it came to Grant, I was extremely curious. I felt a deep need to know him on an intimate level.
I sighed, enjoying this perfect moment. Come to think of it, I’d had a lot of perfect moments since meeting Grant. That sexy orgasm he’d given me at my house definitely counted.
“I want to know what you’re thinking right now.”
I gasped. “Why?”
“Because you’re blushing.”
I giggled. “I’ll tell you when we’re back at the cabin.”
“How about we head back now?”
“Someone’s in a hurry suddenly, huh?” I teased.
“No. But it’s already three o’clock. ”
My jaw dropped. “It took us two hours just to get here? You said the whole trail was three. How much of it do we have left?”
“We’ve done half of it. Those three hours were obviously calculated at a faster pace than we went.”
I pressed my lips together. “Wow. Then let’s pick up the pace, huh?”
We were back at the cabin pretty quickly. It turned out that if I didn’t ogle him every other step and he didn’t shamelessly flirt with me, we were much faster.
“Victory,” I said when we stepped inside. “See how fast we got here?”
He didn’t reply, so I turned around. The corners of his mouth twitched.
“What?”
“It’s five o’clock.”
I gasped. “No way. Two hours? I practically ran the whole way.”
He laughed. “Babe, just accept it. You’re slow.”
“I swear, I walk faster in heels. How is that even possible?” I melted a bit when he called me “babe” again. It felt extremely intimate, like we’d been doing this for a long time. “It’s your fault. You gave me snacks. That slowed me down.”
“Your stomach was rumbling.”
I licked my lips. “It was all for naught because I’m still hungry.”
“Then I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”
“Stop talking dirty to me, or I’ll just drop my clothes.”
He blinked, looking at me confused. I probably sounded completely insane.
“What do you mean?”
Grant was so funny. He had to analyze everything.
“Can’t you just accept things for what they are?”
“No. That’s not—”
“How you operate,” I finished for him. “Fine. I like that you take charge. It’s sexy. ”
He looked at me with squinty eyes but didn’t push for details. He probably thought I was weird but didn’t want to say it outright.
As we walked farther into the kitchen, I rolled my shoulders.
I’d worked up a sweat. I was certain that tomorrow morning, I’d feel my calves and thighs.
Right now, I had a strange knot between my shoulder blades.
I rolled my shoulders back a few more times.
Seconds later, Grant pushed his thumbs right on that spot.
I gasped. “Oh, this is good.”
“Mm,” he murmured. He pushed my ponytail to one side with his face and then nuzzled the back of my neck with his mouth. “Feeling tense?”
“Yes.”
“How tense?”
“Very.”
“Show me where, exactly.”
“All over my body.” I couldn’t help but grin.
He laughed against my bare skin. “You’re toying with me.”
“Just a little. I mean, that point you’re touching is sore. The rest of my body is just eager.”
He turned me around swiftly. “Ruby, you drive me crazy.”
“Well, what else should I be doing?” I challenged.
“Nothing. You’re doing everything exactly right.”