Chapter 3 #2
Tossing the kit down on his coffee table, he slowly sat down on his sofa, both hands raking through his hair.
In any other situation, this would be a no-brainer.
He’d make his move, tell her they should skip the s’mores, and take her to bed before wishing her well in the morning. But he couldn’t do that with Evie.
He shouldn’t do that with Evie.
But man, do I want to do that with Evie.
Except for the wishing her well part. Just thinking about not seeing her again felt wrong. The fact was that he genuinely liked her. He enjoyed talking with her, laughing with her, and even playing brutally competitive trivia with her.
But now all he could think about was getting naked and horizontal with her.
Yeah, I’m so screwed.
There was a soft knock on his cabin door, and he already knew it was her. “Come in,” he called out as he stood back up.
“Hey. Is everything okay? I went around to the fire pit and you weren’t there.”
“Yeah. Sorry. I sat down and just sort of zoned out.”
Her expression went from casual to concerned in an instant. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. You hiked today and did way more stuff than I did, so if you’re tired, I can just go back to my cabin. We’ll hang out tomorrow.”
It was probably the safest bet.
“Are you sure you don’t mind? Because…you were looking forward to it and I feel bad that I’m wussing out.”
“Slater, I would hardly call it wussing out. I kind of feel bad that I’ve been monopolizing your time.”
He let out a soft laugh. “You really haven’t.”
She visibly relaxed. “Are you sure? Because I feel like I have. When I get back here to the resort every night, I sort of latch onto you.” And then she did just that—grabbing his bicep in both of her small hands and giving it a small squeeze.
And didn’t let go right away.
“Nora and Milo are fine to hang out with, but I know once we’re done with dinner, they want to be alone. I think this is their honeymoon phase.”
“Again?” he said with another laugh, desperately trying to get Evie to release his arm without being too obvious about it.
“They’re like this whenever she comes to Seattle too. Those first few days we hardly see Milo. And if he comes to the office and Nora shows up to surprise him, I find another part of the building to work because they lock his office door and I can…you know…hear things.”
He cringed. “Dude. I didn’t need to know that about my friend.”
Luckily, she laughed and let go of him. “Dude? Did you seriously just call me dude?” Taking a step back, she laughed again. “And if I have to know that about your friend, you need to know it too. Misery loves company, right?”
She was kind of twisting in place and licked her lips as she looked up at him and honestly, he had no idea what they were even talking about.
“Um…”
“Oof. Okay. You are clearly exhausted,” she said after a moment. “So I’m just going to grab one of these chocolate bars because now I really want something sweet, and you need to just crawl into bed.” Her hands were back on him, turning him around and giving him a gentle shove toward his bedroom.
The woman was killing him, and she had no idea.
Stepping around him, Evie went and picked a candy bar from the box on the coffee table and grinned like she was getting away with something.
“Okay, what time are we meeting up in the morning and what are you planning to do with me?”
Oh, God…
Slater cleared his throat. “I was uh…I thought we’d hike tomorrow. We’ll start on the beginner trail and…”
“Nuh-uh. Now you’re totally wussing out. You said we were starting on a more challenging one.”
Me and my big mouth…
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll come and get you at eight and we’ll go over all the safety stuff, like I do with the guests.”
“Are any of the guests joining us?”
He seriously wished he’d thought of that. “No. Just us.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said as she walked to the door. When she turned and looked at him again, his heart kicked hard in his chest. “Get a good night’s sleep because I plan on wearing you out tomorrow.” She gave him a cheerful little wave and let herself out.
“Holy. Crap.”
He’d hiked some of the highest peaks in the world, and somehow he had a feeling that an intermediate hike with Evie Parker was going to be the biggest challenge of his life.
“This isn’t the north trail,” she said the next morning.
“I know. I thought we needed to be a little conservative so I can see how you handle things. You already know what happened to Milo.”
“Yeah, but he went out alone. I have you with me. We could have done more than stroll, Slater.”
“We’re not strolling. This is one of the intermediate trails. And when I mentioned the north trail to you over a week ago, I was just throwing it out there. It wasn’t set in stone.”
There was something in his tone that bothered her.
Actually, his whole demeanor today seemed off.
Evie stopped in her tracks and waited for Slater to notice.
It took longer than she thought. He was over twenty feet ahead of her when he finally turned around. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” It was crazy how he sprinted to her side and immediately checked her for injuries.
“Slater…”
“Did you twist your ankle? Did something bite you?” He was crouched down in front of her and nearly made her fall on her ass as he lifted one of her feet and then the other to examine them.
“Slater…”
“Do you feel okay?” He straightened and pressed his hand against her forehead. “You don’t have a fever. Do you need to take a break and have something to eat? You said you ate breakfast and…”
“Oh my God! Enough!” she said with frustration. “I’m fine, okay? What is going on with you?”
Now he looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you’re being a total weirdo today and I don’t know why. This was all your idea—going on the hike and spending the day together—but you’re treating me like a stranger, and I don’t know what I did wrong to make you act this way.”
He didn’t confirm or deny anything and, if anything, he wouldn’t look directly at her. It was like she was dealing with Tucker—and half the guys she’d ever dated—all over again.
Great.
That’s when all the fight went out of her.
“You know what? I guess I really don’t feel that great. Why don’t we just turn around and go back?” she asked quietly.
“Evie…”
“I guess I wasn’t as up to it as I thought. I’ll join Nora’s bird-watching group Monday on the beginner trail.”
She thought he’d be relieved, but he paced a few feet away and muttered a curse, thoroughly confusing her.
“You’re not going bird-watching. That’s ridiculous,” he said after a minute, and he sounded just the tiniest bit frustrated.
Which was weird considering she was giving him the out he so clearly wanted.
“Why not? I’ve never done it before and I’ll be in a group so I’m sure it will be fun. Plus, then you won’t have to deal with me.”
He let out a long, weary sigh. “I never said that I didn’t want to deal with you, Evie. I don’t know why you’re even thinking that.”
“Because you’re acting weird! Sheesh! It’s like you have no desire to be out here with me or even talk to me!” She wanted to stomp her foot and just walk away, but she was smart enough to know Slater would just follow her and catch up.
Evie felt the first sting of tears when he still didn’t say anything.
She had no idea what to do or where to go, and she just wished she knew why crap like this kept happening to her.
Feeling the weight of Slater’s stare, she forced herself to turn and walk away.
Maybe he’d catch up with her; maybe he’d just let her go.
All she knew was that she was done begging for answers.
“West Coast jerks, East Coast jerks, I guess I’ll have to find someplace to live in the middle of Kansas next,” she murmured.
“Evie, wait,” Slater said as he jogged after her, but she refused to stop walking. “Come on. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She just kept walking.
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong, but just remember, you asked,” he said casually, and she had to admit that piqued her interest.
“Fine. What is your problem with me?” she demanded as she came to a stop.
“You kissed me.”
For a moment, Evie looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. Kissed him? Absolutely not. There is no way she had ever…
Oh. No.
“You mean after the trivia game last night?” she asked, unsure whether she wanted to laugh or say something really snarky. “That was barely anything, Slater. I mean…come on!”
He had the decency to look a little embarrassed. “Yeah, I know, but…it caught me off guard and…I don’t know…it freaked me out.”
All she could do was stare at first, but then a wave of humiliation washed over her.
Again.
“So what you’re saying is, having my lips on you for a tenth of a second was so offensive to you that now you can’t stand to be around me?”
His eyes went wide. “What? No! That’s not…”
“Screw you, Slater!” she snapped. He reached for her, and she shoved him hard, causing him to stumble back awkwardly enough that he tripped over his own feet. Evie heard him hit the ground, but she didn’t stick around to see it for herself.
Maybe it was childish, but she took off at a hard run back down the path, hating how clumsy the backpack was making everything.
“The hell with this,” she mumbled, sliding it off as she ran and leaving it on the ground.
There was no way she was going to run all the way back to her cabin.
After all, they were almost thirty minutes into the hike, and even though they had been going fairly slowly, she knew she wasn’t in shape enough to run for that long.
The only good thing was that she didn’t hear Slater running after her, so maybe he got the hint that she didn’t want to be near him.
Never in a million years did she think something as minor as a non-kiss would be the thing to freak out big, bad Slater. Nothing bothered that guy, and he seemed to enjoy any and all attention from women.
Except her.
Awesome.
If moving to Kansas didn’t work, her next logical step was to enter a convent and just give up on men all together.