Chapter 3 #3
Tree branches scraped her arm, but she didn’t slow down.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know the trail or the resort well enough to know where she was or how much farther it was until she was at her cabin, but she pushed herself until her legs and lungs were burning.
When she finally rounded a bend and the landscape leveled off, she prayed she was close.
And when she spotted resort guests casually walking around, she knew she was almost there.
Her throat was dry, her skin was slicked with sweat, and she’d never been more thankful for all those spin classes than she was right now.
When her cabin came into view, it took everything in her to close the distance.
And as she slowly dragged herself up the porch steps, she swore she wasn’t going to be able to move for the rest of the weekend.
Not that it mattered. It wasn’t like she had anything else to do now that all her activities Slater had planned for her were officially off the table.
Yanking the door open, Evie stumbled inside with a tremendous sigh of relief. She’d barely had time to slam the cabin door behind her before there was a knock.
Not polite. Not hesitant.
Just loud and insistent.
There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it was Slater, and she cursed the fact that she wasn’t ready to face him.
Her heart was still racing from the hike, from the fight, from the humiliation of realizing she’d misread everything.
She pressed her forehead briefly to the door, counted to ten, and then yanked it open.
Slater stood there, chest heaving, hair mussed, one hand braced on the doorframe because he’d run the entire way too. There was dirt smeared along his sleeve and a scrape on his palm that made her stomach flip even as annoyance and guilt tangled together.
And her backpack was at his feet.
“Are you out of your damn mind? You don’t just leave someone alone on a trail like that,” he said, breathless, voice tight.
“Oh, please,” she shot back, just as breathless. “You’re a freaking hiking guide, Slater. It wasn’t like you were some novice. And clearly you made it back in one piece.”
“No thanks to you!” He stepped into the cabin, forcing her to take a step back. “Why would you do that? You had to know that I fell! I could have been seriously hurt and you just took off.”
Was he for real right now?
“There’s no way I could have hurt you. I’m a full head shorter than you.”
“Not the point,” he said tightly, staring hard at her. “You asked me what was wrong, and I told you. I thought we could talk about it like adults. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“What’s there to talk about? You freaked out,” she mocked, finally feeling like she could catch her breath. “So I saved you the trouble of rejecting me in great detail. I’d heard enough.”
“That’s not what happened.”
She folded her arms, bristling, as heat crawled up her neck. “You literally said you were freaked out, Slater.”
“Yeah,” he snapped, then dragged a hand through his hair. “Because you kissed me and I panicked.”
There it was. The thing she’d been replaying over and over, every humiliating second of it.
“Right,” she said flatly. “Great clarification. Thanks.”
He let out a sharp, frustrated laugh. “God, Evie, will you just…will you let me finish?”
She hesitated, then stepped around him so she could grab her pack and shut the cabin door. When she turned to put more space between them, he followed, and the small cabin suddenly felt too small. He took up all the space.
“I was freaked out,” he said again, slower now, “because I wanted to kiss you back.”
Her breath caught.
He took a step closer, then another. Not crowding her, but just close enough that she could feel the heat coming off him.
“I wanted to,” he continued, voice rough. “I still want to. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since last night. Since the second you pulled away.”
Her pulse thudded wildly. Anger flared, sharp and defensive. “Then why did you pull back and treat me like I’d done something wrong?”
“Because I’m an idiot,” he said without hesitation. “And because the second I realized how much I wanted it, I got scared of what it meant.”
She swallowed, shame and hope colliding painfully in her chest. “So, what does this mean? We’re just friends and…and…I know you well enough to know that there can’t be anything between us.”
“Why?” he asked softly.
Silence stretched between them. Her embarrassment still burned, but it was being crowded out by something else now—something warm and dangerous and undeniable.
Was he seriously saying that he was attracted to her?
“Slater, I…”
He moved a little closer. “You shoved me,” he added with a lopsided grin.
“You knocked me on my ass for the second time in less than twenty-four hours.” Reaching up, he gently caressed her cheek, and it took everything in her not to let out a dreamy sigh.
“You’re pretty powerful, Evie. In more ways than one. ”
Her eyes flicked to his scraped hand and then back to his face. “I’m really not.”
“Trust me,” he said. “You are.” His dark eyes scanned her face, and she felt it almost more than the actual caress.
Despite herself, something cracked. A laugh escaped her, breathy and unsteady. “I thought you were repulsed.”
“Never.” His expression turned fierce. “I was wrecked.”
That did it. The last of her anger unraveled, leaving her raw and exposed and very aware of how close he was standing.
“And now?” she asked quietly.
His gaze dropped to her mouth and stayed there. “Now I’m still freaked out,” he admitted. “But I don’t want to stop myself this time.”
Her breath hitched. “Neither do I.”
The space between them shrank—drawing them together like some invisible, magnetic pull.
She felt herself tremble and yet couldn’t seem to make herself stop. This was happening. Slater was going to kiss her. She was going to kiss him. This was going to change everything.
And that’s when she put her hand on his chest and stopped him.
“What’s wrong?”
Swallowing hard, Evie knew she was going to look back at this moment and want to kick herself, but it had to be done.
“If we do this—if we kiss—it’s going to change everything,” she said, hating the way her voice shook. “You’re not someone who’s looking to get serious with anyone, and I don’t do casual, and…we’re friends. If we cross this line…”
For a moment, he didn’t move. Hell, he didn’t even blink. But when he finally spoke, she wasn’t expecting what he had to say.
“I think the line’s already been crossed,” he said gruffly. “The thought is so firmly implanted in my brain that it’s never going to go away. And…yeah, I get what you’re saying. We view relationships very differently, but…have you ever thought about kissing me?”
Crap.
“I…I thought about it a lot when we first met. But once I realized…”
He placed a finger over her lips to stop her. “The rest of that statement doesn’t matter. I think we need to do this—let ourselves have this kiss—so we can say we’ve done it and then we can move on.”
“Um…I don’t think it works like that. What if it’s a great kiss?”
He laughed softly, caressing her cheek again. “Oh, it’s going to be a great kiss. I have a feeling it’s going to be the greatest kiss I’ve ever had.”
Now she did sigh dreamily. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“But…what happens…after? I don’t know how to just go back to us being friends if it’s a great kiss.”
“Me either. But I’m so far gone, Evie, that I need to try.”
Okay, she could stand here and hold her moral ground and say no, but she knew she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
“This could ruin our friendship,” she whispered.
But Slater shook his head. “I refuse to let that happen. You’re too important to me.” He paused. “Think of this as part of the adventure you were going to have while you were away from home.”
The laugh was out before she could stop it. “So now you’re an adventure?”
“Sweetheart, if you’d let me, I could be the greatest adventure of your life.”
Oh, my…
Did she want the greatest adventure or did she want the safe friendship?
“What do you say, Evie? One kiss. One kiss, and then we'll go parasailing. Or we go up in the seaplane and see the mountains. Or…one kiss and then maybe another. And then another.”
She nervously chewed her bottom lip for a moment, and the way Slater’s gaze homed in on it gave her a thrill.
I’m tired of playing it safe. It’s gotten me nowhere.
“Slater?”
“Hmm?”
“Kiss me.”
His smile was lethal as he reached up and cupped her face with both hands. He lowered his head slowly, as if he were giving her time to change her mind, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t.
And when his lips touched hers, Evie grabbed the front of his shirt and held on for dear life.