Chapter Six #2
The funny thing, though, was that he’d always thought it would be annoying to have someone out here on the trails with him.
Back last summer, when Alix had been an intern, she’d accompanied him to learn the ropes, and she’d nattered on and on.
It had driven him crazy. He’d half thought Emma might be the same.
Only… she wasn’t. They chatted while they walked, and it was nice, and then when he needed to concentrate, she did her own thing. It was like he was alone, but they were really alone together, here in his favorite place in the world.
And he liked it. A lot more than he ever wanted to.
“You holding up all right?” Hunter pinched his brows together.
They were nearly to the top, and Emma had been keeping up surprisingly well for somebody who didn’t do this very much.
He’d slowed down on the steepest parts, of course, and he’d used his pocketknife to turn a big fallen branch into a hiking pole for her, to help her stay steady on some of the craggier inclines.
But their easy conversation had petered out as they’d ascended. Now she was undeniably out of breath, and he was kicking himself for underestimating how difficult the route might be for an inexperienced hiker.
“Fine,” she promised.
“We can take a break whenever you need. But it’s just a little farther.”
“Better be worth it.” She smiled about as playfully as anyone could after an hour of walking uphill.
“It will be.”
Fortunately, he and Alix had installed some steps to help folks up the last, most treacherous stretch that led up to the overlook. Even his quads were feeling the hike, and he did this all the time.
The trail bent around a few scraggly trees, and then suddenly, there they were. At the top of the world.
Not for real, of course. This wasn’t even one of the high peaks.
But it didn’t matter. Mount Darcy stood just a little bit apart from the rest of the mountains in the area, and so even though it had a modest elevation and a (relatively) gentle ascent, it gave the kind of view some of the bigger peaks could only dream of.
The entire valley opened up before them, leafy and green, accented by the dark shadow of pine and that hint of yellow that said the autumn colors were on their way.
Up here, you could almost touch the clear, blue sky.
Off in the distance, the other mountains rose up all around them in big blue-green triangles that made the horizon look magical, somehow.
“Oh, damn.” Emma was still panting a little as she joined him on the flat stretch of rock looking out over the valley. “Okay, you were right.” She dropped her bag and put her hands on her hips. “Totally worth it.”
He laughed, breathing in deeply, letting the clean, crisp air fill his lungs. The midday sun warmed his skin, almost too hot on his dark hair, but he didn’t care.
It didn’t matter how many times he made his way up here. It always filled him with the kind of peace he’d never been able to find anywhere else. And for some reason, it felt even better than usual today.
He turned toward Emma, opening his mouth to try to put that feeling into words without sounding like a bumbling fool.
But the words got stuck in his throat.
He’d known Emma was pretty, but he’d been so busy being annoyed with how they’d been thrown together that he hadn’t really ever let himself look. Now, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Her jet-black hair shone in the sun. The darkness of her eyes sparkled, and there was a soft flush to her cheeks.
Her full lips were a deep rose that made something tighten up inside him.
She’d taken off the flannel shirt she’d started the day with and tied it around her waist, leaving her arms bare.
With her breathing still a little rough from that final ascent, her chest rose and fell, and his gaze dropped to her breasts.
His whole body reacted. While he didn’t do relationships, he also didn’t much care for one-night stands, so his sex life was meager at best, and that had rarely bothered him. But right now, he was suddenly starving. His skin prickled, and his mouth went dry.
But it wasn’t even entirely about attraction—though God knew he felt enough of that.
“Seriously,” she breathed. “This view is incredible.”
She shifted her gaze to look at him, and fuck it. She’d caught him. He looked right into her eyes, fully aware that he’d been staring.
“Yeah.” He swallowed against the desert of wanting that was his throat. “It is.”
The moment held for longer than seemed possible, but they were stuck on…
well, literally, the edge of a cliff. He wasn’t ready to jump off it, no matter how tempted he was to take a running leap.
Pull her into his arms and find out just how soft her skin was.
Taste her lips and drink in her sweet scent.
And bless her, she was merciful enough not to grab him and shove him off the edge, either.
Clearing her throat, she looked away. She dug in the back pocket of her jeans, and he definitely didn’t look at her ass as she did. She pulled out her phone and held it up, a hopeful look on her face. “Mind if I take a selfie?”
She could do whatever she wanted—no matter how much he made fun of kids who came up into the preserve just to make content for their followers.
Then he realized she didn’t mean a selfie of just her. She wanted a picture of them.
“Oh. Uh—”
“I won’t post it anywhere, promise.”
Before he could respond, she was leaning in, turning to get the mountains in the background. The flowery scent of her was warmer than he remembered, and who was he kidding?
He ducked in close, and she held up the phone. He glanced at the screen, and it hit him again how gorgeous she was. To his surprise, he didn’t look half-bad, either. More surprising, they looked good together.
Part of him wanted to panic at even entertaining such a thought, but the rest of him got distracted by the sliver of air separating his front from her back.
“Cheese,” she murmured.
He smiled, and she took the shot—three quick taps of the shutter button on her phone. Lowering her arm, she stepped away, and he tried not to be disappointed about that.
“Ooh, got a good one.” She turned the screen so he could see before flipping the camera around to take a few pictures of the view. “I’ll send it to you once we’re back in service range.”
“Thanks,” he said, his voice rough.
“No problem.” She said it so casually, still capturing images of the valley below.
But he was pretty sure he had a problem—and a serious one at that.