Chapter Twenty
HUNTER STROKED A HAND over his beard, mentally preparing himself.
“Stop being chicken,” he murmured, and then before he could talk himself out of it, he jabbed his finger at the icon on his phone for the social media app Emma had installed for him.
He had yet to actually check it out, but he was sitting on a post at the preserve, waiting for her to join him for their hike, and he figured, well, what better time to take the plunge?
To his surprise, he wasn’t assaulted by teenagers dancing to god-awful pop music.
Instead, another guy with a beard was demonstrating how to build a boat?
That was weird, but not uninteresting. He flicked through and watched a scenic video of a waterfall, and something with a girl foraging for mushrooms, and she actually had decent advice.
A notification popped up. Someone had liked one of “his” videos, and he tapped over to see. “Huh,” he murmured. There were actually a decent number of reactions to the one where he introduced himself in his forest ranger outfit, which was… Flattering? Mortifying?
He hadn’t quite decided when a questioning voice sounded from behind him. “Boss?”
Starting, he blanked his phone and whirled around.
Alix was coming out of the woods right behind him, and internally he groaned.
It had been too much to hope that he could take a hike in his own preserve—and possibly film extremely embarrassing videos with the girl he was kind of sort of having “a thing” with—without running into any witnesses.
“Morning.” Slipping his phone into his pocket, he stood, hefting his pack higher onto his shoulder and trying to act like everything was normal.
She cocked a brow at him. “Thought this was your day off?”
“It is.” And he’d known he should have taken Emma hiking someplace farther afield, but she had work this afternoon, so he hadn’t wanted to make her drive too far.
“Shouldn’t you be off relaxing, then?”
“Shouldn’t you be off finishing those college essays?” he taunted, mostly teasing, but also hoping she’d get the hint that he wanted some time to himself.
Scowling, she told him, “Go take a hike.”
“Exactly what I’m planning to do.”
She rolled her eyes at him theatrically before heading off to the welcome center—and not a moment too soon. The crunching of gravel announced the arrival of another car. Hunter looked up and spotted Emma’s little hatchback. He waved, and she came over to park next to his truck.
The way he lit up at the sight of her was too much—way, way too much, but he was finding it harder and harder to tamp down his reaction to her. He stepped out of the way so as not to get his foot run over, but as soon as she’d turned off her engine, he moved to open her door for her.
“Hey, you.”
She beamed at him, undoing her seat belt and grabbing her bag. Extending his hand, he helped her out of the car. Of course she didn’t need the assistance, but her warm palm felt so good against his.
And Alix was going to tease him so much about this if she was still watching, but he couldn’t resist.
He pressed Emma back into the car, their bodies flush. The warmth of her seared him through, and he drank it in for a moment, staring down at her, enraptured. How did she keep getting more beautiful? How did this familiarity between them just make him want her more?
“Hi,” she squeaked, breathless.
“Hi.” With that, he dipped down to kiss her soft mouth. She opened for him without hesitation, and he tasted the coffee on her breath, felt the slick warmth of her tongue. His body responded, and he let a hint of a growl escape his throat.
But before things could escalate any further, he forced himself to pull away. She gazed up at him with those deep, soulful eyes of hers, her mouth wet and red and open, and he wanted nothing more than to press her back into the side of the car and seal his lips to hers again.
“Here,” she breathed. She pushed something against his chest, and he took it without really thinking about it.
He glanced down, and—oh. “Thanks.”
Her passing him the book she’d promised to bring for his dad effectively pulled his brain back out of his pants. That was probably for the best, even if there was a part of him that wasn’t entirely sure why.
Breathing in deeply, he took a full step back. The cool autumn breeze rushed in to fill the gap between their bodies, returning a couple more errant brain cells to where they belonged.
He went around to his truck and tossed the book for his dad on the passenger seat, then locked the thing up and turned back to Emma. She had her phone out and was taking pictures of the trees in all their autumnal glory, capturing the fiery reds and brilliant oranges and golds.
He smiled to himself. He spent so much of his time in these woods. He knew them and loved them, and yet there was something special to seeing them through a newcomer’s eyes.
“I just can’t believe how pretty it is up here,” she gushed. “It’s only been a week or two, but the leaves…”
“They’re pretty spectacular,” he agreed. “And we’re not even quite at peak.”
“How does anybody even look anywhere else but up this time of year?”
“Oh.” He exhaled through his nose, taking in the golden highlights in her deep black hair. “They manage.”
“Thank goodness, or they’d all be crashing their cars all the time.”
He laughed, and she put her phone away, turning toward him.
A warm glow radiated through his chest. She always looked pretty, but he was especially partial to days like this, when she was dressed casually, her hair pulled back and her face either bare or close to it.
Her T-shirt and fleece jacket were loose and comfortable but still hinted at her curves.
His hands twitched, wanting to peel her jeans off of her.
Then his gaze settled on her footwear, and a pang of guilt tugged at him.
“We really should have gone and gotten you some hiking boots.”
He’d lamented that the last time, too, but had he done a damn thing about it?
She just chuckled, twisting to look at her low-top sneakers and making a crunching sound in the thin layer of freshly fallen leaves. “It’ll probably be fine.”
“Probably.” But there was a protective swell within him. He didn’t like the idea of taking any chances when it came to this woman.
“Hiking boots, curtains. We’ve got a real shopping list going at this point, huh?”
“You probably need a real winter coat, too.” He started leading the way toward the trail they’d be taking today, a slightly more intense one than the last time, but still manageable and with an incredible view.
Falling into step beside him, she shook her head. “I’m good on that front.”
“I don’t know about that. Some cute city pea coat isn’t going to stand a chance against a New England winter.”
Biting her lip, she grimaced. “Okay, fine, maybe I need a new winter coat, too. But I’ve still got plenty of time to worry about that.”
“Winter comes on faster than you’d think around here.” It was still early October, but snow on Halloween wasn’t unheard of. Harvest Fest was coming up in a few short weeks, and everybody knew that once that was past, it was time to get out all your cold-weather gear.
“Well, then I guess I’d better make time for a shopping trip pretty soon. Where do you even go for that kind of stuff?”
“Arlene’s in town has some gear, but it can be a little hit-or-miss. If we want home furnishings, too, we might as well take a trip up to Burlington.”
“That sounds fun.”
It did, actually. He usually avoided Burlington on account of all the traffic and the disturbing excess of hipsters. But it had some great microbreweries—and honestly, going anywhere with Emma was enticement enough.
To his own surprise, he found himself suggesting, “We could take a couple of days even. Find a little bed-and-breakfast?”
Lucas could probably suggest something. His folks were into little trips like that.
“I’d love that.” She curled a hand around his elbow, and something inside him melted just a bit.
Who even was he? Contemplating some sort of a romantic getaway with a girl he’d only known for a handful of weeks?
He barely knew. But whoever the hell this guy was who had inhabited his body, he liked him.
He glanced down at Emma.
He really, really liked her, too.
Or at least he did until she pulled away and brandished her phone. “So I have a bunch of ideas about stuff we could film today.”
He groaned internally—and maybe a little bit externally, too.
“Hey.” She fixed him with a look. “I am not forcing any of this on you. You were the one to say you were willing to give it a chance.”
“I am.” He cast his gaze skyward and pulled her in again, hugging her against his side. “It just goes against everything I stand for as a person.”
“Oh, is that all?” She was grinning into his shirt, and his heart swelled. How did he ever find a girl who thought his bullshit was adorable?
Fate, a contrary voice in the back of his head reminded him, but he ignored it.
“That’s all,” he agreed. Releasing her, he shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at a stray stick lying across the path. “But it’s worth trying if it has a chance of helping the park’s numbers, or getting folks off their phones and out in nature.”
“That’s the spirit,” she teased, but again, it was said fondly.
He wasn’t kidding around at this point, though. “I, uh, looked at the account you set up for me. And I know people are liking the videos, but I still just don’t see why anybody’s going to want to hear about the Campsite Rule from a random dude like me.”
She stopped in her tracks, holding up her phone. “Wait—hold on.”
“What—?”
“Say that again.”
Oh, hell. She was recording him, wasn’t she?
He had to remind himself that this had been fun the other day. There was no reason to be self-conscious.
Putting his hands on his hips, he faced her squarely, effecting his grumpiest, most over-the-top surly tone. “I said I don’t think anybody on the internet is going to want to hear about the Campsite Rule from a random dude like me.”