She looked him over in surprise. So she wasn’t the only one nearly paralyzed with doubt. “Why wouldn’t you make it through the day? You’re the fittest one here.”
“Yes, but…” He grimaced, and spoke even more softly so no one could hear. “I’m indoor-fit, you know? Gym-rat fit. I’ve never spent much time outdoors, and I’ve certainly never spent four days straight walking through the woods.”
“You put down on your application that you’ve camped.”
Guilt flashed over his features. “Uh, yeah. I’ve camped. In my bathtub with G.I. Joe, when I was seven.”
“Oh boy.” Lily rubbed her forehead while Rock winced.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said. “So maybe you’d better tell me now.” He looked adorably nervous, this big hunk who’d camped with action figures. “Is this going to be too hard for me?”
“Are you kidding?” Lily gestured to Rose and Michelle. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict you’re still way ahead of the game.”
He flashed another grin. “Thanks.”
Lily moved to the front of the group, ready to go, but before she could say so, Michelle sidled close once again. “I’ve got to talk to you,” she said, sounding tearful. “I really don’t think I can carry everything…”
“You could lose any of the five pairs of shoes you’re toting,” Jack suggested.
“But I brought one pair for each day, and then an extra. I’m not repeating, Jack.”
“Tell you what,” Lily said. “You lose the shoes, and I’ll divide up your portion of the food and supplies between myself, Jack and Rock, who generously offered to help.”
Rose looked at Rock, shooting him a sweet smile.
Rock blushed.
“Great,” Jack muttered. “I get extra, and Rock gets lucky.”
“Oh, come on, Jack,” Michelle said. “Just help me here. After all, you like daddy’s money as much as I do.”
Jack shook his head. “There’s no arguing with you.”
They moved aside to fix her pack.
Jared shifted next to Lily, and she looked at him, already tired. “You have a request, favor or demand, too?” she asked in that voice she used sometimes, the one that said, Hurry because she was a little too busy for this.
But damn it, she didn’t want to discuss anything, especially not the kiss between her and Keith, or the fact that she wished it had been with Jared.
She really wished that.
He just arched an eyebrow.
At that, she had to let out a careful breath and remind herself that he couldn’t read her thoughts. “Is that a yes or no?”
He shook his head, looking quite comfortable in his own skin. “Nothing at the moment, thanks.”
“Uh-huh. But you’re reserving the right to make a later demand, is that it?”
His mouth curved, and he let their gazes stay locked for just a beat or so past what was comfortable.
Most definitely, he was thinking about the kiss.
And maybe, just maybe, he was thinking he’d rather it had been him, too.
He let her absorb that a moment, then turned away.
Lily let out another careful breath. Oh yeah, it was definitely going to be a hell of a trip.
4
AS LILY CHECKED and rechecked each person’s pack and straps, Jared moved to the front, just next to the trailhead sign. With some amusement, he watched his group’s fearless leader take control of the trip with clear-cut and concise directions and expectations for her guests, her fawn-colored hair pulled in a single braid that fell between her shoulder blades.
He loved how she looked, wearing cargo shorts low on the hips, fitted, but with enough pockets to outfit a third-world country, and two tank tops layered over each other, the top one with Outdoor Adventures’ logo over a breast. She was the picture of efficiency and completely in charge.
She did like to be in charge, his Lily.
He understood the need. In his life, which until recently had been consumed with work, he’d always been in charge, as CEO of an international, billion-dollar corporation that created and built parts for all things digital.
Until that control had been taken from him.
“Any last questions?” Lily asked, coming up next to him.
“Yeah.” He slid on his sunglasses and smiled. “Are you going to hurt me?”
She glanced at Michelle, flapping her lips at her husband, at Rock tying and retying his boots, at Rose applying lip gloss, and she sighed. “Somehow, I don’t think you’re going to be the one hurting.”
This close, he could see that there was something in her eyes, that light of vulnerability he’d seen last night, and also…nerves. “But you are,” he said. “Hurting.”
She looked away. “I’m fine.”
Yeah, she was pretty damn fine. But no matter what she said, she’d been hurt-the limp attested to that-and she wasn’t all better yet. He felt a hard tug of empathy, because he knew what it was like to want to get better, to try to prove everything was normal when it wasn’t. Yeah, he’d been there, done that and bought the T-shirt.
They began to walk, Lily in the lead. Her pack covered much of her from view. There was a light morning breeze which had loosened some silky strands from her braid. They flew about her head like a halo, which he imagined would piss her off but he liked it. He could see her ass, which was sweet, and her legs churning up the path ahead of him, although a bit unevenly, as if she had something to prove.
He thought maybe she did.
They all followed beneath a nicely warming morning sun touching down on the jagged peaks all around them, the rays gilding the treetops. Jared looked up and felt surrounded by them, a huge awe-inspiring circle of rocky, remote mountains he hoped to know a lot more about before he got back.
“This region is one of the most geologically young and tectonically active in North America,” Lily said, looking in charge of her world as she turned to face them, walking backwards.
Their eyes met and Jared felt the bolt he’d experienced the first time he’d seen her. Hell, every time he saw her. At first, it had been a purely physical sort of bolt, and there was still plenty of that, but somehow also more.
Much more.
Which suited him just fine. It’d been a very long time since he’d felt such a punch of attraction. Granted, he’d had other things on his mind-like surviving…
But he was past that now, and living life to its fullest, going after everything he wanted.
He wanted her.
Or he had before she’d kissed her boss…
“Are there volcanoes?” Michelle asked Lily, sounding nervous.
“Not here,” Lily assured her. “Though this mountain system does straddle several of the earth’s moving plates, huge forces that continuously build this sweeping arc of mountains-see how rugged and craggy the peaks are? It means they’re still very young, comparatively. Just babies, really.”
“Pretty big babies,” Jack said beneath his breath, making his wife laugh breathlessly in agreement.
“Were there dinosaurs here?” Rose asked.
“Oh, yes,” Lily said. “Back in the day.”
“The Mesozoic Era,” Jared offered, then smiled when Lily looked at him, clearly startled at his knowledge.
“I’m impressed,” she said. “What else do you know about this area?”
“Other than there are big bears and that I shouldn’t feed them? Not much.”
Michelle scooted closer to Jack, a bright yellow spot of sunshine in her raingear. “Bears?”
“Don’t worry,” Lily said. “No one’s going to be bear bait on this trip.”
“So how high are these babies anyway?” Jack asked, pointing to the highest peak ahead.
“Nearly fifteen thousand feet at the top.”
“That’s like, three miles high,” Rock said, with a low whistle. “Man, we’re going to be huffing and puffing.”
They were already huffing and puffing. Jared sure as hell was. But the exercise felt good. Actually, it felt amazing, especially after so many months of being able to do so little. The air held a silence that he never heard in the city, and that felt good, too. Not having to think, work…