Adventure Lover: Take Me, Lover, Book 3 Page 2

  The soft city girl he had in tow would do well if she made the trip in three days. Which she seemed to realize, since she’d allowed ample time for rest and recovery between campsites.

  Ryan led off at a steady pace, making his way over ruts and rocks and tree roots that jutted up underfoot. The rain forest formed a thick canopy overhead, dimming the bright sunlight to something soft, even without rain misting the air. Lush ferns tangled with salal lined the trail. Occasional wildflowers made dots of color against the background that consisted mainly of multiple shades of green.

  He heard her stumble and mutter something that sounded suspiciously profane behind him. He knew he shouldn’t, but he paused and turned back anyway.

  “Doing all right?”

  “Fine.” Jill blew out a breath and glared at him. “You set the pace, I’ll keep up.”

  Ryan wondered if she knew what image her choice of words conjured. Probably not. If she knew he was picturing her naked body trapped under his, her hips working to keep up with his thrusts, she’d probably turn around right now.

  Which would be the best thing she could do. He knew Jill’s type all too well. He not only saw it all the time in his guide business, for a brief disastrous time, he’d been married to her type. She was the kind of person who didn’t know how to function without microwaves, remote controls, electronic everything, and hot and cold running water. Stunning mountain vistas, crystal clear lakes, meadows full of wildflowers she’d never see anywhere else, and glacier-capped peaks would look like the end of the world to her instead of the beginning.

  Knowing that didn’t shut off the attraction he felt for her, but he was no longer dumb enough to think desire could replace common ground.

  If the poorly maintained trail didn’t put her off, something else had to. So he gave her a deliberately sexual look and pitched his voice low. “You think you can keep up with me all day and all night?”

  She didn’t react the way he expected. He didn’t expect her eyes to turn smoky and dark, or a soft flush to heat her cheeks, or her lips to purse into a tempting pout. “You mean you really are a full-service guide?”

  Her voice was silky, seductive, and sure. Totally unfazed.

  Jill looked soft and helpless, but she’d tossed his attempt to discourage her right back at him, looking at him like she wanted him more than she wanted a down pillow tonight, while implying his escort services went beyond reading a map and keeping her away from poisonous plants.

  “Full service and committed to making your getaway memorable,” Ryan said, plotting her downfall.

  If he had his way, she’d remember it as a short trip to hell that she’d mercifully escaped early. That would be best for both of them. He didn’t need the grief she was sure to cause him, or the unwanted attraction that hopefully a few hours of hiking with her would kill. The sooner she admitted defeat and went home, the better.

  Chapter Two

  He started back up the trail. She followed, making a lot of unnecessary noise in the process. Ryan bet himself that she’d ask him to slow down within half an hour. When they reached the one-hour mark and she was still struggling along behind him, he stopped and turned back to face her.

  “Am I going too fast?”

  “Is that usually a problem for you?” Jill asked. “I don’t mind if you get there first, as long as I get there too.” Her tone of voice and the teasing light in her eyes made her meaning plain.

  “It’s kind of a rough trail,” Ryan said, not taking her bait.

  “I like it rough. I’m into adventure.” She gave him a brazen look then turned serious. “I do have to ask one question, though. Why aren’t we seeing any other people? There were plenty of cars at the campground.”

  Because I’m taking you the long way. The less-maintained, more difficult way. Everybody else is taking the easy route. “It’s late in the season.”

  “Oh. Right.” Jill nodded. “Weather shuts things down pretty soon, doesn’t it?”

  “Most of the park’s accessible year round, but there are fewer visitors when the heavy rain starts. Midsummer, you’d have some company at Seven Lakes Basin. Now? We’ll probably have it to ourselves.”

  “Cozy.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  “No.” Jill gave him a bright smile. “It just means I can be as loud as I want to be and not worry about disturbing other campers.”

  So much for hoping she’d object to the isolation. She probably didn’t realize yet how complete it would be, how alone she’d feel so far from civilization and any signs of human habitation.

  “I have another question.” Jill’s smile slipped and he saw a flash of anxiety in her eyes. “How come we haven’t reached the falls yet? It’s been an hour. I thought it was closer than this.”

  “Out here, distance is deceptive.” Ryan kept his face straight and resisted the urge to gloat. His plan was working. “It’s not the mileage, it’s the terrain. When you have to make your way over rough trail, cross streams, go around washouts or climb a steep ascent, a mile can take a long time to cover.”

  Her face blanched. “Oh.”

  Yes, oh. Ready to go home now? “It’s not too late to change your mind,” Ryan said.

  “I’m not going to change my mind.” Her soft mouth firmed. “We’d better keep going if it’s going to be like this all the way. We need to reach our camping site before dark, right?”

  “Right.” His respect for her rose a notch despite his annoyance at her refusal to quit. She was determined, and she did seem to understand the need to be prepared.

  Some fools went into the wilderness without any severe weather gear, without food or water for a day, or any first aid supplies. He’d spent enough time on search and rescue to be familiar with the results. The lucky ones were found quickly, shivering and suffering from early stages of exposure. At least Jill was smart enough to know she was out of her element and to hire an experienced guide.

  “Right.” Jill squared her shoulders and trudged forward.

  Ryan led the way again, but he looked at her over his shoulder once in a while. Just checking to see if she was keeping up. If she didn’t quit at the falls, they were both committed to going forward.

  Jill focused on planting her feet carefully and not huffing like a runaway train. This was taking forever, and they hadn’t even reached the falls. Her early confidence in her ability to easily cover the miles in the time allowed seemed misplaced now. Good thing she’d planned a three-day trip. If the beginning was any indication, it wasn’t going to be the leisurely exploration she’d imagined.

  The quiet was more than she’d expected too. As soon as they’d left the resort and campground to follow the trail, the rainforest had closed around them and the sounds of civilization had just stopped. No sounds of cars, no human voices. No electronic hums or whirs. It was like the sudden silence in her office when she shut off her computer and only then realized how loud the fan had been. But deeper. More complete.

  There were bird sounds and the rustle of leaves stirred by wind. The crunch of her boots. The creak of her backpack. Next I’ll hear my hair growing.

  “Doesn’t it bother you?” Jill asked Ryan.

  “What?” He didn’t stop or turn around.

  “The quiet. No sirens, no traffic, no doors slamming, no people talking. No booming stereos. No cell phones. Do you even get cell reception up here?”

  “No, there’s no cell phone reception. And no, it doesn’t bother me.”

  “What if there’s an emergency?” Her voice rose a little in pitch as she imagined falling over a log and breaking her leg.

  “Radio.” Ryan seemed to think that succinct answer sufficient.

  “Oh.” After a minute, she asked, “You have one, right?”

  He stopped and turned around to face her. “Yes. I have one. If you have a stroke, I can call for emergency assistance.”

  “What if you have a stroke? Or a rock falls on your head, or something?”

  Ryan gave
her an inscrutable look. “The radio’s in my pack. I’ll show you how to work it. There’s also a first aid kit. I assume you know how to work that.”

  “Yes.” Jill shuffled her feet, feeling stupid now. Stupid to panic over being far away from civilization, ambulances, hospitals. The campground might have vanished in the woods, but it wasn’t that far away. There were also park rangers. Presumably that’s who Ryan would radio for help if they needed it. “Okay, then. Let’s keep walking.”

  “If you’re sure.” He didn’t turn around immediately. “A lot of people think the wilderness is romantic. If the reality seems a little too much for you, it’s better to turn back now.”

  Jill felt a blush burn her cheeks at the word romantic. She didn’t mind the flare of sexual awareness between them. In fact, she appreciated the way it made her feel more human, more herself. But romance? Ryan Lowe was not the stuff of romantic fantasies. He’d made it clear she was not his idea of a dream woman. He probably dated triathletes. And romance was not on her agenda. She had to change herself, change her business, or she wasn’t going to make it.

  “It’s not too much for me.” She jerked her chin up and started forward. He started moving in the same direction so she didn’t have to plow into him to make her point.

  Okay, so she was on a remote trail, heading for one that was even more remote. She wasn’t alone, and while Ryan might not adore her, he wouldn’t drop her off a cliff.

  They fell into a rhythm, making steady headway. Jill knew Ryan could go a lot faster without strain, but she was glad he didn’t. She needed to conserve some energy to make it to the campsite, not exhaust herself by trying to impress her guide with her ability to keep up.

  The quiet of the forest grew on her. The tall, sheltering trees with their thick leaves and branches would provide protection from rain and wind, and the way they dimmed the sunlight made her feel cozily enclosed in a world removed by more than distance from her city office.

  Her feet padded along on rock and dirt and roots, not concrete. The difference felt kinder on her feet and knees than the impact shock of hard pavement. Between the filtered light and rhythmic movement, time seemed suspended.

  They stopped at one point to drink some water and eat protein bars, and the amount of time that had passed made her stare at her watch while her stomach sank. Jill stepped up the pace deliberately after that, and finally she heard a roaring sound in the distance.

  “Is that the falls?”

  “Yes.”

  The trail turned a corner, and she got her first look at Sol Duc Falls. The first thing she noticed, after the thundering expanse of water, were the clusters of people standing around them and the bridge that spanned them, with a building on the other side.

  “People,” Jill said out loud. Just when she’d thought they might be alone in the universe.

  “Right.” Ryan kept going. Jill followed. The wooden bridge felt slippery from the mist produced by the falls. She stopped in the middle to take a picture, the first time she’d fished out her digital camera. She took several, in case some were blurry, then pocketed it again.

  Ryan waited for her on the other side, near a rough building marked as a shelter.

  “Are there a lot of those?” She waved at the wooden structure.

  “Shelters? Not as many as there used to be. Hard to maintain, not as much need for them.”

  “So we won’t stay in one tonight?”

  “Not planning on it, but I know where they’re located if a storm hits.”

  He probably meant that to reassure her. Instead, the idea of a storm added a new worry to her nerves. Storms, accidents, the woods seemed full of peril. The list of items she’d packed that had felt like overkill before now struck her as possibly not prepared enough.

  “How come all these people are here, but we didn’t get passed on the trail?” Jill asked, trying to distract herself.

  She watched a new group coming up, crossing the bridge from the opposite direction they’d crossed. In fact, nobody else came from the direction Ryan had led her in from.

  “They came from the parking lot. Less than a mile back that way.” Ryan pointed.

  Jill stared at him. “Parking lot? You mean they drove here? While I hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro? Carrying a forty-pound backpack?”

  His calm expression didn’t change. “If you’ve had enough, I can take you back to the resort by the road. It’s not far from here.”

  Her jaw actually dropped. Then she snapped it shut. She reined in her impulse to rage at him and asked simply, “Why?”

  “Why am I offering to take you back? Or why did I take you the long way?”

  “Both.”

  He looked back at her, his dark eyes steady. “You’ve never hiked before. You’ve never camped overnight in the wilderness. If you camped at all, it was probably at a place like the Sol Duc Resort. This is a whole different world. You’ve just gotten a taste of what it’s like to carry a pack a good chunk of a day, out of sight and sound of civilization. So now you can make an informed decision. If you want to do it all again tomorrow, we head up that trail.” Ryan indicated the trail that led up, away from the falls on the side they’d come from. “If you don’t, I’ll take you back to your car.”

  Jill gritted her teeth. “My feet hurt. My knees hurt. I’m tired. I’m hungry. But I didn’t come all this way to turn around and go back, and since you just added half a day of hiking to my trip, I don’t think we have time to stand here and argue about whether or not you had the right to do that when we still need to camp before dark.”

  “I reserve the right to refuse to guide somebody if I think they’re going to be trouble,” Ryan said. “Or test them.”

  She blinked at him. “That was a test? Of what, my ability to stay upright?”

  “That, and whether or not you’re really prepared for three days in the wild. You’ve proven to me that you have the stamina to do it. The question is, do you want to?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You think women don’t belong in the woods? It’s a man’s world?”

  “It’s an uncivilized world. That means everyday things you take for granted pose a challenge. Maybe you don’t want to work that hard.”

  “I’m not afraid of hard work. Or the woods. Or you.”

  “Then let’s get going.” Ryan put his water bottle back in the pocket that held it to his pack. “We’ll camp by Deer Lake. That’s a little less than four miles ahead.”

  Four miles up a mountain, Jill thought with a pang. Ryan was right. Out here it wasn’t just the distance you had to take into account. It was the terrain. For a minute, she considered backing out. But she’d come this far, and her reasons for being here hadn’t changed. So it was a little tougher than she’d expected. Well, she’d toughen up. Or she was going to have to find a new career altogether, not just reinvent the one she had.

  “Last one there has to do the dishes,” Jill said. She retraced her way across the bridge and followed the trail away from the falls and farther away from the world of parking lots and people.

  Chapter Three

  Jill found the trail from the falls to Deer Lake much easier going. She would have been grateful, but she only knew how hard hiking could get because her sadistic trail guide had tricked her into taking the roughest possible route to this point.

  Of course, if she’d bothered to check her map, she would’ve seen what he was doing. She’d trusted him to know his business. Live and learn. Ryan might know his business, but that didn’t mean she knew his motives.

  The worst of it was that she could understand why he’d thought she’d quit and maybe even thank him for giving her an out. Well, he didn’t know her motives either.

  Knowing he’d wanted to get rid of her put his sexual overture into perspective too. He might be attracted to her, that moment of awareness had been mutual. But he didn’t intend to act on it, and the knowledge that she’d taken his bait made her grind her teeth.

  Jill glared at him ahead of her on the tra
il, where he’d taken the lead position once more, and mentally drew a circle with a red line through it over his backpack. Then she practiced the scathing and witty things she should have said back at the falls if she’d had an hour to think of them.

  But the climb demanded too much from her to keep that up for long, so she dropped the mental game and paid attention to where she put her feet. When they reached the tree line and the dimmed woods gave way to sun-bright alpine vistas that went on to infinity, she stopped and sucked in a breath.

  Ryan turned around. She held up a hand to stop whatever he wanted to say, and just looked. “My God,” she said finally, her voice hushed. “I think I can see forever.”

  The green meadows rolled in the distance, covered with multicolored wildflowers. Mountains beyond that, capped with snow that never melted.

  “Where’s Blue Glacier?” Her map had mentioned that landmark, accessible to hikers from the Hoh Rain Forest as well as Sol Duc, so she knew generally that it had to lie between the two points.

  “There.” Ryan moved to stand beside her, pointing. She followed his arm, shifting unconsciously closer in the process. “We’ll get near enough to hear it.”

  The idea of hearing a glacier struck her with wonder. What did a glacier sound like? What was it like to get next to something that was a remnant from a time when all the world was ice?

  “Really?” Jill shifted her gaze from the distance to Ryan, forgetting for a moment how close he was. Then her eyes were caught by his, and she realized that if either of them moved towards the other by a matter of inches, their lips would meet.

  Kissing Ryan would be like hearing a glacier. Touching something primal. And cold, Jill reminded herself. He doesn’t want you. He wanted to get rid of you.

  But it was hard to think of cold when heat was curling up from her toes, loosening her muscles, humming in her blood. Ryan’s eyes darkened to the color of bitter chocolate, the black pupils expanding in the deep brown that surrounded them. The thinner air sharpened her lungs and her mind, speeding up her responses, slowing down time.