Lily stumbled along the uneven path as she tried to keep up with Ethan, who seemed perfectly at home in the woods. Molly traipsed in front of her, skittering out of the way of her clumsiness.
The dachshund snorted, as if to say, Watch where you’re going, amateur. Her little legs moved in a blur to surge ahead, leaving Lily in her dust.
Great, even his dog is bolder than I am, she thought.
The trail wasn’t steep, but the terrain rose and fell enough to keep her heart racing—and that was after she thought she’d die on the wobbly suspension bridge. But at least the view from the back of their little group was worth it; Ethan’s butt in the cargo shorts he’d changed into looked amazing. The thick trees and glimpses of the Sacramento River were nice too.
Distracted, she tripped over another tree root and staggered forward. Ethan spun on the trail, walking backward without missing a step.
He patted his leg. “Come on. Keep up.”
Lily eyed Molly. “I think she’s doing pretty good for a puppy.”
“I was talking to you.” He threw her a teasing grin before spinning back around.
She scowled at his back. “That’s not fair. She’s got two extra legs on me.”
“Yeah, but they’re about three inches short.”
She thought there must be another argument, but she couldn’t think of one at the moment. “How long is this hike?”
“About two hours round trip. Only a quick one to stretch our legs.”
Quick? She was glad he couldn’t see the blood drain from her face.
After a while, the puppy began to slow, which made it much easier for Lily to keep up without appearing nearly as out of shape. However, Ethan only paused long enough to pick up the little furball and tuck her into a harness strapped to his chest.
Lily must have worn a strange expression on her face because he laughed.
“I can’t expect a little dog to keep up with me in the outdoors without help, so I picked up some specialized dog supplies to prepare for the trip.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Specialized how?”
“Piper’s friend Addison has her own line of doggy designs called Fido Fashion. Recently, she branched out into functional wear like harnesses, life jackets, and raincoats.”
“Molly will grow up to be a real Bear Grylls.” She eyed the harness with envy. Not because of the dog’s close proximity to Ethan’s muscular chest—although, she could imagine worse places to be nestled. “You don’t have a harness to carry me, too, do you?”
He chuckled and kept moving up the trail, like she hadn’t been a little serious.
Readjusting the camera weighing down her neck, she tramped after him. “You weren’t kidding about being into this outdoor stuff. Is that why you like to tango with crime bosses? Because you like the adrenaline rush?”
“Not exactly. My hobby helps me combat the stress from my day job, including the crime bosses. I keep equipment for things like hiking, climbing, and camping in my trunk in case I ever need to just hop in the car and escape the city.” He peered over his shoulder. “Do you go on many walkabouts back home?”
“Nice try on the lingo, but that’s Australian. And, yeah. All the time.” Sort of, she added in her head.
She often walked to the shops and back to buy odd bits and bobs for dinner. Sure, it was flat and paved, and this was rough and far too vertical at times. But it was sort of the same if you put a different angle on it. Literally.
“But we don’t have to worry about bears,” she added.
She should have been a little more upfront with him. Why did she have to make herself sound outgoing and adventurous? Probably because the truth sounded pathetic in comparison, so she kept her mouth shut and trudged on.
As her footsteps began to scuff the earth, catching every rock, stray twig, and her own feet, Ethan finally slowed.
He unhooked Molly so she could explore. “I think this is a good place to rest.”
Rest? Does that mean there’s more?
She slumped against a nearby tree and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to sit down in case she never found the strength to stand up again.
Her feet ached, her legs shook, and she’d never felt so tired. She could practically hear every part of her body complaining. As she tuned into each one, she realized how aware of herself and her surroundings she was.
The deliciously clean air smelled of moss, soil, and life as it scraped into her lungs. A bug tickled her skin, crawling up her arm, but she was too exhausted to swat it away. She followed it with her mind’s eye as her ears tuned into the birdsong above her and the trickle of the river they walked next to. She’d never felt so still in all her life.
When her eyes fluttered open, Ethan stood in front of her. She drew a sharp breath. How long had he been there, watching her?
Part of her thought it was a little creepy, but the other part stared back, enjoying the attention as he considered her. There was a softness in his eyes that wasn’t there when he was teasing her. Well, she supposed she teased him too.
“Having a good nap?” he asked.
And the moment was over.
“I was just enjoying … this.” She waved a weak hand around her.
“Thought you could use some energy.” He held something out to her: an energy bar.
Sugar! her body screamed.
She reached for it, but she seemed to have lost control of her arm. The movement threw her off balance. Her hand landed on his chest. Knees buckling, her legs decided that would be the perfect moment to give out.
The edges of her vision darkened until she was staring down a long tunnel. All she could do was grip Ethan’s shirt for dear life, her hand squeezing a firmly toned pec.
Her head lulled, and she pitched forward. Her sluggish brain could only watch in horror as her face hurtled toward his face like a freight train. She channeled all the energy she could muster into her lips, puckering them as though that might help cushion the impact.
Well, that’s one way to Step Fourteen: Make the First Move, she supposed. As her eyelids drooped and that tunnel closed in on her, she thought it was a shame she was going to miss it.
He gripped her shoulders. She jerked to a stop. The motion shook her back to her senses, and her eyes flickered open.
A little crease formed between his eyebrows. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but I’m not interested in you that way.”
Lily shook her head, the words drawing her back from the edge of unconsciousness. She gaped up at him. “What?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “You’re very attractive. I mean, like really …” His gaze roamed over her slowly, appreciatively, almost like she was his bloody BMW. “Those eyes and those lips. I’ve never seen hair that red when it didn’t come from a box. And don’t get me started on your adorable accent.” His head sort of jerked like he was snapping himself out of it. “I’m just not in that place in my life right now.”
She blinked slowly as her brain struggled to interpret his words. He thinks I’m attractive. Then she caught up to the rejection part. Horrified, she shook her head. “No. That’s not … I just—”
“If the situation were different, maybe.”
Lily was hardly listening. She grabbed the bar out of his hand and ripped it open with her teeth. Sugar. Her brain needed refueling before she did anything else to embarrass herself. Sinking to the damp earth, she shoveled it into her mouth. She was distantly aware that Ethan was still talking.
“But you’re going back home in less than two weeks, and I don’t want a casual hookup. I’m thirty-six now. I’m looking to settle down, start a family, have a kid or two …”
She paused mid-bite to gape at him. She recalled what Piper had said about him at the rescue center, that his work came before everything else. “You want a family?”
He frowned. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
“I … er, it’s not. I just didn’t realize. You talk so much about your work, and you seem so busy and all.” She scrambled to cover up her surprise. “This is the first you’ve mentioned it. That’s great. Really.”
He studied her a moment before the frown slipped away. “Don’t get me wrong. My life used to be centered around work. Now, I think it would be nice to settle down. That’s why I wanted to move my mother and me to San Francisco, so we could be closer to my sister, so we could all be together again. It’s been a long time. Too long.”
By the way he said it, she could tell there was a ton of baggage to unpack there. But who was she to judge about baggage? She recalled the reason for her trip. She wasn’t exactly the poster girl for family bonding at the moment.
“You’re moving closer to your family. Meanwhile, I’m running away from mine.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Things are that good, huh?”
“You have no idea. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family. I don’t know what I would do without them, but …”
“You don’t know what to do with them?” he suggested.
“Something like that. I guess I just need some space to make some of my own mistakes.”
“Well, I’ve made more than enough mistakes for one lifetime. I’m ready to do the right thing.”
The right thing. She wondered what he thought he’d done wrong. Did he regret leaving his family “high and dry” as Piper had put it? Or was there something else? Something more?
He stuck out a hand. “Shall we continue?”
“Sure.” She struggled to her feet, ignoring his outstretched hand in case she tripped again and accidentally shagged him. “But so we’re clear, I wasn’t trying to kiss you.”
“It’s cool. Don’t be embarrassed or anything. We’re both adults. Let’s just move on.”
“I agree,” she said. “But I didn’t try to kiss you.”
“Then what were you doing?” His cheeks quivered as he fought a smile.
“I …”
What was she supposed to say? “I’m horrendously out of shape?” “The idea of an adventure to me is popping out to the shops without an umbrella?”
“I tripped,” she said finally.
“Sure. We’ll go with that.”
Lily sighed, brushing off her trousers. Jet lag. She should have gone with jet lag.
Crack.
A sharp sound pierced the still air, echoing around them.
Molly’s ears perked up.
Lily wheeled around. “What was that? It sounded like a … gunshot.” She rubbed her arm. “Could it be hunters?”
“No. There’s no hunting allowed in the state park. It could have been a dying tree that finally cracked in two and fell over.” But he sounded doubtful.
“I think there’s a joke about that.” But she wasn’t in a laughing mood. She wasn’t a tree expert, but it had sounded too loud for that.
He snapped his fingers like “aha!” Picking up Molly, he plowed through the trees. Lily followed him until they stood at the edge of the river. When he pointed across it, she spotted a gray ridge in the distance that cut the sky like jagged teeth.
“This park gets its name from those granite crags, and granite breaks off in big slabs. When it connects with other rocks, it can sound like a gunshot.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know so much about rocks?”
“Rock climbing. It pays to be able to read the terrain.”
She scrutinized him for a second longer before she finally accepted his answer. “Okay, but if I wind up shot, you have to be the one to tell my mother.”
“Will do.”
“Good luck. She’ll probably shoot you too.”
Lily stood at the edge of the river where the water collected in a shallow pool. Crouching, she scooped up a handful and splashed a little on her face and neck. Her skin ached from the icy chill. After the last hour, it felt good.
Along their meandering path, the river had changed often. Sometimes it was shallow, white water splashing over rocks, but here it was deeper. The surface appeared slow and lazy, but she imagined it was a different story down where she couldn’t see the bottom.
She inhaled the fresh air, imagining that America was so vast and this place so untouched, that no one could have ever possibly breathed the same oxygen as her. She’d never felt more secluded. It was both thrilling and a little unnerving.
Something warm and wet suddenly dragged across her leg. She scrambled back, her tired brain immediately imagining some wild animal sampling her with a lick. But it was only Molly giving her kisses. She sighed. If the hike didn’t kill her, her allergy was bound to.
Lily wiped the wet patch away with her sleeve. Curiously, she glanced at the spot the puppy had licked on her arm earlier. She twisted it this way and that to get a better look, but she couldn’t see any evidence of a reaction.
“Everything all right?” Ethan asked.
“I think so.” She frowned. “Maybe I’ve grown out of my dog allergy.”
Popping the cap off her camera lens, she took a few photos of the river. Only a day and a half in the country, and she’d already had to change the memory card before the hike. She pulled her eye away and viewed the result on the screen; it didn’t do the river justice.
“This is amazing,” she breathed. “It was worth the hike.”
Ethan threw a stick down the path for Molly to fetch. “Yeah, it’s a popular trail for a reason. It’s much busier on weekends.”
“Well, I’m sure glad we have it all to ourselves.”
He peered upriver. “Not entirely.”
She followed his gaze. The trees crowding the riverbank were thick with lush leaves. However, she could make out a couple of figures along the edge. She squinted, but they were too far away to spy on properly.
Holding her camera up, she peered through the viewfinder. Two men squatted in the tall grass. One guy had a goatee and wore a red ball cap that stood out among the green leaves. The other had his back to her.
She almost turned away, but then she saw something long and black glinting in the dappled sunlight. That small-town curiosity nagged at her, and she zoomed in. As she adjusted the focus, she realized it was the barrel of a rifle.
“What are they doing?” Ethan asked.
“They’ve got a gun.” She held up the camera for him. “Here, look for yourself.”
He drew close and peered through the viewfinder. His head was right next to hers, and she could smell his cologne: woodsy, like he belonged out there. Her totally-not-an-attempt at a kiss rushed back to her. She regretted not taking the strap off her neck and handing over the camera. She certainly didn’t want him getting the wrong idea again.
“It is a gun,” he said. “That would explain what we heard earlier.”
“But I thought you said there’s no hunting allowed here.”
“There’s not. They could be poaching. They may not be the sharpest tools in the shed either. It looks like they’ve been drinking.”
He drew away from the camera, and she had another look. This time, she saw the multitude of cans and rubbish strewn around their feet, gleaming in the sun. But for two men out of their tree, they were sure focused on something.
She followed their line of sight along the riverbank until a dark mass blurred across her viewfinder. She focused on it. It was big and black, whatever it was, rooting around in the bushes. Then it drew close to the water, and she saw it clearly.
“A bear. They’re about to shoot a bear.” Before she even thought about it, she held her hand to her mouth and shouted. “Hey!”
One man’s head whipped toward her. The other didn’t move an inch. He focused on his furry target. In the next second, a shot rang out.
Lily jumped and searched for the bear. Thrashing bushes along the embankment caught her attention. Black fur peeked between trees as it ran away. Her warning had worked.
“We’re jumping to conclusions,” Ethan said. “It might have been a problem bear. Maybe they’re park rangers tagging it or something.”
“What about all the beer cans?”
“Soda? Energy drinks?”
She rolled her eyes. “Spoken like a true lawyer. Innocent until proven guilty, right?”
“You’ve got a point. We’ll let the police figure it out.”
Thinking of police and evidence, she held the camera up again. When she centered the potential poachers in her frame, they were looking straight at her, and they weren’t happy about losing their prize.
“Hey, you!” the man in the red hat shouted.
She jerked away from the viewfinder. This time, she didn’t need the zoom lens to know what the men were doing. They skirted along the edge of the water, plowing through the underbrush and weaving between trees. They were headed straight for Lily.
Ethan scooped Molly up and slipped her back into the harness. “We should go.”
He grabbed Lily’s hand and dragged her onto the trail. The moment they hit the packed earth, they started running back to the parking area, full-tilt—well, as fast as the path would allow them. She didn’t know what would happen if the two poachers caught up, but she didn’t want to stand around and find out either.
She ran faster than she ever had in her life. Her wobbly legs threatened to give out, but she pressed on, focusing all her attention on the next step, on avoiding the rocks and roots that threatened to take her down. Her ears strained for sounds of pursuit, but she could barely hear over her heavy breathing. So she pushed herself harder to make sure they didn’t catch up.
When she and Ethan stumbled into the parking lot half an hour later, breathless and knackered, he wasted no time unlocking the BMW and setting Molly inside. He motioned for Lily to get in. While her instincts were screaming at her to dive in, she hesitated, turning back to the only other vehicle there: the sage green truck.
A hard canopy covered the box, and the front sported a matte black push bar. She couldn’t be sure it belonged to the two drunk—or highly caffeinated—poachers. There could have been other roads that led to the trail, other places they might have parked, but she held her camera up and took a photo of the truck anyway. The moment she hopped into the car, Ethan took off.
As though Molly sensed the excitement, she scratched at Lily’s leg until she picked her up. Planting her paws on Lily’s chest, the sausage dog surveyed the parking lot, a low growl vibrating in her chest.
Lily swore that if Molly had fingers, she would have been flipping the bird. She was one bad dog.
As the trailhead slipped away in her side mirror, Lily slumped in her seat. “Well, that was something.”
“I did promise you a road trip you won’t soon forget,” Ethan said, but the gravity of his tone said he was as freaked out as she was.
“Let’s keep the rest of it a little less thrilling, okay?”
“At least you still want there to be a rest of it.” He whipped onto the highway. “First day on the road, and we’re already running for our lives. You sure you’d like to continue? It’s not too late to turn around.”
She knew he was joking, but as a wrinkle creased his forehead, she thought he might actually be worried about her answer.
Out of nowhere, her mum’s face popped into her head. Lily could only imagine what she’d say. But her mum wasn’t there, and what she didn’t know wouldn’t kill her.
“I’m rather looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure.”