After breakfast, I dodged the firing squad by changing quickly and waiting outside for the boys before the hike. I knew once I returned to the house I’d be in for it, although I admit I was curious to see how they were planning to rage without acknowledging that sleeping with the guys they’d been seeing for weeks now was not, in fact, what they wanted to do.
But as Simon had said, “Here’s to things staring you in the face.” Tonight should be interesting.
I pushed up and over the last little ridge and made it to the top. Simon was only a few yards behind me, and I could hear him on his way. I breathed deep, the clear air prickling at my lungs. It was chilly, but I was warm with exertion. It had been a while since I’d gotten out of the city, and my body had missed hiking like this. My legs were burning, my nose was running, I was sweating like a pig, and I couldn’t remember when I’d felt better. I laughed out loud as I looked down at the lake below, spying a few hawks gliding on a downdraft. The steely blue of the lake, the deep green of the forest, the clean whites and creams of the rocks: it was beautiful.
And then there was my new favorite blue. Simon appeared at my side, breathing as deeply as I was. He stretched his arms wide and took in the valley below. He’d peeled off layers as we climbed and was now wearing a white T-shirt with a flannel knotted at his waist. Khaki shorts, hiking boots, and a wide grin completed the wet dream I now stared at, instead of looking at the natural wonders all around us. And those blue eyes—I could see them framing each shot as he looked around.
“Beautiful,” I breathed, and he turned to me. I got caught staring. “I mean, isn’t it beautiful?” I stuttered, gesturing widely with my arm.
He appeared to know exactly what I’d been doing, and I felt the blush come up in my cheeks. Luckily, I was still a bit winded from the climb, and I hoped I was already sufficiently red.
“Yes, it is beautiful actually. Very beautiful.” He smiled, and we stared at each other. He took a few steps closer, and I felt the air shift and change. I bit my lip. He ran his hand through his hair. We smiled. There were no words, but even the woodland animals could tell there was something about to happen and wisely stayed in their hidey holes.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
“Hi,” I answered.
“Hi,” he said again, taking one last step toward me and stepping inside my little circle. One more step and he’d be practically on top of me. And how.
“Hi,” I said once more, tilting my head to the side and letting him know he could take that last step.
Simon leaned toward me, just barely, but almost as if he were going to…
“Parker!” thundered from below, and we both sprang back. “Parker!” It came again, and I recognized Ryan’s voice underneath the jungle-man yell.
“Ryan,” we both said and smiled.
Now that the voodoo wasn’t so concentrated, I could see things clearly again, and I repeated the word harem over and over again in my head.
“Up here!” Simon yelled, and Ryan appeared from around a bend.
“Hey there! Neil is done, kaput, thrown in the towel, so to speak. You guys about ready to head back down?” he called, jumping from rock to path to rock again with the ease of a mountain goat. He didn’t even appear to be winded. Hmmmm…
“Yep, we were just about to come looking for you guys,” I said, kicking my leg up behind me for a quick stretch.
“Is he really pussing out so close to the top?” Simon asked, heading back down the trail.
“He’s lying straight across the trail like he owns the place, refusing to go any higher.” Ryan laughed, bounding ahead and calling down to Neil to let him know we were on our way.
“You sure you didn’t want to stay up here a little longer? I mean, we worked so hard to get all the way here,” Simon asked, reaching out to stop me running down the mountain after Ryan.
I felt the warmth of his hand on my shoulder and willed my hormones to flee to the other side of my body. “I’m sure. We should get back. Looks like a storm is coming.” I nodded toward the horizon where a group of dark clouds had begun to build. His eyes followed mine, and he frowned.
“You’re probably right. We don’t want to get caught out here all alone,” he muttered.
“Besides, if we don’t hurry, we can’t tease Neil about getting beat up the mountain by a girl.” I grinned, and he laughed loudly.
“Hell, we don’t want to miss that. Let’s go.”
And down the trail we went.
“So how was your gangbang, Caroline?” Sophia sang sweetly as she found us all in the kitchen drinking water after our hike. The three guys each did different versions of a spit take, but I calmly continued sipping like a lady.
“Fantastic, thanks. Neil especially. We practically had to carry him back down the mountain after I finished with him,” I replied just as sweetly.
The boys recovered their game faces, but Neil could barely stop staring at Sophia’s tight tank top. Her actual suitor? Playing Spot The Mimi, his head rotating so fast I could have sworn he was an owl. I shook my head and put him out of his misery.
“Where’s Mimi?” I asked.
“Shower, which you four clearly need. It’s freezing outside. How could you have gotten so sweaty?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
“We worked hard making it up that mountain. Hiking is harder than you think,” Neil puffed, and the rest of us wisely kept silent about the heart attack he almost had fifty feet from the summit.
I grabbed an apple and headed in the direction of my room with Sophia hot on my tail, as expected. I smirked a little and contemplated going easy on her—just asking her about it, giving her an out.
“Those shorts look terrible on you, Caroline,” she remarked as she followed me into my room.
Nope. Not going to happen. No easy out. “Thank you, dear. Should I have packed a little cat food for you when I packed Clive’s travel bag?” I sneered.
She collapsed on my bed, curling her body around one of the giant pillows. “Where is he anyway? Who’s watching him this weekend?”
“He’s staying with Uncle Euan and Uncle Antonio. That cat is lounging on a silk bed being handfed tuna rolls right about now. He’s living the life.”
“He has the life, that’s for sure,” she said, her face clouding briefly as she got comfortable.
I peeled off my sweaty clothes and wrapped up in a terrycloth robe hanging on the back of the door. She complimented my choice of sports bra and laughed when she saw that I’d paired it with leopard panties, but then she went back to her previous wistful expression.
“What’s up, Sophia?” I asked, lying on the bed next to her and wrapping myself around a pillow as well.
“Nothing, why?” she asked.
“You look like a sad sack.”
“Eh, I just didn’t sleep well, I guess.”
“Oh really? Mr. Ryan keeping you up late at night, hmm? He didn’t have a lot of energy on the mountain today…” I nudged her with my elbow.
“No, no, nothing like that. I just…I dunno. I just couldn’t get settled last night. Normally I sleep really well up here, but it was so quiet last night, I just…” She beat her pillow a little with her fist, forcing it into a new shape.
“I see. Well, I slept great!” I laughed, and she starting trying to force my head into a new shape with her fist.
“You wanna get drunk tonight?” she asked when we finally settled down.
“Hell, yes. You?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Go ahead. I’ll clean up the kitchen a little and then meet you guys out there,” Simon said, taking my plate and starting to stand.
“Hey, hey, hey! Lobster bite, hello,” I protested as I grabbed my fork.
“Here, I would never get between a woman and her lobster.” He smiled, offering me my fork back. I accepted the bite with a smile and stood up. I was a little more drunk than I thought, and this fact made itself known as gravity began tease me.
“Whoa there, you okay?” he asked, steadying me as Sophia started off for the bedroom.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine,” I answered, planting my feet and winning the battle.