Ignoring me, she hit the throttle and took off around the parking lot.
Okay, then. We were getting right to it.
I turned my mic on and explained where we were headed, and eventually, she fell in line and followed me through the woods.
It was loud and bumpy, like it had been each of the hundreds of times I’d done this, but today, the air was fresher and the sun was brighter as it shone through the gaps between the trees. Being out here with her made the world around me feel new and exciting. Every time I peered back to check on her, I was hit with a bolt of anticipation and adrenaline.
She looked so tiny on top of the powerful machine, but she was in complete control. I had to give it to her—she knew what she was doing.
“We’ll park up here,” I said through my mic, pointing toward a large clearing where a small cabin and a pole barn sat.
I pulled up, and as I was yanking my helmet off, Chloe sped into the clearing, and then banked hard, burning out right in front of me and kicking up a layer of swampy mud that hit me right in the chest.
Fuck. Me.
She took off her helmet and shook out her hair.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t help but stare. I was pretty sure drool pooled at the corner of my lip. Shit, that was really hot.
She took in my muddy shirt, her eyes dancing. “Oops,” she said with an innocent shrug.
“You did that on purpose,” I complained, trying my hardest to frown. “And why are you driving like a bat out of hell?”
She tossed her head back and laughed, her hair flowing around her shoulders. “Just having fun.”
I lifted up the hem of my T-shirt and used it to wipe the mud that had splattered on my face.
Her eyes widened and zeroed in on the few inches of skin the move exposed. Good. Two could play this game.
I didn’t have the abs of Cole or the confidence of Finn, but I knew when I was being ogled. And I planned to make the most of it.
So I did it again, putting on a little more of a show, and this time, her lips parted. Fuck. Her gaze was like a warm caress to my bare skin. She was not immune to this connection between us. Noted.
She looked away hastily, slinging her backpack off. She dug through it, and a moment later, she produced a pair of black sneakers.
I huffed an annoyed breath. “You had those all along?”
She slipped the shoes on and blinked innocently at me. “Yup.”
“So you drove an ATV in heels…”
“Wedges,” she interrupted. “And yes. I did it purely to spite you.”
She packed away the damned wedges, then produced a notebook and pen. “Let’s get to work.”
I led her through the camp, the place where my father had held Pascal Gagnon and his now fiancée hostage almost two years ago. It was also where his drug operation had been centered. We didn’t use this location much. The road to get here was shitty, and the cutting wasn’t as strong as sectors farther west.
“This has primarily been used as storage and for off-season projects,” I explained. From there, I walked her through what we’d learned. How old trails that no longer appeared on maps connected this camp to several leading toward the border. Some on our land, some on the Gagnons’, which gave traffickers a corridor to avoid detection.
As we continued, she snapped photo after photo and scribbled in her notebook.
We spent a couple of hours touring the site and documenting everything she found pertinent before jumping back on the ATVs to head up through the valley.
At a signpost for the western slope, a site in sector five she’d asked to see, I stopped, and she followed suit.
I pulled my water from my pack. Then I dug out a couple of granola bars and tossed one to her.
She caught it, and as she opened the wrapper, she wandered the dense area. “What do you think?”
Head tipped back, I took a long pull from my water bottle, then wiped my mouth with my wrist. “About what?”
“This piece of land is currently unused. We can’t afford to waste assets, so it’s important we find ways to make every resource work.” She kicked the stump next to me. “So what would you do here?”
“It’s your company,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Isn’t JJ the regenerative forestry expert?”
Chloe nodded, focus fixed on me. “She is. But I’m asking you.”
“It’s not my company,” I hedged, growing weary. We’d been out for hours, and the more time I spent with Chloe, the more the confusion and hurt that lived inside me bubbled to the surface.
She frowned. “I’m aware. But since you’re my most knowledgeable asset, I’m interested to know if you have any thoughts about what we could do here.”
I scanned our surroundings. “This side of the ridge is heavy with red oak. Look.” I pointed to the ground, where a thick carpet of acorns blanketed the forest floor. “But they don’t thrive with limited sunlight, and deer eat the saplings. They are slow growers and need carefully managed conditions to thrive.
“I’d do some selective cuts to get more sunlight in here, and then put up deer fencing.” With my free hand on my hip, I turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. “That way we protect and nurture the next generation of trees. Also, if we take out the white pines, we’ll have a better ecosystem to support the oaks.”
With a nod, she snapped more photos.
“Hardwood is always in demand, and the pricing is more stable than pine. It would be a long-term investment, but we could cut a few of these big ones,” I patted a large tree next to me, “and send ’em to the specialty mill for finish cuts. That alone would pay for the other work and allow us to cultivate this area for the future.”
