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I rubbed my hands like a villain. “I’m not letting this go. Is it Will? I can see how she’d like the whole stern daddy thing he’s got going on.”

Aaron coughed. “Did you just describe my brother as a ‘stern daddy?’”

“Don’t avoid the question. Is it Will?”

“No comment,” he said, shaking his head and laughing.

I tapped my chin. “Hmm. I admit, I’ve not been around a lot in the past five years, but I’ve traded a lot of texts with Jodi this last week and I’m thinking…Price.”

Aaron’s mouth twitched.

I pointed at him. “Yes! It’s Price!”

“I admit nothing,” he said.

We laughed and fell into an easy silence, the dogs content behind us. As I took another sip of my cold brew, it hit me: I’d not been sad about Jason the whole time we were in that shop, and even talking about how long I’d known Jodi, I’d not felt any twinge of sadness.

10

DEVON 5 MONTHS, 20 DAYS TO GO

TURNS OUT THAT Samson wasn’t the biggest fan of being on a leash…shocking exactly no one. But since the trail seemed to be empty, we let them off-leash. Daisy was exceptionally trained, and Samson would follow Daisy to the ends of the earth.

Tall, lush trees loomed overhead, shading us from the summer sun. The trail was worn but narrow, shiny tree roots laying like speed bumps across the light brown dirt. Dotted here and there were clumps of what I assumed were native flowers blooming along the forest floor, pops of yellow and white staking their claim in the greenery.

It was nothing like the starkness of Arizona, where I’d spent the last few months as a hiking guide. “You know,” I mused, “I basically grew up in this state, but I know exactly nothing about Alabama’s native plants and trees.”

“I’d venture to say most people don’t,” Aaron said from ahead of me.

“Yeah, but now that I’m out here, it feels kind of, I don’t know, disrespectful. Like, I’ve spent a lot of the past five years giving tours, mostly outside, and I had to know a lot about my surroundings. Now I’m on this gorgeous mountain and I don’t know if that snake ahead on the path is venomous or not.”

“What?” He stopped and his voice went up an octave.

I laughed. “Kidding. There are no snakes.”

He raised his sunglasses and glared playfully at me. “Keep it up and I’ll leave you out here to fend for yourself.”

Before long, we were scrambling up and down paths that weren’t nearly as well-worn but that Aaron seemed familiar with. I took the lead, needing to feel the stretch in my legs that only a hike could do.

“Is this a race or something?”

I turned but kept walking. “Can’t keep up?” I teased.

“I’m too busy enjoying the view,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

I flushed, completely surprised at how forward the comment was. “Um.”

He laughed as he caught up with me. “Come on. We’re almost at the top.” He held his hand out, and after a millisecond of considering it, I took it.

The zing was immediate. Of course it was. Because my body was a betrayer of the highest order.

So, fine. This could be purely physical. I was attracted to him, and he was attracted to me. We were adults. No one said I couldn’t have something physical with him, right? Right. Which meant I could totally enjoy the sensation of his hand around mine, strong and sure, and I could enjoy anything else we might eventually end up doing, and it didn’t have to mean anything.

Except, it didn’t feel like that. Every look he gave me felt like it meant something.

Samson raced to us, his nose leading him, and I tripped as he bolted through my legs. I yelped and flailed, certain I was going down, but Aaron moved quickly, pulling me flush against him. Our bodies pressed together as his arms wrapped around my waist, trapping my hands against his chest.

Well. This didn’t suck. I could feel every glorious muscle he had, from the pecs beneath my palms to the stomach muscles pressed against my body.

“Are you okay?” His voice was low.

I swallowed and looked into his eyes. This close, I could see the flecks of blue dotted among the gray. The way he looked at me—intimate, all-seeing—was going to be my undoing. “Um. Yeah,” I croaked. I blinked. “Yes.”

He let me go, but stayed close. “I’m beginning to think Samson is a liability for you.”

I stepped back, needing to put space between us. I was an idiot if I thought I could have anything as simple as a fling with this man. “He is most definitely a liability for me,” I said. And Aaron was even more of one. “I’d say I’d race you to the top, but I think Samson would find a way to kill me.”

Aaron laughed, a deep, throaty sound that seemed to come from what I now knew was his incredibly taut stomach. And I liked how it sounded. Too much. “Let’s go,” he said.

He held his hand out again, and even though I knew I shouldn’t, I grabbed it.

We reached the summit, still holding hands, and I exhaled. Mountains rose up all around us, flush with summer green, and the sky was cloudless and marble-blue. A red-tailed hawk circled in the distance, looking for its next meal. As a breeze blew the tendrils of my hair away from my face, I spoke. “This is why I hike. Right here. The view is absolutely incredible.”

“It is,” Aaron said. He looked directly at me.

My cheeks heated. “You know what we need?”

“A magic portal to take us back down?”

Are sens

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