"Am I climbing another mountain?"
She grinned. "Not that I'm aware of."
"Are they aware that last night wasn't the best night's sleep I've ever gotten?"
She laughed. "I believe that may be why they're piling on the physical activities today. You weren't supposed to be doing this activity until tomorrow."
I sighed and sat down so she could get the hair and makeup prep done.
Mike was lounging back against a picnic table, with a pleased smile on his face, when I stepped out of the rig. "Ready?" he asked.
"Sure, do I need to sign disclaimer papers for this adventure, too?"
"Actually, yes. But it's not as dangerous as what I'd originally planned."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Chloe stopped me from taking you to do something that you wouldn't enjoy."
"Oh. You didn't have to cancel plans. I'd have-"
"Don't worry about it. We're still going to be doing the same thing," he pointed over to the parking area. "We're just going to be using a different mode of transportation."
I looked over to see a group of four-wheelers sitting along the edge of the parking area. "What were you originally planning?"
"Dirt bikes."
I wrinkled my face.
"That's pretty much what Chloe said I could expect when I asked her if you knew how to drive one. She said that you could, and that you like motorcycle riding, but you don't like having only two wheels under you off-road."
"It's just that with dirt bikes, you have to watch your every move along the path. I like actually looking up at the scenery around me."
"I know, she told me, I get it."
"I can do the dirt bike thing, if you want. I just don't enjoy it as much."
"Stop. I want us both to enjoy this. Besides, the four-wheelers are already here."
I smiled as we headed off to the machines, the camera crew pulling up the rear. We started out of the parking lot and made our way over to a trail. Slowly, the road wound around the park and then we began climbing in altitude. And the higher we got, the better the view became. It was a windy path, full of switchbacks up the slope of the mountain. We crested the top to find a picnic area that the park had set up for its guests.
"This is awesome," I declared after I got off the machine and took a few minutes to enjoy the land laid out below.
"Gorgeous, right?" Mike asked.
"Absolutely."
He opened a bag that had been strapped to the back of his seat. "I brought dinner up with us. Hungry?"
"Sure. I couldn't think of a more beautiful place to enjoy a meal."
We ate, laughed, and he spent many minutes pointing out that we could see not only the lake from here, but other mountains and valleys, as well as the river that feeds the lake.
"Are you really that in love with this spot?" I asked.
"I'm that in love with you."
My breath caught, my eyes rounded, and the smile drifted off my face as what he'd said settled between us.
His eyes watched me, searching my face for a reaction.
I'd seen this happen season after season on television. Multiple people professing to be in love with the same person. I'd been reminded that this would happen. But none of that had prepared me to hear the words from any of them. How could they be in love with me, really in love, when I was still dating so many other guys? But, if truth be told, I got it now. It happened the same way that it had happened when I first started to feel like I had the beginnings of falling for so many of them.
"I, I... I can't respond to that," I told him. "I want to, I really do. But I can't."
He nodded and his eyes settled on my mouth. "You have to think of the show's integrity," he whispered so low that I doubted the microphones could have picked up what he said. "I understand," he said a little louder and pulled me to him for a kiss.
When he pulled away, he turned to look back down at the trail. "I'm pointing out the scenery because I built this."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I hiked all over this mountain, I flew overhead and plotted it out. My guys and I staked and laid out the trail, then we cleared the path."
"It's a state park," I stammered.
He shrugged. "Sometimes my team is used outside the NPS."
I looked back down at the trail and smiled. "You built this?"
"I built this."
"And staff will maintain the trail and all kinds of people will make their way up here and see this view from this spot, because you found the spot and figured out how to get them up here. You changed the way the land is used and appreciated. And this will be here for who knows how long."
"Yep."
I turned to look at him. "I am thoroughly in love with your job."
He grinned and kissed me again.
I'm sure production would be pleased with the shot Mike had created for the camera crew. You know, that beauty shot of the couple kissing on the mountaintop. The whole reason I was sure of this was because as Mike and I were kissing, I could hear the cameraman making as wide a circle around us as he could, moving around to capture the shot from all angles. I wouldn't be surprised if they made a call and a helicopter came over for a flyby of another kiss before we packed up the food and trash to take back down the mountain.
When we did get back to camp, I collapsed into a chair set by the fire that Phillip was starting.
"Did you have a fun day, princess?" Troy asked as he walked across the clearing.
"I did, actually," I answered.
"Good, now come talk to me about it."
"No. Hell, no. I'm done, I'm beat."
"We need to interview," he said in all seriousness.
"And we will. Catch me in the morning. My brain is shot right now, I'm tired."
"You have plans in the morning."
"Catch me before my plans."
"Your plans begin at dawn, pre-dawn actually."
"The hell they do."
The guys all chuckled.
"Sorry to inform you. Come on, it's still early. The sun is just going down. We can do the interviews and you'll still have time to come out here and party."
"Troy, doing interviews with you means another shower, another hair and makeup session, and a pretty, little summer dress. I don't have all that in me right now, I'm sorry."
"The MA can brush out your hair and do a quick braid and then freshen up your makeup. We'll only shoot you from the head up. Ten questions and you're out of there. I promise to only have you gone for a half hour."
"Ugh," I groaned and lifted myself out of the chair.
I was back thirty-seven minutes later, to find Chloe leaning over a pot that sat on a rack over the fire.
"Amaretto and coke?" Phillip asked.
"No," Stephen said. "She's had a Long Island iced tea kind of day."
I opened my mouth to answer them, but Chloe shook her head at me. And then I watched her pour some spices into the pot and stir them in. "I think I'm going to wait to see what Chloe's heating up in that pot."
"Almost done," she said.
"It's probably some fruity, girly drink," Stephen said.
"Absolutely," Chloe said as she started pouring the liquid from the pan into cups.
I reached over and took one, smelling it. "Oh, you're a good little sister," I murmured before drinking. "Yum."
"What is it?" Mike asked, picking one up.
"It's basically hot apple cider spiked with caramel vodka," I answered.
I drank and enjoyed the Montana night. We got just tipsy enough to be that obnoxiously loud group that everybody else hates to be stuck camping near. But, the park had tucked us back in a corner so there was a pillow of space between us and other groups. Mainly it was done so the filming of the show wouldn't interfere with the camping experiences of anyone else. At the moment, we were using that to our advantage.
By ten-thirty, Chloe and I were climbing the stairs into my fifth wheel. She and I had agreed earlier to not stay out there so late that anybody started t
o get any stupid ideas that some of us might regret in the morning. I stepped in after her and found her standing there, slightly swaying, looking at the couch.
"You know," she said, "we really should have opened up my bed before we started drinking."
I looked around her and made my eyes settle and focus on the couch. "Huh. Why didn't we?"
"Because we're stupid."
"We could open it."
"Do you remember where the lever is?"
"Um, no. There's a lever?"
"Yes, there's a lever. It takes me five minutes to find that lever when I'm sober," she said.
"Well, where was it last night?"
"I slept in the bed last night so that I'd know when you came home, except you didn't come home last night so I never had to find the lever."
"So, sleep in my bed tonight. It's big enough for both of us."
"Yeah, but what if one of them sneaks in? And then it's both of us in there with him. I'm drunk, but I'm not that drunk."
I laughed and turned around to open the door and stuck my head outside. "Help! Drunk girls need help finding a bed!"
Jared's head appeared in one of his windows. "I've got one I can share."
That got me giggling.
Liam came through the darkness to our aid. "What's up?" he asked in a slightly thicker than usual accent as I backed up to let him in.
I pointed to the couch. "We need some abracadabra kind of work."
"There's a lever and it likes to hide," Chloe told him.
Liam knelt down and started feeling around for a lever. He ran his hands inside folds and cracks and under the couch and all around. "There is no lever."
"Oh, shit," Chloe said, plopping down on a dinette seat. "You're too drunk to find it, too."
"I seriously don't remember there being a lever," I said.
"Of course you don't. I'm the one that has to open and close it, you don't sleep in the couch," she said.
"Sometimes I open it up and use it. I've opened it up a bunch of times. And I don't remember a lever," I said.
Liam scrunched his eyebrows together, stood up, grabbed the handle in the center of the bar at the front edge of the couch and pulled it straight up. He stepped back and let it unfold out, guiding the edge back down to the floor. "No lever, Chloe."
She frowned, "Oh."
He shook his head at her and dropped a kiss down on my head as he passed by. "Goodnight," he whispered.
I reached out, grabbed the sleeve of his shirt to get him to turn back around, then grabbed the front of his shirt, drew him down to me, and kissed him quite thoroughly. I pulled away and whispered, "Goodnight."
He left with a grin. I shut the door behind him, and then turned to a snickering Chloe. "You totally did that on purpose! You knew there was no lever." I hissed at her.
"Yeah. I wanted to see which one would come to help. And then I wanted to see if he was smart enough to figure it out even while drunk."
"And?"
"Liam's a keeper."
"He wasn't really drunk."
"How do you know?"
"Because you almost can't understand him through his accent when he's drunk."
"So he can control his drinking. That's really good. I still say he's a keeper."
We both flopped down on the spare bed. "Okay, so Liam stays. Who needs to go?"
"I don't know. Let's just work them through one at a time. Now up, I'm tired."
"Ugh. I'm comfy."
"Pre-dawn plans," she taunted me.
I sighed. "I'm going." I stood and drug myself into my room, leaving my door open in my slightly drunken, 'I don't care' stupor. Pulling off my shorts and shirt, I yanked back the covers, climbed into bed, and fell into the depths of sleep.
Thursday
A body slid into the bed behind me. A hand landed on my elbow. Lips began caressing my shoulder.
At first, I stiffened up at the thought of some man just climbing into my bed.
Then whoever it was, drug his lips from my shoulder to my neck and his hand slid to my upper arm.
My eyes opened to see that it was still dark out. In my normal life, this would have been the point where I sicced Goldie on whoever it was, before making a reach for my gun. My immediate instinct being to force whomever the intruder was to leave. But this wasn't my normal life, despite waking in my own bed as opposed to the cottage bed.
I let my body relax as I focused on trying to figure out which one was behind me.
The lips moved to my earlobe and a tongue traced along the edge.
I ruled out Stephen. For one, he hadn't bonded with Goldie at all, so she wouldn't still be lying at my feet, content to let him invade our space. Plus, well, the arm that just snaked its way around me wasn't dark enough to be Stephen, or Phillip for that matter.
And the hair on the arm wasn't red, so it couldn't be Liam.
I relaxed back against the six-pack behind me and moaned as the tongue dipped into my ear. I let a leg drift back to tangle with his and only found one. "Michael," I whispered and turned in his arms.
The arm around me pulled me in tighter. His other hand moved to my chin, angling my mouth to receive his kiss.
He rolled to his back and pulled me on top of him, drawing my legs down on either side. I could feel that he was rock hard, despite the separating layers of underwear and his denim shorts. I couldn't help myself. I ground down on him.
He groaned and drew his hands up my sides to dip his fingers under the bottom edge of my bra and caress up over my nipples.
I circled my hips, he squeezed.
"Is this my pre-dawn plan?" I asked before biting my lip to fight an urge to buck against him.
He sighed. "No." He grunted and flipped me over onto my back, then moved to loom over me.
I'd squealed in surprise when my back hit the mattress and Goldie lifted her head, letting out a soft woof.
I was laughing when he lowered himself to kiss me one last time before he left the bed. "Up," he said as he bent to grab his artificial leg and put it back on.
"Why?" I whined.
"Because there's something I'd like for you to see."
"Did you come bearing caffeine?"
"I'll go get you some."
"Fine." I flipped the covers off me and over Goldie. I stood up to go grab clothes out of my closet but then when I moved, air drafted across my chest and I looked down. Then I shot a look back at him, only to find him grinning. "When did you take my bra off?"
He threw his head back and laughed before turning to leave the bedroom.
He'd left the door open. Goldie pawed her way out from under the blankets and followed him out.
"I'm already brewing tea," Chloe called out.
"Okay," I called back, now on a hunt for my bra.
Chloe appeared in my doorway. "Em," she said in a reproving tone.
"Don't 'Em' me. There was no sex. There's been no sex. I get no sex."
She giggled.
"Say the word and I'll change that," Mike called out from my kitchen.
"What's he doing?" I whispered.
"Texting on his phone."
I shook my head and found my bra.
"So, how often can I expect to be woken up by knocking on your door, squealing, barking, and lost bras?" she asked.
I grabbed a shirt and a pair of shorts and shoved myself into them.
"Depends on how long you stick around," I told her before brushing past her to get into my bathroom.
Two cups of tea later and Mike had me jogging across camp.
"I hope you drug me out of bed so early for something really, really good," I said.
He chuckled. "Considering I climbed out of your bed to come do this, I hope so, too."
He led me onto a hiking trail and, before long, we slowed to a walk as the trail rose in elevation. Sweat was rolling by the time we left the path, and I followed him to an overlook.
The sun was just beginning to rise over the lake as I watched the rays of light play on th
e clouds as the mist rose from the water. "Okay," I said. "This is gorgeous."
"Worth it?" he asked.
"Worth it."
He put his arm around me and drew me into his side to watch the show.
When we returned to camp, I flopped my ass into a canvas chair.
Phillip smiled and fetched me a plate full of the breakfast that catering was making for us today. He brought it over to me with a bottle of water.
"Thank you," I said with a grateful smile.
"Eat up, princess, you're mine next."
I dropped my head back against the chair and let it roll to the side. "I'm not going to survive this week."
"You better hurry up and eat if you want a shower."
"What are we going to do?"
He sat down backwards on the picnic table bench a few feet away from me. "I got a call yesterday from my boss, asking me if I was part of the show that rolled into the park the day before. When I told him yes, he asked if I'd take care of some tagging while I was here. I figured you could come along."
"Tagging?"
"We're going to put a few radio collars on some animals."
"Yeah, um, sure. Let's go tagging." I shoved breakfast down my throat, showered, did the whole MA thing, and dressed in a scary camo outfit.
When I got back outside, Phillip was talking to a park ranger who'd brought a park vehicle and the necessary equipment with him. He would be riding along with us and serving as Phillip's official partner.
I overheard some of the conversations that the ranger was having with production about the coordination of filming with the very real job we were all about to tag-along on. And the more they talked, the more I was convinced that production initially approached Fish and Wildlife about having Phillip do this, and not the other way around.
The ranger, Phillip, and I got into the park vehicle and took off with a camera crew following behind in a second park ranger's vehicle. The second ranger had shown up once the first ranger realized that someone would need to keep the crew in line while he focused on assisting Phillip.
We stopped the vehicles along the road when we got near to where the last recent sighting was. The ranger and Phillip started strapping on gear. And then they picked up rifles.
"Are you any good with a gun?" Phillip asked.
"Yeah. I'm more familiar with handguns, though."
Walk of Shame Page 33
