“Drake?” Her voice was a little uncertain. She knew there was someone nearby, and common sense told her it had to be Drake, but to be honest, she had no real way of knowing until the sound of his voice finally hit her ears. It could have been anyone. Her nerves were only a little soothed when he shoved his head inside the tent with that same smirky grin.
“Morning, Princess. I made you some coffee.” He shot her a wink. “I figured you needed your beauty rest. You had a rough night there.” His face disappeared back to where it had come from once he pulled away from the opening and she groaned.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Celeste pushed herself onto all fours to crawl out of the tent. Her muscles were screaming with every move, but she knew she was going to have to work through that today whatever happened. She couldn’t expect Drake to carry her out of this place, and she was just going to have to pay the consequences for pushing herself too hard the day before. The thing that scared her the most was that little comment.
Rough night? There was no way he could have known what she was dreaming about right? It’s not like he was some kind of mind reader or anything. She was panicking a little as she emerged into the clearing where they’d set up camp at sunset the evening before. The air was clear and cold, but that hadn’t caused Drake to put on a shirt. He’d had one on the night before, but now it was nowhere to be seen.
He was exactly like she would have imagined him to be, covered in the muscles that came from working around the farm and not from spending hours and hours in the gym. She hated guys who did nothing with their time but lift weights and obsessed over the size of their muscles, but this was completely different. There was something wildly attractive about a man who took care of himself and who earned his muscles the hard way. After the dreams she’d had and the wakeup she gotten, she’d already decided that it was going to be a ridiculously hard day.
Not only was she going to be battling through body pain, she was also going to be working through the fact that her hormones and brain had decided to betray her. They were far too lost in the way his back muscles rippled while he worked over the camp stove to make their breakfast for her to even register the fact that he was actually talking to her.
“I mean you were bone tired when you crawled into that tent. I don’t even think you got the sleeping bag zipped all the way up before you passed out. By the way, you toss and turn a lot in your sleep. I do hope the accommodations were to your liking.” He shot her that same damned grin that made her want to slap him or plant her lips on his to wipe that look off his face, but this time it was harder and harder not to walk over there and do the latter. She shoved her hands into the pockets of the clothes she still wore and sank down onto one of the logs nearby trying not to watch him work.
“I’m not a huge fan of sleeping on the ground, but I managed. How about you? I hope it wasn’t too rough on your back. You’re getting pretty old to be sleeping on such a hard surface, right?” If she couldn’t get him out of her thoughts, she could at least snark back with the best of them, but he laughed as soon as she got the question out of her lips.
“Well, I’m not quite geriatric yet, but I’m pleased about your concern for my back. It was just fine, thanks. I mean what man isn’t going to sleep like a log with a beautiful woman curled around him for warmth, right?” That grin didn’t waver in the slightest. If she was going to get under his skin, it was going to take more than that. She was going to need her coffee if she was going to make it through today in one piece.
“Right… So what was that you said about coffee?” She tried to keep her voice expressionless, changing the subject to coffee as soon as possible. Drake reached for one of the same mugs they’d used last night, that he’d washed out after dinner and poured it nearly full of coffee before dumping a couple of single serve packets of sugar into it and passing it over to her.
“You’ll have to forgive the lack of cream, but it’s not exactly like I can keep it fresh out here in the middle of nowhere, so black with two sugars will have to do.” Celeste had no idea how he knew how she took her coffee. Maybe it was a coincidence maybe it was something else.
“That’s alright. This is the way I like it, anyway.”
“I’ll have to keep that in mind for future reference.” He shot her a wink over the tiny frying pan that sat on top of the camp stove. “And how to you take your eggs? I mean, I don’t have any eggs, but just in case I ever get the chance to cook you breakfast again.”
The question had a double meaning, and she knew it, but if she called him on it he was just going to have some kind of excuse about it being completely innocent.
“Oh, thanks for asking.” She said with sarcasm as she pressed her hand to her chest. “I like them frozen, just like hell will be when you get a chance to cook eggs for me.” She tried to stay even and matter of fact in her replies, but it was a struggle. “So if it isn’t eggs, what is for breakfast?”
Drake slowly turned his head to look at her, “Feel better now that you got that out your system? Breakfast is oatmeal. I hope you like it. It’s probably the easiest thing to cook out here on the trail. All you need is water.” He shot her another grin from over the camp stove as he finished cooking and made her a bowl of the warm oatmeal, straight from the pot.
“My mom used to make me oatmeal when I was a kid. It was one of my favorite things.” She took the plate and tried to keep her focus on the food in front of her when Drake sank down beside her on the log with his own bowl of oatmeal.
He leaned into her so that her bare arm brushed against his chest. There was no reason why such a simple contact should have sent an almost electric shock through her body, but it did. It made her catch her breath and freeze in place for a second, memories of her dreams the night before flooding her now conscious mind. She cursed under her breath as she squeezed her thighs together, then flushed beet red when she’d realized he noticed.
“So, you can’t tell me you’ve never been around a shirtless man before, Princess. I mean, come on. You’re a grown up, and you’re gorgeous. I’m sure you’ve seen more than your fair share. Never mind the fact that I happen to know exactly how close downtown Los Angeles is from the beach.
“Well, yeah. It’s not… You’re… I’ve…” She stumbled over the beginning of several sentences before she could settle on something to say, but he cut her off with a laugh.
“You ok there? I wouldn’t want to fluster you too much. I can go grab a shirt if it’s all too much for you.” And there was that grin that she loved and hated at the same time again. He knew exactly what game he was playing, and he was playing it up to perfection. He thought she was ridiculous, and he intended to make a fool of her in whatever way he possibly could. It just steeled her resolve not to let it happen if she could avoid it.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t want you catching your death of cold out here.” She took a spoonful of the oatmeal and shoved it into her mouth before she could stammer over another sentence and make an absolute ass of herself.
“I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“So, when are we hitting the trail for the rest of the day?”
“As soon as we get everything packed up here. Shouldn’t take too long if you’re up for helping get it all back into the pack. How’s that ankle?” He got down beside her taking her leg into his hands and gently massaging the muscle around her lower calf before slowly moving higher. Celeste was still wearing her pants, but it was like there was a direct connection between his hands and her ovaries. Her body tensed, and she pulled in a sharp breath.
“Fine… It’s fine. A little sore, but so is everything else.” She kicked herself for admitting she was in pain, but he would have been an idiot not to know she was sore after a full day’s hike the day before. She could console herself with that at least.
“Good.” He gave her leg a final squeeze and shot her another wink before walking over to the tent. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us if we’re going to make it to the falls bef
ore sunset.”
Those words made Celeste wonder why she’d agreed to come out here at all. She wasn’t certain how much longer he was going to keep up this torture before he either gave up on it or just laughed her out of existence. It was like he knew all of her weak spots and had decided to hit them all at once. Celeste was going to have to keep her wits about her if she was going to survive the next few days.
10
Maybe it had been a little bit of a lie when Drake had said they’d have to push hard to make it to the falls before sunset. He wasn’t going to have to push too hard, but she was working through a twisted ankle and a sore body. Even on the half a night’s sleep he’d gotten, he could have made this walk without exerting too much of an effort. If he pushed it, he could have done the entire hike out in one day rather than two, but the falls were worth twice the walk. They were absolutely gorgeous, and there was a reason he had chosen them.
Some part of him wanted to share all of this with her. He wanted her to see what he loved the most about Colorado, and how there was nothing that Hollywood could manufacture that held a candle to the things that nature provided for anyone who took the time to notice. Some part of him wanted to convince her to stay, to prove to him that she was more than the first impression she’d made on him.
He could have been a fool to give her that chance, but maybe it would work out in his favor. He had no way of knowing until he pulled it off or didn’t. Besides, he was having too much fun at teasing her after the dream he’d been subjected to the night before. He just wasn’t going to admit to her that he’d had his arms wrapped around her just as tightly when he’d woken up from the broken sleep he’d been able to get. It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to think about. He didn’t have time for feelings. This could be all fun and games, but if it got to be more than that, maybe he needed to stop himself. Waking up with her in his arms had been a little more real than he wanted to think about.
This morning, he let her walk behind him, keeping her own pace, but never getting too far ahead to talk to her. The first hour was spent working out the sore muscles she’d earned from the day before. There were a couple of ways he could have worked them out. This wasn’t the one he would have preferred, but she was still far too uptight to be fine with the other options. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give her a hard time about it.
“So Princess, you know there are better workouts you could be having this morning. Well, at least ones you wouldn’t have had to leave your bedroom for. I hope you know that.” He was careful not to say outright what he meant, but he was going to plant the seeds of it in her head whenever he got the chance.
“Yeah well, my yoga instructor doesn’t do house calls, so I’d have had to go into the gym, anyway.” She deflected it again. She was sharp. He liked that about her even if she was using it in all the wrong ways.
“Touché, and at least out here you’ve got the view as a concession for having to drag yourself out of a warm sleeping back fifteen minutes after sunrise on a Saturday, right?” He knew that most of her view consisted of looking at his backside while he walked just ahead of her on the trail, but there was more than that coming. Besides, it fit entirely into the game he was trying to play.
The snort that escaped her half open mouth was worth all the effort this was taking. It was good to listen to her let go and just be a damned human for once.
“Yeah. Your ass is worth all the trouble.” The humor in her voice was evident. She knew what he was playing, but at least now she was playing along a little. He chuckled along with her, making sure to flex his backside just in her line of vision.
“I’ve worked hard at this physique. It takes at least a six pack of beer every Saturday night and steady regimen of cheeseburgers and bratwurst to stay in this pristine condition.” None of it was a lie, and it was the exact opposite of what one of those guys back in the city would have said under the same conditions.
“Oh, I’m sure. It’s really impressive that you have that much stamina. I honestly don’t know how you find the time to be so manly! ” Finally, she was playing along. This game was a lot more fun when there was someone to play with instead of just a blank wall to annoy.
“It takes real commitment, but I’m all in when it really matters.” That statement was a hundred percent true, at least. He didn’t do things by halves. When he put his mind to something it was all or nothing. That had been true of his professional and personal life. Even if his marriage to Vanessa hadn’t worked out, it wasn’t from lack of effort on his part. He’d moved to Los Angeles for her and stayed much longer than his better judgement wanted to agree to. In the end, it had been her who’d sent him back here to Colorado. She’d known he was miserable without him saying a single word about it. She wasn’t cut out for Colorado, just like he wasn’t cut out for California. Maybe it was better that the two of them had separated.
He’d seen some of that same streak in Celeste, but there was something else there too. She was comfortable with the city because it was where she was born, but she had the determination to make it anywhere if she could get her head out of her ass long enough to really look around and see what she was capable of.
Part of him wanted to tell her that, but he knew it was just going to earn another sarcastic snap from her. He’d managed to rile her up pretty damned good along the hike, though, and he was at least enjoying the fact that he could have some kind of effect on her while she was conscious too. He knew that dream wasn’t something she was ever going to mention out loud while she was awake, if she even remembered it. Though, something about the way her cheeks flushed when he mentioned something about how she must have had some pretty damned good dreams last night told him that she remembered more than she was going to admit.
Mostly, he kept the two of them walking at a pace he knew was going to be comfortable enough for her that she wasn’t going to pass out at the side of the trail but would still get them where they were going. The joking around was half motivation and half entertainment for Drake. He wanted to keep her mad enough to keep pushing on and trying to prove that she was just as good as he was at whatever she set her mind on doing.
She was stubborn, he had to give her that, and she wasn’t giving up easily. It was a good trait. It meant she’d make it anywhere she set her mind to. He was also half trying to prove to her that maybe the priorities she’d set into place for herself weren’t the ones that were right for her. Choosing a city just because it was the place you’d lived all your life made just about as much sense as wearing a pair of shoes two sizes too small just because you’d worn them in high school or running off and marrying your high school sweetheart just because they’d been your first love. The things that fit perfectly at one point in your life weren’t going to be the best fit once you grew into something else.
Drake knew that better than most people. He’d learned some of those lessons the hard way. He just didn’t want Celeste to have to learn them that way. He had no idea why she was so interested in what she wanted to do with her life. He should have just butted out and let her go back to the city while he looked for another attorney to replace her when she went. She was good at her job. She’d done the work that it would have taken Sam Albertson three weeks to finish in less than two. He had to give her credit where credit was due, and she was smart, even if she wasn’t practical. Maybe it wasn’t her fault she didn’t know a damned thing about the weather here in Colorado and insisted on driving a car that was absolutely useless every time more than three or four flakes of snow fell to the ground.
He wanted her to stay, and it wasn’t just because she was good at her job. Drake was just as good at pushing away the real reasons why he wanted her around to the back of his mind while he focused on giving her a hard time with every step they took closer to the falls. It was something he wasn’t even going to admit to himself even if some part of him knew it. He could cover it up with the half veiled flirting and the annoyances that he was inflicting on her for the time being,
but the problem with putting something like that on the back burner was that you forgot about it until the pot was boiling over and you’d lost control of it.
Maybe that was why when the two of them stopped at a clearing to take a breather and drink some water he couldn’t stop himself from getting closer and closer to her with each and every one of her snappy comebacks until his nose was only a few inches from hers. They were arguing by the time he’d realized what was going on.
“Listen here, Princess, if you think for one damned minute you’re anything that special just because you want some kind of a life back in that yuppie day care center that they call a city, then you’ve got another thing coming. I promise you that you wouldn’t make it a night out here on your own without me no matter how bad ass you seem to think you are. I’m damned surprised you didn’t show up out here in a pair of stiletto heels and try to skip your way up the mountain.”
By this point Celeste was up in his face, waving a finger around like she meant business.“I swear to god if you bring up those shoes one more time I’m going to kick you off this mountain, Drake. I had no way of knowing what I was walking into out there, and you can say whatever it is you like, but me being ignorant of how things work out here in the sticks doesn’t mean I can’t cut it. I’m smart and capable. I just need to figure things out for myself without some jackass like you trying to mansplain everything under the sun to me. I can manage to work a water bottle without instruction and maybe I can even walk more than five hundred feet without you telling me what the hell I’m doing wrong! I’m over this shit. And stop calling me princess you misogynist prick!”
She moved to throw her hands up in the air and turn away from him, but he wasn’t having it. He moved to put a hand on her shoulder because he wasn’t done arguing with her, and he wasn’t going to let her just turn away and walk off from this before he was done. The next thing he knew, her hands were knotting into his shirt and pulling his body into hers, crashing her lips against Drake’s with a hungry sound that escaped her at the same moment his lips met hers.
Drake: A Rocky Mountain Romance Page 6
