by Kay Correll
He laughed and rubbed his chin. “Come on, let’s go inside.” He took her hand in his, and she thought she’d be fine with just leaving it there all night…
Cece looked around the cabin as Zach switched on lights. Simple furnishings and windows with no coverings gave the room a homey feel. A quilt draped over the back of a worn brown leather couch. A stone fireplace with a stack of firewood rose up between the two-level windows stretching across the back of the cabin.
She gasped when she walked to the windows and saw the view. “My goodness, this is the most spectacular view.”
Zach walked up behind her. “It is. I found this property and saw this view and just had to build this cabin, with these windows pulling it all in.”
“You built this?”
“I’m a builder, remember?” He gave her a small smile.
“I know… but the place is gorgeous and… I love it.”
“Thanks.” He beamed at the compliment. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll check on dinner. Glass of red wine?”
“Sounds wonderful.” She watched as he crossed to the kitchen area. The whole kitchen and main area of the cabin were open and took advantage of the fabulous view. His attention to detail was evident in every aspect of the cabin.
He walked back and handed her the glass of wine, raising his own. “Cheers.”
“To watching a spring storm roll in.” She clinked her glass to his.
They stood in the window and watched the magic and power of the storm. Lightning flashed one after the other with rumbling and crashes of thunder. Rain lashed down, and small nuggets of hail started bouncing off the planks of wood on the deck. The overpowering force of the storm left her awestruck.
“It’s a doozy.” He moved closer to her.
“It is. I feel like I’m right in the middle of it all being so high up on the mountain.” The electricity of the storm—or maybe it was just whatever was going on between them—made her jumpy, and she hoped she didn’t scream again with another clap of thunder.
“I love living up here on the mountain. It’s like a whole different world. So connected to…” He shrugged. “Everything? Nature? The universe?”
It did make her feel part of something that was bigger than just herself. “I could probably stand here for hours and stare out these windows.”
His rich laughter filled the room. “I do stand here for hours.”
“I can see why you said you stand and eat at your kitchen sink.” She nodded toward the kitchen area. “You look right out at this view.”
“Yep, when I was designing the kitchen, I knew I wanted the sink on an island facing the view.”
She stiffened when a flash of lightning hit close enough to shake the cabin and large hail began to bounce off the deck.
He stepped closer and put his arm around her waist. “We’re safe in here.”
She leaned against him, and for a moment it felt like they were the only two people in the world. He reached for her glass and took it from her. With a few quick steps, he placed the glasses on a nearby table and returned to her side. This time he took her into his arms, pulling her close. He took a quick inhale as if he was surprised at himself. He looked directly into her eyes, a speculative look on his face, as if deciding what to do next.
She held her breath and tried to hear over the pounding of her pulse. He leaned closer and reached out to touch her cheek with the merest featherlight stroke.
“Ah, I think I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the moment I met you.” His voice was a throaty whisper.
The storm raging outside had nothing on the storm raging inside of her now.
His eyes glistened with desire and he touched her lips. “These.”
The oxygen had emptied from the cabin because she could not breathe. Could not think. Could not do anything but stare at his face.
He leaned forward and brushed a kiss against her lips, and the range of sensations rushing through her almost made her knees buckle. She held onto his arms to steady herself as he kissed her again and deepened the kiss.
When he finally pulled away, a bemused expression rested on his face. “I—that— ah, that was—” He shook his head.
She gave him a tentative smile. “It was, wasn’t it?”
He chuckled. “It was.”
He pulled her against him, and she rested her cheek against his strong chest. His heart beat in an erratic rhythm that for some reason comforted her. She didn’t want to be in this chaotic storm of emotions by herself.
“Cece?”
“Hm?” She didn’t want to pull away to answer him.
“I’m really glad we worked things out.”
“Me, too.”
“So no more surprises?”
“I’m an open book. Just talk to me.”
He tightened his arms around her, but somehow it felt gentle and strong at the same time. He stroked her hair and they just stood there like that. For how long? She hadn’t a clue.
Chapter 14
He held her against him, afraid to move, afraid to break the spell. His emotions ricocheted through him. He wanted to pull her even closer, but he was so afraid he’d hurt her. He’d been especially careful to avoid her forearms, not wanting to cause her pain. Anger flashed through him at the thought of that Eric guy doing that to her. If he ever saw the guy, it wouldn’t be pretty. His emotions bounced back to the peacefulness of holding her close.
His phone rang and he wanted to ignore it, but it might be something to do with the job. How the heck did a cell phone signal get through in this weather anyhow? He let go of her with one arm and snatched the phone from his pocket.
“Zach, this is Bob from down the road.”
“Hey, Bob, everything okay?”
“Well, yes and no. No one is hurt, but we’ve had a rockslide at that old gully above my house. The road is covered.”
“Did it damage your house?”
“Nope, just the road. Thought I should let you know. I’ve already called someone to shovel it out. But we’re probably two-three days out from it being all cleared. Looks like you’ll need to hike out until we can get it cleared.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me know.” He slipped the phone back into his jeans.
“What’s wrong?” She looked up at him, concern in her eyes.
“Road’s out. Rockslide. Looks like we’re stranded here. We can hike out in the morning. There’s a meadow down the mountain, and I’ll have one of my workers meet us there to pick us up. It’s a pretty steep hike though and a narrow trail at the first part.”
A look of—something—crossed her face. Uncertainty? Fear?
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you up here in a storm. Of course, I had no idea we’d have a rockslide.” His words came out rushed, trying to reassure her. “I guess you’ll need to spend the night because we sure can’t hike out in the dark and in this storm. But I have a guest room. I’ll get it fixed up for you. I’ve got clean sheets for it somewhere. It will be fine. I’m so sorry.”
Her eyes clouded and he’d swear he saw fear. She wasn’t afraid to stay here with him, was she? Maybe she was skittish after the whole Eric thing. He rushed to reassure her again. “It will be okay. Hazards of mountain living, I guess. I promise. I’ll get you out of here first thing in the morning.”
“I know it’s not your fault.” She pulled away from him, uncertainty still etched in her expression. “So how about some of that dinner you promised me?”
And just like that, the magic was broken.
And try as he might, he couldn’t get it back again. Not through dinner, not after dinner when they sat on the couch for a while. He held her hand, but that was all.
Cece lay in bed in the guest room at Zach’s cabin. She could hear him still walking around, but she’d begged off, saying she was tired. And she was tired, but that wasn’t the reason she was so edgy.
Hiking.
He wanted her to hike out of here.
She used to love to hik
e. Get up in the mountains. Find isolated waterfalls and lakes. See such wonderful views from the mountain tops.
But she hadn’t been on a hike since—she sucked in a quick breath—since the accident. Since Peter had died in her arms after he’d slipped on the hiking trail. The beginning of the whole downfall of their family, until by some miracle things had worked themselves out, albeit twenty years later. Bree had forgiven her for sleeping with Peter. It had been a terrible mistake. But one she hoped was way behind them now.
But hiking? She wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t. She couldn’t. Fear surged through her even though she tried to tell herself she was being silly. They were just going to walk down a path and get in a car and be back in town.
Easy. Simple. It would be fine.
Though he’d said the first part of the trail was narrow…
She rolled on her stomach and punched her pillow. She could do this. She could.
But hours later, long after she’d heard Zach go to bed, she sat up in bed and pulled the flannel shirt he’d given her to sleep in close around her. She stared out into the darkness out the window. The storm had subsided, and she only heard occasional rumbles of thunder in the far distance.
Maybe she was imagining it, but the shirt smelled slightly of Zach with a clean, fresh, outdoorsy scent that hovered around him. She pulled the collar up and rubbed it against her cheek.
Such a night it had been. Those kisses. Such magic. She reached up and touched her lips, wishing he was back kissing her again.
But all that had shattered when she’d started to freak out about the hike down the mountain.
She hated being so frightened, but she couldn’t seem to talk herself out of it. She leaned back against the pillows and tried to convince herself it was time to sleep. But she sure didn’t seem to be listening to her self-talk tonight.
Chapter 15
Zach got up at first light, trying to be quiet so he wouldn’t disturb Cece. He pulled on jeans and a flannel shirt but padded around in his socks to mute his footsteps. He reached for his wallet from the dresser and knocked a book on the floor. It landed with a loud thud.
So much for being quiet.
He listened but didn’t hear any noise from the guest room. Maybe she was a deep sleeper. He headed to the kitchen to make them coffee. He at least was sure about that. She did drink coffee.
He glanced at his watch an hour later after two cups of coffee himself. Still no noise coming from the guest room. He hated to do it, but he needed to get into town and get to the job site, so he went to knock on her door. “Cece? You awake? It’s going to take a bit to hike down and I’ve got to get to work.”
“Yes, okay.” Her words came out muffled. “I’m sorry. Guess I overslept. I’ll be right out.”
Cece soon came wandering in the kitchen looking tired but adorable. He handed her a cup of coffee, and she wrapped her hands around it and pulled it to her as if accepting a precious gift. “Thanks.”
“I called Billy and he’ll meet us at the bottom of the mountain.”
“Can’t we just hike out the road?”
“It would be hard to get up and around the rockslide, and even if we could get around it, the road is about eight miles. This way down is only about a mile or so.” He frowned. “Is something wrong?”
A long sigh escaped her lips. Not that he was staring at her lips because he so wanted to kiss them. “No, I’m just tired. Didn’t sleep well.”
“I’m sorry,” he said automatically.
“I don’t have hiking boots.”
“What size shoe do you wear?”
“Six and a half.”
“My sister leaves a pair of boots here for when she visits. She loves to go hiking. She’s got tiny feet like you. Let me check.”
He walked down the hallway and looked in the hall closet. He moved boxes around and poked in its depths until he found them. He pulled out the boots and checked. A seven. He walked back and found Cece staring out the window.
“Success. These should be close enough.”
She turned to him with the weakest smile imaginable. “Sure, that will be great. Let me just finish this cup of coffee and I’ll go finish getting ready and we can leave.”
Sure to her word, they were walking out into the morning sunshine within fifteen minutes. The air was fresh and crisp, and the leaves and rocks scrubbed clean from the storm last night. An earthy aroma tinged with pine surrounded them. “It’s this way.” He pointed to the left.
She nodded and they headed to the start of the trail. He led the way, dropping down between a stand of aspens and onto a faint trail. She followed close behind him. The path quickly got narrower with a long drop off on the edge. Her hands clutched at him her fingers white, grasping his forearm.
“It’s okay.” He placed his hand over hers. “I’ve hiked it a million times. Looks scarier than it really is.”
He frowned when he looked at her face. A green ashen color had covered her cheeks, and deep furrows etched her brow as she looked over the edge and down the steep incline.
“You okay?”
“I—” Her eyes flashed with fear. He could see that clearly now.
“You afraid of heights? Don’t look down, then. Here, I’ll hold only your hand. We’ll be fine.” He coaxed her forward.
She took a tiny step.
“Come on. The steep part isn’t very long, then it’s a pretty little trail down through the meadow.”
She took another step, her eyes wide.
“That’s right. You got this. Just look down at your feet, not the edge.” He kept his voice low and soothing. They advanced about halfway through the steep part of the trail.
She took another step and her right foot slipped in the wet dirt on the trail. She lurched into his arms. “I can’t. I can’t.”
He pressed her against him. “Sh, it’s okay. I didn’t know you were afraid of heights. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” How did he not know this? And why had he gotten her into this situation? Now they had no choice but to keep going.
She trembled against him and he stroked her back.
“The good news is we’re about halfway through this. But that means either going back or forward, we still have to deal with it. So, let’s finish going down the trail. Okay, this is how we’re going to do it. You’re going to be right at my side, on the inside edge and we’re going to finish the hike.”
“You’ll be too close to the edge.” Her eyes were wild and tears threatened to spill. Her breaths came out in little gasps.
She must be really, really frightened of heights. That would have been good knowledge to have before getting halfway down this trail, but this sure wasn’t the time to bring that up. “It’ll be fine.” He tucked her against him as close to the inside edge as he could get her and they took a few steps. He concentrated on squeezing them down the narrow pathway, making sure he didn’t make a misstep. He was pretty sure she couldn’t handle that.
Finally, the pathway widened, and they dropped down into an easy trail among the trees. He could hear her breathing easing, though she still clung to his arm. “See, piece of cake. We’re good.”
“Don’t ever, ever, do that to me again.” She let go of his arm and stalked away, down the gentle trail.
He shook his head, uncertain exactly what it was that he’d done to her, and followed along behind her.
Cece rushed into the cabin, hardly taking time to say goodbye to Zach when he dropped her off. Bree walked out of the hallway and into the great room. “Good morning. I got your text last night that the road was out. Was wondering when you’d get home.” She paused. “You okay? You look like you might be getting sick.”
“I—” She gave up trying to fight it, and a trail of hot tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Oh, Cece, what’s wrong?” Bree rushed over and wrapped her arms around her. “Did you guys have a fight?”
“No… we…” She gulped for air. “We had to hike out this morning.”
; “Hike?” Bree’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, the road was blocked, and it was the only way out. Only part of the trail was so narrow.” She closed her eyes, a vivid picture of the trail etched in her memory. “And I slipped. And it was awful. So awful.”
“I’m so sorry. Come on, go sit at the table. I’ll make you some chamomile tea. It’ll help you settle your nerves.” Bree headed toward the kitchen.
“I was so scared I could barely move.” Cece still stood where her sister had left her. Bree came back, took her hand, and led her to the table.
After she put the teakettle on, Bree returned to sit at her side. “So… you haven’t hiked since… since Peter, have you?”
“No. Not once. The most I’ve hiked is walking around the lake a bit.”
“You used to love to hike.” Bree patted her hand.
Cece looked down at their two hands. Bree’s comforting, hers trembling. “I did use to love to hike. But after Peter died, I threw my hiking boots away. I vowed to never hike the mountains again. Besides… I’m so, so frightened of those narrow trails now.”
“Did you tell all this to Zach?”
“No.” She bowed her head.
“You should tell him, you know. It never works to keep secrets from those you care about.”
“I—can’t. I don’t want to get into all that past history. The whole story of… Peter.”
Bree squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to, but I think it would be a good idea.”
“Zach thinks I’m afraid of heights. I’ll just leave it at that. I don’t really want to explain… everything. And I certainly don’t want to relive it again.”
“Okay, you do what you think is best. But I still think if you two are going to be a thing, you should explain it to him.” The teakettle whistled and Bree got up and went to make the tea.
“I just can’t. And I’m not sure we’re going to be a thing after I freaked out on him.”
“So you didn’t have a good time last night?” Bree brought two cups of tea back to the table and sat down.
