Anyone But Nick

by Bloom, Penelope

  Miranda swallowed hard, then looked away. She was frowning as she toyed with one of the rings on her fingers. “How do you feel, exactly?”

  “Like I’m getting a chance to fix the biggest mistake of my life, and I’m going to do everything in my power to avoid fucking it up again.”

  “What mistake was that?”

  I chuckled. “Play your cards right tonight, and maybe you’ll get to find out.”

  “I don’t know if that’s entirely fair. From the sound of it, I drunkenly spilled my guts to you last night. You should even the playing field.”

  “I kind of like being on top. And, yes, I seem to recall something about you confessing your undying love for me.”

  She swatted at my arm, but it was at least with a smile. “Please tell me I didn’t say that.”

  “Not precisely.”

  Miranda folded her arms. “I’m going to need you to tell me exactly what I did say so you can stop dangling vague comments like that in front of me. It’s not fair.”

  “I think I enjoy watching you squirm too much.”

  “Why does everything sound so sexual when it comes from you?” she asked.

  “Because we tend to see what we want.”

  She didn’t speak for a few moments, and when she finally did, her voice was soft. “Tell me, Mr. King. When you look at me, do you see what you want too?”

  “Very much,” I said. “And since you beat me to making the move this morning, I think it should be my turn.”

  “What would be your first move?”

  “Well,” I said. “I was thinking I’d invite you to a business meeting but leave things open to turn it into a date if things went well.”

  Miranda smirked. “Bold. Your move includes an escape plan?”

  I laughed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but, yeah, I guess it does.”

  “Then you might as well throw away the key to that escape door.”

  I grinned. “Why would I lock an escape door? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, not to mention impractical. Do you think I’d want to be fumbling for keys if the room caught on fire?”

  Miranda glared. “Keep making fun of me and maybe you will need that plan B, after all.”

  I took Miranda back to her room so she could change into a pair of pants. When I mentioned horseback riding, she actually jumped up and down while making a little, barely restrained squealing noise. It was probably the most excited I’d ever seen her, and I wasn’t shocked. Back in high school, she had mentioned once how she always dreamed of being one of those kids whose family owned a stable of horses. She’d thought it would’ve been amazing to get to ride every weekend and have a horse of her own to bond with.

  I was happy to see her love of horses apparently hadn’t dimmed with time.

  She took almost a full minute to stop happy dancing. When she was finished, she bent to pet Thug. She even rubbed him behind the ears, muttered a few things to him, threw his toy so he could chase it, and then finally got up to come with me.

  “So,” I said as we walked toward the golf cart. “How is finding a new home for Thug coming?”

  “Fine,” she said. She hopped on the seat beside me, and we drove toward the gardens, where the horses would be waiting. “I mean, I’ve been pretty busy since we got here. But once things calm down, I’m sure I’ll be able to find someone for him.”

  “You’re not getting attached?”

  “What? No. I’ve never been a dog person.”

  I grinned. “What is your animal of choice, then?”

  “Elephants. If somebody genetically modified an elephant to stay baby size forever, I would sell everything I’ve ever owned to have it. No hesitation.”

  I laughed. “Maybe that can be our next business venture together. Genetically modified animals. We can branch out to other animals too. Miniature giraffes, gorillas, cows . . .”

  “Don’t tease me with that. It makes my heart hurt just to think about them. Imagine coming home to a little elephant sleeping on the couch.”

  “Or taking your tiny giraffe for a walk.”

  We arrived at the gardens. A woman was standing with two horses that were already saddled up and ready to go.

  “You excited?” I asked.

  “I’ve never ridden a horse before,” she said. “You think it’s okay?”

  The woman with the horses overheard and smiled. “You’ll be fine. I’ll take a few minutes going over the basics, and then I’ll let you and Mr. King take them around the grounds.”

  “By ourselves?” she asked. “Is that safe?”

  “Mr. King is an experienced rider. These horses are also extremely well trained. You’ll be absolutely safe.”

  Miranda looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “I never took you for a horse rider.”

  “Yeah, well, I went through a little bit of an equestrian phase after high school. I don’t like to talk about it.”

  “Do your brothers know?”

  “Of course they don’t,” I snapped. I blew out a breath and shook my head. “Sorry, it’s just . . . yeah, please never breathe a word of that to them. Especially Cade. He’d never let me live it down.”

  She was smiling wide now. “Did you wear those tight beige horse-riding pants and the little hat?”

  “It’s a helmet. And I wore the equipment you’re supposed to wear. Sometimes the pants were beige,” I added.

  She clapped her hands and laughed. “Oh my God. I can’t even picture it, but I want to. Is it some sort of requirement that all men in the King family have to have a weird hobby?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Rich has the dinosaur thing. You have horses, apparently.”

  “Had,” Nick corrected. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I still enjoy riding, but I don’t compete or anything like that.”

  “Actually,” Miranda said, “does Cade have a weird thing, other than, well, being weird in general?”

  “Yeah. Never ask him about bugs or snails. He will talk for hours about them.”

  She smirked. “I think I caught the tail end of one of his snail talks, come to think of it. But what made you get into horses in the first place?”

  I shrugged. “This girl I liked talked about how she always wanted to ride. I guess I imagined I’d get the chance to sweep her off her feet and ride into the sunset someday.”

  She gave me a funny look. “Did you?”

  “Not yet,” I said.

  Her eyebrows twitched together, but I didn’t think she understood exactly what I meant, which was probably for the best. Holding in the way I felt about her, even just for a few days, was making it feel like it all wanted to come exploding out of me now. If she knew how fast my heart was pounding just from going on an innocent little ride together, I thought she’d probably run for the hills and never come back.

  “You ready?” I asked.

  Half an hour later, Miranda had the basics down. We thanked the trainer and set off at a slow trot down the horse trail. We could see most of the Julian Ridge grounds once we led our horses up a hill, and it was quite the view. Streetlamps dotted the hills, and a few cabins with their warm yellow lights were visible as well. If I squinted, I could see the occasional movement of pairs or groups of people, some with dogs on leashes, as they moved from place to place.

  “This is incredible,” Miranda said. “I feel like we’re in our own little world up here.”

  “Yeah. I always enjoyed riding like this. It’s pure.”

  As if on cue, Miranda’s horse lifted its tail and took a giant, thudding shit into the mud.

  Miranda looked back, horrified. “Did it just . . .”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly. “Mostly pure, I guess.”

  She laughed. “When we genetically modify miniature horses for our business of the future, we’ll have to figure out how to potty train them too. Maybe there’s a gene for that.”

  “Hey, wait,” I whispered. I motioned for her to stop her horse and pointed through a patch of t
rees, where we could see a road. “Is that who I think it is?”

  There was a bright-orange sports car parked on the shoulder with smoke hissing out from under the hood. And I’d be damned if Max Frost himself wasn’t on his cell phone, leaning against the car.

  “Oh my God,” Miranda said. “That is him.”

  “Is it just me, or would this be the perfect opportunity to get some childish payback?”

  “Like what?”

  “Follow me.” Miranda and I jumped off our horses and then started carefully picking our way down the sloping path toward the road. As we got closer, we could hear bits of Max’s conversation, but the trees were thankfully thick enough that there wasn’t much risk of him seeing us.

  “Okay,” I whispered once we were close enough. “You have his phone number, right?”

  Miranda nodded. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts list, then pointed to his name. “Why?”

  “Call him and say you still think he’s an ass, but you wanted to warn him that there have been reports all over the news about a pack of rabid bears roaming the forest. Say you knew he was probably headed that way and wanted to give him a warning or something.”

  Miranda grinned. “Seriously?”

  I shrugged. “The guy tried to get you drunk and drag you back to his room. The least we can do is make him piss himself a little.”

  With a sigh and a half smile, she tapped his number.

  “Hold on,” Max said into his phone. “That’s her calling right now. I told you she would.”

  “Hey,” Miranda whispered.

  “Why are you whispering?” Max asked.

  “Because . . . I’m out in the woods with some guys looking for you. The front desk said you left by yourself. I figured you hadn’t seen the news about the rabid bears.”

  There was a short pause. “Rabid bears? Miranda, what is this about? Do you want me to come back to our cabin?”

  “I just wanted to make sure you knew to be careful. Don’t get out of your car until you’re clear of the woods. Not for any reason. Seventeen people have already been killed.”

  “Seventeen?” I mouthed to her.

  She bulged her eyes and shrugged.

  “What the hell,” Max said quietly.

  I didn’t have a great view of him, but I could tell he was pacing around now.

  “Where are you?” Miranda asked.

  “I see what this is,” he said, and all the fear had left his voice. “You want to screw with me because Nick has had all day to tell you lies about what happened last night. You realize he just wants you for himself, right? And he’d do anything to sleep with you, including telling you whatever lies about me suit him.”

  “I remember enough,” she said. “And, sure, this was just a dumb joke. Actually, you should go as deep as you can into the trees and enjoy nature a little bit. Have a great life.” She hung up the phone and gave me a look that said, Now what?

  I picked up a big rock and heaved it as far as I could. It thumped and rustled into a bush, rolling downhill a little until it got caught against the base of a tree.

  Max turned suddenly. He had his phone in his hand as he rapidly tapped through to call someone. “Hey,” he said quickly. “Can you go online and search rabid bears near Julian Ridge Resort for me?”

  There was a short pause.

  “Robbie,” he growled. “Just fucking do it.”

  Miranda and I both shared a curious look. Robbie? Obviously, it could’ve been a coincidence. After all, there had to be at least two sets of parents in the world who were cruel enough to make a grown man have to introduce himself as “Robbie.” Except everything about Max had already seemed just a little too off and a little too inconveniently convenient. Something made me sure it was Miranda’s ex, Robbie Goldman, on the other line.

  “You’re sure?” he asked.

  I’d been planning on doing my best bear impression, but right now I just wanted to eavesdrop instead.

  “Thought so,” Max said with an irritated sigh. “But, yeah, I got everything I’ll need. We’re good, man.”

  I frowned at that. What had he needed? Miranda and I both knelt down, listening intently for another few minutes until Max eventually hung up and got back in his car, presumably to wait for the tow truck.

  We headed back up to the path together and stopped once we’d reached our horses.

  “You heard that, too, right?” Miranda asked.

  “Yeah. Robbie. For some reason, I don’t think it was a coincidence.”

  “Me either. I just don’t get what it means.”

  “Maybe . . . what if Robbie was the one who put Max up to getting you drunk. He might’ve been planning to take compromising pictures and blackmail you or something. He said he got what he needed, though. He couldn’t have already—”

  “No. The door between our rooms was locked. And nothing ever happened. The only time he was in my room was when you barged in during breakfast.”

  I grinned at that. “I didn’t barge in.”

  “You totally barged. You were so jealous I could practically see steam coming out of your ass.”

  I laughed. “I don’t think ass steam is a symptom of jealousy, but okay. I was jealous. Max wasn’t good enough for you either. If you were going to be with some other guy, I at least wanted it to be somebody who deserved you.”

  She watched me, biting her lip. “And what makes Nick King deserve me?”

  I put my hand on the horse beside me and thought about that. “What about the fact that I only ever learned how to ride horses to impress you?”

  She smiled. “I was hoping I was the girl you were talking about earlier. What else?”

  “A glutton for flattery, huh?”

  She shrugged. “I spent seven years thinking you were an asshole. Forgive me if I enjoy seeing the nice side of you a little too much.”

  “Okay, I think I deserve you because I wanted you badly enough that I was willing to let you go, but I also wanted you badly enough that I couldn’t actually do it.”

  She laughed. “Okay, I feel like there’s a nugget of sweet in there somewhere, but I also don’t think that actually made sense.”

  “I deserve you because you ruined women for me. I dated my way through half of West Valley, and nobody ever came close to the way you made me feel.”

  “Pretty good reasons,” she said in a thick voice.

  I took her by the hand and pulled her closer. “I’d kiss you, but I think your horse just took another dump, and I think I also deserve a better second kiss than that.”

  We rode together for nearly two hours, looping Julian Ridge once and then eventually meandering through less-established paths in the forest. Our conversation was flowing so easily that neither of us seemed ready to call it a day and head back to the stables. We eventually found our way to a clearing that was so picturesque we both laughed out loud when we saw it. It looked too perfect to be real.

  “This is ridiculous,” she said.

  “There’s even a trickling stream,” I said, pointing to where crystal-clear water studded with smooth stones cut through the grass. “All we’re missing are some baby deer and bunnies.”

  I helped Miranda off her horse, and we wandered toward the water. The grass looked so soft I almost wanted to kick off my shoes.

  “Is it normal for my ass to hurt this much?” she asked.

  “It’ll be worse tomorrow.” I nearly commented that I’d be happy to massage away the soreness in the morning, but I didn’t want to spoil the moment.

  We both sat down beside the stream and watched the satisfying way little bits of debris were carried along with the flowing water. Then I heard the sound of hooves, and my stomach sank. I stupidly hadn’t tied up the horses, and when I looked, I saw them both galloping back the way we’d come.

  “Is that bad?” Miranda asked.

  “Only if you mind walking five or so miles back to the nearest road.”

  “We’re totally going to get
eaten by rabid bears.”

  “They’ll get Max Frost and his stupid name first, for sure.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Why does this feel like some kind of elaborate setup? A romantic horse ride through the hills and we end up at this impossibly perfect little clearing. Moonlight is streaming through the trees, and the stars are shining. And then our horses just happen to run off? Nicholas King, did you plan this?” she asked.

  Something about the way she said Nicholas made me want to push her back into the grass and kiss the sass from her mouth. “If I pretended I did, would you be impressed, or mad?”

  “I guess that depends where the night takes us. But would it ruin your scheme if I pointed out that we could always just call for somebody to come get us?”

  “Maybe. Except I think we’d still be stuck here for at least a few hours until they could find their way through the backwoods. But, look, I’ll text Cade and let him know we need to be rescued. How about that?”

  “Or we could make an adventure out of it. A midnight hike to freedom.” Miranda’s eyes lit up, making her look painfully gorgeous in the moonlight.

  “An adventure . . . ,” I said slowly.

  Chapter 17

  MIRANDA

  “Feeling adventurous yet?” Nick asked. His formerly pristine button-down shirt was torn in a few places, and his normally perfect hair was in disarray.

  The forest path had seemed tame when we were riding high up on our horses, but on foot it was another story. The bushes and branches were thick, forcing us to push our bodies through scratchy tangles of leaves at times. Nick was taking the brunt of the abuse, because he was clearing the path, but I’d still managed to whack my head on a couple of branches. I’d even tripped over a tree root and fallen hard on my knee shortly after we’d left the clearing. I could still feel the dull throb.

  The worst moment had come when a thick caterpillar had fallen from a tree branch onto my neck. I’d let out a bloodcurdling scream, fallen to the ground, and flailed uselessly around until Nick had picked it off my neck and laughed at me. Apparently, I was not suited for the forest life.