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.
“A little,” I said. “I’ll admit, I was picturing more like a nice nighttime hike through the forest. I guess it turns out that I don’t know what hiking through the forest is really like. There are a lot less paths and a lot more piles of scratchy things to squeeze through than I thought.”
Nick smirked. He had tucked his glasses in his pocket, and his face was smeared with dirt. The rugged look was different on him, but I found myself enjoying it. “We can still text Cade, if you want.”
“No,” I said, sighing. “Can we just sit for a little bit to catch our breath?”
Nick hopped up on a fallen tree log, and I sat down on a mossy rock across from him, not even caring that I was probably smearing a nice green stain on my ass. We’d been walking for close to an hour, and my legs and calves felt as stiff as rocks.
“So,” I said. “We’ve been here two days. What insights has the retreat given you on the status of our employees?”
“Unfortunately, I have only been watching one employee.”
I smiled. “Which one?”
“Hmm, I wonder.”
I licked my lips. “Do you remember when I was student council president back in high school, and you helped me plan the prom at the last minute?”
“Of course. Christina was supposed to help you do it, but she bailed on you. I was actually really excited when you asked me to help.”
“You were? I never took you for the prom-planning-enthusiast type.”
He chuckled. “I wasn’t. I was more of a Miranda Collins enthusiast.”
I felt my mood sour slightly.
“Sorry, did I say something wrong?” Nick asked.
“No, it’s just . . . hard. Thinking about it, I mean. If you were interested in me when we planned the prom together, that means we were both interested at the same time.”
“Maybe the way it worked out was the only way that would bring us here.”
“Sweaty, scratched to hell, and three miles of walking from civilization?”
“Together,” he said.
My throat went tight. I tried to swallow, but it made an embarrassingly loud noise. “Technically or figuratively?” I asked.
“Call me traditional, but when you jumped my bones on the bed in my room, I thought that was a decent step toward technical. That and the part where I basically poured my heart out and told you how much I want to be with you.”
“Okay. Clarification. That was a mutual kiss. I actually lost my balance and kind of fell toward you. The way I remember it, you closed those last few inches on your own, and you’re the one who pushed me backward and climbed on top.” My voice grew quieter and less confident as I spoke. Just talking about it was doing all sorts of things to my body. I had been trying not to think about how good it had felt or how long it had taken my heart to stop racing afterward. Now I was retelling it to Nick’s face, and it felt somehow dirty and exciting all at the same time.