I trekked around the outskirts of the woods to see if I could spot any sign of them, when I heard a faint giggle past the woods and in another clearing private from where hikers traveled. Never in the hundreds of hiking groups I’d taken up there had any of them found that clearing. Of course, Camila and Josie had. Jason had told me about it the first time we went up there but warned me that if I told one person about it, the beauty would be ruined fast. After seeing it, I knew he was right.
Shaking my head, I walked down the unmarked trail and circled a section of the mountain that was all rock. I reached a small landing that led to a natural hot spring that overlooked another section of the mountains. It could almost be mistaken for a hot tub, from the way someone had built up the rock formation. The girls were there, only their heads visible from where I stood.
“Why does it not surprise me that you found this place?”
Camila and Josie’s heads snapped in my direction, their eyes wide, and I laughed. Their expressions eased, and they started to laugh too.
“Jesus, Ridge, you almost gave us a heart attack.”
“But I didn’t.”
They giggled.
“Is this some sort of secret or something?” Josie grinned at me.
“It is. Top secret. Think we can keep it between us?” I was responding to Josie’s question, but my eyes were on Camila, who seemed to be avoiding eye contact. She was still pissed at me for our conversation from the previous night.
“No can do,” Josie said with a shrug. “Franklin was the one who told us, and I’m sure we weren’t the only ones he spouted off to.”
Franklin was one of the guys who’d walked back with Raven and Trip. “Franklin took off, so maybe he took his secret with him.”
The girls eyed me, confused.
“Raven broke her ankle on the way up here. At least, I think she broke it. Trip, Franklin, Ryker, and one other guy helped take her back to base camp so that she could get it looked at.”
Josie’s jaw dropped. “You’re shitting me.”
“I am not shitting you.”
Camila appeared relieved until she looked over at her best friend and noticed how sad she was. “Aw, I’m sorry, Jo. Maybe Ryker will come back once they get Raven settled.”
Josie shook her head and stood up in the water. “I’m going to see if I have any cell reception.”
“You won’t,” Camila and I said at the same time.
Josie shrugged us off and stepped out of the hot springs, looking dejected. When I noticed what she was wearing—a black bikini—I averted my eyes to give her some privacy. I waited until she walked off to turn back to the water, where Camila was already looking at me.
“It was just a bikini, Ridge. It’s not like she was naked.”
Camila giggled, bringing me back to the days of us running through the fields with her laughter enveloping me in all the ways I knew were bad. I had resisted my growing feelings for her for so long that I hadn’t even recognized them until it was too late. Seeing her again was like being blasted with a hose that had been pinched off for so long that its bursting was inevitable. After I tossed and turned in anguish last night at how hurt Camila had looked, my thoughts had betrayed me and drifted to less innocent destinations. I’d failed to fight off the most inappropriate erection stemming from thoughts that far surpassed what our friendship had entailed. I had even tried to picture someone else, but it was useless. I wanted Camila. And the image of her, soft and strong and beautiful, had greeted me at my climax.
“You’re staring at me.”
I blinked, clearing my mind of the memories, which were making my heart race—another inappropriate reaction to the girl I’d vowed to stay away from. Clearly, her presence had effects on me that were impossible to ignore.
“I was just thinking.”
She smiled, but even the tilt of her lips couldn’t erase the pain that was so clearly written in her eyes. I’d hurt her, when I was only trying to protect us both.
“Always thinking, aren’t you, Ridge? You must have been sad to see Raven go. What with your close friendship and all.”
I ground my teeth to combat the beast inside me that wanted to unleash at her. There was so much she didn’t know and I would never dare say. “You know that’s not what we share.” My voice was quiet, but Camila could hear me.
Hurt flashed across her features again. “Do I? I’m afraid I don’t know as much as I thought I did.”
“You know more than anyone.”
She let out a sarcastic laugh. “But I’m too young to understand. Isn’t that right? That was why it was so easy for you to leave while I waited for you to come home. While I waited for you to miss me the way I missed you.”
Her tone, her expression, and her deep, impenetrable innocence combined lashed angrily against my heart. I deserved it, but I didn’t know of any other way after what Harold had told me that night.
“I didn’t leave you, Camila. I was saving you. From my father, from yours…”
“Oh yeah? Well, who’s going to save me from myself?”
She stood from the water, and I could have sworn my heart jolted so strongly that I could feel my demise. My Wild One, untamed and boldly herself, unlike anyone I’d ever known, was naked before me. Her breasts were full and heaving with each breath. Water rolled down her skin, beading on dark nipples that were firmly pointed from the cold, and goose bumps rose on her caramel skin. She walked forward, focused on me, while I struggled to pull my eyes away.
Camila had always been a rare beauty, even when disguised with dirt and scratches from her cravings for adventure. I’d always seen her, but the beauty walking toward me with the water steaming around her and rippling as she moved was a sort of beauty that owned me at the very root of my soul. Camila Bell was a figment of my every desire, both past and present, and I knew hell existed wherever she didn’t. I’d been living in it since I left her.
She reached the edge of the water and started to pull herself over the rocks. After catching a glimpse of her light-pink underwear, I looked away, cursing myself for not averting my eyes sooner the way I’d done with Josie. The girls were my responsibility to look after, not gawk at while fighting off the urge to jerk off at the first pair of breasts that caught my eye.
I was deeply punishing myself when I felt Camila’s presence mere inches from mine. The crisp air had to be biting into her skin after she’d stepped out of the hot water, but she still didn’t reach for a towel.
“Look at me.”
I rolled my eyes up to the blue early-afternoon sky and blew out a breath. “I refuse.”
“I demand.”
Shaking my head, I squeezed my lids together and felt for the rock to my right to find her towel. I grasped the fabric and wrapped it around her shoulders without even looking. “You need to cover up.”
“Not until you look at me.” Her voice was quieter, but the firmness was still there. “It’s not wrong, you know. To want me.” She stepped closer so that her head was right under my chin while her hand slid up my chest. “I’m not a little girl anymore, Ridge. Look at me and you’ll see.”
“I saw enough,” I bit out, keeping my eyes on the sky.
She let out a light laugh. “So much willpower. It’s admirable, really.” Her hand slid back down my abdomen as it rose and deflated with each quickened breath. When she reached the waistband of my shorts, she froze. “Or maybe not so much willpower.”