“Jesus,” Cooper says. “We had no idea where you guys were. We found Chloe’s phone in the back of the car, but your phone kept going directly to voicemail.”
“Dead battery,” Nessie admits.
“We didn’t know if you guys were lost or hurt or if you were…” Cooper releases a deep breath, refusing to say the word abducted—the suggestion from the head of security at our hotel when we discussed the situation with him, and he voiced his concerns about human trafficking and kidnappings.
Vanessa stops speaking, sensing the seriousness in Cooper’s tone. “Snake,” she finally says, pointing in the distance.
“I’m so over this hike,” Chloe says, taking another drink from the water bottle I handed her. I scan over her a third time.
“It’s moving,” Cooper says. “It’s just crossing the trail.”
Chloe looks at me, likely feeling my stare. The challenge is missing from her gaze. She looks exhausted, and try as I might, I can’t get the idea of her heart condition out of my thoughts, even though a cardiologist assured me her prognosis would be excellent and that later complications would be incredibly rare. I didn’t want to hear rare—I wanted to hear impossible. “Do you need to sit down for a few minutes?”
One side of her lips curl. “Is this one of those situations where you don’t have to be faster than the bear, just faster than your friend?”
Cooper chuckles.
Knobhead.
“It’s late. You guys have been out all day,” I say.
“I’m okay,” she says. “I might need like four showers to get all this sand out of my hair, though.”
“And food. You guys should have seen our first hike. We earned pasta, dessert, and double garlic bread all before noon,” Vanessa chimes in. “I don’t even know how that’s a trail, to be honest. Half of it was giant rocks we had to climb over, and the other half was a very steep and uneven hill with a railing.”
“Now you admit it,” Chloe says.
Vanessa laughs. “We should have gone to the spa.”
Chloe smiles. “But we decided the ghost tour was still scarier.”
Vanessa shakes her head. “No way. That snake was out for blood.”
“We don’t have much longer,” Cooper says. “Probably another half mile or so, and then you guys can sleep in the car tomorrow on our way to Vegas.”
A noise several kilometers from us has us all pausing for a second, but we continue until we finally hit the parking lot when we can’t find anything with our flashlights.
“Do you have a towel or something in the trunk?” Chloe asks, stomping her feet. “We’re filthy.” She brushes at her legs.
“I don’t give a single fuck about the car getting dirty.”
Vanessa stops, wrapping her arms around me and taking me by surprise. “Thank you for coming out here and finding us.” She releases me and slides into the back where Cooper gets in beside her.
Chloe watches their doors close, and I move closer to her, brushing a streak of dirt that crosses her cheek with my thumb. “This has been a really long day. I just need you to get in the car so it can finally be over.”
She closes her eyes for a brief second, and when she looks at me again, I see it—recognize that confusion and muddled hope. “Thank you,” she says.
I swallow before taking what feels like my first breath in several hours. “I’m still an arse.”
“Oh, I know.” She flashes a smile, and then turns, getting into the passenger side of my car.
“We’re like Pigpen,” Vanessa says. “Leaving a trail of dirt behind us.”
Chloe scrunches her nose. “At least the lobby was pretty empty.”
“Seriously. It gave a whole new meaning to the walk of shame.”
Chloe chuckles as she toes off her shoes in the entryway. “You want to shower first?”
“Use my shower,” I tell her.
She cuts her eyes to me like I’ve just invited her into my bed.
“I’m not going to spy on you.”
Vanessa laughs, but doubt has Chloe’s eyebrows hitching.
“Come on,” I tell her.
“I need my shower bag,” she protests.
I shake my head. “It’s stocked with any amenity you could need.”
She bites the inside of her lip like she does when she’s nervous—it’s one of the many details of Chloe Robinson I’ve learned and memorized in the past eight days without thought or choice.
We pass her bedroom door and reach the master suite. I push the door open, the motion-sensing lights instantly illuminate the long rectangular room and wall of windows that renders Chloe speechless. It’s twice the size of the bedroom they’re sharing, with a full sitting area and king-size bed.
“Wait until you see the bathroom,” I tell her.
We step into the bathroom, and her eyes dance around the space before finally landing on me.
“Truth or dare?” I ask her.
Her eyes flare with surprise, and then she blinks several times. I know it’s not a fair request—she’s exhausted and dehydrated and likely has heatstroke.
“Can I hear both before I decide?”
“No.”
She holds her breath for several seconds before releasing it slowly. “Truth.”
I was hoping for dare, but this works, too.
“Why do you avoid me?”
“I already told you why.”
I shake my head. “You’ve avoided me since before you even knew me.”
“Dare,” she whispers.
“You know what I’m going to dare you to do.”
Her skin is at least two shades darker than when she left this morning, streaked with dirt and sand that I imagine myself rubbing from her body.
“Who was she?”
My thoughts complete a full somersault, and I shake my head, struggling to think of anything but Chloe naked. “Who?”
“The girl in New Orleans.”
I shake my head again. “Who?”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. It’s none of my business.” Something snaps in her attention, the edge of vulnerability she had edged toward now far in the distance. “I avoid you because you overwhelm me. Because I like rules. Because you’re Cooper’s best friend and I’d never make him choose. Because I know the score with you—know I would be a blip on your radar.” She stares at me, brazen, and completely closed off.
My thoughts churn between each of her points that likely reveal far more than she intended—proves she’s thought of me. Thinks of me. She tries to barricade herself from those thoughts and me, and right now, I’m on the other side of that door, and I can tell she senses it as she works to decide if it’s me or her insecurities who has her thoughts balanced on the ledge.
She starts to turn away and I lift my arm, my palm connecting with the wall, caging her in. That spark lights in her green eyes as she looks at me, panic and lust and desire burning so fucking bright I can feel the heat. “You changed and said dare.”
Chloe’s eyes narrow.
“I answered your question.”
“With half-truths.”
She raises her chin, confirming I’m right.