“The whole point of me taking you to nice places is to keep it a surprise until we’re there. If I told you every single time then it’d ruin it.”
“Yeah, but if you told me every once in a while, then maybe I wouldn’t keep asking.” She smirks but it changes to a slight scowl as I turn the radio on and press the volume button up, tapping out a beat on the steering wheel.
She huffs out a breath and says something making me point to my ear. “Can’t hear you, the music’s too loud.”
She fights a smile, turning her head to look out of the window and leaning back in her seat. After two minutes, I turn the music down to a reasonable level as we drive the rest of the way to the hiking trail.
Half an hour later, I park the SUV under the trees in my usual spot and climb out, opening the trunk and pulling out the backpack inside. As the trunk is shutting, Amelia walks around the side of the SUV and shields her eyes against the sun.
“Wow,” she says, her gaze flitting around.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” I clip the straps of the backpack around my chest and waist and hold my hand out to her. “Ready?”
“Yep.” Her ponytail swings as she nods her head up and down before she rests her palm against mine.
I’ve been hiking around here for years and I’ve found somewhere I don’t think many people know about, somewhere I want to share with her.
We start up the trail through the woods on an incline and I stay behind her to mak
e sure she doesn’t fall—or at least that’s what I tell myself. But it turns out I don’t need to because she seems to be quite the expert, enjoying the hike.
“Hiked a lot before?” I heavily breathe out, swinging the backpack around and grabbing two bottles of water out the side pocket.
“Yeah.” She swings her head around to face me. “I used to go all the time as a kid. I’ve missed going out every weekend and finding new trails, or discovering ones that aren’t on the map.” She pauses, her brows lowering. “You okay there?”
She takes one of the offered bottles and I open and glug down half of mine before answering her. “Sure, I’m staying behind in case you fall. This hill goes on for another ten minutes before it starts to level out.” I pull in a deep breath before walking to her level. “Then that’s where we split from the trail.”
“Really?” she asks, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
“Really.” I slap her ass and she jumps. “Now get on up there, I’m dying to show you the view.”
“Alright, alright.” She hops a step forward before murmuring, “Slave driver.”
I chuckle and place the backpack back on, catching up with her after she disappears on the other side of a tree. She pulls her fleece from around her waist and re-ties it before slipping her hand into mine as we continue to walk side by side.
“So, without meaning to sound cheesy.” She flashes me a grin and waggles her brows. “Do you come here often?”
A deep chuckle rattles my chest. “Yeah. I’ve spent hours upon hours hiking these woods and figuring all the hidden trails out. I camped out here once—”
“You did?” Her eyes widen, a skip in her step. “I love camping! We should camp out here next time.”
I tilt my head to the start of the hidden trail that will lead us to what I brought her here to show her and she grins, pushing through the thick foliage. “I never would have pegged you as a camper.”
“Me?” She scoffs. “Why not? I could totally live in the wild and kill my own food.” She grimaces. “Okay, maybe I could be a herbivore—like those dinosaurs.” Nodding to herself she continues, “Yep. I could totally live off the land.”
Snorting at her, I let go of her hand and wave it in front of me. “There’s only enough room for one person at a time.” She steps forward. “Be careful, though, it’s steep.”
“I know what I’m doing, Nate. I told you I used to—”
My hands snap out, grabbing her around the waist as she starts to slip down the incline, her arms flailing by her side before her cheeks redden.
“You were saying?” I smirk.
“Shut up.” She laughs at herself as I help her up. “The tree root attacked me.”
Chuckling I keep one hand on her waist as I widen my legs, slowing us right down as I see the break in the trees about one hundred meters ahead.
My stomach flutters as we get closer and I almost want to slow this moment down, knowing what’s coming.