The Billionaire's Challenge - Final Google

He laughed. “Oh, I have so much to teach you,” he replied. And for some reason, his words sounded naughtier than he intended them. Then again, looking up into his dark eyes, maybe he had meant them to be salacious.

Rolling her eyes, she accepted the bottle of water he handed her. “You’re a bad man,” she muttered.

“And you’re going to enjoy every moment of my bad-ness,” he promised.

She blushed, but turned away before he could see the pink staining her cheeks. She walked beside him as they entered the woods, amazed at the silence.

“It’s so quiet,” she whispered reverently.

“That’s one of the things that I love about hiking,” he replied. “The silence. The fact that I could literally get lost in these woods and never come out. It’s a bit intimidating and thrilling at the same time.”

As they hiked, he gave her interesting facts about the trees and bushes around them, what the native Americans used them for and why, how they used to hunt and what to do in case of an emergency.

“What do you think you should do if you are surprised by a bear?” he asked.

They were stepping up on rocks so she was ahead of him at that particular moment. She paused and looked over her shoulder. “Run faster than you?” she offered.

He threw back his head and laughed. “Okay, that’s a good answer.”

She finished climbing, putting her hiking boot exactly where he told her to. She was out of breath when they reached the top, and he handed her another bottle of water. “Here, drink slowly, but take as much as you can. It helps to avoid altitude sickness and helps your body function.”

She took the bottle and perched on a rock, looking out. She’d just lifted the bottle to her lips when she realized where they were. “Wow!” she whispered, the water forgotten as she stared out at the view.

He turned around and smiled. “Yeah, pretty spectacular, huh?” he agreed, settling down next to her. For a long moment, they just stared out at the view, seeing the other mountain peaks off in the distance, and the plains further out. The trees were pretty amazing as well, the pine and aspen blanketed the hillsides up until the oxygen was too thin for trees to grow.

“It’s called the timberline,” he explained, following her gaze. “It’s the altitude at which the trees can no longer grow. There’s not enough oxygen, water, or heat for them to survive.”

She nodded silently. Making noise seemed like a violation of the moment. So for a long time, they just sat there looking out at the view.

“Thank you for this,” she murmured softly. “It’s more amazing than I imagined.”

He handed her a protein bar and they sat there in companionable silence, looking out at the views. The bars weren’t the easiest to eat, but they were filled with calories and protein, not to mention, the bars didn’t add a lot of weight to one’s pack. And even though she’d had oatmeal and the egg burrito, Selena discovered that she was famished!

“Want to tell me about it?” he asked her.

Selena looked down at her feet. “Tell you about what?” she asked, but she knew exactly what he meant.

“About what happened earlier?”

She thought about it for a long moment, then decided that he deserved to hear the story. “When I was in college, my body image became distorted. I obsessed about losing weight, to the point that I couldn’t think about anything else. My grades slipped and I was having trouble sleeping. It got to the point that I started skipping classes just so I could spend more time at the gym. Eventually, I spent all of the allowance my parents sent me on exercise classes and I just sort of…stopped eating.”

“Completely?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. Not completely,” she laughed self-deprecatingly. “I was so heavy in high school and…well, I needed the control. Not eating was my way of controlling my world. So yes, I would eat, but not enough to sustain my body or repair the muscles I’d used while exercising.” She stopped, thinking back to that miserable time. “I’m better now, but it took me a long time to figure out how to come back from that. Time and a great therapist.” She looked at him carefully. “There are some foods that trigger memories. Bad memories. I’m so sorry for freaking out like that, but bacon is just one of those triggers. I avoid the smell, just because it brings back those memories.”