Lei'd With Cupcakes (Cupcakes 3)

And Cade hadn’t been lying. It was a four-mile trail that took us three hours to complete. Of course, that was due to stopping, taking a million pictures, and the fact that part of the trail included steep ascents and descents.

We walked through the lush rain forest, an old lake of lava, which felt like walking through the desert, and finished by going through the lava tube, which was like a cave. There was wildlife and crazy-looking plants growing out of rocks, steam vents, and points where you could look down and see lava below the surface.

Elin was in absolute heaven.

I’d never seen him so interested in his surroundings before. It was wonderful to see, and made me realize that I needed to look into hikes and national forests near us. The fact that he loved doing something that was outdoors and didn’t involve a video game made me ecstatic.

There was something about standing in the middle of something so pure, so amazing, that it made you ponder your reason for existing, and your place in the universe. Plus, it was a helluva workout!

I just knew my thighs and ass were going to be screaming tomorrow, but it was all totally worth it.

Elin passed out on the ride back, but I knew as soon as we arrived, he’d be wide awake and eager to share his day with everyone.

When I woke up the next day, I felt well rested since we’d all passed out early, but boy, was I sore.

I groaned as I made my way to the bathroom, then yelped when I sat down on the toilet.

Shit, did I really get that out of shape?

Sure, it had been a couple months since my morning workouts with Bran; they’d kind of fallen to the wayside after everything had gone down with Carmen, and we just hadn’t started back up yet.

You’d think, since I wasn’t training with Bran, I’d get back into my own exercise routine. I did run a PI firm, after all, which had me constantly chasing after bad guys, but nope. I’d taken advantage of the break and done absolutely nothing.

I’d started eating more and working out not at all, so I shouldn’t be all that surprised about my body protesting yesterday’s volcano excursion.

“I need to get back in the gym,” I whined quietly to myself as I went out in search of coffee.

It was hard to believe that we were already halfway into our trip. Time in Hawaii went by a lot faster than it did in Greenswood. I found that although I missed my friends, my job, and the dogs, I was happy here, and I wasn’t ready for our time to be over.

“There she is,” Cade’s mom said with a smile as I made beeline for the coffee pot.

“Good morning,” I managed.

“How’re you feeling?” Cade asked with a smirk.

I glared at him and lied, “Pretty good.”

“Bullshit.”

“Swear jar,” Elin piped in, and I crossed to the table where he and Elena were eating breakfast and kissed them each on the top of the head.

“Morning.”

“Morning, Mom,” Elena replied in between bites.

“Mom and Pops are going to take the kids to see a movie and do a little shopping, have lunch,” Cade said, his arm coming around me to pull me in close.

I tried to contain my whimper, but it slipped out.

“I’ve got the perfect thing to help those sore muscles,” he said before leaning down and kissing my temple. “You game?”

“Sure,” I replied, but inside I dancing a conga line at the thought of getting some relief.

“Cool. Grab some breakfast, then put on your suit.”

After I’d eaten, said have fun to the kiddos, and thrown on a suit and wrap, we were off on another adventure.

“Do we have to walk?” I complained after he’d parked and we’d gotten out, only to start on another trail.