I laugh. “I’ve had friends like that. I get it.”
“Well, it’s been pretty unbearable, but we’re happy for him all the same. Shall we?” He gestures outside.
“Sure.”
“Do you know much about what we do here?”
I shake my head. “Nope, I’ve been saving it for the tour. I did some cursory research, but I wanted to have the full experience.”
“Great,” he smiles. “Well, we started Blue Mountain a little over two years ago. Myself, Leo, and our good friend Hudson. We all went to school together, and we spent more time outside than we did in our dorms. And we got our friends into it. We brought them on our adventures, and we became the go-to guys for hikes, rafting, that kind of thing. Finally we came up with the idea of Blue Mountain. A place for people to come and get a taste of the outdoors in a safe way without having to travel thousands of miles or break the bank to get some of these experiences.”
“That’s kind of you.”
Asher shrugs. “We like teaching and guiding. Thankfully it’s worked out well.”
“This place really is beautiful,” I tell him. It’s not a lie. Maybe not as beautiful as the man standing in front of me, but beautiful all the same.
He leads me down the porch steps and across the wide-open space in front of it to a path on the right. “We’ll start out by the river and work our way back. It’s a scenic walk.”
“Sounds good.”
We fall into step beside each other, and though he’s a good foot taller than I am, he paces himself so I’m not running to keep up. “What kind of event are you thinking of planning?”
I hesitate. I didn’t actually plan that in my head, so I spit out the first thing that pops into my head. “Girls’ trip. Maybe this fall?”
“We get more of those than you might think,” Asher says. “I’m told we provide excellent opportunities for hot tub and wine time.”
“Oh really?”
“Really. Nothing but glowing reviews.”
I raise one eyebrow. “Anything go along with that service? Or is there a reason Leo told me you don’t sleep around?”
“He says that to get under my skin and embarrass me, mostly. And I don’t sleep with guests because it’s unprofessional.”
I don’t know what possesses me to push and flirt because that’s not what I’m here for. But he’s gorgeous, and the fact he’s standing less than a foot away makes me painfully aware of both his body and mine. “I’m sure that causes a lot of disappointment.”
He looks over at me. “We haven’t had any complaints.”
I smirk, “No, I don’t imagine that there would be.” The part that I don’t say out loud is that there aren’t complaints because the girls are all back in their beds fantasizing that he was there with them. And even the fantasies are so good that they can’t complain.
Asher turns and looks at me, and there’s a flame of interest in his eyes. “I hope that Blue Mountain will be a good place for your girls’ trip, regardless of whether eye candy is included.”
“So you admit that you’re eye candy?”
He smirks. “I know I am.”
Fuck, he’s smooth. But when you look like that, you can definitely afford to be smooth.
We pass through a tunnel of trees, the sound of water suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Breaking past the tree line, we’re now on the bank of the river. There’s a small boathouse filled with canoes and boating equipment. My first opportunity to look for the evidence that I’m supposed to gather.
“This is the launch point for all our white-water rafting excursions. Every morning before a planned excursion, one of our team members drives down the river to check the status of the rapids so there are no surprises. Everyone is required to wear life vests, and the team makes sure that they’re on properly. We had an incident this spring that made us reevaluate those procedures, so we’re pretty strict.”
“That’s good.”
Pointing out the safety features is a good call, and it sounds like they’re taking precautions. Maybe the violations are somewhere else. But I’ll try to get some photos anyway.
The river is beautiful, though it’s fast. “Are there any other places on the river that are slower? Better for swimming?”
Asher nods. “There are. They’re a bit further down, but we can swing by in that direction toward the end of the tour if you like.”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
I wander into the little boat house and look at all the canoes. “Is it okay to take some pictures?”
“Of course.”
Framing the shot of the canoes as best I can, I try to get everything in the picture. But I can’t really get close enough to take what I need because Asher is watching me. Constantly. Intently. With heat in his eyes that’s extremely hard to ignore and equally as distracting.