Page 39 of My Almost Ex

“Oh… okay.”

She grows silent and the stubborn, sassy side of her disappears while I pull out of the parking lot and drive through downtown Sunrise Bay toward the mountains. God help me.

My stomach feels like a pit of anxiety the entire drive up the mountains. I don’t want to relive this moment even if it already haunts me in my head. But maybe this will get me one step closer to the goal of Lucy signing the papers so I can move on with my life.

I park in the lot and glance at her. “Put this on.” I reach back and pull a park ranger sweatshirt from the back seat. “It’s colder up here.”

She does as I ask and my jaw clenches when I see her in my sweatshirt again.

“Here.” I roll up her sleeves while she stares at me through her long dark lashes.

“Thanks.”

I swallow past the dryness in my throat and ignore the pull that tells me to kiss her, show her physically how right we are for one another.

“Let’s go.” I climb out of my truck and grab the backpack I always have with me in case I get stranded anywhere.

She looks around the entrance of the woods. I wait for a flicker of recognition to light her blue irises but see none. She smiles at me. “I’m ready.”

“You go first, and I’ll follow.” I motion for her to walk ahead of me.

She heads up the path, over the broken tree limbs and dead leaves after a long winter. Her fingers brush a few buds on the plants lining the path. “It’s already turning green again.”

“Summer will be here soon.” I try not to look at her too much, but it proves difficult. At least my sweatshirt covers up her amazing ass.

“Are you excited? You always enjoyed summer in the park, right?”

I stop for a moment, but she continues walking, so I start back up.

“I remember you telling me how these kids got themselves in trouble climbing once and you were the big hero who had to save them off the side of a cliff.” She looks at me over her shoulder and smiles. “I always found your job so hot.”

I refrain from asking her about anything else she might remember. Maybe this is normal—her recalling certain things about me and her feelings.

We hike for another fifteen minutes. Once we get to the last part, she looks at the rock wall that’s a little taller than her, then back at me.

“It’s a dead end,” she says.

I shake my head and step forward, linking my hands and holding them out for her to step up on.

“Oh, this is fun.” She jumps to try to see over the ledge, but you can’t until you climb up. Using my weaved fingers to push herself up, she ends up bent over with her belly on the ledge, her ass literally in my face.

“I guess some things don’t change,” I mumble.

“Really? I always look like an octopus trying to put on shoes getting up here?”

I chuckle.

She looks at me over her shoulder. “Let’s try again.”

“The day I proposed, I bit you on the ass,” I admit, more for my own sake than hers.

“I wouldn’t have any objections now.”

I use both my hands and push her up over the ledge. “Maybe another time.”

She tries to hold out her hand to help me up, but I use a tree branch and scale the wall. “I see why you being a park ranger is so hot. That move right there must’ve gotten you into my pants a lot.”

I shake my head, not wanting to think about the two of us together like that, especially with her right here in front of me. But she’s right. She always did love any show of physical strength when I was rescuing people or helping her while we hiked.

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