Page 22 of Love By a Landslide

“As I said, there is no shame in—”

Lucy looked up at him, staring daggers. “I swear to god, if you ask me one more time to turn around, I will throw a rock at you! And I’ve got good aim,” Lucy grounded out.

Jonathan shrugged. “Ok, I won’t ask again.”

“Thank you.”

A gentle pitter-pat hit her shoulder first. Lucy looked around, almost startled by the sensation. Delicate rain droplets began falling all around them, darkening the dirt path a few speckles at a time. The charged scent of a coming summer shower was unmistakable. Her eyes flew up to Jonathan’s, who raised his eyebrows and nodded back the way they came.

Lucy pointed a finger at his chest and snarled a warning, “Don’t. Ask. Again.”

Jonathan raised both hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream . . . ”

Ignoring the subtle smirk quirking up the side of her companion’s lips, Lucy pushed past him, taking the lead on the trail. She stomped along, noticing how close her shoulders were to her earlobes. When she was stressed, grumpy, or just generally frustrated, she’d tense up and give herself a headache. Feeling the telltale twinge of pain starting to radiate at the back of her head, she became more than a little aware of the negative attitude she’d developed over the last half hour. Here she was out in the forest, doing precisely what she came here to do, but all she had managed to do was complain. And, of course, get snarky with Jonathan,who was only trying to look out for her well-being. Her attitude was embarrassing. Was this hike hard? Yes. But would it be worth it? Hell yes.

What doesn’t kill me . . .

Lucy inhaled a few deep, cleansing breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth. She reached both arms up and interlaced her hands behind her head, stretching her elbows wide as she attempted to release the tension in her upper chest and back. Letting her hands drop back down, she shook everything out.

The sporadic raindrops increased to a steady sprinkle. She sneered at the sky.You call this rain?Lucy pulled her hood up over her head and settled her thumbs back beneath the straps of her backpack. Nothing was going to get in the way of her enjoying this hike. It had been far too long since she’d been outside the city. She was born and bred in the Pacific Northwest, dammit, and a little shower wasn’t about to scare her off.

Chapter twelve

Jonathan

Jonathan wasn’t terribly surprised that Lucy struggled through that first significant hill on the trail. She had tried desperately to convince him she was an experienced hiker, but it didn’t take much to see she was stretching the truth—or flat-out lying. Back in the lobby at Off the Beaten, she’d been twitchy, her eyes shifting everywhere when she talked about how she hiked all the time and was an unofficial Eagle Scout as a kid. The other big tell was the state of her gear. Sure, she could have bought new gear because she wanted to upgrade some old pieces, but everything? She wore new stuff from head to toe. He half expected a sales tag to pop out of her jacket sleeve at any moment. Jonathan smiled softly in spite of himself. That adorable rosy flush would creep up her cheeks as she’d try to snatch the tag off and cram it in her pocket.

No, it wasn’t adorable.

She’d lied to him. Didn’t she realize how dangerous that could be? His lips pulled down into a frown. Some of the excursions OTB offered were challenging, even for experienced outdoor enthusiasts. The slightest misstep could mean disaster for the entire group. Sure, the hike to Mount Stuart wasn’t one of those “extreme” hikes, but it wasn’t a tiptoe through the tulips either. Accidents and injuries were bad for business. His frustration grew, prickling down his spine.

Still, he agreed to take her on this trip, and being surly the whole way wouldn’t be good for business either.

Get it together, man.

Everything is going to be okay.

The morning wore on, and they continued along the trail, slowly climbing up another hill. Behind him, Jonathan could hear the steady breath of his companion become labored. He slowed his pace a bit to accommodate for the incline.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how he looked at it—the sprinkle of rain that had threatened to end the trip had stopped altogether. Part of him had hoped a downpour would convince Lucy to call it quits, but the other part recognized and respected her determination. It felt kindred. He had also been accused of being a stubborn ass on more than one occasion. He just hoped she was grown up enough to acknowledge her limits and not push too hard purely for the sake of being obstinate. Otherwise, this would be a long few days.

It was time to lighten the mood and distract Lucy from her struggle up the hill.

“How familiar are you with the local flora and fauna?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Lucy breathed out.

“What?”

“You don’t have to be all professional with how you talk to me.” She panted raggedly, expression pinched and cheeks red. “It’s just the two of us. While I appreciate you trying to distract me, you don’t have to go into a whole scripted performance like I assume you do with a bigger group.”

Jonathan stopped and turned. “What makes you think it’s scripted?”

“Please.” Lucy tilted her head to the side and cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t strike me as the kinda guy who ad-libs. You seem more like a mental checklist guy. I already know you’re a laminated checklist guy,” she teased as she pulled the bite valve off her shoulder to take a drink. “Either way, we can talk casually. Noneed for you to entertain me.”

Jonathan opened his mouth to respond but wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t very well refute her accusations about the checklists because he really did appreciate them. They helped him keep his business organized. And while yes, that also extended to his life outside of work, he didn’t think it was out of the norm to value order. Without a list, things get skipped—like safety checks, for instance—and bad things can happen. People get injured.

Or worse.

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