Page 86 of Fall for You
“Seriously, where are we?” she asked, narrowly avoiding an ankle breakage.
He caught her arm before she fell and moved his body to catch her. She landed against his solid chest with a softoomphand tried not to notice how good he smelled.
“You okay?” he murmured, running his hand down her back and tucking it around her waist.
She was absolutely steady on her feet, and he could let her go, but he seemed to linger like maybe he didn’t want to.
Shaking off the thought, she did her best to cling to her flailing common sense.
Of course he wanted to let her go.
He wasn’t lingering, he was avoiding some kind of health and safety lawsuit.
Because why would he want to hold her?
He didn’t see her romantically. And even if the thought that he ever might was a possibility, she was pretty sure she’d decimated that chance with her behavior last night.
Ugh. So embarrassing.
“Here we go.” Eric slowed to a stop when they reached an old wooden garage. “This is where we store the vehicles we use for off-roading.” He pulled the door up, wincing at the loud screeching sound. “We hardly ever use these, but occasionally we’ll have a guest who sees themselves as some kind of Bear Grylls wannabe and asks for us to arrange a night or two away in the forest.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s always so much effort, and the paperwork is a nightmare, but we aim to please, right?”
Willow stopped to blink at him while he wandered to a metal box on the wall and pulled out a key.
“So, you just dump them in the middle of nowhere and wish them good luck?”
He laughed, taking a key off the hook. “That’s what they think.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Little do they know I’ve hired a professional guide to keep a secret eye on them as they navigate their way back to the lodge.”
“Wow.” She crossed her arms, trying not to be charmed by the triumphant smirk on his face.
“Here you go.” He opened the door of the old Jeep and gestured for her to jump in. “We’ll take one of the forest trails,” he explained. “It goes around the long way, so we can come out at your property from the other side.”
“So sneaky.” She smiled at him. “And if anyone spots you in the driver’s seat?”
“They won’t. We don’t let our guests do this kind of thing during the winter months. We should be in the clear. Plus…” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m gonna take one of the tracks that’s out-of-bounds anyway, just to be extra cautious.”
“Why is it out-of-bounds?”
He shrugged. “We like to keep certain areas of the property as people-free as possible. Gives the wildlife a chance to feel like they rule that patch of the world, you know?”
Something in her chest popped, a sweet warmth filling her senses as she studied him.
“In you get.” He lifted her up, settling her into her seat once more.
A smile lingered on her lips as she buckled up.
Unable to pull her wayward emotions into check, she kept her head down and her mouth shut.
She couldn’t figure this man out.
He wanted to keep patches of the property people-free for the sake of the wildlife, yet he also wanted to bulldoze No Man’s Land to build fancy condos that would take over the lakefront?
How did she make sense of that?
Part of her wanted to question his sanity, but it’d been such a pleasant morning, and she didn’t want to ruin it by getting into a land discussion that could turn ugly.
But would it?
Eric had been a surprisingly charming host ever since she woke up.
