Page 1 of Wild in the Woods
Chapter One
“Youcan’tbeserious.”
Lulu Orlando gawked at the small, red convertible waiting for her outside the airport car rental office. The smooth paint shone mockingly bright in the Colorado sun. This was not what she asked for, and it wasn’t going to work.
“Problem?” The voice on the cellphone she held between her shoulder and ear had an amused, smug tone. Ignoring it, she hurried back inside the office and caught the attention of the clerk who’d just completed the rental. “Excuse me. I reserved a SUV with four-wheel drive. Not a sports car.”
The clerk tapped on her computer obediently, making a show of doing her job, though the annoyed pull of her mouth said she’d rather be doing anything else
“I’m sorry, Ms. Orlando but the online form I have here specifically states sports car.”
She swiveled the monitor so Lulu could see. Sure enough, ‘sports car’ was checked on the vehicle type options list.
That couldn’t be right. She filled the form out herself a week ago. Once she got the green light from her editor to run with this story, she booked her flight and vehicle rental immediately.
“There must be a glitch. I clearly requested an SUV in case I have to go into the mountains.”
Every website and blog she’d read about visiting towns close to the Rocky Mountains suggested an SUV with four-wheel drive just in case of unexpected snow and ice, which was apparently a hit or miss thing in September.
“It appears an updated form had been submitted yesterday from your employer, Midtown Media? I’d be happy to provide you with an SUV, but unfortunately, they’ve all been booked. We have a nice mid-size sedan if you’d rather.”
A haughty, ‘got you’ laugh came through the cellphone. Lulu gritted her teeth and forced a smile. What the hell good was a sedan going to do her.
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
She couldn’t very well be pissed at the clerk when it was the asshole on the phone who was to blame.
Palming the keys, she hurried outside before unleashing on her caller. “Damn it, Rudd, this isn’t funny! I’m trying to track down a mountain man and I can’t do that in a sports car!”
“You also can’t do it while wearing a pair of two-thousand-dollar Prada heels.”
She glanced at her feet, immediately regretting wearing the shiny, gorgeous, black shoes with wicked three-inch heels. They’d just gone so well with her outfit. Was it unnatural to feel affection for a pair of shoes? She loved these baddies and wore them literally everywhere.
“How do you know which shoes I’m wearing? Let me guess, you stalked me to the airport this morning, didn’t you?”
“Please. Just because you broke up with me doesn’t mean you broke up with the shoes. You wear them all the time, Lu. Come on. Fox Mitchell is going to take one look at you and laugh his ass off. He’s never going to talk to someone like you. Just admit that you’re not the reporter for this job and come home. I’ll take it from here.”
Oh, I bet you would.
She ended the call without another word. Rudd Demarksy created the mold from which all other jerks were created. She’d dated him way too long, and sure, after she’d kicked his ass to the curb, she kept the heels he’d bought her for her birthday. She’d earned these suckers after finding him screwing her next-door neighbor onherliving room floor. It had made working with Rudd at Men’s Adventure Magazine excruciating at times but seeing his face when she flaunted the shoes around the office helped.
A little. Sometimes.
She’d recently been promoted from copyeditor to junior reporter—a big feat considering she was only two years out of journalism school and the only female reporter at the magazine. Her editor had repeatedly called the owner of No Boundaries Survival, Fox Mitchell, after a video of one of his gritty outdoor survival courses had gone viral and drummed up a lot of attention about the company. Mitchell hadn’t returned a single call and her editor was adamant to get an interview for next year’s special edition on extreme survival courses for adventurists.
Rudd had literally begged for the assignment, but Lulu was one step ahead of him. She had a sure-fire contact in Estes Park that could lead her directly to Mitchell, and she wasn’t about to share her informant’s name with anyone. Either she got the gig, or her editor could find another way to get the story.
Playing hardball wasn’t really her thing, but she’d wanted to stick it to Rudd.
Plus, she really needed a big story like this to make her father proud and show him she was getting serious about her life. She’d left fashion behind and was focusing on her future with a real job, just like he’d wanted.
This was her gig and she’d go through hell or high water before she’d let Rudd take it from her.
Pressing a hand to her forehead, Lulu took a moment to get herself together. It was early morning with a chill hanging in the air. It felt refreshing after the red eye flight. She filled her lungs with it and let the breath out. Some of her frustration with Rudd went with it, but not all. So far, nothing had been able to completely erase her angst over what he’d done to her.
Pulling up the map on her phone, she hit start on the directions to Estes Park and got into the tiny red Fiat car. She’d done in-depth research on Estes Park in preparation for pitching her boss to give her this story and nothing about the location felt overly exciting. Tourist town. Mountains. A historic hotel that claimed to be haunted. Meh.
Not the place she’d consider staying a few days extra for a mini vacation, though she definitely needed one. She wasn’t into rural life or hanging out too long anywhere that didn’t have high-rises, a screaming night life, and enough boutique shopping to keep her busy for days.
