Page 74 of Strictly Forbidden Intent

“One day,” he repeats. “Tomorrow. I’ll be here at seven a.m. Bring layers, and a pair of your running shoes.”

“You hate running.”

“I know.” He locks eyes with me briefly before pushing himself off the bed. “See you tomorrow.”

I lock the door after he leaves, closing myself in for the night. With any luck I’ll get through my one day with Wes and get out of this house, this city, without having to see my dad.

Wes

Sawyer’swaitingoutsidewhenI pull up, running shoes on and water bottle in hand. I half expected her to be in D.C. already, so the fact she’s not is a good sign. The fact she’s in running shoes is an even better one. It means she isn’t fighting me right from the start.

“Morning,” I call as I jog around the truck to open her door, trying not to let my eyes linger on hers, which seem bigger and greener than normal with her dark hair pulled back in a sloppy bun.

“Morning,” she replies evenly. Not happy, but not angry either. I’ll take it.

“We’ve got a bit of a drive. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Taking me to the woods so I can’t escape?” She buckles her seatbelt.

“Something like that.”

Her jaw drops.

“Don’t worry,” I chuckle. “The whole family knows you’re with me so it’s not like I can hold you against your will.”

“They’d probably be okay with that,” she mutters under her breath. I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing, because she’s probably right. They all want us to make nice, although only Colt and Pop know I want to be more than just friends…I think.

We drive in silence until I turn into Chatfield State Park and pull up to a large basket sitting in an open field, a sea of color hovering over the ground behind it.

“A hot air balloon?” Sawyer’s eyes grow wide.

“Have you ever been?”

“No.”

“Me, neither. Come on.”

She exits the car somewhat reluctantly and steps delicately to the basket where the pilot is filling the balloon. Peering inside she appears to go still, then turns to me with an accusing scowl.

“You’re trying to Bachelor me.”

“What?” I feign ignorance.

“Don’twhatme. This is a classic Bachelor date. Well, usually it’s a helicopter ride, but then it’s the spa and some romantic dinner overlooking the ocean.”

“We don’t have oceans in Denver.” I press my lips together to keep from smiling.

“You know what I mean.” She swats my arm. “It’s even catered.” She gestures to the food and drinks set out in the basket.

“So I should cancel the spa after this?” This time I don’t fight my grin.

“You asked for a day so you could reconstruct a date from a TV show?” Her frown says she’s disappointed, but the tone of her voice says she’s intrigued. For all her griping that those dates were stupid and manufactured, I know part of her wonders what it would be like to be wooed like that. I intend to show her, in my own way.

“I asked for a day so you could see what I’m like now. This,” I gesture to the balloon, “is something my mom always pointed out to me when I was little, but I’ve never had the chance to ride in one. I’d like to do this for her, and I’d like you to do it with me, because even though you never met her you know more about her than my friends ever did. Are we good?” I hold my hand out so she can climb into the basket. After studying it for a moment, she takes it and climbs aboard. It takes all my strength to let go of that hand once she’s inside.

We snack on pastries and coffee while we wait for the balloon to inflate, and once it does, the pilot suggests we stand up to watch the takeoff.

It’s slow going at first, we seem to rise only a few feet at a time, and it feels like we’ll never get high enough to see much of anything. After a few minutes, I notice things on the ground start to shrink as we begin to rise steadily. Before long, we can see the mountains to the west and the plains to the east, and from this vantage point we can actually watch the city come to life as cars start to fill the roads and buildings illuminate from within. I know this time of day can be chaotic, but up here, removed from the thick of it, it almost looks peaceful.

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