I pushed myself harder, lungs burning and legs quivering, up the last crest of the hill. I laser locked on the top, only yards away, using my last burst of energy to crash through the trees and reach the top. Letting my feet slow down, I stood with my hands on my hips, breathing in the sweet air this high up and gazing down at the mountain. What a view.
I’d used the map Jessica had made me of some of the running trails nearby, selecting a doozy this morning. I hadn’t run since I left Philadelphia, and my muscles weren’t happy about it. Matter of fact, they were livid, and they chanted as I ran up the trail:
Pizza
Cheeseburger
Pizza
Pizza
Beer
Cheeseburger
Worth it?
Worth it?
“Totally,” I muttered, kicking my leg back and giving it a good stretch, leaning against a tree trunk for balance. I’d run in the state park, up into the headlands. The Pacific spanned the entirety of my field of vision, mixing with the Big River as it emptied into the ocean. Named for the redwoods that stood along its banks when this part of California was being settled, the Big River played a role not only in the development of the land, but in the gold rush and the timber rush, the majestic giants being cut down for the great building expansion. Now protected, it was a beautiful river, popular with canoers and kayakers.
Not a bad idea, I thought, wondering if there was a canoe hidden away somewhere in the house. It was certainly possible. After my meeting with Mr. Montgomery, I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening finishing up in the second bedroom, and beginning to tackle the third. There were items of a more personal nature in that room, letters and postcards that Maude had accumulated over a lifetime. I also found tax records and old bills of sale in an ancient accordion file, amazingly orderly. These would come in handy if I ended up staying and—
Of course you’re staying. Was there really ever any doubt?
I chewed at my thumbnail, contemplating. I was staying.
A bubble of laughter made its way up my throat and out of my mouth before I could even stop it, one after another, until I sounded like a hyena on top of this mountain.
“I’m staying!” I said out loud, listening to the words fill the space. “Cool!”
I fist pumped, whirled about to run back down the mountain, and crashed into a sweaty chest.
My fist flew out again by instinct, right into the nose of Mr. Clark Barrow.
He staggered backward with a moan, his hands flying up to his face. “Good lord, Vivian!” he yelled, blood beginning to appear.
“Fuck! Clark! What the hell!” I yelled back, grabbing his arms and trying to peel his hands back from his nose so I could take a look. “Are you crazy? Sneaking up behind someone like that? Here, sit down so I can check your nose,” I said, taking him by the elbow and pushing him down onto a boulder.
“Are you crazy? You were talking to yourself on top of a mountain. Don’t do that—ow!” he said as I pried his fingers apart. I’d seen several broken noses in my time—softball, field hockey, you name it.
Fuck, I was talking to myself on top of a mountain. Dammit. “Okay, I was, but—oh hold still, will you?” I finally succeeded in pulling his hands back and getting a good look at what I’d done. Yup. I’d socked him a good one. Shit. “We need to get you to a doctor; I think it’s broken.”
“Oh, you think so?” he asked angrily, glaring at me.
He started to get up, and I leaned in. “Let me help you.”
“You’d help me right off a cliff,” he snapped, pulling away from me.
“Oh, would you settle down, just let me help you,” I snapped back, turning him back down the trail, instead of higher up like he was heading. I pulled off my T-shirt and folded it into a square pad. “Here, hold this on your nose.”
He looked at me, bare on top except for my sports bra, and his eyes widened. Raising an eyebrow, I looked back at him. As he held the T-shirt to his nose, I checked him out fully. Long and lean, he’d been running in just shorts. By the looks of it, he’d been a runner for a long time. And maybe doing some crunches and push-ups too. His body was strong, defined but not overly so. He had a small patch of hair on his chest, that led down a bit to his, ahem, shorts area. He had runner’s legs, powerful and tanned. In fact, his whole body was tanned now that I looked at it. And I was looking at it.
Damn, Clark. I’d had no idea a tweed jacket could conceal so much awesome. But this awesome was also the same guy trying to stop me at every turn, so I squelched the staring after getting just one more good eyeful.
“Impossible woman,” he muttered, his voice muffled by the wadded-up T-shirt.
“This impossible woman is going to help you now, okay, Clark? Why don’t you put your arm around me and just—and that was my boob. Let’s try this again?” I grimaced as I gripped him around the waist. His skin was so warm.
As we hiked back down the trail, he grumbled the entire time. I grumbled back, my face red from the exertion. Clark was a tall guy, and he was heavier than he looked.
My face heated more.
At the bottom of the trail he pronounced himself capable of driving to the doctor’s on his own, and that if it was broken, I would be paying any medical bills.