“Trust me.”
It was a good thing she did trust him because it wasn’t long before he’d steered down a network of dirt back roads she’d never find her way out of alone. But when he pulled over in what was little more than a wide spot in a glorified cow path, she gave him a skeptical look.
“We have to go the rest of the way on foot,” he said.
“It’s still pretty dark out there. I mean, I’m not afraid of the dark or anything, but I think we know I’m not exactly at my best in the wilderness.”
“This is hardly the wilderness.”
He didn’t laugh at her, but she could hear the amusement in his voice and it got her back up a little. Maybe she wasn’t going to win a Miss Rugged Outdoors pageant any time soon, but she wasn’t some hothouse flower, either.
She was already out by the time he walked around the truck, and she plastered what she hoped was an optimistic smile on her face. It was early, though, so she couldn’t be sure.
He had a backpack slung over his arm and, after locking the truck, he held out his other hand. “Ready?”
She slid her hand into his, thankful the glove would act as a buffer between her skin and his. It was one thing to acknowledge to herself they had sexual chemistry, but holding hands seemed so...intimate. Romantic.
“How come you didn’t bring Bear? It seems like a walk in the woods would be right up his alley, no matter what ungodly hour it is.”
“He’s a great dog—probably the best I’ll ever be blessed with—but he’s still a dog. You’ll see.”
It was eerie, walking through the woods while it was still too dark to see into the trees around them, but Matt’s fingers laced through hers gave her comfort. He walked the barely there path with confidence, occasionally pulling on her hand to guide her around a hole or rock, or warn her of an exposed root.
But when the path came to a dead end at a rock face, she decided she’d let him steer the ship long enough.
“Nice walk, but I guess you took a wrong turn somewhere. If we head back now, we can call dibs on the first pot of coffee at the diner.”
He pointed up toward the top. “I didn’t take a wrong turn. Up you go.”
“I draw the line at scaling cliff faces before breakfast.”
Raising his arm over his head, Matt set the backpack on top of the rock. “Cliff face? Really?”
“Fine. A very small cliff.”
“Put your foot there.” He pointed to a crack in the boulder. “Grab the lip of the rock and then swing your leg up and over.”
“Maybe it’s not Mt. Katahdin, but I’m not as tall as you.”
“I’ll give you a boost if you need one.”
Hailey put her hands on her hips. “Did you drag me out here at the butt crack of dawn just to get your hands on my ass?”
The innocent wide-eyed look was ruined by the tilting corners of his mouth. “Pretty drastic measures, don’t you think?”
A little, since they both knew if he put his hands on her ass on any given day, she wouldn’t push him away. Not hard, anyway. “You go first.”
“No, ma’am. Trust me, you’d rather have me give you a boost from below than drag you up over the edge by your wrists.”
“There’s no way around it?”
“No, and daylight’s coming.”
With a melodramatic sigh, Hailey lifted her leg to shove the toe of her sneaker into the crack. After a couple of big hops, she was able to grab the edge of the boulder, and then she tried to figure out how to get her other leg up there.
She’d never been so self-conscious about her ass in all her life. It was right there, just waiting for Matt to give it a boost, and she had no doubt he was checking it out.
“Need that boost now?”
“No.” She stretched her leg out and up, trying to catch her heel on the rock. What she was going to do then, she had no idea, but she hoped she’d figure it out.
“How about now?”
She had no choice. “Fine.”
To her surprise, he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to grab her butt. Instead, he put his hands at her waist and lifted. A panicked scramble that almost included an accidental kick to his head later, Hailey was on top of the boulder. After an embarrassingly few seconds, Matt joined her without even breaking a sweat.
Hailey handed him his backpack, but her attention was on the view in front of her. In the dim, early light, she could make out a marshy pond surrounded by tall grasses and scrubby trees.
“Move over a sec.”
She shifted to the edge of the rock and watched Matt pull a thick fleece blanket from his bag. He spread it over the rock, then patted it. Once she was comfortable, he pulled out a Thermos and poured coffee into the steel cup.
She took a sip and almost moaned. There were gallons of coffee in her near future. Just as soon as she was someplace with a bathroom.