“A guest was robbed, and the cops are here, and they’re about to come door to door and check ID.”
That was enough to make her eyes widen and let the door slip open a little more so he could see all of her face. Why would she ever cover that perfection with a speck of makeup?
“Do I have to talk to them?” she asked. “Can’t I just not answer the door?”
He could see she wore a long T-shirt and those skintight leggings some women wore as pants now, so she was dressed enough to talk to someone at her door. “I guess, but why wouldn’t you?”
A little bit of blood drained from her face.
“Are you in trouble, Jadyn?”
She held his gaze, searching his face, no doubt debating how much to trust him. “No. I’m just a very private person, and I wasn’t robbed, and I have nothing to say to the police. Is that why you’re here?”
“I was in the neighborhood.”
She gave a quick, dry laugh.
“I bought some beds.” He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “Bunk beds. They’re in my truck.”
Her gaze shifted over his shoulder. “I don’t see any bunk beds.”
“Yet to be assembled.”
She inched the door wider. “You bought prefab unassembled beds for that gorgeous space?” She sounded disgusted which, for some reason, made him smile. Because she cared about his boathouse, even after he’d made her leave.
“My designer wasn’t available for consult.”
“Your designer was fired for asking too many questions.”
“I’m sorry.”
The simple apology softened her features, and he lifted his hand to let his knuckle graze her chin. “Why?”
“Why was I fired? Only you know the answer to that.”
He rubbed lightly, loving the insane smoothness of her skin and the way his touch put the tiniest glimmer in her eyes. “Why do you wear makeup on this indescribably beautiful face?”
He felt a little breath escape her lips. Maybe a sigh. A laugh. A soft puff of disbelief. “How about why are you here when I was already fired from the job?”
“I’m…desperate.” He was, really. “My timeline was cut. My patience is gone. My help is… Do you really think the space is gorgeous?”
A siren coming closer to the motel kept her from answering, and she stepped back.
“Jadyn, why are you hiding? Seriously, are you in trouble?”
Her lower lip trapped under her front teeth, she shook her head, giving a non-answer that made him crazy.
“Tell me and I’ll help you.”
“I can’t. You have to trust me that I cannot tell you why I…” She glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the sirens. “I need to leave.”
There was just enough low-grade panic in her voice to squeeze his chest. “Get your stuff. Come with me.”
She hesitated for a second, just a split second, and then he saw her make the decision that he’d seen on the faces of a hundred near-drowning victims. The decision to let go of whatever they were holding on to for dear life and take his hand.
She let him inside the tiny room, where the bed was made, the top of the dresser was empty except for a stack of papers, and a bag was packed and sitting on a chair.
“Looks like you’re already ready to go.”
“I keep it that way so I can…” The siren screamed louder.
“Maybe they caught the guy and won’t come over here at all,” he suggested.
“You think?” Desperation cracked her voice.
“I don’t know. Is everything you want in there?” He gestured to the suitcase.
“Everything I need. Not my cosmetics.”
“You don’t need those.” He zipped the bag. “Purse? Anything else?”
Snagging her handbag from the back of the door, she snatched the room key and started to follow him. “Oh, wait. I need these.” She reached for a stack of white paper, the top sheet covered with streaks of Magic Marker.
“What are they?”
She tapped them together and pressed them to her chest. “Your design plans.” She gave him a nudge. “Go, quick.”
She did design plans?
“What about my rental car?” She pointed to a little blue compact in the spot outside her room.
“Leave it for now. It won’t look like you took off at the first sign of trouble.”
Even if she had.
“The room had to be prepaid for two more weeks.”
“Then you can come back any time.” He gave her a boost into the front seat of the truck and darted around to get in.
“I am so happy to be out of that hellhole,” she said, underscoring that by tossing the room key in the cup holder. “But now what do I do?”
“Maybe you should start by trusting me.”
“I think I just did.”
Chapter Seven
Adam said they were going to his apartment, which would be the “safest” place, and he stayed fairly quiet as they drove there. He drove his oversized, masculine truck with confidence and a steady speed, threading the traffic with ease and occasionally glancing in the rearview as if he half expected the cops to be bearing down on them.
“I didn’t have anything to do with any robbery at that motel, if you’re worried about that.”
“I’m not.” He threw her a look, silent for a moment, then he said, “I hate shopping. Did I mention that?”
“You might have.” She wasn’t sure where he was going with that, but took it as an attempt at small talk. “I happen to love it.”
“I’d rather have a root canal.”
She laughed. “What is it that you hate so much about it? Do you have difficulty making decisions?”
“No.” He tapped the steering wheel with a little pent-up emotion. “I just made a pretty big one, didn’t I?”
So much for small talk. “You did,” she agreed. “And I appreciate the help.”
“Would be nice to know why.”
“Why you helped me?”
He threw her a look that she easily interpreted as don’t play games. “Why you’re running from the cops.”
“Oh, no. No.” She shook her head. “I’m not running from the cops. That is the absolute truth.”
“Jadyn.” He paused for a moment. “If that is your name.”
She stared straight ahead, refusing to answer. She’d tell him enough, if she had to, but she would not tell him her name. Or Sergio’s. Or Lydia’s. He didn’t need to know that much.
“Jadyn,” he repeated. “We just scooted out of a motel in a big, fat hurry because the cops were crawling all over the place. That is called ‘running from the cops’ in any book. And one of them is a friend of mine, by the way.”
“One of the cops?” She wasn’t sure how to take that news.
“Kid I grew up with. Good guy.”
She nodded and turned to the window, trying to concentrate on the scenery, which was majestic even on this overcast day. “I need to incorporate grays. I didn’t even think about how cloudy it is here all the time.”
“Excuse me?”
“In the design,” she explained. “I spent all day in the library yesterday and had some real inspiration.”
He choked a soft laugh. “You did that after I fired you?”
“I did it for fun. For relaxation. Redesigning something to make it the best it can be is my happy place. So, I did it to get my mind off…things.” She waited for the barrage of questions about what those things were, but they didn’t come. Instead, he nodded with understanding.
“I get that. I hike and raft and climb rocks for fun, even though I also do it for work. Especially the hiking. I love to go right…” He lowered his head and squinted under the rearview mirror up at the mountains. “There. That ridge. The one this town is named after.”
“Eagle’s Ridge is named after a real place? That wasn’t in the history book I read.”
“Unless it was written by my grandfather or one of his cronies, it
wouldn’t be.”
“There was a lot about how the town council formed and the first mayor, and there were some serious arguments about land rights in the early days.”
“The big feud, yeah. It was all over land, and a woman, as most feuds are. Everyone in town forgot about it but them. In fact, it only just ended. Kind of.”
“Seriously?” She turned in the seat, momentarily fascinated and happy not to be thinking about the cops she wasn’t really running from. “How?”
“My sister, Bailey, went and fell hard for John Westbrook’s grandson, Ryder.” He let out a sigh like he wasn’t quite sure about that relationship yet. “We had a big flood a few weeks ago, and the two of them saved my grandpa Max, and I really think that went a long way to convincing John and Grandpa to bury the hatchet, or at least lay the hatchet down in a truce.”
“And now they’re friends?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but they’ll talk if they’re in the same room. Anyway,” he continued, “you see that big rock jutting out about three-quarters of the way up that mountain?”
She found the spot, which was way high but easy to locate.
“That’s the original Eagle’s Ridge. The very place our four founding fathers saw a bald eagle when they were looking down over the land that started it all.”
“So there was a real eagle that gave the place its name?”
“Oh yeah, and seeing that bird hit those young veterans in the heart, I can tell you, since it was just months after they came home and World War II ended.”
“What an incredible story.”
“It’s an incredible place,” he said. “Maybe my favorite on earth. When I’m up there, I’m happy, relaxed, just certain of everything.” He gave her an easy smile that did a little something uneasy in her chest. All over, to be honest. “That’s my, what did you call it? Happy place.”
Reaching over, she closed her fingers around his strong, muscular forearm. “Will you take me there?”
“Sure. When the boathouse is finished.”
“Now.”
He blinked. “Now?” Then he glanced at her leggings and flip-flops. “You can’t just park the truck and walk up there, Jadyn. You have to get there by kayak or raft. Well, there are other ways, but you can’t handle them.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip, thinking about what she’d learned in her research about the town. The water was essentially calm to the north of the bridge, but south, there were rocks, drops, and danger. But the calm side was like a lake most days, she’d read. “Is it north of the bridge?”
His eyes flickered with a little amusement, or maybe he was impressed she’d done her homework. “It depends which way you go.”
“The safest way.”
“So, not the fastest, which would be through the Tapashaw rapids, around a rock garden we locals call the Middle Finger, and not just because the middle rock sticks straight up.”
“Then why?”
“Because when you navigate it wrong, you want to flip off Mother Nature because she flipped your flipping kayak,” he said on a laugh. “After that, you have to zip down something known as Nakanushee Falls, which can be a little hairy after a heavy rain. But then? You’re right under the direct path to the ridge. Still want to go?”
She swallowed. “Is there no other, slightly less adventurous route?”
“Well, yeah.” He sighed as if the very thought was unpleasant to him. “You could pick up a hiking path not far from town and meander your way up the mountain with all the other lightweights.”
She could hear the challenge in his voice and knew that if she picked the rocks, falls, and rapids, he’d say yes. “I’d just be terrified because… Did you say the kayak would flip?”
“Yeah.” He leaned closer and almost let his forehead touch hers to whisper, “I can handle a kayak in my sleep, though.”
“And you were a rescue swimmer in the Coast Guard.”
A reaction she couldn’t read flickered in his eyes, but he instantly moved his gaze back to the mountains before she could interpret it. “They call to you, don’t they?”
“Yeah. They do. Who knew a great big hill could do that?”
“Me,” he said simply.
“Well, I’ve never been on a mountain before, so—”
“Never?” He could barely choke the word for the shock.
“Miami, remember?”
“But who… No.” He shook his head as if common sense had just slapped him. “I have so much to do in the boathouse and so little time to do it. And I hadn’t expected to be, uh, whisking you away from the law.”
“That’s not what you did.”
He raised a brow. “It’s kind of exactly what I did. And I still don’t know why.”
“If you take me up there, Adam, the lightweight way, I’ll tell you.”
“Everything?”
Not quite. “Enough.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then gave his head a shake.
“Is that a no?” she asked, surprised at how fast her heart was beating and how much she wanted him to say yes.
“It’s a ‘I can’t believe I’m in this deep.’”
Still holding his arm, she gave it a squeeze. “It’s not that deep,” she said softly. “Take me up there, Adam. Please. Show me your mountain. Take me to the ridge.”
He finally exhaled. “As if I could say no to that.”
* * *
The one day Adam didn’t want to hike up to the ridge…and he was on his way. How was that for irony? He wanted to pick up lumber for the stairs and finish installing the last cabinets and get this show on the road, but here he was. Hiking.
He’d grabbed a hiking pack that never left his backseat. Armed with matches, a knife, a tarp, and some protein bars and water, he headed to his “happy place” with a woman whose name he didn’t know.
The clouds had gathered a bit to the west, threatening a light rain, but they were moving at a good clip, and he figured they could at least be at the ridge and under the overhang in a shower.
She wasn’t talking, but she wasn’t winded, either. She was a quick study and learned immediately to watch each step of the sneakers she’d had in her bag. Intent and focused, she was too new to this to look around, and her gaze stayed locked on the rocky path they traveled.
She might never have hiked before, but she held her own and kept up with Adam. He kept waiting for her to tire, but she had strong legs and good endurance.
“You’re in good shape,” he noted.
“I have a great gym in my building, and I get that incline up to a seven whenever I get on the treadmill.”
He grunted softly. “I hate gyms.”
“You have Mother Nature’s gym,” she said.
“So true. We had to work out indoors so often in the Coast Guard, and it always felt so fake to me. I’m not the weight lifter my brother, Zane, is.”
“Must be fun growing up with a twin,” she mused, taking a break from studying her next step to glance at him.
“I don’t know any other life, so I guess it was fun. Zane’s a good guy, and I promise you he’ll make you some outrageous wager within five minutes of getting to know you.”
“He already did,” she said. “He told me to talk to you, and he bet me five bucks I’d walk away with a job.” She laughed. “I just thought he was funny and nice.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t come to collect. Also surprised he bet money. It’s usually something more, uh, interesting.”
He slowed his step as the path grew rockier and put a hand on her back to make sure she was steady. And because it felt good to touch her, even through the thin down vest he’d lent her.
“Interesting? Like what?”
He snorted. “Like our current bet, which I am obviously not taking seriously enough, or I wouldn’t be out here hiking when I should be working.” Not that it was about the bet, not at all.
“We’ll get to it,” she assured him. “What did you bet?”
He just shook his head.
She jabbed him with a teasing elbow. “Come on, tell me.”
“It’s just…stupid guy stuff.”
She grinned up at him. “I want to know what you bet. Not money?”
“Like I said, money is usually too pedestrian for my imaginative brother. Zane likes to bet that the loser has to do something inane. A prank, usually. And trust me, that’s how we’ve always gotten into the most trouble.”
“Like what kind of trouble?”
He thought for a second, but already knew the answer. “The worst was probably when we were seniors in high school and I took his bet that he could beat me in a rowing race. I mean, come on. It was Zane, right? I could row circles around him, but…” He closed his eyes. “I wasn’t paying attention while Zane got bigger and faster than me. He kicked my butt on that race and won the bet.”
“What did you have to do?”
He chuckled, remembering the massive stupidity…and fun they’d had. “I had to superglue a penny over the lock on every door into the school one night, guaranteeing Eagle’s Ridge High couldn’t open the next day.”
She let out a quick laugh. “No! I can’t believe you did that.”
“Neither could the principal, who had just recently installed security cameras. Which, I might add, caught my brother laughing his ass off in the parking lot and flipping me pennies. So, it landed both of us in one entire semester of detention, every Saturday for half our senior year.” Man, he’d been pissed that they’d missed seeing those cameras.
“Were you in trouble at home?”
He shrugged. Dad had given up on disciplining Adam and Zane by then, with his whole attention on trying to manage fourteen-year-old Bailey. “A little. But you know, that semester of detention ended up creating some pretty great friendships. Besides Zane, we were in with some guys I’m not sure I would have otherwise known. Now they’re some of my best friends.”
She paused a little, not for a break, but for a soft breath of wonder as they reached the halfway point. They still had a decent hike to the ridge, but this view was stellar, the first real glimpse of how the Snake River wound through Eagle’s Ridge, nestled in the valley between the rolling hills that rose to impressive mountains.