They began their final descent, enjoying the warm sun on their faces, chatting like old friends. He told her about some of his more extraordinary cases in London, his work for INCC, and his father’s nature reserve passion project.
“My friend Blair is a botany genius. I’ll have to tell her about the reserve’s internship.”
“It’s an unpaid internship,” he warned.
“Besides the fact that it would look crazy good on a CV, Blair would pay your dad to work with wild plants. When I say she is a genius, I’m not exaggerating. Her mother has a successful nursery in Scotland. Catriona and Blair can spend days wrist deep in potting soil without coming up for air.”
“I’ll have Dad send me the information. I’ll forward it to you. In the past, the positions were highly sought and tough to get.”
He smiled when he looked over his shoulder and saw her wave her hand in front of her like she wasn’t concerned.
“Pfft. She’ll get it.”
“What are your plans when you get home?”
“I would like to tell my family that I’m spending one more night in Wales and give myself a few hours to go home, shower, and snuggle in bed with no familial interrogations until tomorrow, but alas, Blair and Gray’s dads own a security firm, and they’ll know the minute I step foot on my block and alert my brothers.”
When he started to chuckle, she groaned, saying, “I’m not joking.”
“Wow. Your family is…”
“Yeah.”
As the sun melted more snow from the trail, they could pick up the pace until they stood side by side at Conwy Mountain’s summit overlooking the town’s castle and quay.
“How does it feel to complete Wales’s most grueling hike, Miss O’Faolain?”
“Pretty damn good, Mr. Griffiths.”
“I’m glad we met,” he dared to profess.
She remained silent, staring over the picturesque landscape surrounding them. Finally, she said, “That sounded like a goodbye.”
He didn’t dare look at her, keeping his eyes forward. “It wasn’t.”
She made a humming sort of growl in her throat. Acceptance? Agreement?
“Race you to the bottom, old man!”
She squealed and took off before he could trounce her for the “old man” comment. He barked out a laugh before following.
As he raced after the woman throwing smack talk over her shoulder, her long braid beating against her pack as she pelted down the rocky slope, he realized something important. Since he’d ducked into the cave the night before, he hadn’t felt a moment’s discontent.
Somehow, Bébhinn O’Faolain had snatched him out of whatever monotonous trajectory he’d been living.
Dagr upped his pace, easily overtaking her. “Sucks to be short and slow,” he said as he easily maneuvered around her to lead them the rest of the way.
“Hey,” she shouted as he pulled ahead, “a gentleman would have let me win.”
“I’m a man, but I never claimed to be gentle,” he shouted over his shoulder. He was still chuckling as he slid on the rocks leading up to the lot where their Jeeps were parked.
Bending at the waist, he grasped his knees as sweat dripped from his forehead despite the chill in the air. Bébhinn skidded to a halt next to him, her good-natured personality intact but equally out of breath and sweaty.
He couldn’t help it. He tapped the end of her nose before announcing, “I won.”
“Shithead. I’m a hiker. Not a trail runner,” she sniffed, pretending offense.
They stored their gear, and then it was time for goodbyes. Reluctant goodbyes, at least on his part.
