They were two hours outside of Nashville, in an area known as Turkey Bay. It was prized as an off-roader’s paradise, offering some one-hundred miles of scenic trailsand verdant brush. Jamie gripped the steering wheel with the ease of a man who could do this in his sleep.
“It looks way worse than it is,” he assured. “Besides, Sammi will kill me if anything happens to you.” Jamie revved the engine again. “You’ll love it, you’ll see.”
She nodded, even though she could barely hear him through their helmets. She looked straight ahead, heart pounding like a war drum. Slowly accelerating, Jamie crept up the jagged, dusty path.
They traversed a slight dip in the terrain. The vehicle lurched and swayed, spitting up thick clouds of dust. Rocks crunched beneath the heavy tread as Brinton dug her fingers into her padded protective jacket.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Was her jacket too tight, or was the helmet suffocating her? They hadn’t even started the actual climb yet.
She gripped her knees with both hands.
Brinton tried visualizing herself floating on a cottony cumulus cloud, the sun warming her face. Sometimes, this worked to ease yapping panic, but she kept getting distracted by wayward branches whipping against her door.
As if he instinctively knew, Jamie squeezed one gloved hand over hers. “I promise, I’m gonna take care of you.” The tension in her shoulders melted, his touch a panacea. It should have surprised her, but it didn’t.
Why didn’t it?
“You trust me?” he asked.
She wanted to trust Jamie, obviously for her safety, but maybe with something else she couldn’t quite articulate yet. But trust always felt so confusingly intimate. Harrowing. One misread cue and her foundation crumbled.
It’d happened all the time with Eli. She’d feel him disengage, sighing at her from across the dinner table, turningaway each time her veneer cracked and her undesirable core shone through. She feared she’d never deserve better.
But what if she could start down a new, albeit rocky, path with Jamie?
That frightened her too, but when he looked at her, all steeped in assurance, it felt different…Real. And maybe a little intoxicating. She could almost taste it, whatever was brewing between them.
Her heavy breaths fogged the helmet’s visor. “Yeah, I do. Trust you.”
“Good, because I wanna show you things you ain’t seen before. But only when you’re ready, okay?”
She nodded. Jamie initiated the climb.
Brinton allowed this newfound trust to steady her as the vehicle jerked forward.
Eventually, she laughed through the bumps and marveled at the dense canopy of cypress and sumacs blanketing the path.
Thirty minutes later, they reached the top, a vast clearing with sweeping views of the trees below. Out of the woods, they were in the clear. She shook with exhilaration.
Climbing out the vehicle, Brinton popped off her helmet. “That was awesome!”
“You did so good, Bee,” Jamie cheered, flaxen waves wild and megawatt grin gleaming.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her a few feet off the ground. When his fingertips grazed the top edge of her jeans, teasing her exposed skin, a thrill reverberated through her entire body.
Jamie leaned close, filling the sacred air with his damn delicious honeyed whiskey scent. She briefly fantasized about sinking into his warmth, even as she knew she shouldn’t. Jamie was still her interview subject. She was supposed to remain objective. Keep some distance.
Eyes stretched wide, his face was jolted with surprise as he lowered her to the ground. “Shit—I’m sorry. I should’ve asked to hug you.”
“It’s fine,” she said earnestly, suddenly a little dizzy. “I guess I’m a hugger now.” Despite the treacherous terrain, she felt safer in his arms than she had in years. “Oh my God, this view…”
Grinning sheepishly, he pulled the gloves from his hands and gestured at the picturesque expanse surrounding them. “They don’t got hills like this in New York City, huh?”
“Definitely not.”
“I love being out here. It’s so freeing, surrendering to the elements. Probably the closest high to performing on stage.”
Brinton pulled her notebook from her crossbody bag and jotted down his quote. Then, she caught a glimpse of the lake behind him. Given the elevation, it looked like glazed marble.
