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Bennett blinked slowly and then swallowed as he struggled to collect himself. “Thanks,” he finally muttered.
“What do you need?” I asked.
“The kids,” he said between heavy breaths. I turned to look and realized what had happened. I’d been so distracted, I’d ended up leaving the entire group dozens of yards behind.
“Sorry,” I said and then cursed myself. I didn’t owe this man any apologies. But I did need to get my shit together. I was known as one of the best guides in Colorado for a reason, and it certainly didn’t include leaving my charges in my wake where they could easily step off the trail and twist an ankle, or wander off to check something out and get lost in the process.
“S’okay,” Bennett managed to rasp out and then he smiled. “Guess we’re the worst of the worst.”
I had no clue what he was talking about, but when I didn’t respond, he continued on his own. “You know, city slickers.”
One of the things I’d always loved about Bennett as a kid had been his ability to find the humor in just about anything. He’d always been what I needed. But now, his very presence was like rubbing salt into an open wound. Of course, anything he did stung. The way he’d helped the kid assemble his headlamp the night before, the subtle glances he’d sent my way when he’d thought I hadn’t been looking… hell, even when I’d sensed his eyes on my ass as I’d changed. It was like everything I’d ever wanted in a partner, but in the body of the wrong man. The man I couldn’t, or rather, wouldn’t ever have.
“You should head back to the group,” I said. “I’ll slow down.”
“Or I could just walk with you,” Bennett suggested. “You can tell me what you’ve been up to these past few years.”
I’ve been trying to get over your betrayal.
“Not a good idea,” I said as I forced my gaze to the kids who were slowly inching their way closer to us, Aiden bringing up the tail end of the group. I absolutely did not notice the way a sheen of sweat clung to Bennett’s skin, making it glow, or the way his pulse thrummed against the corded muscles of his neck as he took a few sips of water from his bottle.
To my disappointment, Bennett fell into step next to me as soon as I began moving again. I’d allowed the kids to catch up enough so that I could keep an eye on them and be available for questions. Over breakfast, I’d gone over basic map skills and navigation with the kids, and I’d taken several opportunities throughout the day to stop and show them how to determine where we were on the map. The day’s hike was a several-mile stretch that had begun in the wildflower meadows on the edge of the Woodland Rise Wilderness area and headed west toward Drummond Lake. I had plans not to push it too hard today so there wouldn’t be many sore muscles around camp tonight.
The trail we were currently on was wide enough for two people to walk comfortably side by side and would remain that way for a while, so unless I outright told Bennett not to walk next to me, I was stuck with him for the time being. My plan was to let the kids take turns leading the group since we were still on obvious marked trails, but by the following day, the trails would become less obvious and we’d be navigating by map across unmarked terrain. The sun was high in the sky and the morning clouds were burning off to leave just a few fat, puffy clouds suspended in a sea of deep blue.
Since we still had at least half a mile to go before I could hand the leadership duties off to the first kid, it meant I had to play nice with Bennett until then, especially since young ears were within listening range.
“How long have you been doing this?” Bennett asked a few minutes later, his breath much less labored. As fit as he looked, I suspected his lean muscles had come from a gym because the terrain, though not overly challenging yet, was clearly wreaking havoc on him.
“Guiding? I’ve been hiking these woods pretty much from the day Aunt Lolly and I arrived here. I’ve been getting paid to do it for about ten years now.”
Bennett’s forehead crinkled in thought. “Lolly? Is that who you went to live with after your dad—”
At my sharp look, Bennett wisely didn’t finish the statement. “I wasn’t sure what happened to you after… afterwards,” he murmured.
“Why would you?” I asked. “You sure as shit didn’t care that night.”
Fuck, why had I brought up that night? It was done, dead, in the past.
