AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d almost kissed her.
But he’d made himself stop, as if he’d immediately regretted the near lapse. She didn’t want to acknowledge just how much that wounded her. Or why.
For then she’d have to admit what a glutton for punishment she was. She’d gone down this route before. Men like Reid and Jack knew exactly how to shut down their attraction or even affection for a woman when they realized she wasn’t good enough for them.
She’d let her guard down and fooled herself into thinking that Reid might be different from Jack. Would she ever learn?
Finally, they reached a convoy of parked all-terrain vehicles, some of them were caked over almost completely with mud. Clearly, she’d overdressed for the occasion. By contrast, Reid had changed into dark green camouflage canvas shorts and a black T-shirt. His attire seemed much more appropriate. Looked like she should have gone over the details more carefully.
A guide came out of one of the banana-leaf roofed huts and the two men shook hands. After another safety lecture and being fitted with helmets, they climbed into one of the vehicles.
“You sure you don’t want to drive one yourself?” Reid asked her, though they’d gone over this on the charter boat this morning.
“I’m sure. I have no desire to race down muddy embankments and treacherous curves in an open-top vehicle barely larger than a golf cart.” She knew she sounded overly critical but she wasn’t in the best of moods currently. This definitely wasn’t an activity she would choose for herself when picking out an itinerary. In fact, she wasn’t sure how to write about it in a way that might make it sound enticing.
“Let’s go then.”
With that, Reid revved the engine and peeled out into the wooded terrain. Celeste gritted her teeth. She’d been on smoother roller coasters. Reid was pushing the vehicle to the top edge of the speedometer. Trees and bushes zipped past her line of vision, her whole body jostled and bounced in the seat. He was driving perilously close to the edge of the cliff and she had to focus on her breathing as if in meditation to avoid a full-fledged panic attack. She thought for sure he’d slow down as they approached a hairpin turn, but if anything, he seemed to accelerate. Celeste could have sworn they were riding on only the two side wheels for a brief moment.
Without warning, he suddenly veered into a more densely wooded area. Branches and brush whipped at the face mask of her helmet. Her panic grew by several notches.
The petrifying drive seemed to be having an opposite effect on Reid. Laughing and completely at ease, he was fully enjoying this. The next bump lifted her clear off the seat despite the tight seat belt. She landed back down with a thud that rattled her spine. Good thing she hadn’t eaten much of the lunch earlier. No doubt it would have come up and lodged in her throat. Or worse.
An eternity seemed to go by before they turned back onto the beaten path. Reid started to slow the car and eventually came to a blessed stop. Reid let out another excited whoop and put the car in gear at the end of the line of the others.
Celeste uttered a small prayer of thanks to whichever deity was listening then wasted no time removing her helmet and jumping out of the car. Running to the nearest tree, she braced herself against the trunk and sucked in some much-needed air.
It wasn’t long before she heard his footsteps behind her. “Uh...are you all right?”
Celeste summoned all the effort she could in order to try to keep her voice steady. She failed. “Did you have to go quite so fast? And you left the path. In fact, you ignored it altogether!” she blurted out, all too aware of the accusatory tone of her voice.
“Going fast is sort of the point,” he countered. “And the guide said the path was a recommendation only. That more experienced drivers could use their best judgment.”
“You consider yourself experienced, then, do you?” She hated the high pitch of her voice. But, rational or not, she’d really been scared back there.
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I do, as a matter of fact. I grew up riding such vehicles. As well as snowmobiles.”
Of course he had. Was there nothing he wasn’t good at? Or didn’t have experience with? Whereas this was the first time she’d so much as sat on an ATV. The closest she’d come was the subway. Yet another example of how different they were, how their worlds had nothing in common. History repeating itself.
