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“I think that’s about as good as it gets from you. Now, go. I have to finish packing.”
He scanned the contents strewn across my bed and stopped, his eyes widening like saucers. “What the fuck is that? I thought you said no sex,” he accused, pointing his finger toward the pile of lace.
“Those are my panties, Erik. I wear them for me. So, congratulations. Now you know what your sister wears under her clothes.”
Erik’s face screwed up and he brought his hands to rub at his eyes, turning toward the door. “Fuck, Hanna. I didn’t need to know that. Are you trying to traumatize me?”
“Then don’t analyze my suitcase,” I said, laughing behind him.
I followed him back out to the living room and was just getting ready to open the door when a second knock came. Looking at the clock, I saw he was thirty minutes early.
Well, this should be fun.
I opened the door to a smiling Daniel. When his eyes landed on Erik’s dark scowl, the smile slipped a little. I gave him an A for effort to keep it in place.
Erik stepped forward, chest to chest with Daniel, only an inch taller. “If she gets hurt in any way, I’ll fucking kill you. Slowly. Painfully.”
Daniel nodded once. “Noted.”
“Oh, my god, Erik. Just go,” I groaned, shoving him out the door.
He walked past and like Robert De Niro in Meet the Fockers, held his fingers to his eyes and back to Daniel, glaring the entire time.
I pulled Daniel in and slammed the door behind him.
“Everything okay?”
“Yup. Just a big brother being annoying.” I shrugged. “Ready to rock n’ roll?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I just need to finish packing.”
“Need help?”
I thought of all the lace bundled on my bed still. “No, I’ve got it. I’ll only be a second.”
I’d told a little fib to Erik. Yes, I did wear pretty panties for myself, but maybe I packed the sexiest for this trip. Just in case.
A girl had to be prepared for any impromptu lessons.
18
Hanna
“So, what’s on the docket today?” I asked before taking another rejuvenating sip of coffee. We’d gotten into the cabin so late that we’d barely turned on the lights to check it out before collapsing in our beds.
Now, we sat in Adirondack chairs, bundled up in the enclosed porch, watching the fog slowly clear from the mountains. Perfect didn’t come close to explaining this moment.
“How do you feel about hiking?”
“I’m open to it.”
“Bungee jumping?”
I almost choked on my coffee. “Less open to that.”
“But still open?” he asked around his laugh.
“Maybe barely a crack. So small, I’m not even sure paper could slip through.”
“Okay. Okay.”
“Honestly, I think I could sit here all day and watch the view change with the sun.”
“It’s beautiful,” he agreed.
I glanced his way, stupidly hoping for a romance movie moment, where he stared at me as he said it was beautiful, but his eyes were firmly planted on the dips and rises of the forest. Not that it mattered. Because we were friends.
“You did a good job picking the place.”
“Thank you. It’s the least I could do. Literally.”
“I wanted to surprise you,” he defended.
Daniel had let me pick which mountains we went to and where we stayed, but he planned everything else around it. I wasn’t used to letting go of that much control, but I had to admit I liked the excitement of the surprise. I didn’t let myself be surprised anymore, always doing my best to stay in control. Somewhere along the way, my trust grew further with Daniel, and I liked the idea of him surprising me.
“Speaking of surprises. Where are we going after the mountains? You never told me what location you planned?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes. “At least give me a hint.”
“There’s water.”
I glared. “That’s a crappy hint, and you know it.”
He merely shrugged, completely unapologetic, and maybe gloating a little. “For now, let’s finish our coffee and explore. Do you have boots?”
“I sure do. Broken in and everything.”
Ian and Erik used to go on local hikes, and I made them take me with them when I could.
“Perfect.”
“What kind of hike is it?”
“Nothing too strenuous. Just a few miles.”
Nothing too strenuous to Daniel did not mean the same thing to me, I realized almost six hours later.
“You’re a savage,” I panted. The last half-mile of the hike had been completely uphill, and I was pretty sure my legs would cramp up and fall off at any second.
“Hardly,” he said, winking back at me, looking entirely too sexy in a knit cap and flannel shirt. He’d lost his jacket pretty early in our hike.
He hadn’t trimmed his facial hair this morning, and it made him look like he was made to be a mountain man. Meanwhile, I was sure I looked like a tomato dipped in water. I could feel the sweat dripping down my temples. How the hell did someone sweat when it was forty degrees?
