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I walked to the edge of the platform, standing beside Ben at the banister, staring down at the hazy view.
“We should come back in the spring, when the weather’s a little better.”
“Just for the hike, right? Because I don’t know if I can afford another weekend,” I joked.
His hand slid over my shoulder and down my waist, pulling me closer. “We could take the train.”
“Don’t threaten me with the train,” I groaned.
He dipped his head, lips at my ear. “Hike this path first and then the ten-miler.”
His breath was hot and inviting. Almost inviting enough to make me agree to a fourteen mile hike.
“Maybe I could spring for a night,” I relented.
“Next time will be my treat.”
I collapsed my head onto his shoulder. “That sounds nice, actually. Well, except the sweaty hike part.”
“It’ll be fun and something to look forward to.”
I pursed my lips, longing and lust mingling in my body for a person who shouldn't feel either emotion. Burrowing my face into the crook of his neck, I inhaled the scent of pine and lemon, the earthy smell that clung to him.
When I picked my head up, he stared down at me, his brown eyes piercing mine. The same intensity he looked at me in front of the couple from last night. A predatory, hungry gaze that made my heart patter and my pulse quicken.
I tried to laugh it off. “We’re all on our own. There’s no one here to convince.”
He ducked his head, lips perilously close to mine. “Just you.”
CHAPTER12
Ben
Other than whenI was thirteen, ravaged by hormones, I’d gone twenty-seven years without thinking about kissing Thea. And now, in the span of the weekend, I’d somehow opened the floodgates. Previously innocent activities like hiking and sleeping were now steeped in a cloud of lust and desire. And worst of all, I couldn’t act on it. I couldn’t even acknowledge it.
The look of betrayal on Thea’s face when I pulled away during our near-kiss on the mountain had nearly done me in. My heart beat so hard I couldn’t barely hear myself say, “We should probably head back down.” But as sure as I knew Thea had wanted me to kiss her, I also knew she needed to come to the same conclusion that I had: we belonged together and not just as friends.
We’d hiked back down the mountain and made our way to the spa, which turned out to be another hurdle. I’d gone to the beach with Thea dozens of times, seen her in a bathing suit hundreds more, and other than the year in middle school when she suddenly grew breasts, leaving us both fascinated, I couldn’t remember ever being so distracted by her.
The pink bikini left little to the imagination.Thea tailored all of her clothes to accentuate every curve on her body. Currently, my focus caught on the scalloped edge of lace fitted to her ass.
“You’ll start with a contrast bath hydrotherapy session,” a man in a white polo and white pants said. The mish-mash of words dragged my attention away from Thea.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Thea grinned. “Excuse him, he doesn’t spend much time in spas.”
The man shook his head. “I get that question a lot. For the next hour, you’ll be alternating between cold treatments and hot treatments.”
Cold. Cold was good.
Or was, until after a leisurely five-minutes in a hot sauna that reeked of menthol, I jumped into an ice bath.
“I thought we were just getting a massage,” I muttered, teeth chattering.
“It’s a spa experience,” Thea drawled, her face impassive to the ice-cold bath. Goosebumps sprouted over her arms, though, and the flimsy pink bikini top did nothing to cover her hard nipples.
Don’t look at her nipples, Ben I repeatedly told myself.
