“I’m sorry, Serena.” He turned on his side and propped his head up on his hand, his elbow pressing into the feather pillow. He could see the silhouette of Serena lying flat on her back beside their pillow barrier. How did it happen?”

  “A car accident. My mom and sister died instantly, and my dad… well, we don’t know what’s going to happen with him. A drunk driver hit us.”

  “Oh no,” Freddie whispered. His own mother was currently sober, fresh out of her fourth stint in rehab. In a way, he had lost a parent too. His instinct was to reach out to comfort her, but he was thwarted by the pillows. “I know what it’s like to have a parent there, but not really there. My mom is a drunk.”

  “Oh,” she said.

  “She never had her license thankfully,” Freddie added on quickly. “I used to hate her for it, for leaving Logan and me to take care of her. After her second relapse, dad left and remarried. Now, I’m just thankful for every day that she’s sober, and I really don’t think that Logan or I would be who we are if we hadn’t been forced to grow up at such a young age.”

  He could hear the hiccups in her breath, the kind you get when you’re trying to hold in tears.

  “So, what, what are we doing tomorrow?” she whispered through strained vocal cords.

  Thankful for the change in subject, Freddie replied, “I thought we could go for a hike up the mountain before the cake tasting, the wildflowers have just started blooming. There’s a little lake up there. It will be great for your photos.”

  “That sounds perfect. Fred, I should’ve told you earlier, but there’s a new treatment that could help my dad. That’s why I’m doing this. Not for shoes, or exposure, or this damn ring,” she sniffed.

  Freddie grabbed the two pillows and tossed them on the floor. He reached out and pulled Serena in tightly to his body, nestling her back against his chest. She was as stiff as a board and Freddie whispered into her ear, “You don’t have to hold it in.”

  He felt her body relax against his, her ribcage expanding as she took in a deep breath and quietly cried in his arms. He held her closer, tighter. Serena was like an onion and as he slowly peeled back the layers, Freddie started to wonder if, underneath, this was the woman for him.

  He breathed in the scent of her hair. It was citrusy and some other fresh smell.

  They didn’t talk. Freddie just held her tightly. He knew she could feel his erection against her ass. He just hoped that it wouldn’t make an unexpected appearance through the slit of his boxers if he moved the wrong way. He was a red-blooded man, after all; she had to understand that. She reached up and brushed the tears off her face with her hands. Freddie stiffened and held his breath as she maneuvered in his arms so that she was facing him, her breath hot on his chin. Was she going to kiss him? Should he kiss her? He wanted to. He would only have to shift his face and her full lips would be on his.

  Freddie had never been in a situation like this. The old Freddie would’ve had those grandpa pajamas in a pile on the floor and had her writhing on the bed with his face between her legs, but this paralysis, this was new. What was wrong with him?

  Seventeen

  Am I going to have to make the first move? Serena thought to herself.

  She couldn’t believe that she had let herself cry in front of Freddie. She hated feeling weak and vulnerable, but there was something about the strength in his arms, the way his body fit with hers, that felt like a cocoon. He wasn’t judging her, he understood her.

  When he hugged her, she wondered if he was just being sweet and kind. After all, they both knew what it was like to have a shell of a parent, but then she felt it. The unmistakable warmth of his cock tenting out his boxer shorts against her ass. Suddenly, she was filled with the want and desire to feel Freddie inside of her.

  His breaths were raspy against her cheek; she knew that he wanted her. She reached out her hand and rested it on Freddie’s side, feeling his taut lats under her fingertips. She squeezed her fingers into his muscular waist and then trailed her fingertips down over the elastic band of his boxer shorts to grip his toned ass and then pulled his hips to hers, pressing his hard cock against the front of her pajamas, his manhood standing hard and tall between them.

  This seemed to be the permission he needed. He grabbed her face and kissed her hard. She pulled on his ass tighter and pressed her hips into his. The warmth of him and the feel of his lips on hers sent tingles through her body, the kind that originated between her legs.

  He rolled on top of her, brushed her hair off her face, then he leaned over and turned on the lamp.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I want to see your face.” He kissed her hard again and started to rock his hips in time with his kisses. Serena kissed him and bit his lower lip. Her eyes grew wide as the friction of their movements through their clothes quickly brought her to the brink of a surprise orgasm.

  “Freddie,” she gasped. “You’re going to make me come.”

  “Good,” he whispered into her ear and bit at her earlobe.

  “Wait,” she murmured. “We shouldn’t…” she gasped as the sensation built between her legs, sending a shiver over her body. She couldn’t believe that dry humping like teenagers would bring her so close. She knew that they should stop, that it was wrong, but it felt so good.

  “I know,” he said as he kept kissing her. “This is a bad idea.” He slipped his calloused hand down the front of her pajama pants and finding her wetness, his thick fingers were quick to finish off the job. Serena gripped the plaid comforter and screamed out as the orgasm came crashing through her body, leaving her trembling in its wake.

  She gasped and released the sheets, wrinkled from her sweaty grip, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, her heart still racing.

  “Oh, my God…” she managed to croak. “That was, I mean… wow, that was, I’ve never…” she gulped, seemingly unable to form a complete sentence. She trembled as she propped herself up on her elbow to look at Freddie and trailed her fingertips down his washboard abs. If he could make her feel like that just with his fingers, what could those lips, or more insanely, what could that magnificent cock do to her?

  She cupped his package in her hand and leaned in to kiss him. His lips were soft as they traveled all over her face. She started to inch her way down his body. She wanted to make him feel the way he had just made her feel, but he gripped her biceps and pulled her up, kissing her hard again.

  “This is a bad idea,” he whispered. “You seemed sad, I just wanted to make you feel better.”

  Serena paused. Nothing about what he had done felt dutiful to her. She thought his kisses had emotion behind them and Freddie moved sensually, like he was making love, not fucking. She thought that there had been a connection but clearly, she was wrong. Freddie was just very talented in bed. He was someone who knew how to make a woman feel like she was the most special woman in the world.

  She pressed her hands into Freddie’s chest and rolled away from him.

  “Thanks for making me feel better. But don’t get any ideas about this happening again,” she said. She reached down to the floor, picked up the two pillows and jammed them in between them.

  Eighteen

  Freddie pressed his hands into the shower tiles and let the water pour over his head. He hadn’t gotten much sleep with Serena beside him. He had lied to her. He did feel something for her, but it was something that couldn’t happen. He needed to build a wall between them, one that couldn’t be torn down by the glint in her eyes when she smiled. It had taken all of his will power not to make love to her last night, but theirs was a business relationship. Or, at least that’s what he kept telling himself. If sex got mixed into the equation, one or both of them was going to get hurt. ‘Serena has enough heartache in her life right now,’ he thought to himself, trying to convince himself that her heart was the one that needed protecting – not his.

  He stepped out of the shower and wrapped one of his beach towels around his waist. He lathered up his shaving cream and patted it onto the stubble on his face. His brother Logan rocked a mountain man beard, and as much as Freddie wanted one of his own, his was too blonde, too patchy, and instead of making him look grizzled and older, his made him look like a pubescent boy who hadn’t learned to shave yet.

  He heard a light tap on the door and turned off the water.

  “Yes?”

  “Are you going to be much longer?” Serena asked from the other side of the door.

  “Just a few minutes,” he replied and turned on the faucet.

  She tapped on the door again, “I have to pee.”

  He shut off the water and wiped his hands on the towel wrapped around his waist. He opened up the door and met her eyes.

  “Sorry,” she said, shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet – a pee dance.

  “It’s okay, I’ll finish in the kitchen,” he said and held up the razor. After he finished shaving in the kitchen sink, he reached for the tea towel to dry off his face but realized that even for a bachelor like him, using a tea towel was really uncouth. He pulled up the corner of his towel to pat off his face, then practically jumped out of his skin as Serena’s voice rang out.

  “Freddie, do you have dental floss?”

  Was she a ninja? He hadn’t even heard her come out of the bathroom. He turned to face her while continuing to dry off his face. “There should be some in the medicine cabinet,” he said.

  Her eyes went wide as saucers and she whipped around to face the bedroom. That’s when Freddie realized that his manhood was exposed in its full, fresh out of cold-water glory. He dropped the damp towel and it fell heavily back in place over his junk. Serena flew into the bathroom, unable to look at him.

  “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to… um, it was an accident,” he said through the closed bathroom door. When she didn’t respond, he continued, “I’m going to make breakfast, what do you like?” he asked.

  “Smoothie,” he heard her voice call out from the shower.

  Freddie pulled on a pair of boxer briefs, hiking pants, a merino t-shirt, and a flannel button up. He opened up his pantry and scratched his head as he glanced around for anything that would blend. He pulled out his cell phone and texted Charlotte. How do you make a smoothie?

  His phone chimed back almost immediately. Her message read, LOL. Go to the café.

  While Serena showered, Freddie made up some sandwiches, filled up two big water bottles, and tossed them, along with a handful of energy bars, into a backpack. It wasn’t the most practical backpack he had ever put together, but he didn’t anticipate making it very far along the trail. He figured that they would stop at the first photo-worthy location, snap a few photos, and then be back in time for dinner. His stomach growled as he checked the time. How long could it possibly take her to get ready?

  An hour later, he had his answer. She stepped out of the bathroom with a full face of makeup and her hair perfectly straight, wearing yoga pants and a plaid shirt. In other words, she looked hot as hell, but Freddie didn’t care. He was starving and he thought that she looked prettier before she stepped into the bathroom.

  “Come on, we should get going before it gets too hot,” he said. “I’ve packed us some snacks and a lunch, but I’m out of green things to put in a smoothie.”

  “Okay,” she said. “What do I need to bring?”

  “It’s a short hike to the lake, and I’ve got everything in here,” he patted the bag sitting on the couch beside him. “Just bring your camera, or whatever you need.”

  The wind ruffled the leaves on the trees as they walked from Freddie’s house to Main Street. Freddie glanced up to the blue sky and saw some mare’s tails clouds on the horizon. They usually meant rain was coming, but he wasn’t too concerned as they were going to be back well before any weather could set in.

  One quick visit to the Sugar Peaks Café later, they emerged armed with two green smoothies and two coffees. They hopped into his truck and headed to the trailhead.

  After taking the requisite seventy-five million photos of their coffee, smoothies, and their profiles against the mountain vistas as they drank their coffees, the two of them set off marching down the trail.

  “Oh, here you go,” Freddie pulled out a can of bear spray from his pack and clipped it to her belt loop.

  “What’s this?” she asked, examining the canister. “Bear spray? Do we really have to worry about bears here?”

  Freddie stopped and turned to face Serena. “Sweetheart, you saw a bear with your own two eyes yesterday.”

  “But this is a trail, where people go.”

  “Bears can’t read, and don’t worry, there hasn’t been a bear attack on this trail in oh…” he rubbed his chin, “about three weeks or so…”

  “What?” Serena’s mouth gaped open and she stopped dead on the tracks. “I’m going back.”

  “Easy now,” Freddie grabbed onto the crook of her arm. “I was kidding, there’s never been a bear attack on this trail. The bears will hear us coming,” he reached out and jingled the bell that was attached to his backpack, “They’ll give us space. I’ve never had to use bear spray, I just thought that it would make you feel safer.” As he felt her body soften, he let go of her arm. “Cougars though, they’re the ones I’d be worried about.”

  Serena playfully smacked Freddie on the bicep and continued walking up the trail. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he wasn’t joking. The only thing that scared him out on the trails were the big cats.

  The bear bell jingled as Freddie and Serena made their way along the rocky path. It took about an hour longer to reach High Lake because of all the photo stops. Although Freddie found the pace relaxing, the toughest part was keeping his eyes off of Serena’s round ass in her yoga pants. The feeling from the night before hadn’t been lost on him, and there were times that he wanted to reach out to her and hold her hand as they walked.

  A stream trickled beside the path, the cold glacier water cooling the hot summer air as they trudged up and up. They rounded the last switchback and as High Lake came into view, Serena stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to face Freddie. “Are you kidding me?” She turned to face the lake and then back to Freddie. “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

  High Lake was Caribbean blue. Its far edge abutted the base of a mountain and was home to a year-round glacier; chunks of ice floated by in the water, ignoring the message that it was July.

  “Can we go in?” Serena asked.

  “Are you crazy? It’s practically a slushy.” He reached his hand into the icy water and shivered, but Serena had already started peeling off her boots and socks.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Freddie smiled and helped her up from the rock. “Come with me.” He held out his hand and Serena grasped it, holding her hiking boots in her other hand. She hopped from rock to rock as Freddie guided her along the shoreline. He hadn’t been to High Lake in a few years, but the little cabin was exactly where he remembered it, along with the red canoe. “They filmed a movie up here,” he said as he pointed to the cabin. “They had to fly everything in with helicopters and when it was finished, they left all this stuff here.” Freddie pushed open the door to the cabin and re-emerged with two paddles. “You should be able to get some great photos from the middle of the lake.”

  “I don’t know, Freddie, I have never been in one of those boats before.” She didn’t follow him to the water’s edge.

  “It’s called a canoe, and they’re known for being stable,” Freddie lied. The canoe was an old, heavy sucker though, so unless she stood up and did something really stupid, he had enough paddling experience to make sure they wouldn’t tip over.

  “Really?” Serena’s arms were crossed as she watched Freddie slide the front of the canoe into the lake.

  “Your chariot awaits. Here, leave your boots on shore, take this paddle and set it down on the gunwales.” He demonstrated by setting the paddle down crossways across the canoe on the wooden rails than ran along the top. “Then slide the paddle for stability as you walk to the seat.”

  Serena gripped the paddle so hard her knuckles turned white. Freddie held the rear of the canoe as she followed his instructions to take her seat in the bow. Freddie pushed off from the shore and expertly stepped in, taking his seat in the stern. Serena was still holding either side of the canoe in a death grip, the paddle between her legs.

  “Should I paddle?” she asked as she turned to face him, but when the boat rocked, she panicked and whipped her head around to face forward.

  “Why don’t you just relax and take some pictures. When you get used to the way the canoe moves, you can do some paddling.”

  The water dripping off the end of Freddie’s paddle was the only sound as they glided to the middle of the lake, with the drips being amplified by the acoustics of the surrounding mountains. He paddled a few strokes and then let the canoe drift as Serena took pictures. She held the phone up in front of her, “Get in here, Freddie,” she smiled as she tried to get them both into the frame.

  After taking several photos, Serena tucked her phone into the pocket on her leggings. “Wait, let me take a photo of you,” Freddie said and reached out his hand for her phone. Serena turned and stretched to pass him the device, but she was too far. “Noooooo,” Freddie yelled out as she stood up. He felt the canoe tip to his right and then to his left and then back to his right again as Serena compensated for the wobbles. The canoe tipped to the left again, hard this time, and Serena’s calf hit the side of the canoe. She screamed and while she was in mid-air, she chucked the phone at Freddie before disappearing below the icy water.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Freddie said as Serena re-emerged. He set down his paddle, tucked Serena’s phone into his pants pocket and knelt on the side of the canoe. His first instinct had been to jump in after her, but he knew that it was going to be tough enough to get one person back into the boat, let alone two.