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Relief floods his features. “Great. Let’s get going then.”
I follow in his footsteps, hiking through the woods and up the mountain while birds chatter in the background. This is nice. I needed this. I’m feeling so good about this that I’m hiking with a spring in my step.
Falcon looks over his shoulder at me, and I give him a big thumbs up. “This is awesome.”
He grins. “It sure is.”
Half an hour later, though, I’ve changed my mind. This might turn out to be harder than I anticipated. I thought a stroll through the woods would take my mind off things, but this is serious business. There are rocky inclines and steep descents, all at a pace I have no chance of keeping up with.
“Are you okay, Iris?” Falcon asks when I stop to catch my breath.
A trickle of sweat runs down my backside, and my hair sticks to my wet neck. “I’m fine,” I say in between breaths. “Maybe a bit dizzy.”
“You’re not fine then, are you? First rule in hiking with me is always to be honest.”
I nod. “Got it.”
Falcon throws his backpack on the ground and leads me to a rock at the side of the trail for me to sit on. He hands me his water bottle. “Drink,” he instructs.
I gladly take the bottle from him and down half of it without thinking. The way the cool water soothes my parched throat is almost orgasmic.
“Shit. You brought more water, right?” I ask, suddenly guilty about using his water bottle. “I don’t want us to run without because of me.”
“No need to feel bad. I came prepared. We can purify the water from the streams that run through these mountains.”
“Still, I’m slowing us down.”
“No, you’ve helped me, actually.”
“Really? How?”
He sits down beside me and hands me a chocolate bar. “I thought this hike would be good for beginners, but it’s clearly not. I’ll have to find a different approach trail to the camping spot. If I offer this to my clients, they’ll drop like flies.”
I laugh. “You can’t have that. Imagine the bad reviews you’ll get.”
“Exactly. I can’t afford to have RidgeRoam Adventure Tours’ perfect four-point seven review score take a hit because of some poorly planned hike.”
I unwrap the chocolate bar and take a grateful bite. “Glad to be of service.”
“Speaking of service,” Falcon says, his dark eyes locking with mine. “What do you do for a living? I feel like I don’t know a lot about you.”
“I told you about my mother, didn’t I?”
He chuckles. “You’re right. The mother with unattainable standards who thinks running is for the less privileged. What else does she not approve of? Eating a hamburger with your bare hands?”
I snort. “That’s my mother, all right. Food that people eat without cutlery isn’t good enough in her eyes.”
Falcon whistles. “Jesus Christ. I was kidding. She’s that stuck-up, huh?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But to answer your question, I work in public relations. My mother insisted I pursue a career that reflects positively on our family’s reputation. So, I spend my days smoothing out any wrinkles in the public image of influential people, ensuring they always appear polished and perfect. And because I do that, my family also appears perfect. At least, that’s how my mother sees things.”
Falcon’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Sounds... demanding.”
“You have no idea,” I say with a wry smile. “But it pays the bills and keeps my mother off my back, most of the time anyway.”
He nods sympathetically. “I admire your dedication. It takes a lot to deal with that kind of pressure.”
I take another swig of water. “Well, it’s all in the past now that I ran away from my wedding. I’ll probably be shunned by my family. I don’t know how I feel about that, to be honest. On the one hand, I’m relieved I finally broke free from all the demands and pressure. But on the other hand, I’m sad because I do love them and want to make them happy.”
