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“No, your mother is sick.”
“What?” My grip tightens on the steering wheel and I straighten up. “What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing serious,” he replies. “Just some stomach bug, maybe some food poisoning from last night.”
“God, lead with that next time okay?” I breathe out, having spent the past ten seconds imagining all sorts of horrible illnesses.
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Dad sighs. “We’re going to have to reschedule the cabin though. Your mother doesn’t want to be around people.”
Disappointment swells as I slow down the car and eye the road for a place to turn back to the city. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“We’ll keep you updated.”
Then the call ends and silence falls in the car. Fuck. I was looking forward to some fresh, clean mountain air. Even looking forward to talking with Asher to see how he feels so I can factor that into my decisions.
With a heavy heart, I spot a widening in the road where I can turn. As I approach, an idea forms in my mind.
If the trip is canceled, the cabin will be empty—no one but me. It would be the perfect place to clear my head, think things over, and work out exactly how I feel and how to proceed.
In some strange stroke of luck, my mother falling ill actually works in my favor. I don’t turn around, and for the next several hours, I continue the drive to the cabin.
I arrive in the late afternoon, and by the time the sun sets low across the mountain, sending trickles of light through trees and branches, I’m settled in and ready for a very relaxing soak in the hot tub.
Until the soft hum of an engine catches my attention. Standing in the middle of the lounge, dressed in a two-piece swimsuit and towel in hand, I stare toward the door. The hum grows louder and louder, then mingles with the crunchy sound of tires grinding across the gravel parking spots outside.
Someone else is here?
18
FINN
Stepping from the car, I rub my hands together and approach the door while practicing all the things I want to say to Emma. Nothing sounds quite right in my mind, and I regret not getting a chance to see her before we had to leave the party.
In the end, I don’t have to say anything because when I reach the bottom of the wooden steps leading up to the log cabin, the front door opens and Emma stands there wearing just a bikini. A sheer cloth wraps around her waist and she holds the edges in one hand against her hip.
“Finn?” Concern on her gorgeous face melts into surprise. She glances past me to Asher and Caspian who wait patiently in the car. We decided on the drive up that only one of us would approach her just in case she didn’t want to see any of us. The last thing we want is for her to feel ganged up on.
“Emma.” Just seeing her makes it impossible to keep a smile from my face.
“What are you doing here?” She keeps her other hand on the door as she looks between me and the car.
“Well…” I remain at the bottom of the steps just to keep a comfortable distance. “When we got the call that this trip was canceled, we swung by your apartment because we wanted to see you. But it was empty and Caspian had the idea that you might have come up here on your own.”
She eyes me with a light smile, one brow raised. “So you drove hours just to come here and check on a hunch?”
I shrug and smirk softly. “I guess so. We wanted to talk to you, really talk things over to make sure everyone was on the same page about how we feel and how things uh, might move forward.” As I’m talking, it slowly dawns on me how this might have been a bad idea. “Although it occurs to me now that it might alarm you to be here alone with us in the mountains so if you want us to leave, just say the word.”
My heart skips a beat. Emma is silent and I can see the gears turning behind her eyes. Hope swells that she will agree to talk to us because I daydreamed about it all through the drive up here. Just us and her with no one to disturb us, cut off from the world to just enjoy time together. Romantic, in my eyes, but I can definitely see how it might be alarming to Emma.
“Okay,” she says finally, stepping back from the door. “You guys can come in.”
My lips pull up on their own and I smile brightly at her. “Excellent.”
I wave one hand and Caspian and Asher slide from the car and collect the bags. I hurry up the steps, breathing in the sweet scent of wood and pine needles amidst the sweet jasmine scent of Emma.
“Did we catch you at a bad time?” I indicate to her swimsuit and she laughs.
“No, I was just going to go and chill in the hot tub.”
