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“Have you ever considered hiking the full trail?” she asked, looking past the end of Sawtooth Ridge where the Appalachian trail continued south.
“I enjoy day hikes more than camping. What about you?”
“My dad and I used to talk about doing the thru-hike. I thought I could take a gap year between high school and college or right after I got my degree, but then he got sick again.”
“Again?”
Rowan nodded. “He was diagnosed the first time when Poppy and I were in elementary school. He went through chemo and all the terrible side effects. The doctors thought they’d gotten everything. Chris was a complete oops,” she said laughing. “Mom and Dad didn’t think they needed birth control after all his treatments. Chris was a year old when the cancer came back, worse than before. After Dad died, I let go of the thru-hike. When I graduated high school, Chris was still so young. Mom needed my help, which was why I drove down on the weekends when I was in college. And now I have a ton of student loans.”
“But you still hike.”
She nodded.
“Does it ever make you sad? Hiking?”
“No,” she said, giving me a curious look. “I love it.”
I nodded. “This summer was the first time I’ve held a football since the accident.”
She paled and reached for my hand.
“Logan and I had been teammates since we were little. I couldn’t even watch a football game that first year while I was going through PT. Eventually, Aiden visited me at JMU and dragged me to a game, then another. I enjoyed watching again, but I never played. Not once.”
“Until I made you,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, Caleb.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be. Training Chris has been the second-best thing to happen to me this summer.”
She blushed. “And the first?”
“Finding Skye, obviously.”
“Yeah, I’m really glad we found her,” Rowan said, looking at the mountains. I felt like the world’s biggest asshole. Most of thewomen I hung around would have recognized the humor and given me a playful slap on the chest, but Rowan was different. She didn’t see herself the way the world did, and I wanted to punch every idiot who’d made her feel less about herself, myself included.
“Hey,” I said, squeezing her hand. “That was a dumb joke. I’m glad we found Skye. Very. But I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t walked into my practice. And I wouldn’t be here with you now.”
I rubbed my thumb across her cheek with my other hand and she leaned into my touch. I lowered my head and kissed her, sweet at first, then deeper, hungrier. She moaned and I went as hard as the rock we were sitting on.
She climbed into my lap, rolling her hips over me in waves that made my dick ache. “We better stop,” I said breaking the kiss. “Unless you want me to fuck you in the middle of the trail for anyone to see.”
She jerked as though realizing where we were and looked around, her eyes wild.
I chuckled. “No one can see us right now. But we won’t be alone long.”
“Your back windows are tinted,” she said. “And you put that sunshade in the front.”
I’ve never packed up so fast in my life. We managed the return hike in less than twenty minutes and were both out of breath and sweating by the time we reached the parking lot. It was only a fifteen-minute drive to my house, but after starting the air conditioner and shoving our packs in the rear, we both squeezed into the back seat, tearing at each other’s clothes. I grabbed a condom from my wallet but before I could put it on, she took it, tore it opened, and rolled it down my heated skin.
I threw my head back and knocked it against the window. Our eyes locked. My heart ached in my chest. “Come here,” I said.
She climbed up my body, our faces pressed together. Her eyes never left mine as she reached between us, positioned me at her entrance, and sank down. We both moaned when I rocked up into her. We moved together, gentle at first, then frantic, each desperate for release. She called my name as she came, sending me over the edge, pleasure ripping through my body with a force that left me dizzy.
She smiled, and I begged the world to stop, to hold the moment a bit longer, but a horn sounded in the parking lot, breaking it into a million pieces. She giggled. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and stay locked with her body for as long as she’d let me. Instead, I eased out of her, hoping she wouldn’t notice how much it pained me to leave.
Chapter twenty-two
Rowan
I’d avoided Karma andLauren all week, but late Thursday morning, I pushed through the door of the café and found my best friend behind the counter, frowning at a tray of pastries.
