Easy was not the word that came to mind as our hike stretched on into the afternoon. But it wasn’t quite as difficult as I’d expected either.
The trail to Rose River falls was wide and well-groomed and, contrary to April’s prediction, crowded with outdoor enthusiasts. The pretty, cascading falls made me wish for my holoconnect, so I could take pictures, as many of the hikers were doing.
Beyond that, things weren’t as smooth. In order to reach the old campsite, we had to leave the marked trail and forge our own path through the woods.
Heath said he thought there might have once been an official trail there because the undergrowth wasn’t as thick as it was in some parts of the forest.
With his long legs and athletic build, he had no trouble with the long hike. And Daniel’s never-ending enthusiasm for exploring carried him forward. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up, but I surprised myself.
The hike was vigorous, though, to say the least. My feet, unused to hiking boots and long-distance treks, began to complain after a few hours, and the warm afternoon sun was more than making up for the elevation. That red fleece I’d put on during the trolley ride came off again.
Finally, we came to another clearing where a smaller but even more beautiful waterfall roared.
“Wow. It’s so pretty.” I stopped and stared at the lovely natural wonder, catching my breath.
“Can I get in, Heath?” Daniel begged, already stripping off his clothing and hiking boots.
“Go ahead. But stay near the edge here—don’t go under the falls.”
“Okay.” Daniel waded into the shallow water at the edge of the pool. “Oh, it’s cold.”
He turned and gave us a silly teeth-chattering smile before continuing.
Heath pulled out the map and studied it. “I would think this spot would be on a trail, but I don’t see it on the map. Unless my compass is wrong.”
He looked at the device and shook it, as if that would alter the holo glowing above it somehow.
I twirled in a circle, looking for a trail marker. There was no marker, but there was a trail, much narrower than the one we’d taken earlier today. I pointed to it.
“What about that? Is it on the map?”
He shook his head, his face screwing up in confusion. “No.”
Glancing up again, he took a step toward the dirt path. “Maybe that’s a good thing—an unmarked trail. Maybe it leads to the Haven.”
I nodded, trying to be enthusiastic, but wanting to do nothing but sit down on the nearest flat rock. “You may be right. Can we take a break first, though? I haven’t exactly trained for this. My feet could use a breather.”
“Oh, sure. No problem.”
“Aren’t you the least bit tired?” I asked as I sat down and unlaced my new boots, baffled that he seemed so fresh and energetic.
And stunning, by the way. His normally olive-toned skin was flushed from exertion, making his incredible eyes look even brighter. His dark hair was disheveled, but it only made him more attractive somehow.
I probably looked like a wilted weed at this point, and there he stood looking like a superhero from one of the old vids.
He gave me a superhero-worthy grin. “Nope. Not a bit.”
His gaze lifted to check on Daniel. “I wouldn’t mind a swim to cool off, though. What do you say?”
Now I looked out at the water and the small boy cavorting in it. I was hot. And it looked so refreshing. But I had no swimsuit.
Apparently undaunted by the fact that he had no swimsuit either, Heath stripped his shirt off and stepped out of his shoes. He headed for the water in only his shorts while I debated what to do and tried my best not to salivate over the sight of his muscled back, shoulders, and arms.
Even his feet were attractive. How was that possible? No one had good-looking feet.
Speaking of, mine were sweaty and sore. The cool water would probably feel heavenly on them.
Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer. I pulled off my boots and socks and waded into the pool.
Whoa. Daniel was right. It was chilly. But it felt good, refreshing and clean, and within a few minutes my skin acclimated, and the water temperature didn’t feel quite so cold. I waded deeper, up to the bottom edge of my shorts.
Now my sweaty back and neck were jealous of my feet and legs. I really wanted to go deeper and dive under the water like Heath and Daniel were doing.
I had on a bra under my shirt, of course, and really, it was no more revealing than the average bikini top would be—less revealing, probably.
But still, the idea of removing my shirt in front of Heath was… well, it was kind of exciting, actually. I flitted my eyes to him. His back was turned.
He won’t even notice.
The boys on the base certainly never had. We’d swum together at pool parties and ESBF class since I could remember, and not one of them had ever even glanced at my cleavage in a swimsuit.
Heath tossed Daniel into the deeper water. While he was busy swimming after him, pretending to be a shark, I took a deep breath and yanked my shirt over my head, dropping it onto the bank.
Then quickly, before Heath turned around, I dived under the water and swam to the deepest part of the pool near the falls.
The cool water felt unbelievably good on my bare skin. I was glad I’d decided to be brave and go for it.
But when I re-surfaced and found my footing on the pool’s rocky bottom, Heath was no longer playing shark with Daniel.
He no longer had his back turned.
No, he was facing me, staring, his jaw slightly ajar. My skin heated so fast I could almost feel the water evaporate from it in a puff of steam. I brought one of my hands to the base of my throat, using my arm to cover my chest.
“What?”
As if waking from a trance, Heath shook his head and finally responded. “Uh, nothing. I thought… you weren’t coming in.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Yeah. I… see that.”
His eyes moved over my body—what was exposed of it—from my dripping wet hair down to my bare waist and hips and back up to my face.
So much for not noticing. Based on the thoroughness of his inspection, he hadn’t missed a single detail of my anatomy.
Suddenly embarrassed, I dived under again. When I came back up, Heath had resumed playing with his brother, but I caught him frequently darting his eyes to me until we’d all gotten out of the water and I’d dressed again.
The three of us sat together on a rock shelf that hung out over the pool, drying in the warm sun.
“Feeling better?” Heath asked.
I opened my eyes and blinked a couple of times to clear the sun glare. “Much. How about you?”
“I told you—I wasn’t tired.”
“And how is that possible by the way? Don’t you spend your days riding around in a delivery van? It’s not like you’re out doing manual labor and building muscle.”
My eyes involuntarily traveled to his muscled chest, shoulders, and arms before I willed them away and back up to his face.
Heath gave me a knowing grin. “My apartment building has an exercise facility. You’ve done pretty well today yourself. I expected a lot more belly-aching.”
“Hey.” I punched his shoulder lightly but then laughed. “You didn’t hear the internal monologue. It was pretty whiny.”
Now he laughed. Daniel, who’d been exploring the nooks between the rocks along the shoreline looked over at us, and his childish high laughter joined ours, though I didn’t think he even knew why he was laughing.
I lifted my gaze and looked around us, taking in the blue sky, the sparkling water, smelling the pine-scented air and listening to the pleasant music of the rushing water nearby. The moment felt… magical, somehow.
As if this wasn’t real life but some happy dream. I felt like I could stay there forever with the two of them.
As if reading my mind, Heath said, “This has been a good day. Best one I’ve had in a long time.”
“Me too.” I could barely meet his eyes as I added, “I know that this is a serious thing—finding the Haven—but I’m having fun. You’re… different from the other guys I’ve known.”
Heath rewarded me with a big smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Getting to his feet, he extended a hand to pull me up. “We should get going. I want to find this place and see what we’re dealing with before it gets too late in the day.”
We gathered our things and took the narrow, unmarked path leading away from the private waterfall. Though it stayed tight, it did not ever close up completely or become overgrown but continued to lead us further into the wooded park.
After an hour on it, we stopped for a breather. Heath pulled out his compass and map, checking both.
“It looks like we’re close. Another ten or fifteen minutes of walking and we should reach the location.”
“Good. I’m ready to find something.”
“Will we see the Lost Boys?” Daniel asked.
“I’m not sure, buddy.” Heath grinned over at me. “He’s a big fan of Peter Pan. When I told him we were going hiking to look for people who lived in the woods, he became convinced that’s who we were going to find.”
I shrugged and grinned back. “Maybe he’s right.”
“Well, whoever they are—I hope they’re open to visitors. Just in case, if we come to a clearing, don’t step right out. Let’s get the lay of the land first. It’s possible they’re not visitor-friendly. They might even be armed.”
