His soft laugh brushes my lips like a kiss. “Right now.”
“Couldn’t have been more than twice.”
“Four times.” His eyes are fixed on my lips. I feel the bite of his teeth there, the slick slide of his tongue, the weight of him when I took him into my mouth last night. He had to be so quiet. His thighs shook so intensely, and when he came, his relief felt like my own. “What were you thinking about?”
I lick my bottom lip, satisfaction rolling through me when he follows the movement with an intensity I used to see on the tennis court. That single-minded attention waiting for a serve, for the chance to demonstrate his exceptional skill.
He’s good at a lot of things. I don’t hate it so much anymore.
“I was thinking about breakfast.” I let out a gasping laugh as he crowds into my space, pinning my hips to the door with his. “Lunch, too. Wondering what we’ll have for dinner.”
He smirks. “You did look pretty hungry.”
I flick his hat bill up so I can get a better look at his eyes. They’re hungry, too. “You ready for this hike, Spencer? I’m going to push you. Might kick your ass.”
His smirk turns into a full-out grin. “That sounds like a reward, not a threat.”
“You say that now, but wait ’til we’re on hour five.”
“Again, that sounds like a reward.” He ducks so his mouth is right there. Almost kissing me, but not quite. “But your threats always have.”
Before I can process that, he rubs his thumb over my bottom lip, then grazes the corner of my mouth with his. The stubble on his chin burns my skin. And so does his hand when he slaps my ass with dirty enthusiasm.
I gasp. “Oh, you assho—”
He’s already halfway down the stairs but turns back to toss me the van keys. “Let’s go, Shep. Time for you to show me up.”
* * *
“Fuck me,” Theo wheezes.
I look over my shoulder at him as a drop of sweat trickles down his nose. I’d love to.
Instead, we’re hiking Angels Landing, a strenuous five-miler, with the sun blazing down, Theo randomly cursing behind me, and people passing us regularly on the trail. When the time comes for fucking, I sincerely hope it has a sexier ambiance. And less threat of death.
We’re not at the terrifying part of the hike yet, but even this portion is rigorous. The trail is carved into the side of the canyon, and though it’s wider in this series of switchbacks called Walter’s Wiggles, the drop-off is straight down with only scrubby plants to stop the fall.
“Buck up, Spencer, you got this,” I call over my shoulder. I’m winded, but my body is loving the familiar burn in my lungs, legs, and chest from the demanding incline.
Suddenly Theo’s closer, nearly at my back. “Logically, I know that you wore those shorts because they’re functional, but your ass in them is the only thing keeping me going right now.” He reaches out to grasp my spandex-covered hip with firm fingers, his thumb digging into my ass. “Also, the fact that you’re destroying me is hot.”
Pride buzzes inside me. “Where’s that competitive spirit?”
“Slid off the side of this trail after the twelfth switchback.”
I laugh. There are twenty-one.
“And anyway, I’ve always liked watching you kick ass, Shepard. Even if it was mine.”
“That’s not true at all.”
I appraise him. Despite his complaint, he looks like he could go for days. His cheeks are flushed, his forearms damp. But his strides are long and confident, and he’s only slightly more out of breath than I am.
He grins, catching my lingering eyes. “Completely true.”
“Not in high school.”
“For sure in high school.” I give him a look, and he holds up his hands, laughing. “Maybe you were annoyed by our competition, but I loved it. Either you were complimenting me in your ass backwards way, or you were killing it. Do you know how fun it is to see you get that homicidal glint in your eyes?”
“Oh please,” I scoff, like I didn’t inherit my focused murder eyes from my mother.
Theo’s breath dances over the back of my neck as he gets closer. Probably a distraction so he can overtake me. “You saw me as someone to battle against, and I admit I saw you like that, too. But there were times when you felt like my only equal.”
My foot catches on a patch of silky dust and I slide, only to catch myself against the wall. Theo’s right there, half a second behind me, crowding me to safety. My heart races, both from the brief loss of control and from his words. From how true I want them to be now, not in the past tense.
“Okay, well,” I say slowly, “that was a decade ago.”
“You’re kicking ass now, too.”
My eyebrows raise doubtfully. “You’re impressed because I’m a competent hiker?”
“It’s very hot, don’t underestimate that as a skill.” I roll my eyes, trying to break free from his grasp, but he keeps me caught. He bends down so he can murmur in my ear, “Not just that, though. After I made you come last night—”
“Oh my god,” I choke out with a laugh, pushing at his stomach. But he just smirks, not giving me an inch of space. A foursome passes us, the couple in back looking at us with amused smiles.
“I spent some time on your TikTok once you fell asleep. You’re good, Noelle, and I knew it as soon as you picked up your camera in Yosemite. You had this look on your face—the same look you’d get when you’d volley a ball back and you fucking knew you were going to get that point. It’s that I’ve got this look, and every single time you have that camera in your hand, it’s there.”
I swallow hard, staring up at him. There are people moving around us, feet shuffling in the dirt, breathless conversation, but it all bleeds away with his words.
“I admittedly don’t know shit about photography, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. What matters is you know you’re good, and it seems like you need someone to remind you that you know it.” Theo’s eyes track over my face. “So here I am, reminding you.”
His words warm me, but it doesn’t change the situation waiting for me at home: no job, no place to call my own. “I don’t have my shit together the way you think I do.”
I give him a piece of my secret to see what he’ll do with it. Search his face for any sign of dimming interest, or suspicion.
But his eyes are clear, and it does something so intensely dangerous to my heart, flares it with hope and feelings I refuse to name. “Neither do I.”
“You really, really do,” I whisper.
He sighs, pushing back a strand of hair that’s fallen from my ponytail. “Let’s keep climbing.”
* * *
The last half mile of Angels Landing is harrowing, so we don’t talk except to check in with each other. Theo stays right behind me as we traverse what is essentially just a narrow ridge of mountain with a thousand-foot drop. There are anchored chains to hold on to for most of the climb, but nothing else to protect us.
“You good?” Theo asks as we come to a section that’s chainless, just a six-foot expanse of red rock with the valley swooping below us on either side. One wrong move and we’re dead, literally.