“Well…” she began, wondering how much she should share. Deciding not to gush about the perfection of the afternoon, lest they get the wrong idea, she said simply, “Things were going great until we stumbled across a rattlesnake.”
“Oh no!” Cassie breathed. “How terrifying!”
“It was. My horse spooked and bolted in complete panic.” Penny’s pulse quickened as she recounted the story. She could still smell the dirt filling her lungs as Frost’s hooves pounded the earth. In the moment, she’d been scared half to death. But when it was all over… well, she’d never felt such a rush in all her life. “Eventually,”—she continued, collecting her thoughts—“Frost stopped at the edge of the lake, bucking me into the water.”
Cassie and Eliza gasped in unison, their pastries long forgotten.
“Colt dove in after me. Which is how we both got wet.”
“Colt rescued you?” Eliza nearly toppled off the stool as she swooned.
“I guess you could say that….” Penny trailed off noncommittally.
“That’s so romantic.” Cassie pressed a hand to her heart, her green eyes soft and dreamy.
“It wasn’t like that,” Penny insisted swiftly.
“What happened next?” Eliza leaned halfway across the counter in her eagerness. “Did he kiss you? If this were a movie, it would totally be the part where he would kiss you.”
To Penny’s relief, the kettle screeched, saving her from answering Eliza’s ridiculous question.
Honestly, had her friend lost her mind? Coltkissher? She could say with one hundred percent certainty that it had never occurred to either of them.
Well… maybe with ninety percent certainty.
Seventy-five percent, for sure.
With a sharp shake of her head, Penny dismissed the thought.
As she poured the boiling water into the prepped teapot, she leaned forward so the steam wafted toward her face. Rosemary and ginseng were often used to promote mental clarity and prevent memory loss.
And right now, shereallyneeded to remember why she’d vowed to stay single.
Otherwise, she was in danger of making a terrible mistake.
Chapter 11
Penny shivered despite the warm, eighty-degree weather.
“This isn’t real… this isn’t real,” she whispered, gazing upward through the feathered branches of the enormous ponderosa pine.
Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to complete two of the activities back-to-back in a single weekend. At the time, she’d appreciated the strategy of knocking them off the list as quickly as possible. But now… she wanted to run home, curl up with a good book, and remain safe and sound in her snug apartment. Not tethered to a gargantuan tree at Zane’s Zany Zip-Line Course—Triple Z, as locals affectionately called it.
And it certainly didn’t help that mere seconds after reaching the first platform, the other couple got cold feet. The poor hysterical woman had trembled so violently, her boyfriend practically had to carry her down the ladder.
Travis, their gangly, twentysomething guide, had apologized profusely for the inconvenience, but Colt assured him they didn’t mind waiting, and promised to stay clipped to the safety tether until he returned.
Talk about a huge mistake.
The longer Penny spent cowering on the platform, the more she talked herself out of jumping. Squeezing her eyes shut, she envisioned a nice, relaxing cup of peppermint tea waiting for her back home.
“You okay?” Colt nudged her gently, stirring her from her thoughts.
In reality, he’d barely tapped her. But Penny clung to the safety railing as though he’d tried to shove her to her death. She shot him a withering glare.
“I take it you’re afraid of heights?”
“I’m afraid of falling from high places,” she corrected, her teeth chattering. “I should have gone back when I had the chance. Do you think Travis will be upset if we climb down on our own?”
