Now he just had to make her see it.
It was exhilarating, being out here. Hiking new terrain. Challenging her body and pushing it to its limits. Of course, what was the limit for Mac was merely a speed bump for her counterpart on this excursion. Which he proved as he carried on a conversation as if they were sitting on the couch watching TV and not climbing one of the most challenging mountains in Mississippi.
“Tell me about your favorites.” Hudson kicked a stray rock off the path and focused his attention on her.
“My what?” Mac managed between panting breaths.
“Your favorites,” he said. “I wanna see if they’ve changed since we were kids. I already know your favorite fruit is still peach, but what about everything else?”
“Specifics, Hud.” Mac inhaled deeply before blowing out a long breath. “I need specifics if you want answers.”
He shot her a grin. “All right. What’s your favorite candy,specifically?”
She rolled her eyes. “Starburst.”
“Still pink?”
She ignored the way her stomach fluttered at the fact that he remembered that insignificant detail. Honestly, she was hard up for a good man if something so inconsequential was getting her fluttery. “Obviously. It’s the only one that counts.”
“Noted.” He nodded. “Let’s see… How about favorite animal?”
“Dog.” If she could keep these to single-word answers, she might have a chance of making it to their intended campsite without her lungs collapsing.
“Another that hasn’t changed.”
“Nope.” She skidded on some stray rocks, and he shot out his hand to grip her elbow, only letting her go once he’d made sure she was steady.
“Okay, this onehasto be something new: favorite song?”
She slid him a glance out of the corner of her eye, gripping the straps of her pack. Actually, it wasn’t. It was the same favorite he’d teased her about relentlessly when they’d been kids…and then teenagers. The fact that it was still her number one song of all time was embarrassing as hell. And he’d totally call her out on it. “Um…can’t pick.”
He narrowed his eyes at her while she pointedly ignored him. “I don’t buy it. You’ve got one.”
“How do you know?”
“I might’ve been gone for a long time, but you still have the same tells.” He reached out and brushed a finger down the side of her hand as she spun her earring. “Might as well spill.”
She dropped her hand as if she’d been electrocuted. Dammit, she hadn’t even realized she’d been doing that. “I would…but I don’t want to.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Why not?”
She sucked in a huge lungful of air, then said on an exhale, “Because this mountain is already handing my ass to me. I don’t need you to make fun of me, too.”
Hudson held up three fingers in the universal sign for Scout’s honor. “Promise I won’t.”
“Are you forgettin’ I knew you as a kid and know for a fact you weren’t a Scout?”
“I can still have Scout’s honor.”
“Mhmm… And when you break that code of honor?”
“I think you mean if…”
“No, I mean when.Whenyou break it, what then?”
“All right,ifI tease you, I’ll sing the song, acapella.”
An intriguing proposition. Hudson was a terrible singer. Horrific, in fact. Truly earsplitting. He couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, and she had a fully charged phone on her—not that she could use it to contact anyone at all because the service was nonexistent up here. Shecould, however, video the whole thing and save it for her future viewing pleasure.
