I dropped my hand as if I’d been electrocuted. Dammit, I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing that. “I would…but I don’t want to.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Why not?”
I 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 I had a fully charged phone on me—not that I could use it to contact anyone at all because the service was nonexistent up here. Icould, however, video the whole thing and save it for my future viewing pleasure.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. “It’s ‘Bye Bye Bye.’”
He was quiet for long moments, and I thought I might actually be in the clear. Then he said, “So is it safe to assume you still have that poster of Justin Timberlake hanging up in your room?”
I shook my head, pressing my lips together to keep my smile at bay. “Get singin’, soldier boy.”
A bark of laughter shot out from him, and I found myself grinning right along with him. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this. Not just him, butus. We had an undeniable connection—a chemistry that had nothing to do with sex, although that simmered under the surface—and I’d somehow forgotten it in the time he’d been gone. Forgotten that it could really be this easy with someone.
“How about I serenade you with it tonight during our supper over a roaring fire?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Sounds like someone forgot I have a steel trap for a memory—you’re not gettin’ outta this one.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Hudson continued peppering me with question after insignificant question for the next half hour, until I could barely catch my breath because I’d been talking so much. That, and the altitude up here was nothing to sneeze at.
“Okay, how about favorite team?”
I scoffed. “Could you be—” I sucked in a huge lungful of air before slowly blowing it out “—more specific?” Gripping a low-hanging tree branch, I used it to help propel me up the incline. “Which sport? And are you talkin’ college, pro, or international?”
He stared at me, amusement plain on his face. “All of them, obviously.”
I stopped in my tracks, halting him with a hand to his chest. Trying to ignore how warm and solid he was beneath my fingers. His heart thrummed a smooth, steady beat against my palm. Meanwhile, mine was off like a hummingbird, and touching him wasn’t helping matters.
“Hey, Captain America, not all of us are ridiculously in-shape, hotshot soldiers.” I stepped back, dropping my hand and grabbing my water bottle from my pack, needing something to keep my hands busy lest I start roaming them all over his body. “You mind savin’ the chitchat till we reach the next summit? That way, I won’t embarrass myself by hurling up a lung while tryin’ to answer your questions.”
His mouth ticked up on the side as he took a step toward me. And then another, and another. He didn’t stop until he stood directly in front of me. The difference between the chill that had settled in since we’d started the hike and the heat pouring from his body was enough to send a shiver down my spine. One he definitely noticed.
He reached up, his fingers hooking under my chin as he swiped his thumb below my bottom lip, the delicate touch sending shock waves of heat through my body.
“What was that for?” I breathed, my eyes caught in the snare of his gaze.
“Water droplet.” He kept up the brain-numbing brush of his thumb against my lips. “Thought it might be too forward of me to lick it off like I wanted to.”
I opened my mouth to say something witty, but nothing came out. He’d officially made me brain-dead. See? This was what I’d been worried about. That I’d come out here with him, get figuratively lost in the woods, and forget all reason. Forget why I needed to keep my distance. Why kissing him was a bad idea, because right now, I wanted it desperately.
When I didn’t respond, didn’t step back or rebuke him, he lowered his head, his eyes connected with mine, until he pressed his mouth to mine. I’d played this over a dozen times in my mind—I knew what I was supposed to do. I wassupposedto press my mouth together and step back, tell him that was a bad idea.
