It was just some sounds,Kieran told it.It’s an old house – it’s completely normal!
But the griffin didn’t answer him aside from letting out a low, warning growl. Clearly, it disagreed. And right now, it wasn’t going to be persuaded otherwise.
Even if that’s true,it said, glowering,I cannot sleep with all this noise. We are going elsewhere.
It was hard to argue with that, Kieran thought. Hopefully, soon the griffin would realize it was making a big deal out of what was hopefully nothing and sheepishly let him have control of his body back. But, sighing, Kieran realized that he’d just have to resign himself to being a passenger in his own head until then.
Chapter 3
Okay,Natasha thought as she huffed and puffed her way up the mountain trail,maybe thereissomething to be said for fresh air after all.
Usually, the main form of exercise she got was trotting on the treadmill at her gym while frantically answering emails on her cell phone over lunch. She’d thought she was in pretty good shape, for someone with as demanding a job as she had – so of course she’d thought she’d be able to easily handle a little bit of hiking on the trails through the parklands here. But she was pretty quickly coming to realize thatno, treadmill-trotting inno wayprepared her for any of this – but also, to her surprise, she didn’t really mind it.
Exercisewas just something she’d had to do in the past because her personal trainer would yell at her if she didn’t – and likewise, she’d really only had a personal trainer to begin with because it had just seemed like the thing to do – but she’d never gotten any particular joy out of it. But now she was starting to wonder if there hadn’t been a secret athlete locked away inside of her all this time: it had just been waiting for her to get out of the gym and go run around on a beautiful trail that wound its way between the tallest, most majestic trees Natasha had ever seen in her life.
Well, you used to see them all the time,she reminded herself as she started her way up a steep, slightly muddy path that led over some enormous gray boulders, straight past a crystal-clear stream.But you weren’t very enchanted by their majesty then.
It was true: Natasha had never been one for the outdoors when she’d been a kid. She’d been kind of… bookish, she supposed she’d call it, though she’d hardly been shy. She just hadn’t really been interested in sports, or going on camping trips with the other kids in the woods, or really doing anything that took her away from the creature comforts of her home, her bed, her shower, and her bookshelf.
But maybe now that she’d spent the last several years pretty much doing nothingbutliving in comfort, Natasha was beginning to wonder if perhaps there might not be some benefit toreconnecting with natureandtouching grassor whatever the kids were calling it these days.
Even if shewasgetting all sweaty even in the crisp early spring air, and even if shehadjust stepped in the world’s largest mud puddle and gotten her socks all wet.
“Eugh!”
Okay, maybe scratch that last part – she could do without the soaking wet socks and the weird squelching sounds she now made as she walked. But despite even that, Natasha was a little reluctant to turn around and head back to her B&B down the mountain – the sun had been up for a while already, but it was still cool enough that despite the fact she was sweating like a hog she wasn’t uncomfortably warm, and she reallywasenjoying the way the pale gold sunlight filtered through the vibrantly green new leaves that were just beginning to unfurl, and the twittering of the birds as they flew between them.
Everything somehow seemed fresh and new and clean – and, she reluctantly admitted, she herself was included in that. She’d even allowed herself to sleep in a little this morning –sleep in!All right, so it had only been until eight o’clock, but for someone who usually rose at six a.m. in order to get to her office by seven-fifteen, that was an absolute luxury.
But to be honest, she hadn’t exactly slept well last night – and it wasn’t, for once, because she was up answering emails or checking on the status of the projects she was working on, or staying up late so she could be on a Zoom call with international clients in some topsy-turvy timezone.
Natasha felt her lips twitching, threatening to break out into a smile.
No, what she’d been up last night thinking about had been… well,weird, but alsoexciting,for reasons she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
I cannot believe I asked some guy out on a date in the middle of a supermarket.
True, he’d beencute– kind of flustered and adorable with a wide smile and a mane of dark blond hair and – from what she could tell, with his jacket covering up most of his torso –verynicely built.
But she hadn’t come out here to find romance – and to be honest, today she was feeling more than a little guilty about having been so impulsive. She couldn’t really explain it to herself – she wasn’t usually like that, and the last time she’d asked a guy out on a date, orbeenasked out had been…
Oh my God, I can’t even actually remember,Natasha thought, feeling just the slightest bit mortified. ‘Not for a while’ was a pretty safe bet, then.
But was it really a good idea to do itnow?
She wasn’t in town for long – but then, neither, it seemed, was he. She hadn’t thought to ask him where he’d come from, but it seemed a bit too much to hope for that they were from the same city. Maybe they weren’t even from the samestate.
And I don’t know how I feel about a long-distance thing… wait, what?!
They hadn’t even gone on a date yet, Natasha thought, shaking her head. Thinking about how she wasn’t interested in a long-distance relationship seemed, to put it mildly, getting a little bit ahead of herself. She couldn’t be making future plans based on a five-minute conversation over a can of beans!
God. What a disaster. I don’t go on a date for a few months – or whatever – and suddenly I’m thinking these kinds of things. Get a grip!
But she had to admit… she’d felt a bit of a spark there. Natasha wouldn’t call herself the shy and retiring type. If she wanted something, she had the gumption to go and get it, and she didn’t like wasting time. There was no point in dancing around things if she knew what her goals were, and so far that philosophy had served her well in life. She’d always achieved everything she’d set out to achieve.
Well, it doesn’t have to be a serious thing,she told herself, though something in her gave a little bit of a pang at the thought, even though she’d never had a problem with casual flings before.Just a holiday romance. Maybe that’s all he was after too.
At the least, she supposed, she should haveonefull date with him before planning out their wedding. And who knew – maybe it’d be fun and refreshing. Some things weren’t meant to last forever, and when was the last time she’d done something with no strings attached? She deserved a little fun.
