“Good for you,” Lydia said, lifting her empty Bloody Mary glass in a toast.
“Yeah, fuck them,” Kit added.
“Pretty sure they fucked each other,” Jack sniggered.
Eve shook her head as Kit and Lydia giggled at his quip, and sighed as she leaned into Aspen. “Let’s just say that it was a much more enjoyable way to spend the evening than schmoozing with their clients. No offense.”
“None taken,” Kit replied genially. “Lord knows I’d’ve blown it off too if we weren’t looking for investors to expand with a West Coast base of operations. But, unfortunately for us, your parents are ridiculously connected to a metric butt-ton of people who have more money than God.”
“Present company included.” Jack smirked.
Kit rolled her eyes. “Christ, Jackie, can you make yourself sound like more of an asshole?”
He shrugged and pulled a comically thoughtful expression. “I mean, probably.”
“Yeah, we can beat that out of you.” Kit slapped her hands on the table and pushed to her feet. “Let’s go.”
Because the restaurant was in the heart of downtown Aspen, it was only a short drive to the trailhead, and Eve studied the snow-covered path that extended up the mountain as Aspen turned off the car. The weather, at least, was on their side with temperatures hovering in the low thirties and only the faintest hint of a breeze, but while the trail looked like it was groomed and the elevation manageable, she wondered how far those conditions extended.
She was in decent enough shape, but she wasn’t anywhere near ‘let’s climb a mountain’ type form.
She caught Aspen’s wrist to stop her before she could climb out of the car. “So, how hard is this hike?”
“Not hard at all.” Aspen gently plied Eve’s hand from her wrist and cradled it between her own. “We haven’t gotten any snow in like a week, so the trail itself will be pretty packed down and easy to navigate, and the grade isn’t anything awful. I’ve also got a few pairs of Yaktrax that I’ll throw in my pack for us to pull on over our boots if it gets slick, and since I’m the only one who’s used to the elevation, we’ll be taking it slow.” She leaned across the center console to kiss her softly. “You’ll be fine, Eve. I promise.” Her eyes twinkled as she pulled away. “And, if it gets too rough, I’ll piggyback you out of there.”
Eve smiled. “Jack would want one too.”
“Jack is a big boy; he can get his pretty ass back down on his own. Or Kit can consider that day one of her new exercise plan.”
Eve chuckled and squeezed Aspen’s hand. “Thank you.”
Aspen’s expression gentled as she lifted Eve’s hand to her lips. “Always, beautiful girl.”
They both startled when someone pounded on the back widow of the car, and Aspen swore softly as she spun to glare at Jack, who was doing his best dead bug impression with his cheeksmashed against the glass and his arms splayed ridiculously around his head. “Maybe I’ll help him down by kicking his ass off a cliff or something.”
“Nice try,” Eve laughed. “But you’re not getting out of the gala that easily.”
A playful smirk tugged at Aspen’s lips as she huffed a resigned breath. “Fine. Whatever.” She winked and pulled her hand away. “Sit tight. I’ll grab my pack from the back, and then I’ll get your door for you.”
Eve nodded and turned to grab her camera bag from the floor behind her seat as Aspen climbed out of the car. If she was going to trek up a mountain, she was at least going to have some pictures to show for it.
She shook her head at Lydia’s amused, “Chivalry isn’t dead—she’s a lesbian!” that greeted her when Aspen opened her door, and she threw her a playfully unimpressed look as she dropped a kiss to Aspen’s cheek. “Cute, Lyds.”
Lydia grinned and blew her a kiss. “Aww, thanks, honey. You’re pretty cute, too.”
“What about me?” Jack pouted.
“You’re pretty, too, Jackie,” Kit drawled. She smacked him on the ass hard enough to make him stumble, and smirked as she threw a playful, “What was that you were saying about me needing to bulk?” over her shoulder at him as she started for the trail.
Eve laughed when he took after her with a thoroughly indignant, “Oh, fuck you, Hawthorne!” that had Kit cackling as she started running up the trail to get away from him, and smiled at Aspen as she took her hand. “At least the hike won’t be boring?”
“Nothing ever is with those two,” Aspen agreed wryly as they started up the trail after them.
Even though Eve trusted Aspen implicitly, she was still relieved to find that Aspen hadn’t been lying about the difficulty of the hike. The winding, serpentine path was steep at times, but they took it at an easy pace that was closer to a stroll than anything else.
Sometime around the halfway mark, Kit and Jack harassed Aspen into joining them toward the front of their little pack, and Eve shared an amused smile with Lydia, who fell back to take Aspen’s place at her side.
“So…Kit Hawthorne, huh?” Eve teased.
