“Oh yeah, a long hike.I know a park up near Santa Cruz, along the bluffs overlooking the sea.Wilder Ranch.And there’s a cove we can walk down to with the cliffs rising on either side.There’s a cavern down there, where no one will see me make love to you again.”
She wanted to correct him.Needed to.“We don’t make love, we fuck.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.People don’t fuck in this place.Because it’s magical.”Then he asked, his voice soft, almost inaudible.“Do you want me to take you there tomorrow?”
“You mean, like, for real?”Her heart began pounding.
“Yeah, I mean for real.”
It wouldn’t be a date.They’d just be having sex.Like they had tonight.Itwasan escalation, true.Because they weren’t supposed to meet outside of work.But they’d already been together.He’d already taken her out in the woods near the sex club.They’d already escalated.
But she found herself saying anyway, “I’d like that.”
She could almost hear his grin.“Then it’s a date.”
He hung up before she could tell him it absolutely wasn’t adate.
14
The day was warm, the sky a cloudless blue, the wind off the ocean blustery, keeping them from overheating.The trail along the bluffs offered a magnificent view of the Pacific.
Summer wore hiking shorts that seemed glued to her fabulous ass, her phone tucked in a side pocket along her thigh, her shoulders covered by the capped sleeves of her shirt.Trail dust coated her sturdy hiking shoes.Though he’d never asked—and she’d never shared—the muscles rippling in her calves declared her an avid hiker.
“It’s gorgeous out here,” she said from beneath the shade of her sunhat as the waves crashed against the cliff face below them.
“Absolutely gorgeous.”Knox didn’t give a damn about the view.There was only her.
The path wasn’t crowded, even though it was a beautiful day.But this park was out of the way from Santa Cruz’s Beach Boardwalk, and not as well known.If they were to cross under the highway and wander up into the hills, he was sure they’d see no one but mountain bikers.He liked to bring his bike out here and ramble through those hilly trails.
“You obviously enjoy hiking.”He pointed to her well-worn shoes.“Do you bike as well?”
She shook her head.“I haven’t biked since I was a teenager.”
“Not even with your girls?”
“We’re hikers.”
He was holding her hand, had been almost since they left the parking lot, as if he didn’t hold on to her, she might disappear, a figment of his imagination, a wet dream who came to him in the night.Just like she’d accused him of being a phantom.
Stroking his thumb across her knuckles, he asked, “Did your husband hike with you and the girls?”
She huffed out a breath, shaking her head.“He preferred our home gym where he could watch the business news while he ran on the treadmill or pumped iron.”
“He didn’t go anywhere with you and the girls?”
She said simply, “No,” without any further explanation.
He wanted to say the man was a dickhead, but that was just his jealousy talking.
“I take it you’re a biker,” she said, taking the focus off her.
He squeezed her fingers.“I like to bike back there.”He twisted to point to the hills on the other side of the highway.“That area is part of the park too.You can reach it through a tunnel under Highway One.”
“Do you bike here every weekend?It’s a long drive from Silicon Valley.”
“Hike or bike.There’s another park just up Highway Nine in the San Lorenzo Valley, where you’ll find Boulder Creek and Felton.They’ve got some great bike trails there.Some great hiking trails too.I could teach you how to bike.”
She grinned at him, but he couldn’t tell if that was a yes or no.“I thought no one ever forgets how to ride a bike once they’ve learned?”
