Shane swallowed back a smile.
“It’s the actual kittens I’m objecting to, anyway,” he said. “They’re so...” Turning up his nose, he waved his hand in the air as he thought of the right words. “...so sweet and fluffy.”
“Well, I like sweet. I like fluffy.”
“Yeah.” He poured her a mug of coffee from the flask he’d made. Steam rose in the cool morning air as he handed it to her. “I bet you used to draw love hearts on your schoolbooks, too.”
Krista nodded proudly and sipped her coffee. “I also dotted my I’s with them.”
Of course.“My sister did the same. Her love hearts were puffy and round. I used to tell her they looked like upside-down butt cheeks.”
“Delightful boy.”
“I guess there’s a reason why she nicknamed me the Worm,” Shane said, snickering. “So, how did you sleep?”
“Like a baby. You?”
“Same.”
Krista held up the little wooden frog he’d found on the back seat of his car—having got it a while back with some promotion from his local supermarket—and placed it on the table. “Your little friend kept me company.”
“He’s helpful like that. It’s why I keep him around.”
“I should’ve known you still played with toys,” she muttered with a smile then turned to gaze at the mountains through the trees of the campsite. “So, yesterday was a very interesting and very long day, eh?”
Krista looked thoughtful, and no prizes for guessing what—or who—she was thinking about.
Ryan.
Shane drew breath to tell her that he was going to delete the photographs and that they should forget their stupid bet. Forget social media, too, and everything else except the Rocky Mountains. But then she yawned and stretched out like a lion.
“Man, I ache,” she said. “I must’ve covered over twenty kilometers yesterday, what with my run along the river and hike up Tunnel Mountain.”
What?Shane lowered his coffee. “You did a hikebeforewe left the hotel?”
She nodded and yawned again.
“Wow, Krista, we’re meant to be relaxing, not killing ourselves.”
“Exercise does relax me.”
“Yeah, I get that.” But then he recalled how he’d ribbed her yesterday morning about not being able to keep up on the hikes. “You know I was kidding about you taking the slower options, don’t you?” He could tell straight away that Krista wasn’t afraid to use that compact body of hers. Not that Shane had dwelt on the firmness of her butt and thighs whenever he walked behind her, or the muscle definition in her arms and shoulders. He’d just happened to notice, that was all. “I know you’re fit. I was just trying to get a rise out of you to cheer you up.”
“That annoying chauvinist act was you being nice, eh?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I actually figured as much afterwards, though Lord knows how.”
Shane chuckled. “Because I’m full of charm and chivalry.”
“Well, you’re full of something, for sure,” she drawled, eyes sparkling. She sipped her coffee, and just like that, all the bitterness and hurt that had seeped into his bones a few minutes ago had been flushed back to the past where they belonged. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Huh? Oh!” Shane blinked away his surprise at the effect Krista was having on him. “I, um, I was thinking about the Iceline Trail. If your legs ache, we can do a shorter hike today if you want.”
“Are you kidding me? I can’t wait to do it. I might ache, but after yesterday, a six-hour hike will be a breeze. Unless, of course,youcan’t handle it.”
“I can handle it.”
Amused—and impressed by her enthusiasm—Shane got up to get breakfast ready.
“I’m going to the washrooms,” she said.
