With a deep breath, I made my way out onto the balcony—and stopped in my tracks when I saw Aiden. Two glasses of winesat on the table, and he stood a few feet away, looking into the telescope. My heart started to beat rapidly in my chest.
This isn’t a date.
“Hey, I was beginning to think you fell asleep in there.” He laughed and turned to face me. His eyes roamed over my body slowly before they stopped on what looked like my lips. Clearly, I was still reading into everything.
He’s probably thinking you look like something the dog would drag home.
Maybe I should have put a little bit of effort into looking decent. I sighed inwardly.
He walked to the table and grabbed both glasses of wine, handing me one when I approached. “You do drink wine, right?”
I took it and lifted my glass in a little salute. “Let’s just say I’ve never turned down a glass when offered to me.”
Aiden smiled widely, and my throat bobbed as I tried to swallow and failed. He had a dimple. Oh, my goodness,howhad I not noticed the dimple in his right cheek? That dimple, those blue eyes against his black hair…a woman could get lost so easily looking at this man.
I cleared my throat.Not you though, Emma. He’s just a friend.
I broke eye contact and looked out at the view. “It’s so beautiful here, I still can’t get over it. What were you looking at?”
He motioned with the hand that held the glass of wine for me to look through the telescope. “Elk are beginning to come down from the tree lines into the meadows.”
“Oh my gosh! Really?” I set my glass of wine down and rushed to the telescope. I searched but couldn’t find any. “Where? I don’t see them.”
Aiden’s heat covered my back and everything stilled except for my heart. It went into double time as he leaned over and aimed the telescope up a bit.
The herd suddenly came into view, and I gasped. “Oh, my gosh. How many are out there?”
“A lot. That bull has been working overtime for his girls.”
I straightened and faced him. Before I could respond, I heard the bugle of an elk across the meadow. The bull I’d just been looking at bugled back. Aiden and I both grinned.
“Do you like wildlife, Emma?” His voice was low and soft as he asked, and I couldn’t ignore how it made me feel warm inside. The question wasn’t just a conversation starter. I knew what he did for a living, and I knew how important it was to him.
Picking up my wine again, I replied honestly, “Yes. It’s one of the reasons I moved up here. Estes Park holds some of my best memories.”
“As a child?”
“Ever.”
Aiden frowned, and it appeared he wanted to ask me to explain, but he let it go. “Would you like to go up into the park sometime? I’ll take you to an area away from the tourists and you can really get a feel for nature.”
Chewing on my bottom lip, I replied, “I would love that. Thank you.”
“Great, maybe the three of us can go up tomorrow. Before we know it, winter will be settling in and we’ll lose our chance.”
I smiled and nodded. “Sounds great. I’m looking forward to it.” After another few moments of silence, I said, “I’ll just go fix a couple salads to go with our meal.”
I didn’t stick around to see if Aiden was surprised by my quick departure, but I heard him following.
“Need help?” he asked, walking into the kitchen. “I put the lasagna in a bit ago and didn’t bother with the whole dish. Just a couple of big pieces so it would heat faster.”
I motioned to the cucumber. “How about you cut that up.”
Aiden set his wine glass down and got to work. “Do you like cooking?” he asked after a few moments.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes! At one point, I thought I might want to go to culinary school, but in the end, I went to college for education.”
“That’s a complete one-eighty.”
