“I’m here from now until late summer, or that’s the plan.”
“Well, I think you should come with us. It helps to have an experienced woman on the hike,” Asher said.
“Do you know who’s going to be in the group?” Cole asked Asher.
Asher grinned at me. “I know more than him.” He tipped his head toward his brother.
I snorted a laugh. “Really?”
“I pay attention to the schedule. Cole doesn’t,” Asher said with a brow waggle.
Cole rolled his eyes. “I’m always where I need to be.”
“Uh-huh. Handy that you have other people to tell you where to go and when,” Asher teased.
“Does Elsa or Kendall hike with you all?” I asked, mentally reviewing everyone I had met the other night.
“Elsa’s a wildlife biologist, so she’s pretty busy with that. And Kendall runs the large animal rescue,” Cole explained.
“So, all brothers? No sisters?”
For a beat, I regretted my question—not because either one of them said anything, but because pain flashed through both of their gazes briefly.
Cole’s shoulders rose with a quick breath. “Our sister, Bree, passed.”
“Oh, no, I’m really sorry. I had no idea.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Cole said.
“You couldn’t have known,” Asher cut in.
“You all seem like a close family, so I’m sure that was really hard,” I replied softly.
“Oh, yeah.” Cole was quiet for a beat. “We could get caught in the quicksand of this awkward moment, or we could move on,” he added lightly.
If there was one thing I was pretty good at, it was dealing with awkward conversations. My life had taught me that. When I was younger, the awkward conversations revolved around me, so I was always grateful when that wasn’t the case.
“We can move on,” Asher said quickly.
“I’m assuming you’re hiking back down after this?” Cole asked next.
I glanced around. “Unless I’m going to climb down this cliff, but that’s definitely not my plan.”
Asher threw his head back with a laugh, and the rumble of Cole’s low chuckle brought goose bumps prickling over my skin. What the hell was it with this guy?
As the conversation continued and we chatted casually, they gave me some suggestions about hikes in the area and so on. And yet, the only man of the two I reacted to was Cole. Notme. Just my hormones. I was in a big rush to clarify that, to myself, I suppose.
Asher, while as handsome as Cole, had an earnest, almost goofy quality to him.
Cole, on the other hand, was sly, teasing, smooth. He should have annoyed me. And yet, my hormones wereallTeam Cole, all the way.
Not much later, Asher glanced at his watch and then up at the sky. “We should hike down, and you should grab lunch with us,” he said.
“I should?”
“Absolutely,” Cole chimed in.
“Where are we getting lunch today?” Asher asked.
