Page 55 of Bailey

“I do,” she said, and he realized then that she had been teasing him.

“It won’t be hard,” he said. “I just set up the camera so that it looks like I’m out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes there’s a highway right nearby.”

Bailey let out a laugh, and Reeves basked in the sound of it. He felt himself slipping and sliding with this woman, though he told himself to hold on and not fall too fast.

“When might you want to do this overnight excursion and hiking?” she asked.

“Next weekend,” he said. “The weekend after that would probably work too, since it’ll barely be the beginning of June.”

Bailey nodded. “I’ll look at my schedule when I get home tonight,” she said. “And make sure we’re covered at the clinic.”

She didn’t work every Saturday, but Reeves knew the clinic was open. “All you’ll need is a day pack,” he said. “I’ll bring everything else.”

“Just let me check my schedule,” Bailey said.

Reeves agreed, because he couldn’t ask for much more than that.

The following weekend, Reeves woke with the sun and gave himself a few minutes to enjoy the mountain stillness and the absolute serenity that came with the silence of it. He’d left home on Thursday and driven about a half hour outside of Coral Canyon east toward Jackson Hole.

He’d found a great little trailhead here, and he’d brought Sir and Pansy and packed in all of his camera equipment, as well as his camping gear. He’d been filming for two straight days, and a brand-new type of giddiness romped through him, because Bailey would be joining him in only a couple of hours.

He’d shared his pin with her when he’d left on Thursday morning, and she said she’d be at the Swain’s Creek trailhead by eight, so she could hike in with him. He could get the footage of the wildflowers he wanted, and then make her lunch. He wanted to film both of those, and then he’d told her he’d turn off the camera, and they could go swimming in a little pond he’d discovered on Thursday afternoon.

She’d called him crazy, and he smiled just thinking about it. Yes, the water had been terribly cold, and Reeves had only dipped in one foot before pulling it right back out.

Right now, he reached up and switched on the GoPro, which he’d attached to a piece of hardware that he’d purchased specifically for filming in tents. He pulled his arm back and tucked it back under his sleeping bag, and then yawned for good measure.

“Well, good morning,” he said to the camera. “It’s my second morning in the Teton Mountains on my first multi-night camping trip this spring. I know it’s June for those of you watching this, but it’s still spring here in the Tetons, as that pond I found and showed you earlier in this video testifies to. I’m going to get up and have a quick breakfast—just coffee and a protein bar this morning—because I’m hiking down to the trailhead to meet my new girlfriend.”

He grinned for all he was worth. For those few moments of time, Reeves felt like his online persona, who always broadcasted happiness and smiles and promised a good time in the mountains, merged with the real man Reeves was. He really was incredibly happy in that moment, and he knew that it had more to do with Bailey than anything else.

“She’s not going to be on camera this time, guys, because it’s still really new, and she’s only coming up for the day. I want to show her how good I am at cooking lunch over a fire, and I want to show her the wildflower fields as much as I want to show you—maybe even a little more.” He pulled his arms out and sat up, reaching for his GoPro, which he then held in front of him. “So, let’s get this day started.”

He held for a moment, and then stopped filming. He’d set the camera up outside where he’d make his coffee over a quick flame instead of building a fire. He didn’t want to leave his campsite with something burning, and it would take too much effort to build a fire just to make coffee. He set everything up and went through the morning footage. Then, he filmed himself shouldering his backpack and walking down the trail.

He had to backtrack and turn the camera off. Then he stowed it in the side pocket of his day pack and headed for the trailhead. He and Bailey would go through the wildflower fields on their way back to camp, so he’d need it to film.

He left everything else zipped up in his tent because he hadn’t seen another soul up here in the past two days. “It’s the weekend now,” he muttered to himself. He figured he might see a few people willing to hike the mile and a half up from the trailhead, past where it ended, and into the meadow where he’d been camping. He made it down the mountain without an issue, and he couldn’t have timed his arrival any more perfectly.

Bailey had just pulled in, and she parked next to his truck as another wide smile spread across his face.

“Howdy,” she called as she got out of the driver’s seat, and then immediately turned to open the back door. “Let me grab my pack.”

“We’re not in a hurry,” he said, and he continued toward her, suddenly desperate to feel her skin against his and kiss her hello. He hadn’t had someone waiting for him after his camping trips before now, but the simple sight of her soothed his weary soul.

She slammed the back door, and Reeves drew her into his arms. “It’s so good to see you,” he said a moment later. He skated his lips across her neck, and then her jaw, and then the line of her jaw to her chin, and then finally claimed her mouth as his. Oh, he was definitely falling too fast for this woman, and in this moment, he didn’t care one whit.

Bailey kissed him back, her hands grabbing onto the straps of his backpack and fisting there. She broke the kiss first and held him close. “I have a question for you.”

Reeves only had enough brain cells to hum, so he did that.

“We were planning to pack up early this afternoon and just go home, right?”

“Yes.” He opened his eyes and met hers. She fiddled with a tie or whatever he had on his backpack, but he couldn’t look away from her. “Why?”

“My momma texted and said they’re having a barbecue up at Whiskey Mountain Lodge tonight,” she said. “And I thought maybe we could go there after this.”

Surprise and fear filled Reeves from head to toe in one mighty wave. “I haven’t showered for a couple of days.”