Page 20

Mara

Mara had seen plenty of beautiful places. Her work had taken her to hotels overlooking cities, old estates with acres of landscaped grounds, and beaches where companies spent enormous amounts of money holding conferences somewhere their employees would rather have been swimming.

But she had rarely stood anywhere simply to look.

“What?” Gabe stood a few feet away with the picnic basket still in one hand.

“I was thinking about work,” she began.

Gabe looked out across the valley. “That wasn’t exactly the reaction I hoped for.”

She glanced sideways at him. “And how this is a million miles away from corporate events in beautiful places. No schedule to keep. No client to keep happy. Just…” She waved her arm across the view. “This.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He sounded genuinely relieved.

“You were worried?” she asked.

“A little,” Gabe said. “I told you it was worth coming up here. I wanted you to agree.”

The answer was so simple that Mara smiled. “I do.”

“Good.” He came to stand beside her, not quite close enough to touch, although she was very aware it wouldn’t take much. Only an inch or two… She could just lean in…

“Do you want to keep going?” Gabe nodded toward the trail. “It loops around and comes back below the overlook.”

“How far?” Mara asked, even though she was already turning toward the path. Because that was a much safer option than leaning into Gabe.

“Not far. We can take our time.” He shifted the picnic basket in his hand.

Mara glanced at it. “And the picnic?”

“It’ll survive.” He looked down at the basket. “We might need to work up a little more of an appetite to do it justice.”

“Intriguing.” She arched an eyebrow at him and then took one last look at the view. “Stunning.”

“Delicious.” He held up the basket. “That’s what I’m going for with the picnic.”

“Understood.” She chuckled as she followed him back to the trail.

The trail took them back under the trees, where pine needles and the first fallen leaves softened the ground. The path narrowed in places, and Mara had to watch her feet. Gabe walked beside her, slowed when she slowed, and stopped when she found something she wanted to photograph.

At the next bend, a tree had come down across the path. It wasn’t high. Gabe stepped over first and turned back with his hand out.

Mara looked at it, then at him. “I can manage.”

“I know.” His hand stayed where it was.

She put hers into it. His fingers closed around hers as she stepped over the trunk, warm and strong, and heat spread up her arm and through her body.

Did he feel it too? She could not tell, and when he let go as soon as she was safely on the other side, she presumed the answer was no.

To him this was just a walk in the woods.

But to her it was so much more. Mara flexed her fingers as they carried on and discovered that the sensible part of her brain had no authority whatsoever over the rest of her, because she could still feel his hand around hers.

Ridiculous. She pulled on her jacket and pushed both hands into the pockets.

“So what is it you do?” Gabe asked. “For work, I mean. You mentioned events.”