He shrugged, “It’s nearly sunset. I figured there wasn’t a better place to view it than from there.”
“S-Sure.”
He wasn’t sure who was more stunned by that faint stutter. Him or her. Instead of playing on it though, he watched her nibble at her lip again as she opened the door and climbed out onto the road side.
After reaching for his cell which he’d placed in the dock earlier, he put it in his jacket pocket as he joined her on the road. Up here, while not technically a lot higher than the compound, the air was definitely fresher. Even though he could smell the faint scent of gas from the Orion’s minimal output, more than anything, he could smell mountain. Clean and tinged with earth.
Nice.
When she nodded at him, they walked up the road. Over in the distance, they could see Portland in all its beauty. The city wasn’t asleep yet, but soon it would be. As the sun grew somnolent in the sky, shards of purple and red streaked across the horizon before them. With each passing moment, Hailey’s attention swerved from him and whatever subject was truly bothering her to the beauty of the view before them.
When they made it to the top, she smiled at a bench that he must have had installed there. She shot him a look. “You come here often?”
“Every once and a while. It helps clear my head.”
She eyed him a second, then took a seat. He joined her, and lifted his arm to rest it along the back of the bench and said, “Before I get accused of assault again, this isn’t a come on. I just want to get comfortable.”
Hailey blushed slightly. “It wasn’t assault. Not exactly,” she admitted sheepishly, then let out a long breath. “God, this week just gets better and better.”
“Care to share?” he pressed.
“Not with you.”
“That hurts.” He was being facetious. But he lied. It did hurt.
“I’m sure it does,” she retorted waspishly. “Your ego. It’s the most precious commodity in your arsenal.” Before he could get riled, she groaned, lifted her hands and covered her face. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I keep doing that.”
Neither did he. “Because something’s on your mind, and rather than deal with it or discuss it with someone who gives a damn, you’d prefer to avoid the issue. It’s called denial.”
She shot him a look. “Since when were you a shrink?”
He just grinned back at her in a way that displayed all his pearly whites. “Since I minored in psychology.”
“You totally did not.”
“Totally did.”
Her frown had his grin widening. “When?” She asked a little too seriously.
“When I was at college, silly.” He turned his head and looked out onto the vista before him. It was his turn to sigh. This time, it wasn’t at their conversation, but at the beauty he was looking at. “I never get tired of this place.”
She turned
to look out at the sunset. “It seems like a lifetime since I did something so simple as watch a sunset.”
“With all the beaches down there, you have no reason to ignore the sun. The Sunshine state is not amused.”
“I’m too busy to go to the beach.”
Her admission had James’ brows lowering. “You weren’t bullshitting earlier about how great your job is?”
Her huff had him hiding a laugh. “No. I was not. I never oversell.”
Scoffing back at her, “Now that is BS.”
“It isn’t,” she told him earnestly, sending him an agitated look. Her hands folded around the edge of the bench, and as he watched, her knuckles turned white. “I-I’m… It’s too much. I’m doing too well.”
His brows rose. That was the first time he’d ever heard that complaint.