I had five more days to make her realize she didn’t really want this to end and neither did I.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sweet, Sweeter, Sinful
Felicity
Day 3
5:56 a.m.
My legs were on fire.
“Theo, where the hell are we going?” I gasped as I walked up the trail behind him. Taking the bottle of water out of my backpack, I drank deeply.
He had woken me up a little over an hour ago, saying he had to show me something. Grumpily, I agreed, and when I got of bed, he’d already laid out hiking clothes for me, along with some shoes.
“Were almost there,” he said, stopping beside me as I took another break. “Or at least we would be if you didn’t stop every few feet.”
“You just had the flu. Shouldn’t you be resting in bed? In fact, we could both be in bed right now and not in the middle of the woods.”
“It’s technically a forest.” He laughed, and I glared at him. “And fresh air is good for the body.”
“Whatever is up this hill better blow my mind,” I muttered, moving past him as if I knew where we were going. “Oh shit!”
“What?”
I jumped behind him, allowing him to see the fucking big-ass snake that had just crawled in front of me. “Kill it!”
“How about if I just move it out of the way?” He reached for a branch, but I took his hand.
“What if it’s poisonous? I like you, Theo, I really do, but there is no way in hell I’m sucking venom out of you.”
He laughed. “Felicity, it’s not poisonous.”
Taking the branch, he lifted it easily and moved it to the side of the road while I checked to see if any of its family was nearby.
“Another new thing I’ve learned about you. You’re afraid of snakes.”
“As everyone should be. I’m worried about the people who aren’t.” I shivered in disgust just thinking about it.
“Come on.” He headed back up the trail, and I stayed closer to him. “Is there anything else you want me to kill on sight? Maybe a baby rabbit?”
“Ha ha. I don’t mind rabbits or anything that has four limbs. But snakes, spiders, and anything else of that nature…. I once saw a spider in my bathroom, and I honestly thought of moving.”
“Also slightly unreasonable.”
“I’m sure you have a fear of something, and when I find out what it is, I’ll never let you live it down.”
He looked to me. “What makes you think you’ll be around that long?”
It kind of felt like he’d slapped me across the face with that.
“We’re here.”
“Wow.” I stopped when we reached the clearing at the top of the hill. There in the center was a giant, colorful hot-air balloon. A man stood inside the basket, waiting for us.
“I wanted us to be in the air when we saw this, but it took us longer than I thought to get up here.” He put his hands on my shoulders, and I tried to ignore the desire to lean into him. He turned me around slowly, allowing me to see the sun as it rose over the treetops. The sky was a mixture of pinks, reds, and golds. Everything went still, and it was stunning.