California Dreaming: Four Contemporary Romances (95 page)

He returned her gaze for a moment. “Got to go.” Leaving the trailer required every bit of strength he had.

After he closed the trailer door, he saw Sally walking toward him. “Anything you need that I should know about?”

“Uh. No.”

Sally moved closer. “James, don’t mess with her. She’s a good girl. She doesn’t need you breaking her heart.”

He swallowed and debated for thirty seconds whether he should lie or not.

“I asked Mandy to go hiking with me on Sunday.”

“Why the hell did you do that?”

His temper flared. “Because I wanted to. We’re just friends, Sally. I’m not going to ravage her in the woods. Scouts honor.” He held up two fingers in the traditional Boy Scout position.

Sally looked at him for a few more seconds. “Better not.” Then she turned and stomped toward the trailer.

He hoped he could keep that promise.

• • •

Even though it was still early September, Sunday’s air suggested the decay of fall, awakening dormant memories of the leaf-covered driveways of Mandy’s childhood. She missed the seasons sometimes. True, coastal California had subtle variations that let her know the passage of time, but it didn’t contain the harsh reality of winter.

Shrugging off the melancholy, she finished her morning chores and packed lunch into a backpack before she headed out to the parking lot to meet James. At the last moment she grabbed her camera. It might provide a slim form of defense against his charms.

Cool air brushed her legs, making her wonder if hiking shorts and a sleeveless tee had been the best choice for the day.

James was standing by his car when she arrived. He gave her a once-over and grinned.

She should be insulted by his obvious male technique.

Instead, her heart fluttered.

This was
so
not good.

She dragged her courage from its hiding place and stepped toward her boss with a smile on her face. Her boss. She needed to remember that.

“Ready?” James asked.

She nodded.

He opened the car door for her and she stepped in, conscious of the brush of his arm against her back as he helped her.

The ride to the trailhead was short and she was able to fill the air with questions about the shoot.

When they reached their destination, James donned the backpack with their lunch. “Got mosquito spray on?”

“Yes.” Mandy plopped her mosquito-repellent hat on her head and started up the trail.

“Have you been up here before?” James asked from behind her.

Acutely aware of the view of her he was enjoying, she regretted her decision to go first. “No. I haven’t spent much time in Yosemite. There always seemed to be plenty to do on the coast. You know, seals, dolphins, pelicans, that sort of thing.” She glanced around at the pines framed by the crisp outline of an early fall morning. “I believe I’ll be back, though. I’ll barely have time to explore much of the park if everyone keeps eating like they have been.”

“It takes a long time to know Yosemite intimately. Most people spend their time in the valley. It’s beautiful in its own way, especially outside of the tourist season, but I like exploring the less traveled places.”

“I’m sure it’s a great escape from Hollywood.” Mandy stopped, her eye catching a small patch of lichen on a craggy rock. An early fall leaf made the contrast in color and texture complete. She knelt and snapped a photo.

“A budding Ansel Adams as well as a cook?” James asked.

She stood and faced him. “I do it for fun. Sometimes I post them on Facebook.” She turned and continued up the trail. “It’s been a while since I’ve gone shooting.”

“How come?”

“Just things.” He didn’t need to know about her depressive episodes.

He let the silence wrap around them.

They were isolated on the trail. All she could hear was the tenor chatter of squirrels undercut with the fading hiss of a distant river, and syncopated with the bass rhythm of their boots hitting the ground. Peace seeped into her bones and courage returned.

“Sometimes I get the blues,” she admitted. “I think after all the activity around the movie, it was a bit of a letdown when you all left. Then Sarah had her baby. She and Hunter are so good together. It felt like I’d never experienced anything like that.”

A tear dampened her face. She quickly wiped it away.

A few more minutes went by.

“I know what you mean. It’s hard to be single around couples creating a family. My friend Mateo and his wife were like that. I always felt like an intruder around them and their son.”

His voice was anguished, but there was something else she couldn’t identify. “What happened?” she asked.

He stopped and looked back at the trail they’d come up. “They had their whole lives ahead of them—they were even planning another baby—when he got deployed. He was—” His Adam’s apple moved with his swallow. “He was killed a year ago. I’ve been helping Theresa with their son, Ruiz, ever since.”

“That must be hard.” She turned.

Their eyes met and she saw the vulnerability in his. She stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around his solid body to give him comfort. For a simple moment she wanted the connection. It didn’t have to last a lifetime, but she needed him to feel her touch.

Their closeness awoke another need in both of them.

“Mandy.” His voice was more like a groan.

The noise of a throat clearing behind them forced them apart.

A spry couple with lean bodies and gray hair were behind them.

Mandy and James stood aside to let them pass.

As he went by, the man said, “The park recommends you wait until you get to the lake before smooching. It’s so much more fulfilling, isn’t it dear?” He raised his voice to the woman in front of him.

She wiggled her butt and said, “Yes, dear. It certainly is.”

Mandy and James stared after them.

“Did she—?” Mandy asked.

“Yup.”

“I hope I can do that when I’m an old lady.”

“I hope I know you when you’re an old lady.”

Seconds passed while she measured the connection between them. Was it there? Or was it merely wishful thinking on her part?

Like the characters in
Waiting for Godot
, they stood there for a few moments longer.

Then James said, “I’ll lead.”

“Okay.” She followed him, enjoying her turn at watching the nicely wrapped male rear in front of her.

The trail was steady, but uphill. She noticed markings on the trees, but didn’t know what they meant. “What does the ‘T’ stand for?”

“Tree.”

“C’mon James, really. What does it mean?”

“For real. I read it somewhere.”

“Oh.” She stopped and took a picture. “I have to post this.”

They walked another hour before coming to a fork in the trail.

“Upper or lower lake?” James asked. “I prefer lower, myself. It may be more crowded, but it’s prettier. And it’s got a great place on a granite ledge for picnicking—and other things.”

She tried not to think about what other things he meant.

“What’s the upper one like?”

“More secluded, but you can’t really see the lake.”

“Oh. Then I think the lower one is the right choice.”

“I knew you’d see it my way.”

As James led the way to the right-hand fork, Mandy berated herself for being an idiot. This was exactly the kind of thing she was trying to avoid—being alone with her boss.

She forced a scowl on her face. She would not let him kiss her. She planned out a number of ways to keep his lips from hers as she pounded up the trail.

Suddenly, her foot sank into the muck, and water poured to the top of her boot. She fought to keep her balance as mud sucked unrelentingly at her foot.

She lost.

Her butt hit the water first, and she forced her left hand down to keep her from toppling into the swamp with her face, holding her camera overhead with her right hand. “Oh! Crap!”

James turned and started laughing.

“Stop laughing!” she shouted. “Take my camera before it gets ruined!”

He grabbed the camera from her hand and strung it around his neck.

“You should probably help her up.” The old man they’d seen early had apparently heard the ruckus and come back down the trail, his wife behind him.

“Oh. Yeah.”

James reached down his hand.

While she was tempted to bring James down to her level, she remembered her camera, and leveraged herself up with his assist.

“Thank you,” she tossed off to James. They walked to solid ground. “Thank
you
.” She smiled at the man who’d urged James to help her.

His wife edged in behind him. “I have some tissues, but I don’t think they’re going to help much. Maybe your face and hands?”

Gratefully, Mandy took the proffered sheets from the woman and made some swipes and stuffed the dirty wad into her shorts’ pocket. “Maybe I can wash up in the lake.”

“It’s a tad cold for that,” the old man said.

“I can use one of the napkins we brought.”

The woman nodded. “That will work.” She turned to her partner. “Let’s go on, Tim, and leave these young people to themselves.”

The couple took each other’s hands and walked back up the trail toward the lower lake. Once again Mandy and James stared after them.

After the couple was out of sight, they looked at each other again.

The right corner of James’s mouth began to twitch.

“Don’t you dare,” Mandy said. She looked down at herself. Pretty much a disaster. Her pants were so heavy in the butt, she must look like she was wearing a dirty diaper.

So much for her effort to look put together.

The laugh sputtered from James’s mouth. “I’m sorry … you look … like … Marjorie Reynolds …
Holiday Inn
… in the pond … ” Laughter swamped his speech.

This time his laughter caught her off-guard. Her responding roar of hysterics set her off balance, and she almost tumbled into the muck again.

James held out a steadying hand. “Whoa, there!”

She grabbed it.

For a moment they both teetered.

Then she regained her balance.

He took out his handkerchief and dabbed at her face. “You have some mud here.” He rubbed a little harder. “It’s not coming off.” He studied her. “Maybe—” He leaned down and touched the spot with his lips and then rubbed again. “There.”

She stood still, her heart beating madly, while he repeated the ritual two more times.

With one more look in her eyes, he placed his mouth on one more spot—her lips.

So much for her plans.

She tilted her head up to meet his kiss. The momentary savor teased her senses. When he pulled back, a tiny part of her soul ached for the loss.

“We’d better get away from the swamp,” he said. “Snakes and all that.”

“Yeah.” Then her mind registered what he’d said. “Snakes? Why the hell are we standing here?” She flailed as she stumbled back onto the trail, power walking her way out of the damp.

His chuckle followed her up the slope.

Soon they were rewarded with a pristine lake cupped by massive granite boulders. The still clear water reflected the mottled grays and cloud-strewn blue skies. A stone ledge at one edge of the lake beckoned them to settle in for a stay.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

He nodded and pulled off the backpack. After removing the plaid wool blanket she’d packed around the food, he spread it across the smooth rock.

She extracted one of the cloth napkins and walked to the lake. Kneeling, she dipped it into the water, her fingers quickly numbed by cold. With a gasp, she wiped her face, then worked the bulk of the mud from her arms and legs, followed by a brush of the dried mud from her clothes. Giving the napkin one last rinse, she returned to the blanket.

“Feeling better?” James asked.

“Cleaner—and colder.”

He patted the space next to him. “I’ll warm you up.”

She hesitated until a breeze tainted with a hint of autumn raised goose bumps on her arms. Curling herself into a small ball, she sat down with her arms wrapped around her knees.

“That’s not going to get you warm,” James said. He inched over and put his arm around her, drawing her next to his warmth.

She stiffened for a moment and then let herself wallow in a fantasy world of masculine security. She could pretend he was a good guy, couldn’t she?

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Liar. I can see the smoke emerging from those earlobes.”

“I think you have me confused with a hobbit.”

He chuckled. His arm flexed in an almost hug.

Letting herself relax into James’s body a little more, she focused on the touch of him on her skin. He was rubbing her upper arm with his thumb in that mindless way that men sometimes did. His arms were covered with light fuzz that matched his blond hair.

She took a deep breath, to inhale the scent of him. It had been a long time since she’d been this close to a man. She’d almost forgotten how good they smelled. The tang of piney aftershave tickled her nose.

Her body tingled.

What would it feel like to lie naked next to him, experiencing skin to skin heat?

Heat pooled between her legs and she shivered, unable to handle the direction of her thoughts and his proximity.

“What’s the matter?” James pulled her even closer. “Still cold?”

She shook her head. “Maybe we should eat.”

“I’m not really hungry yet, but if you want to munch, go ahead.” He relaxed his arm a bit.

She wiggled out of his embrace and retrieved a plum from the bag. She wasn’t ready to eat either, but needed the excuse to put some distance between them.

“Sally told me you’d asked her about the movie catering business,” he said. “Is it something you’re considering? I know Sally wants to retire. Her client roster would give you a good start. I’d be willing to help, too. You’re really good at this.”

“I don’t think so.” She bit into the fruit, enjoying the sweetness of warm months encapsulated in its juicy pulp. “Hopefully, the economy will pick up and I’ll be able to increase my hours back home. Then I’ll be okay.” She smiled, although if he had been looking, he would have noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.