Colby (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 3) (98 page)

Yet, there was that worry again. Her office, though busy and unbearably loud, was her kingdom. She was comfortable there, in her ergonomic chair, drinking imported coffee. Life was hectic, but it had order to it. She knew what to do in LA. Out here, there were lots of things she’d need to learn, and learn them quickly to stay safe. She moved from the mirror to her backpack, fishing down among the layers of equipment to find her phone.

It had been switched off from the moment she put that impetuous sign up on her office door. Yet she had packed it to take on her trek, like an extra limb that she couldn’t quite part from. Tentatively, Karina held down the button to bring the phone back to life. She dropped it onto the bed at once as it roared with a cacophony of beeps, clicks and buzzes. Messages were coming in from every available outlet, lighting up the screen like a fireworks display. Karina felt her heart grow tight at the prospect of answering them all, and she settled for sending only one reply.

A single tweet from her official account:

Hiking in the woods to get some me time. #offgrid

She turned the phone off and buried it deep within her bag once more.

***

By the time Karina reached the little visitor’s hut that marked the start of the northern section of Fairhaven, she was more determined than ever to leave life behind for a few days. Inside the visitor’s hut there were only three people besides herself, and the emptiness of the charming little place made her feel calm at once. She stepped across to a display unit filled with pamphlets, observing the different maps and walking trails that were available in this part of the park. She began picking up different leaflets, looking at their covers. They seemed to be color-coded, ranging from easy treks that only lasted an afternoon, up to full circuits of the highest peaks and lowest valleys that California had to offer. She wanted to be gone for a few days at least to clear her head, so she loaded up on mid-level maps.

“Yeah, you’re going to need crampons if you’re taking Route 9B.” A voice drifted towards her from the other people assembled. “I wouldn’t do it at this time of day personally. That trail is south-facing and the sun’ll be on your back for the whole climb up. If you want my advice, take Route 13 round the lake for the daytime and connect to 9B at about six tonight. You’ll be on the peak as the day cools off, and at the top for sunset.”

It was quite a romantic idea, but the voice delivering the instructions was arrogant and brisk. Karina knew that voice already, and she wished that she didn’t. He should have been so easy to forget, just another jerk picking on women drivers, but as she heard the couple thanking him for his advice, she had to look over.

He was looking her way. They both turned their heads back to their business at that, one spark in the connection of their eyes. He still had golden eyes, even in the poor fluorescent light inside the hut. Karina felt like they’d shone straight into her own dark gaze and lit it up for a moment. She hated that feeling, the twist of her gut when she met someone who got to her. It didn’t happen very often, and it certainly shouldn’t have been happening with
him
of all people. The guy with the funny name that she hadn’t managed to make herself forget.

“Can I help you with something, Ma’am?” he asked, starting to approach her. “Directions to driver’s ed, perhaps?”

Karina bit the inside of her cheek, choosing to smile away the insult as she turned to face Reinicke again. He was considerably taller than her, nearly a whole head and shoulders, and almost twice as broad. She found herself looking at his muscular chest, where a smattering of brown hair was peeking out through the gap in an undone button.

“Sloppy,” she said, pointing at it at once.

That got his goat, and Reinicke adjusted his shirt at once. His clothes seemed just slightly too small for him, his muscles bulging everywhere. Karina did her best not to give him a deliberate once-over, despite his impressive frame. She looked at his face, which was flushed with a hacked off look, and she smiled at him again. Reinicke set his jaw tightly, and his eyes washed over Karina’s body. She felt that twist in her gut again as she watched him, watching her.

“You’re camping out north?” he asked dryly. “Really?”

Perhaps it did look odd for a short half-Latina girl to be carrying a backpack that was almost her own size. But Karina hiked the bag up proudly and stood as tall as she could manage. Who was this guy to tell her what she could and couldn’t do?

“Obviously,” she answered.

“Have you ever hiked before?” he added.

The second phrase was less insulting, and he had less of the bite in his tone. It was a genuine question, and one that Karina had asked herself that very morning.

“Sure I have,” she lied at once. “Tons of times.”

“But not here?” Reinicke said, and it almost wasn’t a question. “Somehow, I think I’d remember seeing you if you had.”

She heard what he was driving at in the way his tone went flat at the end of the sentence. If he’d been talking to someone else that way, Karina might have found that wry humor amusing. Reinicke spoke his mind, at least. There was no falseness to him. Yet every time he opened his mouth, Karina felt her temper shoot up like a rocket. He was bad for her stress levels, and she needed to get away from him as soon as possible.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get started before the hottest part of the day sinks in,” she said briskly.

It was total bullshit, derived from what she’d overheard him warn the others about, and to her surprise he seemed to buy it. Karina began to stride through the visitor’s hut, towards the open door at the other end where the wilds of nature awaited. She was nervous, quaking inside and a little off-kilter from her second run-in with Reinicke, but she knew she had to do this. It was a test of herself, to see if she could live without the lifestyle she’d been buried in for so long.

“Hey, just one second!”

She heard Reinicke’s footsteps thump up to her before she turned. Some of the sternness had fallen from his face, making him look his true, youthful age. Before she could protest, he shoved something into her hand. Karina looked down to find it was a small, blocky radio, stamped with the seal of the Fairhaven Rangers.

“It’s a courtesy,” Reinicke said simply, “for people who aren’t familiar with the territory.”

“And this calls who, exactly?” Karina challenged.

“Me,” Reinicke replied. “I’m here in the day and at the mountain outpost all night.”

“I really don’t think I’ll need it,” she began to say, but Reinicke shook his head.

“I’m afraid I have to insist. It’s the rules.”

He was so proper, so stiff and unmovable. Karina tucked the radio into her pocket with a reluctant sigh.

“Don’t hang by the phone for my call or anything,” she teased.

Reinicke gave a little scoff.

“Believe me, I have better things to do,” he shot back.

And on that note, Karina Vasquez left the visitor’s hut to begin the adventure she’d always wanted to have.
 

Hiking was hard. Karina had known it would be a challenge for her, but as the hours went by, she realized that she was definitely out of her depth. She had been following a yellow route marked on the map, one of the Level 2 difficulties, to have something easy to start with. But somewhere along the way, she’d taken a right instead of a left, and now she was pretty sure she was halfway up a Level 4 hillside. And it was the hottest part of the day. The sun beat down on her head, making her hair feel like it was on fire, and she decided that she had to stop and find a hat and some water.

Although her bag seemed to be getting heavier by the minute, she was grateful for all the supplies she’d packed. The spotty teen adviser in the Great Outdoors store back home had been very, very helpful. She’d suspected he was all too keen to help a pretty young woman for a change, instead of the grizzled forty-something men he usually had to advise. Karina glugged some water down from one of several bottles she had with her, then she threw on a ridiculous-looking hat with a floppy brim all the way around it. The look was hideous, but the relief from the sun was heavenly.
 

According to her map, she just had to get over the other side of the hill, then there’d be another crossing of the paths. There, she’d make a left, then she could get back onto her original route and find a nice grassy place to pitch up and get some much-needed rest. Karina looked up at the peak ahead, craning her neck to try and see where it ended. She heaved out a heavy sigh, put her pack back on, and trudged forward again in the heat.

As the minutes went by, she began to make out a shape on the horizon. At the very top of the hill there was a thin-looking person with similar camping gear, sitting on a mossy rock. He was about Karina’s age with very dark skin, and he sat looking out on the view with a morose sort of expression. When Karina eventually arrived at the top of the peak, the young man was still there, and he noticed her as she set her bag down beside him.

“If you came for the view, I’d say it’s worth it,” he remarked.

Karina turned as he pointed beyond him, and what she saw took her breath away. The peak overlooked a low valley to its north, shaded from the midday sun and glowing with a million different hues of green. There was a glorious lake that snaked off into a river where it met the trees, and patches of those same trees popped up all around the valley to pepper it with darkness. Between these patches, lush fields of low grass and bushes sprang out. It all looked so cool and peaceful, and Karina couldn’t wait to get down there and enjoy its shade and calm.

“Wow,” she breathed. “I actually did it. I climbed a freaking mountain.”

Her fellow hiker gave her a grin.

“Your first time here too?” he asked. “I’ve never done Fairhaven before. It’s a heck of a challenge. I’ve been sitting here nearly an hour trying to get my breath back. I seriously thought I was dying on the way up.”

Karina chuckled. She approached the man and held out her hand to him.

“Karina,” she said.

“Bud,” he answered.

“You know,” she continued, “if you were seriously struggling, you could have just called the ranger on that radio thingy.”

Bud’s brows crossed in confusion.

“Radio thingy?” he repeated.

Karina got the little black block out of her pocket and showed it to him.

“Sure,” she began, “it’s for first time hikers. You didn’t get one?”

Bud shook his head, staring at the box.

“Oh, well maybe you didn’t meet the ranger down at the hut,” Karina reasoned.

“No, I did,” Bud added quickly, then he gave a little scowl. “You don’t forget a guy like that in a hurry. He basically inferred that I ought to go home if I didn’t know what I was doing. What an ass.”

Well, that definitely meant he’d met Reinicke. Karina looked at the radio again puzzlingly. Why hadn’t he given one to Bud, if he was so strict on the rules? Then, as he turned it over in her hands, Karina saw a tiny printed label on the radio’s back panel. It read:
Property of Fairhaven Park Rangers. Not for public use.

“What the heck…” she murmured, reading it again.

“I’m glad you have that thing,” Bud said, not hearing her mumblings. “Makes me feel safer. You mind if I do the descent with you, so you can radio for help when I inevitably break my leg?”

Karina chuckled.

“Sure thing,” she replied. “Ready when you are.”

“Really?” Bud asked. “Wow. You must be really fit to carry on without a big break.”

Perhaps it was adrenalin, or the pride she felt from reaching the top, but Karina really did feel strong again. She was looking forward to picking her way down the slope with gravity on her side for a change, leading her into the shady side of the peak where cool water and dense trees awaited.

“I guess it’s beginner’s luck or something,” she said, her cheeks flushing a little.

Bud held his hands up at once.

“I’m not hitting on you, by the way,” he said, sounding suddenly worried. “I have a wife back at the campsite. You seem like you could get me back to her in one piece.”

“What’s her name?” Karina asked.

“Susie,” Bud replied.

“I’ll do my best to return Susie’s property in good condition,” she jibed.

They set off then down the slope, Karina padding ahead whilst Bud carefully followed her footsteps. It was a strange position to be in, guiding someone else when she just about knew what to do herself, but it filled her with pride. She was used to leading and being in charge, never challenged or argued with. Bud was a patient and pleasant follower, and he made her journey pass a little quicker. Though, in all honesty, his brand of placid agreement was kind of boring. Now and then, as the forest grew thicker and the day grew darker, Karina found herself wishing for a certain acid-tongued person to appear and spice up her day.

***

Bud was hoping to return to Susie tomorrow, but now that he’d met Karina, he didn’t seem to want to go back alone. Somewhat reluctantly, she’d agreed to walk part of the Level 1 path with him the next day to get him back out of the section before she continued on her own journey. She found that her kindness was rewarded when Bud set up her tent for her and produced a tiny campfire to cook them some dinner. After that, her little follower took himself off to his tent to read, and Karina was left alone with the mild climate of the night. She could see the dim white glow of Bud’s electric lantern inside his tent, illuminating his shape as he craned over a book.