Celeste had no idea what she was doing going out in this camping trip, she'd had to go out shopping and get an entire new wardrobe for the long weekend. Not to mention the fact that her schedule had to be completely rearranged. She’d been kicking herself all week for letting Drake lure her into going on this trip. She was going to be behind on her work when she finally got back from all of this, not to mention that she was pretty sure camping was about the most boring thing you could do with your free time.

There was no way she was going to tell Drake that though. She wanted to prove to him that she was just as good as he was at everything that he thought was important, and if that took a camping trip to manage, then she’d go on a camping trip. It was only when she’d pulled up in the front yard of the ranch house again that she started second guessing herself.

It was freezing cold, and though she’d packed a coat and was wearing enough layers of clothes to insulate a small house, she’d never spent the night out of doors before. She had no idea what to expect or why she’d agreed to this nonsense in the first place. But Drake was waiting on her standing by his truck with two backpacks leaned up against the bed. She also hadn’t thought about the fact that they were hiking in and out. That meant they were going to have to carry everything from the tent to the clothes they were going to wear to the food they were going to eat on their backs all the way up to the campsite and back again. She was kicking herself for agreeing all of this in the first place, but there was no backing out now.

Maybe it had been the way that Drake had wrapped his arms around her on the pretense of teaching her how to use the post drivers. Maybe it had been some kind of short wired circuit in her brain or maybe it had been her foolish pride that had left her stupid enough to think she was up to this challenge. Drake had a way of frustrating her and getting her worked up that no one else had ever had. She wanted to impress him for some stupid reason, and she was going to wind up getting herself hurt to do it. If she was smart, she’d have turned around and gone back to her apartment to curl up in front of the fire with a cup of tea and just watch Netflix all weekend, but Celeste was anything but smart when it came to Drake Fulton.

She left the convertible behind, locking the doors and then sliding the keys into her pocket. She wasn’t going to need them for a few days at least. Drake looked her over, and she felt something, but she wasn’t sure whether it was trepidation at what was in store for this weekend or something else she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Well, look what the cat drug in…” He shoved his full weight off the side of the truck and walked towards her. Celeste stood her ground, letting him close the distance between them in a few strides.

“Morning, Drake.” Celeste moved to grab the small bag of extra clothes she’d packed to bring with her out of the trunk of the convertible. She’d packed light. This was probably the first time she’d gone anywhere for more than a few hours without a full suitcase packed, along with at least three pairs of shoes. Right now, all she had with her were a couple changes of clothes and a few personal items like her toothbrush. She didn’t know what to expect out on the trail, but she was pretty sure there wasn’t going to be a hotel with a hot shower out there waiting for her after a hard day of hiking.

It didn’t help that Drake looked like he belonged out here. If he’d been anyone else, and hadn’t challenged her belief that she could do anything, Celeste would have been hard pressed to deny that she was attracted to him. He had these ruggedly handsome features that made him stand out from anyone she’d ever been around back in Los Angeles. Yeah sure, there were guys that resembled him around there, but it was a little different to watch them walk around getting lattes and just doing the typical stuff in the city wearing a suit or jeans and a t-shirt. Here he was dressed like he was ready for just about anything.

“Got you a pack for the trail with some stuff I didn’t think you’d have.” He nodded towards the two backpacks leaning against his truck and glanced over at her with just a simple bag of clothes draped over one arm. “I guess whatever you’ve got in there ought to fit in the extra room there if you want to shove it in there. I doubt you want to go hiking with that bag slung over one arm. Wouldn’t want the weight of it making you topple over the edge and fall down the side of a mountain or anything, right?”

Celeste could hear the amusement in his voice, and she hated the idea that he might be laughing at her. However, there was this little part of her brain that told her maybe the best way to shut him up was to land a kiss on his lips. She had to push that to the side. Never mind the fact that it would be the least professional thing she could do, she really didn’t like Drake Fulton. She wanted to impress him. She needed to show him that she was capable of doing everything he could do and more, but that was the end of it. She had no idea where that intrusive thought had come from.

“Hopefully,” Celeste just let the ideas that had popped into her head unbidden go and walked over to the packs. “So which one is mine?” She glanced back over her shoulder at Drake and waited on him to come over to her side.

“The smaller one. Didn’t want you to waste all your energy on the first day of the hike and be useless for the rest of the trip. Besides, it’s your first time. You’ll have to work your way up to being able to walk that far with a full pack on your back. Baby steps.” He still had that same damned grin on his face, and Celeste had to take a deep breath.

She turned her focus back to the packs in front of her and grabbed the larger one. She was going to show him she was in better shape than he imagined. It took a lot of muscle to walk in those high heels he talked about so much, and she’d spent more than her fair amount of time in the gym even back in Los Angeles. There was no way this could be that much harder than one of the 5k runs she’d been on. Celeste could hear his laugh as she shoved her clothes into the pack.

“Suit yourself, Princess. Just remember if you change your mind we can always switch.” He grabbed the remaining pack, using his foot and one hand to lever it off the ground and threw it over one shoulder.

Celeste shot him a glare and pulled her own pack up with two hands, maneuvering it to fit across her back and slid both arms through the shoulder straps before buckling everything into place. It was heavier than she’d expected, and she half suspected Drake had filled the thing with rocks just to piss her off.

“I’ll be fine, Drake. I’m sure I’m in good enough shape to manage. I just hope you can keep up. I mean you are getting older so I’m sure it’s harder to manage when the oxygen starts to get thin up in the higher elevations.” She tried to look as smug as she thought he looked every time she’d managed to steal a glance as she turned to face him. That damned smirk of his was still there even if she had managed to get in a strike against him.

“I’m sure we’ll both manage, Princess. Why don’t we make a little bet?” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and gave her another one of those grins that would have melted her from the inside out if it had come from anyone else.

“And what’s that?” She tried to match his stance, but there was no way she could completely hide the uncertainty in her voice.

“We’ll hike today until one of us calls uncle and we find a place to camp for the night. First one to give up loses.”

That was a bet she could live with, but on what terms?

“Fine, and if I win you stop calling me Princess, admit that I’m just as good at all of this as you, and stop giving me hell about my convertible. And we get down to business on all of this expansion. Deal?” She stared him down, waiting for his response.

“Deal, but you’re keeping that pack on the entire day. The minute you ask to swap packs the bet is off. And if I win, you owe me one favor. Anything I want, but just once. That fine with you?”

One favor. That was a wide open deal. He could ask for anything, and that tiny little part of Celeste’s brain that found him attractive was hoping he’d ask for something that involved the two of them hooking up. She was starting to call that part of her mind the cave woman half of her every time it popped up in her thoughts. The rest of her rational mind figured it would just be work related or something stupid like slopping out the horse stalls at the ranch for a week. Probably something entirely embarrassing and disgusting.

“That’s fine. Well,” she glanced down the trail they were about to head out on for the day, “why don’t we get started so you have plenty of time to give up?” This trail was one of the many in the area. Hiking was a big pastime here in Colorado, and she wasn’t surprised it was something that Drake was into or that he had asked her to join him out here on the trail.

“Ladies first.” Drake gestured down the trail and waited for Celeste to set out ahead of him with that same smirk back on his face.

“We both know that’s just so men can look at women’s asses while they walk ahead of them, but if you insist.” She was a little surprised at how snarky she’d become with a client, but Drake took it well. Most of the time, she was entirely professional, but professional had gone out the window as soon as the two of them had met. She wasn’t certain professional was ever going to be something the two of them found again. The best they could hope for was a friendly working relationship instead of outright hating each other at this point. Maybe that was the reason she was so determined to impress him. Maybe it was something else, but the desire was real. It was the driving reason behind everything she said and did at this point.

Celeste knew she and Drake both had a long day ahead of them, and if he was half as stubborn as he seemed it was going to take a lot to get him to admit defeat. She knew herself that she was way more stubborn than she let on, so the two of them would be walking until the beginning of the next century at this rate. She just hoped she was prepared for what she’d gotten herself into.