Drake could tell every stitch of clothes that Celeste had on was brand new. He could practically smell it on her. That could all be fixed all by a few days out in the wilderness. It wasn’t like there was plumbing or anything close to a hot shower out on the trail. At least she hadn’t brought an entire suitcase of clothes that the two of them had to fit into one of the packs. She was smart. He had to give her credit for that, but he was pretty certain she was overestimating her ability to keep up out on the trail. It wasn’t like she was in bad shape. He’d seen enough of the way she moved to know that she took care of herself, but out here on the trail there were an entirely different set of muscles that she was going to have to be able to use that she wasn’t going to be able to work out in the gym. Climbing, hiking, and even setting up camp took a lot out of a person, and if you weren’t used to doing things like that, it could wear you out faster than you realized.

Celeste had no idea. She was a city girl through and through. Camping wouldn’t have been on her repertoire of skills. She could probably shop like nobody’s business, and the way she fit into those jeans told him she’d been to more Pilates and aerobics classes than he would want to shake a stick at. The only thing she was right about so far this morning was his ‘ladies first’ comment. He wasn’t going to even try to stop himself from admitting she was attractive.

Attractive didn’t mean much through. At least not these days. He’d been through his spell with letting something attractive distract him from what he really wanted, and he wasn’t planning on letting that happen again. Not that he hadn’t loved his first wife. If he hadn’t loved her, he wouldn’t have tried making a go of the city as long as he had. He wouldn’t even have moved for her, no matter how much he begged. The fact that he was willing to sacrifice so much of what he held important for what she wanted said everything. It just so happened that sometimes love wasn’t enough, especially when someone had a goal that they weren’t going to let anything at all stop them from getting.

He could see that same drive in Celeste. She was stubborn, and she was used to getting what she set her sights on. He knew from his conversations with both her and Sam Albertson that she had her sights set on a managing partnership back in LA. This stint in Denver was nothing more than a speed bump on her way to getting there. He didn’t hate her for it, but it made him think the two of them had a little less in common than he might have otherwise believed. He liked her stubborn streak. It reminded him of himself, but he didn’t like the idea that she was going to waste all those brains on living in a place where the only thing that mattered was whether or not you had a pretty face.

She had a pretty face, a pretty everything. More than pretty if he was honest with himself. There was more to it than pretty though. She was smart. She was driven. In any other set of circumstances he would have been openly attracted to her, but she had that one thing that was going to be the deal breaker for both of them. She wasn’t going to be here long. She was leaving as soon as she could. Those were her own words, and the last thing Drake was going to do was leave here ever again.

A long time ago, Vanessa had been a lot like Celeste. She was smart, she was beautiful, and she was driven. Driven meaning she was determined to have a career at modeling and spend the rest of her life in Los Angeles or whatever other damned city meant she could wake up no more than a five minute walk from a restaurant, coffee shop, and ideally, a boutique where she could buy clothes that cost more than his first truck. The difference was that she’d been born here in Colorado. Both of them had. She was bound and determined to get out of here though, just like Celeste seemed to be.

It was really a shame with how determined she was. She could have made a go of it out here in the mountains. It might even have suited her. Drake made sure to stay behind her on the trail. It would have been too easy for her to fall behind and hurt herself if he didn’t keep an eye on her. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was tough. She was tough. She proved that in spades every time he challenged her to something different. The sheer fact that she was out here meant that she was determined, and that she’d made it this far without turning around and going home meant she was strong and tough. But she was a beginner. There were things out here in the mountains she had no idea how to deal with — pumas, bears, cliffs. Never mind the fact that she’d just recently sprained an ankle and moved from somewhere basically at sea level. There were a dozen things that could go wrong, and she wouldn’t know what to do.

He couldn’t avoid watching her though. It was easy enough. He could tell himself that it was all under the pretense of making sure she made it along the trail without any incidents, but he knew better. She was gorgeous. He was a red-blooded man with eyes, so it made sense that he was going to look.

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It was long past the time he’d expected her to give up, though. He was getting used to knowing that she was tougher than he’d guessed when she surprised him by going down all of a sudden. One minute she was right there in front of him, the next she was falling down a slope. At least it wasn’t too steep and didn’t lead to a sharp drop off. The two of them would have been in a heap of trouble if it had. He knew what had happened before he scrambled to help her to her feet again. She was only about twenty feet away when she came to a stop, but she was covered in leaves and twigs.

Her ankle had given way. It had to have been too much after half a day of hiking on a freshly injured ankle. Drake immediately felt bad about having put her up to a hike and camping trip this soon after the spill she took at the work site. He should have known better.

Drake was at her side before she could even manage to get up on her own. He reached over and plucked a twig from her hair right above her ear, giving her a concerned look.

“You alright there, Princess?” The glare she shot him at the nickname was priceless.

“Yeah, I’m going to be fine. I just tripped.” Celeste made an attempt to get up as Drake moved out of her way, allowing her enough room to maneuver.

He didn’t hesitate to reach out to steady her as she tried to get to her feet again and wobbled. This time he was there to catch her when she almost took another spill. This time she wound up in his arms, pressed against his chest instead of rolling down the rest of the hillside she’d managed to avoid the first time.

“Yeah, you’re fantastic there.” He chuckled and kept her there as long as she’d let him. She was warm, and he had to admit it had been a long damned time since he’d had a woman in his arms. There was something about it that had a knot tightening in the pit of his stomach. The things that had run through his mind earlier simply as a matter of course from being with a gorgeous young woman out in the middle of nowhere came flooding to the front of his mind and took over his thoughts.

“I’m fine. Just give me a minute to get myself back into sorts, and we can keep going.” He could see the grit in her eyes as she responded though she didn’t try to move away from his embrace and put her weight back on her own two feet for now. Drake took in a deep breath, steadying himself and supporting her weight as much as she would let him, but it was a struggle not to stop her from talking by pulling her in for the long kiss wanted to shut her up with since the minute she showed up at his ranch dressed in a pair of jeans for the first time.

“You don’t seem fine.” His voice was deep and husky, and he knew that keeping her this close was going to get dangerous for the both of them soon. It was either going to end up in her slapping him so hard he was going to be feeling it for days, or the two of them doing something they were both going to regret. So he was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when she finally pulled away, carefully putting her weight back on her own two feet.

“I wrenched my ankle on a loose rock. It’s still a little wobbly from the other day. It’s fine I promise.” Her mouth was set like she was determined not to make the mistake of leaning on him for help again.

Her first steps were unsteady, and Drake was worried he was going to have to catch her to keep her from falling again. When he went in to stand close enough to be there in case she needed him again, she waved him off.

“I told you, I’ve got it.” Her voice was hard like the rock she’d said she twisted her ankle on again, and he pulled away.

“Alright, Princess, suit yourself. But if you break your leg out here, I’m not carrying you back to civilization. You want to be on your own you’ve got it.” He steeled himself and prepared to keep on walking. If she was going to push off any offer of help from him just because she was stubbornly trying to push through another sprained ankle, then he wasn’t going to stand in her way. Let her go ahead and learn the lesson the hard way if that’s what she needed to do.