Celeste had no idea what time it was when she woke to a blindingly brilliant sun peeking in through the open zipper of the tiny tent. She’d had the strangest night and the strangest dreams. She supposed that the combination of being absolutely exhausted and crammed in such a small space with someone she had to admit to herself she was physically attracted to made for the oddest combination. She would have blushed if she’d been asked to recount what had played on in her mind overnight out loud to anyone, even her closest girlfriend.

Drake was technically her boss. There was no way she should be having thoughts like that about one of her clients. She knew better than that. She’d even remembered saying as much in her dreams, but it hadn’t stopped much of what had happened after that. In fact, there was something about it being slightly forbidden that made it that much better. At least that’s what she remembered from the series of dreams that had come to her in her sleep. It had been far more than one, but one dream in particular stood out in her dreams.

Maybe it was because she’d dreamed of exactly the scenario that the two of them had found themselves in. Zipped up together in a tiny tent out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but each other to keep warm with, only there was far less than two sets of clothes and two sleeping bags between them in her dream. Her lips still felt like they stung from the searing kiss that had led to the two of them wrapped up in each other’s arms.

That kind of dream back at home would have ended up with Celeste spending far more time than necessary in the shower before she got herself together for the rest of her day. It would have at least given her a chance to get it out of her system, but here in the woods, she wasn’t going to be alone long enough to take care of the tight knot of energy that had seated itself in her abdomen.

She was alone in the tent for the time being, but the noises just outside the thin layer of fabric told her that Drake was close by. She sat up with a soft groan, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and squeezing her thighs together trying to find even the slightest release.

“Drake?” Her voice was a little uncertain. She knew there was someone nearby, and common sense told her it had to be Drake, but to be honest, she had no real way of knowing until the sound of his voice finally hit her ears. It could have been anyone. Her nerves were only a little soothed when he shoved his head inside the tent with that same smirky grin.

“Morning, Princess. I made you some coffee.” He shot her a wink. “I figured you needed your beauty rest. You had a rough night there.” His face disappeared back to where it had come from once he pulled away from the opening and she groaned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Celeste pushed herself onto all fours to crawl out of the tent. Her muscles were screaming with every move, but she knew she was going to have to work through that today whatever happened. She couldn’t expect Drake to carry her out of this place, and she was just going to have to pay the consequences for pushing herself too hard the day before. The thing that scared her the most was that little comment.

Rough night? There was no way he could have known what she was dreaming about right? It’s not like he was some kind of mind reader or anything. She was panicking a little as she emerged into the clearing where they’d set up camp at sunset the evening before. The air was clear and cold, but that hadn’t caused Drake to put on a shirt. He’d had one on the night before, but now it was nowhere to be seen.

He was exactly like she would have imagined him to be, covered in the muscles that came from working around the farm and not from spending hours and hours in the gym. She hated guys who did nothing with their time but lift weights and obsessed over the size of their muscles, but this was completely different. There was something wildly attractive about a man who took care of himself and who earned his muscles the hard way. After the dreams she’d had and the wakeup she gotten, she’d already decided that it was going to be a ridiculously hard day.

Not only was she going to be battling through body pain, she was also going to be working through the fact that her hormones and brain had decided to betray her. They were far too lost in the way his back muscles rippled while he worked over the camp stove to make their breakfast for her to even register the fact that he was actually talking to her.

“I mean you were bone tired when you crawled into that tent. I don’t even think you got the sleeping bag zipped all the way up before you passed out. By the way, you toss and turn a lot in your sleep. I do hope the accommodations were to your liking.” He shot her that same damned grin that made her want to slap him or plant her lips on his to wipe that look off his face, but this time it was harder and harder not to walk over there and do the latter. She shoved her hands into the pockets of the clothes she still wore and sank down onto one of the logs nearby trying not to watch him work.

“I’m not a huge fan of sleeping on the ground, but I managed. How about you? I hope it wasn’t too rough on your back. You’re getting pretty old to be sleeping on such a hard surface, right?” If she couldn’t get him out of her thoughts, she could at least snark back with the best of them, but he laughed as soon as she got the question out of her lips.

“Well, I’m not quite geriatric yet, but I’m pleased about your concern for my back. It was just fine, thanks. I mean what man isn’t going to sleep like a log with a beautiful woman curled around him for warmth, right?” That grin didn’t waver in the slightest. If she was going to get under his skin, it was going to take more than that. She was going to need her coffee if she was going to make it through today in one piece.

“Right… So what was that you said about coffee?” She tried to keep her voice expressionless, changing the subject to coffee as soon as possible. Drake reached for one of the same mugs they’d used last night, that he’d washed out after dinner and poured it nearly full of coffee before dumping a couple of single serve packets of sugar into it and passing it over to her.

“You’ll have to forgive the lack of cream, but it’s not exactly like I can keep it fresh out here in the middle of nowhere, so black with two sugars will have to do.” Celeste had no idea how he knew how she took her coffee. Maybe it was a coincidence maybe it was something else.

“That’s alright. This is the way I like it, anyway.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind for future reference.” He shot her a wink over the tiny frying pan that sat on top of the camp stove. “And how to you take your eggs? I mean, I don’t have any eggs, but just in case I ever get the chance to cook you breakfast again.”

The question had a double meaning, and she knew it, but if she called him on it he was just going to have some kind of excuse about it being completely innocent.

“Oh, thanks for asking.” She said with sarcasm as she pressed her hand to her chest. “I like them frozen, just like hell will be when you get a chance to cook eggs for me.” She tried to stay even and matter of fact in her replies, but it was a struggle. “So if it isn’t eggs, what is for breakfast?”

Drake slowly turned his head to look at her, “Feel better now that you got that out your system? Breakfast is oatmeal. I hope you like it. It’s probably the easiest thing to cook out here on the trail. All you need is water.” He shot her another grin from over the camp stove as he finished cooking and made her a bowl of the warm oatmeal, straight from the pot.

“My mom used to make me oatmeal when I was a kid. It was one of my favorite things.” She took the plate and tried to keep her focus on the food in front of her when Drake sank down beside her on the log with his own bowl of oatmeal.

He leaned into her so that her bare arm brushed against his chest. There was no reason why such a simple contact should have sent an almost electric shock through her body, but it did. It made her catch her breath and freeze in place for a second, memories of her dreams the night before flooding her now conscious mind. She cursed under her breath as she squeezed her thighs together, then flushed beet red when she’d realized he noticed.

“So, you can’t tell me you’ve never been around a shirtless man before, Princess. I mean, come on. You’re a grown up, and you’re gorgeous. I’m sure you’ve seen more than your fair share. Never mind the fact that I happen to know exactly how close downtown Los Angeles is from the beach.

“Well, yeah. It’s not… You’re… I’ve…” She stumbled over the beginning of several sentences before she could settle on something to say, but he cut her off with a laugh.

“You ok there? I wouldn’t want to fluster you too much. I can go grab a shirt if it’s all too much for you.” And there was that grin that she loved and hated at the same time again. He knew exactly what game he was playing, and he was playing it up to perfection. He thought she was ridiculous, and he intended to make a fool of her in whatever way he possibly could. It just steeled her resolve not to let it happen if she could avoid it.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t want you catching your death of cold out here.” She took a spoonful of the oatmeal and shoved it into her mouth before she could stammer over another sentence and make an absolute ass of herself.

“I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“So, when are we hitting the trail for the rest of the day?”

“As soon as we get everything packed up here. Shouldn’t take too long if you’re up for helping get it all back into the pack. How’s that ankle?” He got down beside her taking her leg into his hands and gently massaging the muscle around her lower calf before slowly moving higher. Celeste was still wearing her pants, but it was like there was a direct connection between his hands and her ovaries. Her body tensed, and she pulled in a sharp breath.

“Fine… It’s fine. A little sore, but so is everything else.” She kicked herself for admitting she was in pain, but he would have been an idiot not to know she was sore after a full day’s hike the day before. She could console herself with that at least.

“Good.” He gave her leg a final squeeze and shot her another wink before walking over to the tent. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us if we’re going to make it to the falls before sunset.”

Those words made Celeste wonder why she’d agreed to come out here at all. She wasn’t certain how much longer he was going to keep up this torture before he either gave up on it or just laughed her out of existence. It was like he knew all of her weak spots and had decided to hit them all at once. Celeste was going to have to keep her wits about her if she was going to survive the next few days.