Kissing Aiden Knight was the equivalent of jumping out of a plane and hoping the parachute opened. Mia hadn’t taken that kind of bold first step since maybe the third grade, when she’d kissed her friend Oliver for giving her a Valentine. Darren had always taken the lead in their relationship. Even after they got together, she got in the habit of always following his moods.

The parachute did open—if by parachute she meant that Aiden wanted to kiss her back.

After an initial lurch of surprise, he kissed her back, his lips warm and sweet against hers. She could taste a faint trace of coconut, a sunny flavor that made her feel as if the sky was opening and sunshine pouring over them. The contact was so delicious, her lips tingled with delight. She touched her tongue to his, wanting more of that enticing flavor. The sensation sent a thrill running straight to her lower belly. Desire, excitement…hope.

She closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh rain-washed scent of his skin. It mingled with the earthy, chilled odor of the cave in a way that made her want to huddle against him for warmth.

The only problem with that was, he was wearing Darren’s thermal shirt.

Guilt city.

She drew away, aghast at herself. “I shouldn’t have done that. Oh my God, I’m a terrible person. Darren—” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. No matter what her conscience said, her mouth still tingled with pleasure. Maybe if she bit down hard enough, it would stop.

Nope.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “That was a mistake, and now you’re probably going to think I’m a tease the way Darren does.”

Looking even more tousled than usual, Aiden stared at her for a moment, then his eyebrows drew together in a scowl. “I don’t think you’re a tease. It was just a kiss. I’m not expecting anything. And screw Darren. I mean, you don’t owe him anything, in my opinion. You said he was your ex-boyfriend.”

“Yes, but only as of a few hours ago.”

“You mean when he hit you. And you ran off.”

“Yes, but—” She paused, all the layers of her fear of Darren coming into view. “Yeah. Screw Darren,” she said softly, kind of testing it out to see how it felt.

It felt good.

So she said it again, in a stronger voice. “Screw Darren.”

One corner of Aiden’s mouth quirked upwards. Vividly, she remembered what his mouth felt like against hers. So fresh and hopeful and so incredibly exciting. “There you go. But look, don’t get me wrong. If you don’t want to kiss me again, for whatever reason, then we won’t.”

She ran her tongue across her lips. They throbbed for more. But that darn shirt…she just couldn’t handle it.

He saw where she was looking and glanced down at his own torso. “It’s this thing, isn’t it?”

She scrunched her face up and nodded. “I know, I’m an idiot. I can’t help it. I remember the last time he wore that shirt, at a backyard barbecue. I can still smell the charcoal.”

He sniffed close to the shirt. “I figured it was from a campfire. I’ll take it off. But then I won’t have a shirt on, and you didn’t seem too crazy about that before.”

Her cheeks warmed. “That was because…well, I wanted you to be hot. I mean, warm.” Her face heated even further. “You are hot, is the point. Especially without your shirt. But I didn’t think I should be noticing that sort of thing. And you looked really cold, obviously. So I wanted you to warm up. God, it’s really hot in here, isn’t it?” She pressed her hands to her cheeks.

He was smiling widely. “Do you mean like I shouldn’t be noticing how pretty your lips are? And how your skin smells like peaches?”

Now she was practically burning up. “I’m pretty sure my lips are perfectly ordinary.”

“Well, maybe that’s because you’ve never kissed them. You should listen to me, since I’ve had personal, up-close experience with them. Also, your hair is ridiculously silky.” He picked up a lock of her hair and let it run through his fingers. Even though hair had no nerve endings, which she knew perfectly well, she could have sworn she felt his touch deep in her soul somewhere.

“There you go,” she said softly. “Doing that superhero self-esteem trick again.”

“Oh really, that’s what you think? You’re the one who keeps telling me I have superpowers.” He pulled a teasing face and tucked her hair behind her shoulder. “Maybe you have it backward, and you’re the one boosting self-esteem everywhere you go. Turning ordinary people’s photos into superhero cartoons.” He cocked his head with a thoughtful look. “By the way, did you ever do Darren’s caricature? What kind of superhero would he be?”

She blinked at him in surprise. No, she’d never done a cartoon of Darren because he thought the whole thing was stupid. But now that Aiden mentioned it… “I guess when I first met him, I would have drawn him as a white knight on a giant horse. With a huge lance aimed at our insurance company.” She rolled her eyes a little at her naivete back then. “But that was before I really knew him. I guess now…hmmm.”

Images formed in her mind, the way they always did when she started one of her cartoons. Usually the process took place entirely in her head, but this time she narrated it out loud. “He might be a kind of Transformer. Sort of machine-like. Boom boom boom. Get it done. Don’t slow down. Don’t stop moving. Do what I want. Don’t make me frown at you. Yeah, there’s definitely a frown on his face. He’s a warrior. He has a hammer, but not a good one like Thor’s. It’s more of a symbol. It says ‘get out of my way or I’ll smash you.’”

She fell silent as all those thoughts coalesced into the image of Darren the Destroyer.

Jesus. Was that really the man she’d been dating for the past eight months?

She glanced at Aiden, who wore an appalled look on his face. “Just going out on a limb here,” he said, “but he doesn’t sound like the right guy for you.”

She laughed. The tension inside her broke like a rubber band, and more peals of laughter rolled out of her. “You think?”

“Call me crazy.” He shrugged his thermal-clad shoulders. She really wished he wasn’t wearing that shirt. Especially now that she’d conjured the image of Darren the Destroyer.

She dropped her head onto her forearms, which were resting on her knees. “Where were you when I first met him? I could have used a warning back then. I guess that’s where my one-tenth of a big brother would have come in handy.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m not even one-hundredth of a big brother to you.” She glanced up to see him stripping off Darren’s shirt and tossing it into a shadowed corner of the cave. “And I’m not wearing that shirt anymore. I’d rather put my clammy-ass t-shirt back on.”

The light from the battery-operated lantern put his smooth muscles into deep relief. When it came to shirtless men, she’d only been this close to two in her life. Darren and Aiden. Both were physically fit. Darren worked out at a gym every day and prided himself on his sharply cut musculature.

Aiden was different. His skin was more golden, his muscles more smooth and rounded. If she had to put a word to his physicality, it would be “stroke-able.” Aiden hadn’t honed his muscles in order to intimidate, the way Darren had. She could picture him out on the waves, sitting on his surfboard, baking in the sun, joking with the other surfers. She’d bet anything that he’d built his physique by doing fun things. And his whole purpose was to do more fun things.

Not just when it came to sports, either.

Her mouth watered as she followed the traces of golden hair that meandered down his lower abdomen. Even that “happy trail” looked easygoing and relaxed. As if no part of him was out to cause harm. And every part of him was out to cause warm, fluttery sensations in her belly.

“You don’t need to put that horrible wet shirt on,” she said quickly. “You’re fine as you are.”

Very, very fine.

He gave her a friendly grin. “I gotta say, I feel about a thousand percent better right now. That shirt was bugging the shit out of me. So where were we?”

She couldn’t quite remember. Now that he was shirtless, rational thoughts were hard to come by. “I think you were saying you weren’t my big brother.”

“Right. Definitely not. But Mia, I totally get it that this is a tough time for you. Fresh off a breakup and all.”

She snorted. That was one way to put it. “It’s true, things have been crazy since me and Darren broke up. I somehow managed to find a weirdo’s cabin, only to find out he’s a possible murderer with a hostage. I rescued said hostage. Got lost with him in the forest. Got caught in a rainstorm. Got chased by the man I’d broken up with. Holed up in a cave with this really cute guy. And kissed him. Yes, it’s definitely been a roller-coaster few hours.”

He tilted his head back in a laugh. “Exactly. Mia, I really liked it when you kissed me. I mean, really really liked it. I’d love to do more of that. But if it’s too soon, it’s too soon. End of story.”

“Yeah, but what if this is our only chance?”

Lamplight gilded his cheekbones as he tilted his head. “Why would it be our only chance?”

“What were the chances we’d even be here right now? The only reason I left my mother with a caregiver for two nights is because of this trip with Darren. He convinced me that our relationship needed it. I mean, he was right about that, because our relationship needed to end.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “But when I get back, nothing will be different. I’ll still be full time with my mom. Except I suppose we won’t have a lawyer anymore.”

That could be a problem, especially if Darren made it a problem. But there were other lawyers in the world. Her first task when she got back would be to find a new one to defend her in case Darren did anything threatening.

“And I’ll be back at Evergreen…so what?” Aiden said. “Fresno is only a couple hundred miles from Evergreen.

Her eyes widened at the thought of seeing him again, outside of the Sierras. In her everyday life. The life that had so many stresses and unknowns. “No,” she said firmly. “This is it. After we get back to civilization, we need to go back to our own lives. Whatever we want to do together, it has to be here and now.”

“Why? I don’t get it. We’re both single.”

“Yeah, and we’re both twenty. College.” She pointed to him, then at herself. “Caretaker. We both have things we need to focus on. I should never have gotten involved with Darren. I thought he was going to swoop in and take care of my problems. That was just stupid.”

He bent his knees up and rested his elbows on them. “Stop that. You’re not stupid. You’re in a tough situation, that’s all. You’re dealing with a lot for someone who’s so young. I can’t even imagine.”

“Your father was murdered and your mother left,” she pointed out.

“Yes, but I wasn’t alone. I had my brothers. Don’t be so hard on yourself, okay?” He reached over and touched her arm, giving her a gentle squeeze. She nearly melted at the touch. Being with Aiden was like inhaling pure sunshine. Even though they were holed up in this dank little cave, she felt filled with light.

“How’d you get to be so sweet?” she asked him with a smile.

“I don’t know. How did you?”

“You think I’m sweet?”

“I know you are. I kissed you, remember? And I’ve been spending lots of time with you lately.” He winked at her. Lord, he was adorable. “How about if we change the subject for now and move on to something even more important?”

“What’s that?”

“The best way to turn instant soup into something halfway edible. I figure it’s probably dinnertime, and we need to fuel up if we’re going to hike out of here tomorrow.” He picked up the packet and shook it. “Will this stuff even mix with cold water?”

Her stomach rumbled and she realized that he was right. They needed to eat. She’d been so distracted by the joy of kissing him that she’d forgotten the entire concept of food.

“I have a lighter,” she said dubiously. “Could we use the flame somehow?”

“A lighter? You’ve been holding out on me. How about this, let’s put everything out on the ground and see what we can do with it. Not just your stuff, mine too.” He dug into both of his pockets and came up with a movie ticket stub, a five dollar bill, and a pencil stub. His face lit up. “Fuel!”

“Excuse me? You’re going to burn your money?”

“Sure, why not? But also, this pencil is made of wood. If you still have that Swiss army knife, we can make wood shavings. Anything else we can make a fire with?”

She dumped out the contents of her pack on the floor. Her knitted hat, the topo map, a small notebook meant for doodling, extra batteries for the lantern, her headlamp, two more Clif Bars, another bottle of water, her deodorant, a travel toothbrush, toothpaste, wool socks, a roll of toilet paper in a Ziploc bag, hand sanitizer, and an extra pair of underwear. She quickly stuffed the panties back in her pack.

“We can burn my notebook,” she said, even though the idea of burning her drawings gave her physical pain.

“No way. Only the blank pages. Non-negotiable,” he said firmly when she started to protest. “We don’t need them anyway. We only need enough heat to make soup. Let me see what I can find out there. Hang on, I’ll be right back. Can I use this?”

He picked up her headlamp, and she nodded. He slipped it onto his head, then pulled on Darren’s thermal shirt and squeezed back through the gap in the rocks. At least it gave her a chance to collect herself.

She’d kissed Aiden. Aiden had kissed her back. That changed so many things. For instance, it confirmed that leaving Darren was absolutely the right choice.

But it didn’t change the main thing, which was that she needed to get back to her mother and her real life as quickly as possible.