---

There were so many options. Almost too many, as far as Chelsea was concerned. She scrolled through the webpage. This time, instead of the social media sites making her crazy, it was the endless options for correspondence classes making her crazy.

How was she supposed to choose something to take that would give her a profitable skill when she didn’t even know what she wanted to do?

“How’s it going?” Gwen walked past her into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. “You look like you’ve already been awake for a bit. Still looking at classes?”

She’d been looking for almost two days already. After her date with Scott, which had been so great, she’d come home with the idea that maybe staying in Cedar Springs would be the best option. But if she was going to stay, she was going to need to figure out what she was doing. Which was why she’d been poring over a dozen websites and all the options they offered.

“I’m still looking.” Chelsea pushed her laptop away and picked up her mostly cold cup of coffee. “I think the problem is I don’t have the slightest idea of what I want to do.”

Gwen chuckled. “That would be a problem.” She leaned up against the counter and held her mug between her hands. “Have you narrowed it down any?”

“Not really.” Chelsea glanced at the notepad where she’d made a few notes. “There’s some office administration skills classes and a medical transcription course but I’m not excited about them, you know?”

Her friend nodded. “I do. And trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to spend your life doing something you’re not excited about.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You write a blog for a living. A blog that’s being turned into a television show. I mean, you’re kind of living the dream.” She closed her eyes for a minute. “I think I’d love that. No, I know I would. Writing for a living…what could be better?”

“Writing? You like to write?”

Chelsea blushed and looked down. She never talked about her writing. Not with anyone. Well, except for Jake, but he’d only laughed at her and told her she was stupid. That was, when he wasn’t stealing her notebooks and throwing them away or worse, burning them in front of her in the fire pit. He’d destroyed so many stories, not to mention what he’d done to her spirit. Which was probably the reason she didn’t like to talk about it. Which was stupid. She shouldn’t let Jake have any impact at all on her life anymore.

She shouldn’t. And mostly, she didn’t. But every once in a while, those old feelings slipped through.

“I do,” she confessed, but she wouldn’t meet Gwen’s eyes. “It’s nothing like you do,” she added quickly. “But I’ve always liked to fool around with it. I just haven’t had the chance to get serious with it.”

“The chance?” Gwen slid into the seat across from her. “Or the courage?”

Chelsea’s head snapped up and she stared at her sister-in-law to-be with her mouth open.

“Sorry.” Gwen smiled. “The reason I ask is because it’s pretty common for people who have the burning desire to write to never actually put pen to paper, so to speak.”

“It is?”

“Sadly.” She nodded. “Because it’s scary. Really scary. I mean, even if you aren’t writing about your own life the way I do, a good writer puts a little bit of themselves into everything they write. And really, putting that out into the world is sort of terrifying, don’t you think? It takes courage. And without even realizing it, that’s what stops most people before they even get started.”

Chelsea turned her words over in her head, letting them sink in. They resonated with her. A lot. Why was it that she hadn’t written anything for months? She couldn’t really blame Jake forever for stifling her. Maybe Gwen was right? Maybe she was just scared?

“Does that makes sense?” Gwen asked.

“It actually really does.” She nodded slowly. “So how do you get over it? The fear, I mean?”

Gwen laughed. “You don’t, really. But you have to have faith that your words will reach the right people. Not everyone is going to like what you write, and you have to be okay with that.” Gwen took a sip of her coffee and put it down quickly. “But the number one thing to remember is that in order to be a writer, you have to actually write. Talking about writing doesn’t count.”

Chelsea let that sink in. Her friend’s words resonated more than she realized.

“Hey.” Gwen broke through her thoughts. “I didn’t even ask you what you like to write.”

“Fiction. Love stories, actually.” She blushed a little, shy to share with Gwen.

“That’s awesome. Like romance novels?”

Chelsea nodded again.

“Can I read one? I mean, when you’re ready,” Gwen added quickly. “I always thought it would be so cool to write romance novels. I just don’t know if I have it in me.”

“Really? Why not?”

Gwen shrugged. “I’m not sure. I love reading them, but I’m more of a non-fiction girl myself. But who knows, maybe one day. But you have to tell me about your stories.” Gwen took another deep gulp of coffee and then abruptly pushed up from the table. “But you’ll have to tell me in the car,” she said. “We have that hike today, remember?”

Chelsea hadn’t remembered. At least, not in the last few hours. She’d thought about it last night, how they’d signed up to hike something called Nahini Ridge. But she’d been so consumed in her thoughts about the future that she’d completely forgotten about it.

“You are ready, right?”

“Of course.” She glanced down at her sweat pants and laughed. “Just give me a minute to change.”

---

True to her word, Gwen did want to hear all about Chelsea’s stories and they talked nonstop on the drive to the trailhead. Just talking to Gwen about her writing got Chelsea excited again. She had a few books—or what maybe could be books—that were finished on her computer and she promised to email them to Gwen to read. Shockingly, once she’d made the decision and agreed to it, she wasn’t nearly as scared as she thought she’d be. In fact, by the time she got out of the car and grabbed her pack, she was excited to write again and would have preferred to go home and spend the afternoon with her laptop instead of climbing up some big hill. But Gwen looked excited and she knew that Gwen was going to use the experience for a future blog post on her successful health and weight loss blog, so there wasn’t really an option.

“There are more people here than I expected,” Gwen said as she met her around the back of the car. “I was told the group is usually smaller for the Tuesday hikes since it’s during the week, but this is a good turnout.”

There were about ten people of all different ages, and all of them looked a whole lot more prepared than she did with their fancy quick dry pants and polar fleece jackets. She looked down at her jeans and sweatshirt. At least she had been able to borrow some old hiking boots from Milena. Otherwise she really would have stuck out.

“I hope I don’t slow them down too much.”

“I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”

“Oh, I have no doubt she’ll be just fine.” Both women turned to see Lucas Lee walking up behind them. Chelsea tried not to notice how his pair of quick dry hiking pants hugged his strong, muscular thighs. She had no doubt that if he turned around, she’d be treated to a nice view of a tight ass as well. She pushed the thought away and swallowed hard.

“What are you…I didn’t know you…”

“Hiked?” He laughed, which caused a riot of feelings to race through her. “I’ve only been on a few with this group so far. But yes, I like to get outside whenever I get the chance and there are some great trails around Cedar Springs. Surprised?”

Chelsea didn’t see any point in lying. “Yes.”

Lucas laughed again. “I could say the same.” He took in her appearance, letting his eyes travel the length of her. She forced herself not to react to his attentions. “You don’t strike me as the hiking type. Your first time?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Maybe a little. But I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Besides, I’ll be right here with you.”

Chelsea laughed. The sound came out a little more manic than she’d intended. Something about Lucas put her on edge. He was too much like the guys she used to know in the city. Too much like the one she used to date. The one who broke her heart. But that wasn’t quite it, because Lucas was different, too. Still, she knew enough to know when she was walking into trouble. And when it came to Lucas, she was pretty sure that’s exactly what she’d be doing.

“Oh, that’s why Gwen’s here.” She waved her arm in the direction of her friend, only Gwen wasn’t standing next to her anymore. Chelsea turned, searching for Gwen, who promised to stay with her for the whole hike, only to see she was with some of the other hikers, getting ready to set out onto the trail. Chelsea lifted her arms in the form of an exasperated question but Gwen wasn’t watching.

“I guess it’s just you and me.” Lucas stood so close to her that she was sure she could feel the heat of him on her arm despite the layers of clothing between them and the chill in the air. “Come on,” he said. “I won’t leave you.”

---

---

She hesitated for a moment, but Lucas knew she’d come with him. He held his hand out, but not surprisingly, Chelsea ignored it and walked past him. Fine by Lucas; he’d much rather look at her tight little ass in those jeans anyway. Jeans? It wasn’t the best choice for hiking apparel but he was definitely not complaining because it afforded him an excellent view as they started up the trail.

Forget the mountain vistas and the vivid blend of the bright-yellow leaves of the aspens and larch trees mixed in with the deep green of the pines. Those sights had nothing on Chelsea McCormick.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Lucas finally tried to engage her. “So,” he said. “What made you decide to start hiking? I mean, assuming you didn’t know I was part of the group.”

“No!” She spun around so quickly on the trail she almost lost her balance. Lucas was right there with a steadying arm to balance her. She looked sharply at his hand on her, but didn’t pull away. “No,” she said again, softer this time. “I didn’t know you were part of the group.”

He winked. “Really? Because I could have sworn you were stalking me.”

“Me?” She straightened up and jerked her arm away from him. “You’re the one stalking me. Don’t forget, I was here first.”

“On this mountain? Or in this town?” He grinned and she turned around in a huff.

He couldn’t help it. She was fun to flirt with for sure, but she was also equally fun to get riled up. And it was just so easy. Too easy. He got under her skin, and he was pretty sure he knew exactly why that was.

“You don’t strike me as a small-town girl,” he said as they continued walking. “I mean, I know you’re not from here, but that’s about all I know.” He dropped the teasing tone, genuinely wanting to know about her. “So tell me, how did you end up here?”

“Really?”

“Really. I want to know all about you, Chelsea McCormick. Besides, we have some time until we reach the ridge. We might as well get to know each other, don’t you think?”

She didn’t say yes. But she didn’t say no either, which Lucas took as a good sign.

“How about I go first?”

“Deal.” Her answer came so quickly, Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say someone is curious about me.” There was a falter in her step. It was just a little one, but he noticed. “Lucky for you, I’m an open book. What exactly do you want to know?”

When she turned around, Lucas could see the red flush on her cheeks and the small bead of sweat on her forehead, despite the cool day. It wasn’t an overly challenging hike that she’d chosen for her first day, but it still required a good effort. And it was absolutely beautiful. The hike to Nahini Ridge had been one of the first he’d done after arriving in Cedar Springs, and right before he’d joined the group. It was obvious from her choice of hiking clothing that Chelsea wasn’t much of a hiker, but she looked to be in great shape. In fact, Lucas would have zero problems checking out her shape a little closer, and he had no doubt she’d be able to reach the ridge. And when she did, the views were definitely worth every step.

“Where are you from?” she asked. “I mean, where did you come from?” He laughed. “Okay, that sounded rude,” she conceded. “What I mean, is…”

“Where did I grow up?”

“Sure.” She smiled. “Let’s start there. And if you don’t mind, maybe you could do most of the talking. It’s starting to get a little steep.”

He tried not to laugh, at least not that she could see. But she was so damned cute. Especially when she was trying not to be.

Lucas shook his head and could only smile to himself as she turned around again and resumed hiking. He fell into step behind her and just as promised, started to tell her whatever she wanted to know about him. Starting with where he grew up.

“It’s not all that exciting,” Lucas started. “But I’m the youngest of two brothers. We were raised almost completely by my father after my mom took off. And before you say anything, don’t be sorry. It was for the best.” Lucas was used to people giving him that look, the one where they pressed their lips together and nodded their head as if they understood what it was like to have your mom run off when you were just a kid. It only irritated him. “She really wasn’t cut out to be a mom and that became crystal-clear after I was born. At least that’s what my dad says. Two young boys was just way too much for her to handle. We were better off without her.”

“Well, it sounds like you have a pretty great dad then.”

Lucas shrugged despite the fact that she couldn’t see him. “I’m not going to say he wasn’t,” he finally said after a moment. “He did his best. Truthfully, he probably shouldn’t have ever had children either but he just didn’t figure that out until it was too late. I think more people should make the decision not to procreate and the world would be a better place for it.”

She stopped then and stared at him. “You really think that?”

“I think that if you know you aren’t going to be a good parent, you should just accept that and not subject a child to your parenting. That’s all.”

“That seems like kind of a cold way to look at it, don’t you think?”

“Not at all.” He gestured for her to turn around so they could keep walking. “I think it’s an honest way to look at it. That’s all. But I don’t want to talk about kids. Not on our first date anyway. We should save that for at least the third date.”

That made her laugh. She didn’t turn around, but she looked over her shoulder. “This isn’t a date, Lucas Lee. Keep dreaming.”

“You know I will, Chelsea McCormick. Every night.”

They chatted for a bit longer until finally falling into an easy silence, which was fine with Lucas too. He had a lot he needed to think about, which was actually the whole point of coming out with the hiking club on a Tuesday. He usually reserved his hikes for the weekends because he was swamped with the development project.

But sometimes the only way to work something through in his head was to get outside and get some fresh air. He took a deep breath, one more guilty glance at Chelsea’s cute little ass and forced himself to focus on why he was really there.

He needed to figure out what was going on with his site before word got back to management that there was trouble. Cedar Springs and Cedar View Heights was supposed to be a simple project.

Simple. But valuable. It was the type of project that could really get him noticed in the company and maybe for the first time, the owner—who also happened to be his father—would recognize his worth. There was no way he planned to be stuck on the shitty little jobs that his dad liked to assign him forever. Even the Cedar Springs job, although it was bigger and allowed him more control, was still seen as a less desirable one. After all, it meant leaving the city to spend the next few months in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere where nothing happened.

At least Cedar Springs had at least one desirable feature with the trails right out his door.

His eyes once again landed on Chelsea’s backside.

Make that two desirable features.

But it was all going to be for nothing if his dad figured out that there’d been trouble at the job site. First it had been the spray painting of the bulldozer. As if that wasn’t bad enough. Hell, that was not a cheap piece of equipment. But now there had been other things. Tools had gone missing. The windows of his construction office had been smashed. His truck tire slashed on more than one occasion.

It seemed to him that the attacks were escalating, which troubled him. A lot.

He didn’t have it in the budget to keep replacing tools and his guys were starting to complain, too.

And all because of that stupid group, the Friends of the Lake Society. Apparently their version of friends involved damage to property and escalating violence. Not the kind of friends he wanted to deal with. But he was going to have to. Because the latest letter of communication had mentioned something about the second building site and the simple solution of moving it back a hundred feet from the original site in order to protect some nesting ground.

It actually didn’t seem like a totally unreasonable request, but before it could even be considered, and before that could happen, he’d have to get some more information.

Perhaps that was the easiest solution. If he could move the site, he would get these friends off his back and he’d be able to complete the project on time and under budget. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure he could.

Lucas took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the fresh mountain air. A decision reached, he felt better. As soon as he got down from the hike, he’d call the contact number on the most recent letter and set up a meeting. He watched as Chelsea pulled her hair back off her neck and twisted it into a ponytail while she walked.

She said the other night that she wasn’t dating anyone, but he was pretty sure something was going on between her and the sandwich guy, not that that bothered him any. He’d never been the kind of man to let anything or anyone get in the way of what he wanted.

And what he wanted to help his time in Cedar Springs fly by was Chelsea McCormick

---

---

“Wow.” Chelsea turned around in a circle once and then again. Slower the second time, taking in the incredible view below her.

She hadn’t been entirely sure she was going to make it to the top of the hike. There had been more than a few times where she’d strongly considered sitting down and waiting for the rest of the group to come back down. But she was also hyper aware that Lucas Lee was right behind her, and that definitely helped motivate her to keep moving. She didn’t want to look stupid in front of him. Not that she cared what he thought. Not really…but…

“This is absolutely…” She spun around again, unable to find a word that was adequate to describe what she was looking at.

“Amazing?” Lucas came to stand beside her. “The view is pretty amazing.”

She turned to talk to him, but he was staring directly at her.

Chelsea lightly smacked his arm and chastised him. “You’re not even looking.”

“Oh, I’m looking all right and I definitely like what I see.”

“Stop it.” She looked away. “This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Really?”

Something about the way he said it made her pause and she turned back to look at him. “Really. It is.”

He held up a hand in defense. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said quickly. “It is beautiful. And I really am talking about the view this time. But it’s not the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, there are a lot of amazing places in the world, don’t you think?”

Chelsea shrugged, suddenly feeling stupid. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never really been anywhere.” She instantly flashed back to her Facebook newsfeed and all of her friends from high school who had been somewhere. Australia, Europe, South America. There’d been so many options; she just hadn’t taken any of them.

Because of Jake. He’d convinced her that traveling around the world was stupid, dangerous and expensive. It was just easier to stay home with him. Just like it was easier for her to stay home with Jake instead of going out with her friends and dealing with his constant questioning and jealousy. He’d taken away so much of what she loved. One by one, little by little until it was all gone and she was alone. Her writing, her friends, her desire for a future—everything. Except for Jake. He’d been everything to her.

Until he wasn’t. It still made her crazy to think that at only nineteen she could have been so blinded by what she thought was love that she would have given up so much for so long.

“It’s not too late,” Lucas said. “It’s never too late. My grandparents are still traveling all over the world and they’re in their seventies.” He laughed. “And I’m pretty sure they’ll each be well over a hundred before anyone will be able to convince them to stay home.”

Together, they moved a little farther up the ridge, to where the group had gathered to eat a snack and enjoy the view. “So, what’s the most amazing place you’ve ever been?”

Lucas thought about it for a minute, but finally he shrugged. “I don’t think I could pick just one. The jungles of Costa Rica were sure something. But the beaches of Cuba…and I can’t forget about Europe.”

“Europe?” The twinge of jealousy Chelsea had been feeling was by now a full-blown pain. “I’ve always wanted to see Paris.”

“Really?”

She laughed. “Doesn’t every little girl want to see Paris? I know it’s cliché, but I just think it would be the most romantic city.”

“Well, that’s one place I haven’t been.” He winked at her. “Maybe someday.”

What did he mean by that? That they’d go together? The idea was ludicrous, but nonetheless it sent a thrill through her. She could definitely think of worse things than traveling the world with Lucas Lee.

“Hey, how do you feel about going all the way up?” Chelsea looked to see where he was pointing, past the group, to the peak of the mountain. “It’s a little scramble over the scree, and it won’t be easy, but it’ll totally be worth it.”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head and reflexively backed away, running smack into him. “I barely made it up here as it was.”

“That’s not true.” He squeezed her elbow. “You did better than you think you did. I mean, you’re here, aren’t you?”

She turned around and looked into his deep green eyes. It was a mistake, because she was instantly lost in them. What was it about Lucas that made her question absolutely everything?

Whatever it was, there was also something about him that made her say yes when it was the last thing she normally would do.

“Okay.” She nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Lucas didn’t need to be asked twice. He took her hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world and led her up the path, past the group who shouted words of encouragement and to what looked like a very steep trail of broken rocks, that Lucas called scree. Doubt settled like a pit in her stomach. Chelsea turned back to see Gwen watching her with a smile.

She could do it.

She looked back at what could hardly be called a trail and grinned. “Let’s do this.”

Lucas led the way, showing her how to navigate the loose rock, bending over and using his hands to actually scramble up the rocks. She tried to stay focused on the task at hand and not the vision of Lucas’s tight, hard ass perfectly on display in front of her.

But Chelsea did stay focused, putting her energy into placing one hand in front of the other, watching where her feet were stepping, careful not to slip, and soon she felt the incline level out as they reached the peak.

“You did it.”

She looked up to see Lucas offering her a hand up. She took it and he hauled her to her feet, but didn’t let go of her hand. A fact she was instantly grateful for because they were, in fact, at the very top of the mountain.

It hadn’t looked so far from the ridge where they’d left the group, who were now just tiny in the distance.

Slowly, Chelsea looked around and the impact of what she’d accomplished settled in piece by piece.

The air was cold and the breeze biting as they stood on the peak, taking in the view. Chelsea couldn’t be sure how long they stood there without speaking, but it didn’t matter because there really were no words to describe the overwhelming sense of achievement and wonder she was feeling. She hardly noticed when a tear slipped from her eye, down her cheek until the cool autumn breeze froze it on her cheek.

She reached up to swat it away, but Lucas noticed. “What’s wrong? Are you—”

“I’m fine. I’m just…” She used her free hand to gesture around them. “It’s this. I did this. I mean, I didn’t do it. But…”

“You got here. I knew you would.” She turned to look at him and Lucas wrapped both arms around her as if he’d been doing it forever. Which, at the moment, it felt like. “You know, you’re capable of so much more than you think you are, Chelsea McCormick. There’s a whole world out there waiting for you.”

He bent to her and pressed his lips to her. The heat from him warmed her through. One hand slipped to her cheek while he deepened the kiss she readily accepted. He tasted like cinnamon and heat. The scent of pine trees and cool, fresh air swirled around them, and for a moment, she was completely lost in Lucas Lee and all the possibilities he represented.