Chapter One
Emma
“Hey, keep up!” Travis yells. “We’re just getting started!”
A bead of sweat drips down my forehead and I stumble on the ground, nearly losing my balance and falling right on my ass.
“Okay!” I yell back, trying to sound cheery and happy. “Sounds good!”
With a whoop of boyish enthusiasm, Travis disappears into a clump of trees. Branches and twigs snap loudly as he moves away into the distance. For a moment, I think about stopping and leaning against the trunk of a tree. There’s a big one right next to me, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more comfortable place to recline.
“Emma, come on!”
With one more reluctant glance at the tree, I take a deep breath and push forward. The muscles in my thighs are burning and my narrow chest is heaving with every breath, but I can’t stop now. I have to keep going if I want to keep up with Travis.
Breaking into a jog, I finally catch him. God, he looks so hot right now – his green eyes are glinting in the sun and his muscles are rippling under his t-shirt.
I wonder when he’s going to drop this stupid hiking act and kiss me.
“So,” I pant. “This is fun.”
Travis eyes me and snorts. “Yeah,” he echoes, glancing down at his watch.
“I’m not really the biggest fan of hiking,” I say. “But when you asked me, I couldn’t say no.” I bite my lip and try to look as kissable as I can.
Travis turns to me and frowns. He rakes a hand through his blonde hair and shakes his head. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” I reply. An awkward flush spreads along my cheeks.
It’s true, too – only an idiot would have said no. Travis Peterson is the hottest guy at school – all the girls I know are dying to go out with him.
“Well, I’m glad you came,” Travis says. He gives me a suggestive look and my heart lurches to the side.
Finally, I think happily as I smile back at Travis. The whole time we’ve been hiking, I’ve been wondering when Travis is finally going to make a move. I mean, there’s no way he brought me out here because he actually wanted to hike. For one thing, no one would mistake me for an athletic girl – I’m big and curvy. Pretty much the opposite of athletic.
Besides, who goes hiking on a first date?
My heart thuds as Travis steps closer. His hand brushes my shirt and for a moment, I think I’m going to lose it. I haven’t ever been out with a guy like Travis before, and I don’t want to screw this up.
“You’ve got some dirt on you,” Travis growls. He frowns as he brushes my shirt with his fingers.
I stand waiting, holding my breath. Kiss me, darn it! Ignore the dirt! Who cares about that?
“Come on,” Travis says. He throws a glance over his shoulder. “Let’s keep going.”
Disappointment swells in my chest and I force a smile on my face. “I was thinking maybe we could rest for a while?” I ask. “My feet are starting to hurt.”
Travis glances down at my shoes. “You should have worn hiking boots,” he says dismissively. “Come on!” Then, without waiting for my reply, he sprints off into the woods.
Shit.
“Coming!” I call weakly. At this point, I’m almost wishing that I’d said no when Travis asked me out….or at least asked him if we couldn’t do something other than hike. But then I remember that I’m with Travis and the thought is enough to get me moving again.
The rays of the sun overhead are hot and merciless. As I plod along after my very own Greek god, I can feel sweat beginning to trickle down my forehead. My tongue feels fat and dry in my mouth and my lips are cracked and blistered.
“Hey,” I say. “Travis, I gotta stop for a second. I feel like I’m about to pass out.”
Travis groans and I flush awkwardly. To my relief, he stops walking and stretches his arms high over his head.
“We should really be making better time,” Travis says. “Don’t you want to see the falls?”
“I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry, it’s not like they’re going anywhere,” I grumble.
“Emma, they’re really pretty,” Travis says. “Everyone should see the view – it’s really something.”
His words fill me with sudden hope and I understand why he hasn’t kissed me yet – he’s waiting for the falls! My heart skips a beat and I grin.
“That sounds amazing,” I say, eyeing Travis flirtatiously. “I just need to take a short break,” Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I reach for my phone and check the screen. “Hey, I don’t get reception out here.”
Travis snorts. “Yeah, no shit,” he says. “You ready to keep going?”
I take my water bottle out and twist off the cap. To my dismay, the bottle is already mostly empty. But the water is like heaven in my mouth, even though it’s warm and tastes like chlorine. Besides, if the waterfall is as clean and beautiful as Travis insists, I can always fill up my bottle there.
“Okay,” I say. “I’m ready.”
“Finally,” Travis mutters under his breath.
I frown. His comment stings, but I let it slide. After all, here I am – Emma Hadley, luckiest girl in the world. Travis could have asked anyone, but he didn’t.
He asked me.
“So, um, how are your classes going?” I ask as we plod along under the hot rays of the sun. I can feel the skin on my face burning and I hope that I don’t look too awful. In my excitement of getting ready to go out with someone as hot as Travis, I forgot my usual sunscreen.
“Fine,” Travis says.
I bite my lip, wondering when he’s going to start showing any interest.
“Mine are good, too,” I chirp. “I mean, except biology. It’s my least favorite subject and I hate Dr. Callahan! He’s so rude,” I continue. “He staples Burger King applications to your test if you don’t get at least seventy-five percent!”
I expect Travis to laugh or even commiserate with me but he plows through the trees like I haven’t even said anything.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask. I stop walking and shove my hands into my pockets. “Travis?”
At the sound of his name, Travis stops. He turns to face me and I can see the irritation on his face.
“What?”
“Are you okay?” I repeat. “You’re not really saying much.”
Travis shrugs. “Yeah, fine,” he says. “I guess I’m just distracted.”
“Is there something going on? I mean, we can talk about it if you—“
“Let’s just keep hiking,” Travis says. His frown disappears and he flashes a big grin at me. The sight of his gorgeous smile is enough to make me forget my annoyance.
“Okay.”
Travis leads me deeper and deeper into the woods. At first, I’m really glad for the trees overhead – the shade feels cool and soothing on my burned skin. But after a while, it starts to feel kind of chilly.
“Should’ve brought a jacket,” I mutter as I trot along behind Travis’s sculpted butt. “I’m such an idiot.”
“We’re almost there,” Travis calls over his shoulder. “Wait ‘til you see it!”
I listen for the sound of water rushing over rocks but all I can hear is the chirping of birds and rustling of trees. Still, I’m pushed on by the prospect of a steamy makeout session with Travis…or maybe even something more.
I still can’t believe he asked me out. To be honest, I’ve never actually been asked out before. I know it’s embarrassing to be a virgin at my age – I’m almost twenty-one! – but I’ve never even been kissed.
Crap, I hope I know how to do it well enough to please Travis. My best friend, Lacey, told me once that you could just lie there and let a guy do whatever and he’ll be grateful, but I don’t want that. I want something more. I want romance and passion and excitement.
Maybe Travis just hasn’t grown into his romantic phase yet. I know college guys aren’t exactly the most thoughtful creatures on the planet.
Or maybe he’s saving it all for the falls.
“Are we ever gonna get there?” I call out. “Travis, we’ve been walking for hours!”
I expect Travis to face me with another scowl but when he turns to look at me, I see that he’s grinning. He looks playful and sexy, and a shiver runs down my spine at the look in his sparkling green eyes.
“Almost,” Travis says. “I promise.” He steps closer, bridging the distance between our bodies and I shiver again. He’s so close that I can see the blonde stubble on the cleft of his adorable chin.
I swallow nervously and my heart starts to thud in my chest. This is it – this is finally the moment that I’ve been waiting for since he first asked me out. He’s going to put his hands on me and kiss me and oh my gosh, I can’t believe it’s finally happening!
“I’m really glad you asked me to come,” I say shyly. “This is really nice.”
Travis smirks. He looks hungry, like I’m the last bite of food on his plate and he wants to devour me. “Yeah,” he says. “Listen, I gotta pee – I’m just going to go off in those trees over there and then I’ll come back and we can go to the falls. Sound good?”
“Sure,” I say. The thought of his cock out in the open makes me blush. Travis sees the color on my cheeks and laughs.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ll make sure you can’t see.” He licks his lips and leans in even closer. “I want you to wait right here for me,” he says in a low growl. A chill of arousal runs down my spine at his words. “Don’t go anywhere, Emma.”
I blink at him. “Go anywhere?” I repeat. “Why would I do that?”
Travis shrugs and laughs. “I don’t know,” he replies. “Girls are weird sometimes.” He snickers as he sprints away into a clump of trees, leaving me in a small clearing with a tree stump and some rocks.
As anxious as I am to get to the falls and make out with Travis, part of me is glad that he had to go pee. I grunt with relief as I sit down on the tree stump and start massaging my poor calves. When I get home later, I think I’ll take a long, hot bath and curl up with a good book and a heating pad. Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe I’ll even order a pizza.
God, food sounds amazing right now. My mouth waters as visions of garlic bread sticks and pepperoni dance in my head. I rummage through my bag and come up with a measly bag of trail mix that looks like it’s already been digested once. Wrinkling my nose, I stuff it in a side pocket and zip the bag.
A tree branch rustles and I leap to my feet, not wanting Travis to see me relaxing like this. It’s silly, but I’m a little embarrassed about being so winded. Travis is on the lacrosse team and he can probably run for hours without even breaking a sweat, but my most strenuous pastime is giving myself a pedicure.
“Travis?” I call, peering into the trees for any sight of him. “Are you still there?”
A hot flash of panic sears across my mind – what if he’s gone? What if something happened to him?
Oh, my god. What if he slipped and fell and hurt himself?
“Travis!” I yell loudly. “Where did you go?”
The only thing I hear in response is silence.
My heart starts thudding again, but this time it isn’t because I’m standing next to a gorgeous guy. No, this is different. This feels scary – my palms are sweaty and my thighs are trembling in fear as I spin in a slow circle, staring at the trees.
“Travis!”
There’s still no answer and I take a big gulp of air. Shit.
My water bottle.
How am I supposed to refill my water bottle if I can’t find the falls? The idea of running out of water is absolutely terrifying – almost as terrifying as the idea of Travis not coming back.
And that’s when it hits me. Travis isn’t coming back.
He’s left me all by myself.
All alone. In the middle of the woods, with no cell phone reception, two sips of water, and a packet of convenience-store trail mix.
It explains everything. Suddenly, I get why Travis looked so annoyed with me when we were still hiking. He was annoyed because he doesn’t actually like me. He was just trying to hustle me as deep into the woods as possible.
In fact, this whole thing must have been nothing but a joke to him.
When the tears come, I’m almost shocked by the force of my own sobbing. I fall to the ground, barely even noticing the sharp pain in my knees as my body hits the earth. Hot tears stream down my face and I take big gasping breaths of air as desperation floods my body. I have no idea what to do – I can’t even figure out which direction we came from. I’ve been spinning around in a blind panic for so long that I’m totally lost.
But I can’t stay here. It will be dark before long, and the chilly woods are going to get even colder. If I want to survive, I’m going to have to get moving.
With a sigh, I pick myself up off the ground, dust the dirt from my knees, and begin to walk.