Chapter 10: Hailey

Everything with Zach, since we were away from his natural habitat, seemed different.

He appeared more at ease in the mountains, not that I could blame him. It did something to you for sure.

We had developed a dynamic between us, though. I knew who he was. He knew I wasn’t going to put up with his nonsense. He still tried and I never let him get away with it. It was like a new kind of game.

And when we weren’t playing, we were together as if we were dating. Of course, dating was a strong word. But Zach treated me with respect and a kind of reverence that hadn’t been there before. He made me feel like I was as expensive as some of the things he owned and, infinitely.

We spent a lot of time together, talking about our lives and we got to know sides of each other that would never show in the office.

All the time though, I was aware that there was a time limit to the fun and the flirtation, the underlying romance and the open attitude. We were going to go home eventually and everything would go back to the way it was.

Zach had a life in Denver which was very different from the life I lived. I wasn’t sure the two would mesh, but getting away had been bliss. Unfortunately, we would get back to work and the bubble we were currently living in would burst.

Back to the world where I didn’t belong beside him as anything other than his PR agent.

It wasn’t a tragedy. I had known about this all along. I hadn’t thought it in much detail when I’d given my virginity to him, but I didn’t regret it. If I could have chosen anyone to give it to, it would have been him anyway. He somehow got under my skin and meant more to me than any of the other guys I’d known.

It was reality and it was headed my way. Fast.

****

When I woke up the following morning, the house was quiet. I stretched out my hand, looking for Zach. He wasn’t in bed next to me. I rolled over and looked at his empty pillow. The covers were peeled back, the sheets cold.

I hadn’t stayed in the room Zach had put my luggage in when we’d arrived since that first night. Zach’s king size bed was more than big enough for the two of us and there was something about spending the night next to someone, about waking up next to him the next morning, that made out connection stronger.

Whatever happened between us the first time we’d slept together, it was getting stronger. The connection, the chemistry… Just after we’d done it, I had an irrational fear that Zach would be done with me, that I hadn’t been good enough and that he’d lost interest in me completely. The day we’d spent in Aspen made me feel like that fear was ridiculous. Zach paid attention to me over the weekend and now my fear was almost non-existent.

Save for the remnants at the back of my mind that came back when something like this happened, when he wasn’t in bed with me when I woke up.

“Damn, it’s cold,” I mumbled as I slid out of bed and pulled a jersey over my pajamas to fight the morning chill. It was still early and the sun hadn’t seeped through the mountains for long enough to warm everything up yet. When I walked down the stairs, I heard movement in the kitchen. I leaned against the doorpost and watched Zach as he moved around the kitchen. He was whistling, putting slices of bread into the toaster. A pan with bacon sizzled on the stove and cooked eggs hibernated under a glass dome.

“This is the last place I thought I would find you,” I said, smiling. Apparently, he could cook.

Zach turned around with a surprised look on his face. He wore a white t-shirt that hugged his biceps and flannel pajama pants that hung off his hips like he was doing them a favor.

He grinned at me. “I thought it would be nice to make breakfast.”

“I think it’s nice of you to make breakfast too. Be careful or I’ll think you’re the domesticated kind.” I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast table.

“Not a chance, sweetheart.” He glanced over his shoulder and winked before turning back to the stove. Something was different about him but I couldn’t put my finger on it. He seemed more free.

When the food was done Zach laid it out on the table. Toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice and there was a box of cereal, too.

“Are we expecting anyone or is all this just for us?” I asked.

Zach put a plate in front of me.

“All for us so you don’t have to hold back,” he said and smiled at me. I smiled back and dished food for myself. Zach watched me fill my plate before he did the same.

I took a bite of the eggs.

“This is good,” I said.

“I can cook,” he said. “But, don’t call me domesticated. I’ll go wild and bite your pretty ass.”

“Just my ass?” I took another bite and tried not to laugh at the warning look on his handsome face. “What’s the occasion?”

Zach took another bite and spoke with the food in his cheek.

“With what I have planned today, you need a good breakfast.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What do you have planned?”

He smiled at me again before he answered me. I realized what was different about him. He wasn’t as cocky or arrogant, as usual. In fact, he was very normal. That was saying something. Zach was a pain in the ass on a good day. If he was in a bad mood most people scattered so they wouldn’t get in his way. The Zach sitting opposite me was different. Maybe he somehow felt the need to be what he believed society wanted him to be – namely a player. How exhausting.

“We’re hiking up the mountain today,” he said.

I paused before taking a bite of toast.

“Hiking?”

Zach nodded. I shook my head immediately, putting the toast back down on my plate.

“I don’t hike, Zach.”

Zach looked at me, his eyes twinkling. “Well, Miss Woods,” he said and I bristled.” I guess you’ll just have to see what it’s like to be told what to do.”

I rolled my eyes but I couldn’t help smiling at him. He grinned at me again before taking another bite.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” I asked.

Zach shrugged. “When you wake up next to a pretty girl that tends to happen. If I’m being honest…I usually try and sneak out while they’re still sleeping. Why am I not doing that with you? You slip something in my food?”

I smiled, unable to stop myself from blushing. He had that effect on me. Lately, I’d been blushing at every compliment like I was a lovesick teenager. “You wish. Playboy.”

“Used to be.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Hell, maybe I still am.”

After breakfast, we got ready. Zach had taken the liberty to order hiking clothes for me to go up the mountain seeing that I owned nothing of the sort. When I put on the clothes I was surprised to find they fit perfectly.

“Did you measure me while I was sleeping?” I asked when I emerged from the bedroom where I’d been changing. Zach looked up at me and smiled. He was dressed in a similar outfit, complete with gloves.

“I can tell your size just by looking at you. It’s a talent I have.”

I smiled but his words cut me. It was a perfectly innocent comment, but I couldn’t help thinking that it was a talent he’d picked up because of how many women’s bodies he’d seen. I forced the thought away. I couldn’t think this way. I knew who Zach was, I knew why I was here. I’d known this for a while now. If anything, I should welcome the reminder to not fall too hard for him. He had admitted to being a playboy. I needed to keep that in mind and not fall too hard – as if I had a choice in the matter.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded. “Ready.”

Zach left me unstable most of the time – I didn’t think I would ever be completely ready for him, but that wasn’t what he’d asked.

He drove us through Aspen and finally stopped at the base of the mountain. We got out and Zach carried a backpack. I had nothing to carry so I looked up at the path we were set to follow.

“That’s a long way up,” I said.

Zach laughed. “You can’t already be backing out. What happened to the girl who worked so hard to get to the top?”

“That’s not the same thing,” I said. Zach shook his head, still laughing and walked to the start of the trail.

“It will do you good,” he said. “Fresh air and all that.”

The hiking trail took a lot out of me. I didn’t have time to exercise often and the mountain air was thinner than what I was used to. Being surrounded by nature was wonderful, though. Aspen trees grew from the mountainside all around us and birds chirped merrily in the branches above. The mountains loomed in the background.

After a while, my thighs were screaming and my calves cramping.

“Can we stop?” I asked. “Just for a bit.”

Zach turned around. His cheeks were flushed, but he looked like he hadn’t exerted himself at all. “Come on. You can’t be tired already.”

I leaned forward with my hands on my knees. “Some of us have to work for our money,” I said. “I don’t spend a lot of time in the gym.”

“You’re not even carrying the pack,” he said. “I should be the one complaining.” He put his hands on his lips and smiled. “You look pretty fucking hot all sweaty like that.”

“Don’t even try.” I shook my head as I panted loudly. He offered me a bottle of water, and I sipped it slowly, trying to figure out another way to gain myself a break. The water was ice cold, running down my throat. The cold spread to my other organs, cooling me down. Despite the weather I was sweating from exertion.

“Come on,” Zach said.

“That wasn’t even five minutes,” I protested. The breakfast had been a sweet gesture, but I felt like it hadn’t been enough to warrant this torture.

Zach shook his head and walked the few short steps to me. He grabbed my hand and started walking so I had to stay beside him.

“I will be worth it. I promise,” he said.

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I couldn’t turn around and go back and I didn’t want to whine the whole way like a child. Zach had done his fair share of sulking since we’d started working together and I wasn’t going to be like that.

It felt like a lot longer before we finally reached the top, but the moment we did I realized he had been right.

It was more than worth it.

The view was spectacular. It took my breath away. I stood on the edge of a small cliff, looking out over a valley that was lush and green. Snow-capped mountains reached up into the sky in the distance, but in front of me was scenery the likes of which I’d never seen before.

I turned to Zach.

“This is spectacular,” I said.

Zach smiled. “I knew you would like it.”

Like it? I turned back to the view. I loved it. As far as I could see it was just wild growth. Nothing about this part of the land was touched by human hands. It was raw and pure. The sight of it made me emotional. Suddenly, I wanted to cry. I swallowed hard.

“Come,” Zach said. “Sit down.” He stood by a bench I hadn’t even noticed. I walked to him and sat down beside him. The bench looked out over the valley and it was warm in the sun. He reached over and squeezed my thigh, smiling at me in a way that had my pulse spiked and heart racing. What the hell was I doing?

“This is amazing,” I said. The words didn’t describe it well enough. I couldn’t put what I saw into words. I didn’t have to, though. The only person I would want to tell was right next to me.

“We used to hike up here when I was younger,” he said. “My mom used to complain just as much as you did.” He laughed, lost in the memory. “And my dad would tell her that she always complained and she always insisted on doing it again. And she did. Countless times. It’s worth it, she used to say.”

I nodded. It really was. I hadn’t realized this place was so special to Zach.

I looked at him again. His eyes were evergreen, the same as the brush down below, and they were far off, caught in some distant memory.

There was so much more to this man than I’d thought at first. When I’d met him, I was sure he was just a spoiled brat, no deeper than any other kid who had been born into a lot of money with nothing to keep himself busy. As I got to know him better and managed to peel back the layers one by one, I found someone different beneath that hard, uncaring façade. Zach had so much more to him and he was hurting in a lot of ways.

It was like I had found a treasure map and I was following it along the complicated turns and twists that were his personality. I wanted to mean something to him, to be the kind of woman he wanted to change for. That wasn’t realistic, though. I had to keep reminding myself that this was just a vacation, a story, a game. None of it would matter once we got back home and as soon as I was done with my job and his image was clean, I wouldn’t matter either.

Contracts didn’t last forever and that was all this was. A contract. A contract I’d given up my virginity for. How stupid was I? What did I think? A hot night of passion would be okay after all those years of saving myself? A torrent of emotions washed through me, but I forced myself back into the moment. I couldn’t miss out on the view, both in front of me, and beside me.

Besides that, we still had a few days left. Until then, I would enjoy myself and try to live like there was no tomorrow.

I turned and touched Zach’s face. “This is where you kiss me.”

“Right?” He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine, forcing me to open my mouth and tilt my head. His tongue brushed by mine before dominating me with long strokes. I sucked soft at first and then harder, wanting him to know that I was more than interested.

I was, unfortunately, sold out for him.