Gasping loudly, I find myself suddenly sitting up and my heart is racing. The gray light of my room surrounds me. My clock reads 3:24 a.m.Whoa. My face feels hot. Now that was a wild dream. My skin is still prickling as I snuggle back down under my covers. It’s been ages since I’ve had a dream like that. When did I stop trying? Probably after Dale and I broke up after more than ten years together. Instead of jumping back into the dating pool, I maintained our active outdoor lifestyle, but as a single woman. After so many years of being with Dale, and before that taking care of my family, I relished in the freedom of living on my own. Coming and going when I wanted to, not being responsible for anyone else...but when did I let work become the only focus in my life?

A couple hours later, my alarm rings, jolting me from a deep sleep. Excitedly, I shower and dress. Then I pull my lunch together. One day with Brody and I feel ten years younger, invigorated, and even hopeful. Yesterday reminded me of all the things I had once wanted.

The sun has yet to rise as I pull up in front of Brody’s apartment. My heart skips as I watch him exit the doorway. He gives me a nod and the corners of his lips rise into a bit of a smile when he nears my truck. Knowing how emotionally restrained he is, this little expression would be equivalent to a boisterous greeting from most other people.

“Where are we headed?” he asks me as he opens the back door and drops in his daypack.

“I hope you don’t get car sick, we’re heading up 35 to Loch Lomond.”

“I’ve always wanted to visit Loch Lomond,” Brody responds with a strong Scottish accent.

“Where’d you learn to do an accent like that?”

“I’ve always had a good ear for accents.”

Now this is a side of Brody I wasn’t anticipating.

The sun had yet to rise as we head into the hills. Half-way there, as I get off the freeway, I see the sky turning from black to gray.

“I love sunrise,” I comment.

“Pull over, let’s watch the sun come up over Silicon Valley.”

Serious, glued-to-his-phone-Brody, wants to pull over and experience the sunrise? I’m not going to argue. We get out of the truck and lean against the driver-side door. The trees around us are backlit against the gray sky. Brody slides his hand over mine and grasps my fingers. His touch sends a shiver right through me. My face tingles from excitement as our shoulders touch.

The magic of daybreak is before us. The sky turns from gray to purple, the horizon turns pink, and finally, a sliver of gold from the sun peeks over the mountains. The sky turns bright red, and then fades, as it turns gold. Quickly, the sun moves from a sliver of light to a full fireball.

“I wonder if the people who live in the hills take the time to appreciate this?” Brody’s voice is soft and warm in my ear.

“If I lived in a house in the hills, I would build a perfect window, get the perfect chair, and every morning, I would watch the sun rise as I sipped my coffee.”

“Mmmm,” Brody murmurs in agreement.

“If you had enough money to live anywhere do anything where would you live? What would you do?” I ask.

“I’m doing it now. How about you?”

“I, too, love what I’m doing, but this sunrise makes me fantasize. I think eventually I’d like to rent a house in the hills, one that has the perfect view of the sun rising.”

“Hmmm, I like the idea of your window.”

“Right here is good, too.”

He squeezes my fingers in agreement.

***

“I think we can make it to the water by lunch. That might be a nice place to stop,” I declare as I review the map to make sure we’re still following our lion’s trail.

Today’s terrain is heavily wooded as our lion’s path takes us to Loch Lomond.

“Agg!” I slip on some pine needles on top of the dry soil. I lose balance and start sliding down the mountain. Somehow Brody reaches out and catches me by the arm, saving me from sliding. He pulls me close. Our eyes connect.

“Good catch,” I breathlessly exclaim once I regain my footing. “This hike would be a much easier if our lion had taken the trail instead.”

He nods, but his eyes are on my lips as he maintains his hold on me. I feel my neck get warm and my lips part as his lips touch mine. Our kiss is at first, sweet then it becomes hungry. My body, which is running on sexual energy this close to Brody, brims over with excitement, as I wrap my arms around his strong shoulders, and enjoy the moment.

All too soon, he ends the kiss. The tips of his lips quirk into a small smile as his eyes take in my expression.

“Loch Lomond awaits us,” he murmurs with a brogue.

“Where did you learn to speak with a Scottish accent?”

“If I was in Scotland, they would laugh at my accent. As a kid, accents were my thing. I used to wait until my twin sister, Bella, took a sip of something. Then I’d do one of my accents. The best was when her drink would come out of her nose.”

“That sounds awful.”

“It was hysterical.”

“I thought you were quiet. Now I’m starting to think you’re like my brother.”

“Your brother must be a great guy.”

“You don’t know anything about my brother.”

“Tell me one story, and then I can tell you what a great guy he is.”

“My brother Darius is three years younger than me. He used to drive me crazy since he’d never help out. If I was preparing dinner, I’d ask him to make the salad. He’d always saysure, but he’d never stop playing his video games. I would ask him again and again, and in the most helpful voice, he’d always say yesorokayorsure, but then he’d keep on doing whatever he was doing. If I sat down and started doing my homework, he’d askwhere’s dinner? I’d always tell him that I’d finish making it when the salad was ready. Sometimes we were both so stubborn that neither of us had our chores finished by the time our dad got home.”

“I think this says more about you than your brother.”

“But doesn’t your story say more about you than your sister.”

He nods, in a way that makes it obvious that the talking part of this conversation is over. Brody might be quiet, but he’s very communicative. You just need to know what to look for.

When we reach the top of the next ridge, I scan the steep hillside with the tracking antenna and pick up a good signal. I point in the direction of the signal.

“She went down this way."

We head down the hill. It’s slow going since there isn’t a path and the hillside is rugged.

“Agg,” Brody yelps from behind me, and I hear leaves rustle.

I turn and watch in horror as he slides down the rugged slope.

“Grab for a branch!” I yell out in a panic.

There’s a couple of large boulders and what looks to be a deep, cut-off loom below him. About fifty feet down, he twists his body and grabs onto a sapling.

“Are you okay?” I yell down to him. “I have a rope. Do you need it?”

He hoists himself up, and cautiously threads himself horizontally back, until he reaches the path I am on.

“The difficulty of this trail can be deceiving,” he casually remarks as he brushes himself off.

“I’m glad you caught yourself. You were headed for a sharp rock and a cliff.”

“Yeah, I didn’t miss that.”

“Did you hurt yourself?” I ask as I brush off the dirt and leaves stuck to his backside.

“I’m fine,” he huffs, even though his hands are covered in sap and they look scuffed up.

Our adrenaline is running high and we pick up the pace on the way to the reservoir. The forest breaks and suddenly we’re at the water. It shines with the reflection of trees rimming its border under a clear, blue sky. It feels like our own private paradise.

“This reservoir was built by damming Newell Creek. I bet our lion came here to drink, maybe she even caught a fish.”

We walk along the side of the lake for a few paces until we reach a small, open area.

“This looks like a good place to stop.”

Brody strips off his pack, shirt, shoes and socks. He rolls his hiking pants up to his knees.

“The lake looks refreshing,” he comments.

“Are you going skinny-dipping?”

A sexy half-smile breaks across his face. “Would you join me?”

My chest constricts—yes, no, yikes, why did I say that? It’s been so long since I’ve been with a man, I want Brody, yes...but I don’t want to get burned. A recent conversation with one of my single girlfriends plays on my mind. I can even hear her matter-of-fact voice,Men treat women they’ve had sex with much worse than they treat people they’ve met casually for coffee. I think men expect that if they speak to a woman after having sex, she would expect them to father her child. I like Brody; I’m not moving this relationship too fast. I want him to talk to me next week.

“I’m on the clock, I’m still working,” I say.

“I don’t see any cameras. I won’t tell if you don’t tell.”

“How about a raincheck. I don’t think we can skinny-dip and finish this quadrant before sunset.”

With his hands on his hips, he looks at me for a little bit longer before he slowly nods. Then he walks knee-deep into the water and sits on a large boulder. Turning back to me, he holds out his hand and bids me to join him. I might not be comfortable yet with skinny-dipping, but joining him on the rock for lunch? That I can do.

“Is it legal to hike in these hills off the trails?” Brody questions.

“Legal for you or legal for me?”

“You don’t follow the same laws as me?”

“I’m a scientist. My grant gives me access to state, federal, and private lands that aren’t open to the public. It’s my job to come here.”

“But civilians can’t?”

“Some areas back here are privately owned, others are closed because they’re too dangerous or too fragile to support human traffic. Most of the off-trail areas are not designated for people to walk through. Most people don’t want to hike off-trail. It’s hard work and can be dangerous, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, that one hill you took me over is not for the faint of heart.”

“Did you like that?”

“Sliding down the hill, catching that tree on the way down? Nowthat was the highlight of my day.”

“I’m glad you didn’t break anything. It would have caused way too much paperwork if I had to call in for a medevac.”

“That’s the downside of me getting injured your paperwork?”

“Hey, you were in the Army. Didn’t they have a lot of paperwork?” I question.

“The paperwork had paperwork.”

“Now, if I was injured....” I began.

“You’re tough. You’d be injured and could still walk out. No paperwork.”

“I read about these British climbers who hiked out of the Andes with broken legs.”

“Touching the Void, I read that too.”

I nod. “Great book. Name one adventure on your bucket list.”

“Only one?”

“How about your top destinations,” I question.

“I got to see a lot of the world with the Army. For work, I travel a lot, but mostly cities and I never have time for sightseeing. Let’s see, I’d like to hike Mont Blanc, the Fimmvörðuháls Pass in Iceland, the Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand. Close to home, I still haven’t hiked the Sierra High Route. There’s a bunch of others, but those are a good start.”

“I never even thought of those places. If you add my ‘sunrise window’ to your dream house, can I add your hiking places to my bucket list?” I ask.

“Sure, but don’t you have your own bucket list?”

“I do, but it’s always been more about visiting the Seven Wonders of the World than hiking.”

“Which wonders would you want to visit?”

“Angkor Wat, Petra, the Great Wall of China, and I’ve always wanted to go camping under the aurora borealis. Maybe I can add that to your trip to Iceland.”

“From your list, I’ve only done the Great Wall of China.”

“On your list, I’ve done some of the Sierra High Route, the headwaters country and the canyon country sections.”

“I took time off after the Army and hiked Patagonia. But since I started this job, I’ve been too busy to schedule vacations.”

“All work and no play you need to schedule in a few vacations.”

He looks at me a little bit longer and slowly nods. This is another tell of his I’ve noticed, it’s a sign of deep thinking. I bet he’s mulling over which place he would choose to go.

“What about you. Are these fantasies or do you actually go?” Brody asks.

“I’ve been knocking them off slowly. I can’t afford big trips like that every year, but my goal is to do one major destination every other year. Last year my dad spoke at a conference in India. I joined him. We went to a number of places, including the Taj Mahal.”

“Is this the first world wonder you went to?”

“After my mom died, dad took us all on a cruise to Greece and Turkey. I got to tick off the Acropolis and the Hagia Sophia.”

“What did your mom die of?

“Cancer, first breast cancer, the chemo gave her leukemia, and then she had complications from the t-cell transplant. She had a couple good years before the breast cancer came back. I don’t think my sister even remembers mom being truly healthy. I think that’s why we’ve spoiled my sister. She was six when mom got diagnosed the first time.”

“How long ago did she die?”

“Over ten years. I miss her but I dealt with my grief a long time ago.”

We both stare at the water. I’ve just met this guy. I’ve never been one who holds back. I wasn’t planning on talking about my mom, is talking about my mom’s death too soon for this relationship? Brody doesn’t say anything. In a way that’s good. I don’t want pity, fake sadness, or a placating statement. We sit for a while as my mind moves back to my lion.

“I don’t get it. This is the last quadrant my cat was in. She was poisoned, but I haven’t seen anything that could have poisoned her, or any other animals that were poisoned.”

“She could have picked something up and ate it, or ate a sick animal that was poisoned when it visited someone’s yard.”

“We’ll know what she ate and what poison she ingested when we get her tox screen back, hopefully, tomorrow. But my gut is telling me she wandered into something bad going on back here. What could she have found? Why haven’t we seen it.”

“The day is still young, we have some more ground to cover.”

“Of course, my luck, the last place I look is where she got into trouble.”

Brody nods. Extending his hand, he silently gestures to me. Placing my hand in his, my fingers tingle. We walk out of the water together holding hands. I’m about ready to drop his hand so I can put my socks and shoes back on, when he gives me a little tug, pulling me close. I look up to meet his eyes but only see a reflection of myself in his sunglasses. My gaze runs down to his lips as he tugs me even closer to him. Closing my eyes, I feel the softness of his lips on mine. With one arm wrapped around his shoulders, I weave my fingers through his hair as our tongues mingle. I run my fingers up his arm. Those muscles of his have been tantalizing me. I love how they feel.

He relinquishes my lips and a little moan slips from my mouth at the sudden abandonment. My eyes flutter open. I can’t read Brody’s face but I can read his body he wants me. He leans his head down and kisses me again. I lean up to kiss him back. Our kiss becomes long and deep as everything inside of me awakens. My mind flashes back to the sexy dream I had. No, this is better. I pull Brody closer because I need all his hard planes and angles next to me. Desire takes over as our kiss continues. His hand feels warm on my back as he pulls me in even closer. Our kiss becomes fevered before we finally release each other.

“We should be moving on,” Brody murmurs.

By the end of the day, we’ve collected a lot of scat, but we haven’t found any smoking guns. As we drive to dinner, it’s obvious Brody picked up on my mood.

“You thought it was going to be easy?” he asks.

“You think hiking like this for the last week has been easy?”

“I was in active combat. When we were looking for the...the bad actors, they weren’t wearing orange jumpsuits. They blended in, they were smart. If your cat ate a poisoned deer, it could have taken a week of wandering afterwards before the sick deer even got caught.

“That’s the most likely story. Weak deer, easy pickings, my cat ate it. She, too, got sick.”

“So, who’s poisoning deer?”

“Most people in the mountains consider deer to be tall rats. They eat everyone’s gardens. Even if someone wasn’t trying to kill a deer, if they sprayed their plants with something nasty, it could make the deer sick.”

“It will be hard to find the source, if it’s a home owner poisoning deer.”

“Not every problem has a solution,” I say. “It’s just…I have this nagging feeling that something’s amiss in these mountains.”

“Meth labs? Or pot, that hasn’t always been legal. Lots of people are looking for easy money and there’s lots of people to sell drugs to. The mountains are a good place to hide an illegal business.”

“Yes, and the bad guys don’t clean up their messes. My cat could have wandered into a drug den.”