Page 70 of Wild & Worthy

I push the hotel room door open and hold it for Addie as she walks in, dropping her duffel onto the bed.

“Jumping in the shower.” Then she disappears into the bathroom.

Well, this definitely isn’t how I imagined this little side trip going. The shitty part is, I have no one to blame but myself because I’m the damn idiot who was too much of a coward to lay it all on the line to begin with.

I wish she would just yell at me. Yelling I can handle. But this cold, distant silence? This I’m not familiar with. Not from Addie. Not once in our entire lives has she said so little to me. Even when she’s annoyed as fuck over whatever stupid thing I’ve done or said, she’s never shut me out like this. It’s not even like she’s being rude, because she’s not. She’s just not… present.

I rake a hand through my hair and walk over to the bathroom door. The shower is already running, and I can’t help but remember the last time I stood on the other side of a door while she showered. “Addie? Can I come in to take a piss?”

There’s a short pause before her voice carries over the sound of the shower. “Yeah.”

I push the door open and step inside, immediately hit with warm, damp air. The curtain is pulled shut, with nothing but the outline of her moving behind it. I make a point of keeping my eyes anywhere else while I take care of business.

I’m washing my hands when the curtain suddenly slides open a few inches, and Addie’s wet head pops out.

“Hey.” She hesitates for half a second, and for the first time since we left the fairgrounds, there’s something in her expression I can actually read. “Want to join me?”

I just stare at her, because that is absolutely the last thing I expected.

“Well, Cowboy?” she coaxes.

I finally snap back to myself. “Need help, huh?” I grin, stripping my clothes off as fast as humanly possible before she thinks better of it and changes her mind. I grab a condom from my wallet, then step under the hot water with her. Her hands are on me immediately, running over my chest and moving lower before I even have a chance to think. “Whoa, slow down, Sunshine.”

She gives me a look before dropping to her knees and taking me into her mouth before I even know what’s happening.

“Fuck.” My head falls back against the shower wall as my body reacts instantly. It feels so fucking good being in her mouth. But something about this feels wrong. She’s moving too fast, like she’s in a hurry to get somewhere. I can’t help the feeling of wrongness growing in my gut, so I reach down and catch her arm, pulling her back to her feet.

“Not yet.” I pull her against me and cup her face, trying to kiss her, but she turns her head before my mouth can meet hers. Instead, her lips move to my chest, working their way down again.

No. Fuck this. This is all wrong. “Addie, stop.”

She stops immediately, straightening in front of me and looking up through wet eyelashes. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to get laid?”

The question feels like a slap across my face. “Addie—”

“What?” She throws her hands up. “What’s the problem, Chace? It’s sex. We have sex. Just sex. That’s how this works, right?”

And there it is. She isn’t trying to get us back to how things were. She’s reminding me exactly what we agreed this was. “No, Addie.” I shake my head. “That’s not what I want. Not like this.”

She huffs and yanks the shower curtain open. “Fine. Whatever. I’m going to bed.”

Then she steps out, leaving me standing under the water like a fucking fool.

Chapter twenty-six

Addie

It really is the perfect day for a hike. It’s warm, maybe a little too warm, but the breeze coming off the mountain makes it bearable. The trail follows the valley, dipping in and out of the trees before opening back up again. A creek runs way below us, mountains stretch in every direction, and I want to point my camera at about a hundred things at once.

We’ve been on the trail for a little over an hour, and as much as I hate admitting when Chace is right about anything, this place is absolutely breathtaking. I’ve already stopped more times than I can count to take pictures, and I’m eager to print several when I get home. A few of the wider shots would look really good framed.

I pause near the edge of the trail and scroll back through the pictures I’ve taken so far. There are a bunch of the mountains and a few of the creek below us, but somehow Chace keeps showing up in them too. One of him walking ahead of me with his backpack over his shoulder, another standing near an overlook, and one I took while he was bent down fixing his boot.

I don’t get much time to think about what that means before he glances back at me for what has to be the dozenth time in the last hour. “I’m still here. Chill out. I’ve hiked plenty in my life.” I roll my eyes and lift the camera again, adjusting the focus before aiming past him toward the valley.

“Well, considering you’ve been pissed at me for the last twenty-four hours, I’m just making sure you’re not scouting out my future gravesite.”

I lower the camera enough to look at him over the top of it. “Hadn’t crossed my mind.”