Page 42 of Pursuing Desire

We start off at a fast walk as Dax looks over the map. We move to a light and easy jog once we have our bearings. We hit the beginning of the trail and speed up to a run. Dax keeps pace with me as we try to slowly gain on the other couples. The trail is rocky and winding in parts, but the scenery is stunning. The red rock formations tower above us, and the sky is painted with hues of pink and orange.

As we near mile one, I start to slow down. The altitude is definitely affecting me already. Dax notices and slows down, too. Of course, he’s barely breaking a sweat.

“Are you okay, Jess?” he asks, concern lacing his voice.

“Yeah, just need a minute,” I reply, panting.

Dax takes off his backpack and pulls out a bottle of water. “Here, drink some of this. We can take a short break and enjoy the view. We shouldn’t push too hard with neither of us being used to this altitude.”

I take a few sips of water, and we sit on a nearby rock, admiring the landscape and catching our breath. The silence is comforting, and the only sounds we hear are the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze.

I’d be content to sit here all night if I could. However, we’re in a race, and we need to catch up. I slowly get up from the rock and put my water back into the bag.

“You ready?” Dax asks.

At my quick nod, he stands up, puts his backpack on his back, and we take off again. As we round the bend, we see another couple from the game show ahead of us. They’re taking a break and sipping water from their own backpacks. We zoom past them, and I feel the rush of adrenaline.

We’re in third place now, and I don’t even try to hold back the sound of glee that comes out of my throat.

Dax looks at me with a big grin on his face. My pretend fiancé looks like he might be an adrenaline junkie. He most definitely likes competition. Even more than that, I can tell he likes winning.

At mile number two, I slow down again.

Dax pulls us to a stop and takes out the map. “Let’s walk for a minute. “

“Sounds”—pant, pant—“good.”

By now, it’s getting quite dark. It’s harder to see the trail markings since we are now navigating in the moonlight. Dax puts out a hand in front of me and comes to a stop. He leans in toward me. “I see another couple up ahead, around that next turn. I think they are part of the competition.”

Adrenaline shoots through me when I see where he’s pointing. “That’s the couple that sat across from us at dinner in Destin,” I hiss into the silent air.

Dax’s eyes widen and he gets a big grin on his face. “The couple that wore navy? I think we should run full speed. It’ll make my day if we beat them. You up for it?”

After the snide way they looked at us, you better believe I want to win against them.

“Hell yeah, I am,” I readily agree.

“One, two, three, go,” Dax whispers.

We both take off. Dax is much faster than me, so he’s a few feet ahead when we make it around the turn.

Sure enough, it’s the lady with the bob hairstyle and her sidekick. They’re walking at a fast clip, but they’re no match for me and Dax because we are on a mission. We zoom past them at a full run. As we pass, I glance over at the lady, and the look of pure meanness on her face sends me into a fit of giggles.

I’m running and laughing. I can’t stop laughing. Dax glances over his shoulder, and I can see he wants to laugh, too. I’m betting he noticed they’re both wearing navy again.

My chest is aching from the exertion, and I’m still laughing. It’s dark, and the ground in front of me is swallowed up in the night. That’s probably why I didn’t see the stick on the trail . . . that small, innocent stick.

My foot catches on the stick, and I go flying forward, my arms flailing as I try to catch myself. Dax is too far ahead to catch me, and I hit the ground hard, knocking the air out of my lungs. I gasp for air, and I attempt to get up, but pain shoots through my left ankle, and I fall back down.

Dax runs back to me, his face etched with concern. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I tripped,” I gasp out, tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. “I think I twisted my ankle.”

Dax helps me sit up and tenderly inspects my ankle. I don’t like the unease look on his face. “I’m not positive, but I think it’s starting to swell already,” he says grimly. “I don’t think you should put any weight on it.”

“But we can’t stop now,” I protest, biting my lip to hold back the tears. “We have to keep going. We just now got into second place. We’re going to lose our lead.”

Dax looks torn. “We could try to walk it off, but it’s not a good idea. You could hurt it worse. I think we should sit here for a little while and see if it feels better. It’s not worth the risk of you getting hurt just to win.”