Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
Almost thirty minutes exactly. “At least he’s punctual,” I groaned to myself.
Foregoing any type of shower, I went to the door and opened it again. He looked me up and down and raised an eyebrow. “You ready?”
“Yup.”
“Are you sure about that?”
I frowned at him, not sure what he meant. He pointed behind me at the hook by my fridge. “Coat?” he asked.
I looked back and saw my warm coat hanging on the hook. I cursed the thing for making me look like an idiot as I snatched it off the hook. “Huh, thanks. Where are we going?”
Miles walked me to the stairs. As we went down, he looked at me with a knowing smile. “Getting a little fresh air, is all.”
I didn’t know what that meant. It was about as vague as you could get. I didn’t argue. My gut told me I was safe with him. Miles wasn’t the kind of guy who would take advantage of me. If he was, he would have jumped my bones last night when I was drunk and would have agreed to anything he had in mind. I’d never felt so safe with anyone before, so I decided to trust my gut.
He helped me get into his truck, and then we drove off. We drove for over an hour. During the drive, Miles asked me questions about my childhood and how I got into writing. I tried to pepper in some questions about his past, but he was a little closed off about that.
We were deep in the mountains when he looked at me and nodded toward the wilderness scene we were driving through. “I’m kind of an outdoorsy person. I love being in nature. It’s…I don’t know, revitalizing. Do you feel the same way?”
I shrugged. “I grew up in California, in the city. I spent my childhood in foster homes. Those places usually didn’t have parents with a lot of money for vacations. I never got to venture out and see more than the concrete and asphalt. One home was about a mile from the beach. I snuck down there once or twice, but got in trouble, so I stopped. Books were my way of seeing the world. Open one up, and I could be anywhere. A galaxy a billion light years away, the court of a Renaissance queen, a mountaintop in a post-apocalyptic world? It was all there in the pages.”
“Well, I’m about to change that. Books are amazing—and necessary—but sometimes you really have to get out and see the world. I’m taking you to my absolute favorite place in the whole world.” He gave me a sidelong glance and grinned. “I hope you’ve got the stamina to go as long as I can.”
My mind jumped to the dirtiest thing his words alluded to. I pictured myself turning into a shivering post-orgasmic puddle. Naked on a bed. Miles, with sweat pouring from his body, thrusting into me, bringing me to yet another orgasm. My cheeks went red. Even my ears felt like they were on fire.
Miles must have seen the bright color on my face because he chuckled. “Hmmm, looks like you aren’t as innocent as I thought.”
I didn’t think my cheeks could get any hotter, but they did. I tried to stare out the window and enjoy the drive, but that mental image kept creeping back into my mind. I kept my hands clenched between my knees, doing my best to not let my imagination get even more intricate.
Excitement swelled inside me as I saw a state park sign. We were going to one of the parks in the area. I felt stupid for having moved all this way and just staying in my apartment and going to the store. There was so much beauty here, and I’d been missing out. There was a bit of snow up here. It was the first time
I’d ever actually seen it in real life. It was so beautiful it took my breath away.
Miles pulled up to a ranger shack and paid the parking fee. We drove up another road that opened into the most gorgeous view I’d ever seen in my life. I had to remind myself to breathe at one point. It was, quite literally, breathtaking. In the distance, a waterfall crashed down from between two ridges. Below, in a vast valley, a river roiled away from where the water crashed down onto the rocks. Miles pulled off into a parking area not too far from the guard shack.
“Like it?” he asked.
I blinked and shook my head, unable to find words. “It’s like some wintery paradise,” I finally managed.
The snow wasn’t deep or thick anywhere, more like a very fine white highlight that had been sprinkled on everything. It made the world seem deeper and more intense. I could only imagine how it would look in the summer. The trees that were bare now would be thick, verdant, and lush. I would have to come back to Lilly Valley next year to see it.
“I like to come here to relax. It’s the perfect spot to let go and unwind. I’ve come here for years to run…er…hike…when life gets rough. Some stuff happened recently, and I usually come here to take a breather. I wanted to share it with you.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked. He looked a little blue.
“Yeah, I’m good. Ready for a workout?”
Without another word, he hopped out of the truck.
I opened my own door and joined him.
Miles took my hand and led me to a trailhead a dozen yards from the parking area. A carved wooden sign read:
Falls
Trail.
“It’s a bit of a hike, but I think you’re up for it,” Miles said as he turned and started up the trail.
The trail wasn’t very rustic. It was mostly made up of stairs that had been made by placing logs down and packing
dirt between each one. The effect was much the same as actual wooden steps, but probably more nature-friendly and less obtrusive. Sweat started to trickle down my back, and my breathing became labored. We continued, higher and higher.
“How much further?” I panted, though I tried my hardest not to sound like I was dying. Though I felt like I really might have been.
“I’ve counted these steps. There’re four-hundred-and-six steps. We’re in the high two hundred right now. Over halfway there…”
“Oh…that’s so great.” I put a hand to my side, massaging at the stitch that had sprung up when he told me how many steps there were.