28 - Melissa

28

Melissa

A cold feeling came over me as I followed Ash back down the via ferrata route.

I kissed him.

Why did I kiss him?!?!

I wasn’t sure what had come over me. Ash had opened up to me about his life, taking the fall for his friend and going to prison. It was a horrible story, one that left my entire body tense with horror and grief.

But by telling it, Ash was allowing himself to be vulnerable around me. And that was one of the sexiest things a man could do.

Especially a man as quiet and closed-off as Ash.

So I stopped overthinking things and just did what felt right. I let my gut lead me, just like Ash had said when we were mountain biking.

And oh my God , did it feel good. When you peeled away how terrifying Ash seemed, he was hot. Very goddamn hot. Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular in an imposing way. Like if you took a normal good-looking dude and made him 33% larger in every proportion. And although I normally wasn’t into guys with tattoos, they enhanced Ash’s dark, brooding attractiveness.

The kiss wasn’t one-sided, either. There was a barely-restrained lust beneath his surface, a boiling hunger that was unleashed as soon as our lips touched. He deepened the kiss, holding me close to him as if, for those few seconds, I was truly his .

Then he pulled away, growled a curse, and practically ran away.

I didn’t understand. The kiss, the passion, was every bit as satisfying as it was with Noah, but in a different way.

Noah .

He was probably worried about his best friend. That was it. And now that I was thinking about things again, I began to feel guilty myself. Noah and I weren’t serious… but we still had something together, however short it was destined to last.

We reached the first ledge landing, but Ash didn’t stop to rest. We continued around the edge of the cliff more quickly than before. I was grateful for the distraction—it was tough to worry about our kiss when I was clinging to the side of a cliff, every step crucial.

When we reached the bottom, I broke the silence by joking, “Am I that bad of a kisser?”

He acted like he didn’t hear me, removing his harness and gear.

We were silent on the drive home. He didn’t even turn the radio on. There was a tension in the air that I was afraid of breaking, so I pretended to scroll on my phone while wondering if he was going to say something.

“Thanks for making me go back and finish it,” I said when we reached camp.

He stared straight ahead in the driver’s seat. “Yup.”

“Listen…” I ran a hand nervously through my hair. “I’m sorry if I—”

“Don’t want to talk about it,” he replied, still not looking in my direction.

As soon as I closed the truck door, he was driving away.

Great job, Melissa. Amazing work.

I wallowed in self-loathing with my Kindle until a knock came at my door. It was Noah, smiling warmly like he always did.

“You’re half an hour early for our date,” I pointed out.

“I figured we could get some pre-dinner drinks. There’s a new pop-up bar I want to check out.”

“I need fifteen minutes to do my hair and makeup,” I said.

Noah’s blue eyes scanned me like a caress, settling on my mouth. “You look perfect to me.”

“As much as I like the compliment,” I said, “I don’t look perfect to me . And that’s what matters more.”

“Fair enough.”

Noah hung out on the couch while I teased my hair. I hadn’t brought much makeup with me since this was a hiking trip, but I did have enough to make myself presentable on the occasions that I stopped in a town rather than camping, and I was grateful to have it with me now.

“How’d it go with Ash today?” Noah asked from the other room.

I was grateful he couldn’t see my facial expression. “What do you mean?” I asked in a tone that I hoped sounded casual.

“He told me he was taking you back up to finish the climb!” Noah replied. “How’d it go? You didn’t fall this time, right?”

“We made it to the top,” I answered, masking my relief. “It was great! I’m so glad I went back and finished it. I don’t like leaving things incomplete.”

“Ash is the same way. I think he realized that about you, too.”

I frowned at myself in the mirror.

“I could never do something like that,” Noah continued. “I’m terrified of heights. If I get within ten feet of a cliff edge, I break out in a cold sweat.”

I poked my head into the doorway. “See, I love heights. That tingling thrill I get when I know I’m in controlled danger… I live for that.”

Noah shook his head. “Pass.”

Dinner was at a little Thai place that served amazing yellow curry. Noah was as charismatic and engaging as always, which took my mind off what had happened today.

But the guilt kept bubbling to the surface.

I wanted to tell him. Sure, we weren’t exclusive. Yes, this was just a dolled-up fling. But Ash and Noah were best friends . Every minute I sat here with him and didn’t say anything, the lie of omission became worse.

Yet there was another problem: if I told Noah before Ash, would he be mad at his friend for keeping it from him? Should he hear it from his friend rather than me? I didn’t know what the right answer was, but it was enough to keep me quiet for now.

Maybe I would get a chance to text Ash about it later and figure out what to do.

Or maybe I could ride it out until I fled town to resume my hike.

Ugh. Following my gut was a terrible idea. This was why I was an overthinker: it usually kept me out of situations like this.

Noah drove us back to his place after dinner under the guise of having a nightcap, although we both knew we wouldn’t reach his liquor bar. That was a good way to take my mind off my mistakes: by losing myself in the mindless drive of our bodies.

But when we pulled up to his house, we saw that there was a campfire roaring out in the field close to Ash’s tent. A dark silhouette sat next to the fire, poking it with a stick.

“Great night for a fire,” Noah said. “Want to join him?”

I glanced in that direction. “I don’t know, it’s getting chilly…”

“That’s what the fire is for!” Noah replied happily. “We don’t have to hang out too long. I just feel bad for him camping on my property, all alone.”

“Ash seems like the kind of guy who prefers being alone.”

Noah threw an arm around my shoulder. “Exactly. But it’s up to people like us to make sure he knows he doesn’t have to be alone.”

Praying that this wouldn’t blow up in my face, I allowed him to guide me over to the fire.