Her eyes meet mine, and in them I see the Roxy I know. The soft-spoken, gentle girl hiding behind the don’t-give-a-crap girl. It lasts a moment before they return to their new normal.
“What’s the matter?” She half-smiles. “Don’t you like the new Roxy?”
Ha! Don’t I like the new her. What a bullshit question. There’s no way I can tell her there’s nothing sexier than a girl who isn’t afraid to twist your balls with her words. In fact, I take it back. That’s the second sexiest.
There’s nothing sexier than a girl who knows she’s sexy.
And Roxy Hughes knows it. She knows the effect she has on guys and how easily she can twist them around her finger… And she can hold your balls in a vice-like grip with her words.
Which pretty much means she could give Mila Kunis a run for her money in the sexy stakes.
Chapter Seven – Roxy
He’s looking at me like he could eat me and he doesn’t even know it.
The flaring heat in his eyes answers my question although he doesn’t. It also sends an identical heat down my spine, tingling and tickling me in places it shouldn’t be; in places I shouldn’t be feeling when he looks at him, despite endless girlie dreams and wishes about him looking at me this way.
Only in those dreams we weren’t in a car by the Columbia Gorge and he wasn’t chewing my ass out for being such a f**king bitch.
“Regardless of what I think about her…” Kyle clears his throat and turns in the direction of the gorge. “…I don’t think you like the new Roxy as much as everyone thinks you do.”
I scoff at him disbelievingly and follow his steps. Leaves, twigs, and branches crunch under my feet as we push through the forest that covers almost every inch of land around the powerful water. Pine cones litter the ground, and I kick one out of the way.
What does Kyle really know anyway? He’s only been back a few days. He knows nothing.
The sound of water rushing reaches my ears, the current making it crash against the rocks that stand in its way. Out here it’s peaceful. There are no rumors, no backhand comments and snide looks. There’s no judgment apart from my own.
“Where are you going?” I call when Kyle deviates from the usual path. He glances over his shoulder, his usually soft brown eyes looking almost black under the trees shading from the early morning sun.
“Trust me,” is all he says.
I pause as he disappears into the thicker trees I’ve always avoided. It’s darker there, and the climb is steeper, but everyone knows there’s nothing but trees in that direction. My eyes flick around me, and I realize I only have two options – I follow Kyle in the dark or I carry on to our usual place in the dark. Mhmm…
Leaves and bits of fir tree kick up as I run after him. I wasn’t wrong – the rising sun means there’s next to no light amongst these trees, and I stop after a minute because I can’t find him. He’s disappeared into nowhere. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped—
“Boo,” his voice whispers into my ear.
“Holy—” I yell, jumping backward. My heart pounds in my chest as quickly as adrenaline rushes through my veins. Kyle laughs loudly, putting his hand on my back, and I hold my trembling hands to my stomach to still them. The warmth of his hand seeps through my sweater and spreads outward. I shiver, and I’m glad for the guise of him scaring me.
“I really hate you.” I turn my face toward his.
His mouth twitches up. “Nah, you don’t. You hate my tricks.”
I purse my lips. “And you know it.” I shake his hand off my back and step forward. “Where are you taking me?”
A hint of sadness creeps into his amused smile and his lips drop a fraction. “Me and Cam were joking around out here one night and stumbled onto this section of the gorge by mistake. In fact, I don’t even know if it is a part of it. It’s… Well. I’ll let you see it for yourself.”
“This isn’t another one of your tricks, is it?”
He shakes his head as he walks away from me. “No. I’m not taking you to a small cliff to push you into a pool of water, I promise.”
There’s a teasing lilt to his voice, and it makes me bend over and grab a pine cone. I throw it in the direction of his head but miss, sending it sailing over his shoulder instead.
“Yeah, there was absolutely no reason to do that, you know?”
Kyle shrugs. “We were fourteen. Besides, it was Cam’s idea.”
“Oh, I see. Blame my fear of water on my brother. Are you forgetting you’re the prick that pushed me?”
“It’s been five years, and you still blame me. That’s why I had to push you. Cam didn’t want the blame,” he grumbles.
“Mmph,” I grunt noncommittally. “I’ll make you pay for it one day.”
He mutters something under his breath, and I frown at his back. Knowing Kyle it was probably something along the lines of he’s already paying for it, but the chicken shit could at least say it loud enough for me to hear.
I stumble on a rock and fall sideways into a bigger one. “Jesus,” I mutter, putting my hands against the rough surface to steady myself.
“Of course,” Kyle throws over his shoulder. “It doesn’t matter whether I push you or not if you can’t keep yourself upright.”
“Remind me why I’m here again?” I tilt my head to the side.
Kyle turns and grins. The kind of grin that would hurt his cheeks if he held it long enough and lights up his eyes with the mischief I know is hiding in his body. It’s also the kind of grin that has the power to turn my legs to jelly… And it has.
I think I’ll stay sitting down for now.
“You’re here because you know I wouldn’t leave until you agreed to it.”
“Huh. True.”
He walks toward me and holds his hands out. “C’mon, clumsy. You aren’t getting anywhere sitting on your ass.”
“But I’m tired,” I whine, letting him pull me up and drag me after him.
He rolls his eyes. “Then you should go to bed earlier instead of partying in Portland.”
“Fucking Si.”
Kyle responds by dropping my hands and turning onto something that resembles the start of a dirt path. I glance at my boots then at the loose mud, thinking I’d rather be anywhere other than… wherever the hell we are. I’m pretty sure we’ve gone way past the gorge.
And it doesn’t matter anymore.