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If Juliana heard us, there was no indication. She was still staring into the sky, her eyes lost somewhere on the distant horizon. In that one frozen moment she looked heartbreakingly beautiful, and I found myself wondering what she was thinking about. Secretly, I hoped it was something good.

“Hey… here.”

Gage nudged me while she wasn’t looking, and when I glanced down he was holding a small flask of rum with the cap already off. I poured some into my mug, nodding appreciatively.

“Who’s hungry?”

Maverick passed out sandwiches, and we ate while talking and laughing and feeding the fire. Juliana didn’t speak much about work, and we didn’t inquire about it. She asked plenty about what we’d been up to lately, and while we had to skirt around certain details, we talked a little about our trip to California.

“We’re sort of on standby for something,” I eventually offered.

Gage nodded as he laid another piece of ironwood across the fire. “Something big.”

Eventually the sun came down to kiss the horizon, painting the sky a spectacular array of colors that changed minute by minute. Just before darkness fell, Maverick shot me a knowing glance and I nodded.

“Would you like to stay the night up here?” I asked, shifting my gaze to Juliana. “We can, you know.”

Her expression was one of skeptical disbelief. She searched around, as if suddenly the mesa had grown a house or something.

“Here?” she asked. “How in the—”

“We have a tent. A big one, actually.”

Her eyes grew wide. A smile I’d never seen crossed her pretty face. “Really?”

“Yes, really. But only if you’d like—”

“I’d like.”

Gage grinned with a childlike wonderment, scooping her into his arms and kissing her long and deep. I felt a flash of jealousy, but it was jealousy laced with a strange new heat. One that whirled like a turbine, spinning fast, somewhere deep in my core.

It’s hot, just watching them.

I swallowed hard.

Watchingher…

The realization was stark but undeniable. The longer I looked, the more turned on I was. Gage and Maverick had tried explaining it to me; how they’d felt the same way over the course of the week I’d been gone. I hadn’t really understood it though, until now.

Maverick was already at the chopper, nodding me over to help him unload the large canvas tent. There wasn’t much in the way of daylight left. We still had to set it up and lock it down.

“Word of warning,” I called over, to where Juliana stood flush with excitement. “With the wind and the chill and the altitude... it can get a little cold up here at night.”

The others nodded in unison. “Very cold.”

But our girl seemed entirely unfazed. Moving to stand between us, she set both hands on her shapely hips.

“I’m not too worried,” she said slyly. “I’m pretty sure I’ll findsomethingto keep me warm.”

Forty

JULIANA

We retreated to the comfort of the tent as the wind picked up, whipping the fire in so many different directions there was no way of telling where it came from. By then it was dark, and we’d eaten and drank our fill. We’d talked about anything and everything, except the one topic I really needed clarified: why they’d brought me all the way back out here in the first place.

Other than the obvious reason, of course.

“So tell me about you guys being obsessed.”