Page 4 of Beck & Coll
Sundays had the potential to go either way for me as far as reservations for guided adventures went.
Sunday was a day that many of the resort’s guests checked out.
Those people were typically concerned with packing, making sure they didn’t leave anything behind, and making their flights back to wherever home was.
They weren’t typically interested in booking packages.
Saturday was a heavy check-in day. A lot of those people wanted to hit the ground running and start their vacation as soon as possible. They were the people who scheduled Sunday activities.
While summer was my busiest season, autumn certainly wasn’t far behind.
There were plenty of adventure types whose desire was to see this part of the country while the leaves were changing and when the weather was cooler, though the climate around these parts was generally mild right up until December.
It had been a busy day for me. I’d taken a group of eight family members and friends up to one of the most popular points in Cascada Noir National Park—Blackberry Lookout.
From there, I took two different groups for guided hikes along the Treetop Trail, which was a moderately difficult twelve-mile hike.
After that, I took a group on an eight-mile hike up the west side of Mount Paradise for gorgeous views of both glaciers and wildlife.
Lastly, right before sunset, I took a group of feisty, flirty octogenarians on a quick two and half mile (there and back) hike to see Christina Falls.
I was tired, but when my mom texted me and asked if I would be willing to drive one of the Town Cars to pick up a new guest and bring her to dinner at Good Ashes , there was no way I could say no to my favorite girl.
I shrugged out of my hiking clothes, took a shower and threw on a pair of black slacks and a cream-colored polo with the resort’s logo embroidered right over my heart.
Then I sat at my dining table and ate a quick meal, prepared for me by the chef at Good Ashes , my brother, Brewer.
Before long, it was a quarter to six and time for me to pick up the guest.
I drove out to the Sunset Cliff Cottage. It was probably my favorite cottage on the entire property because of the way it sat on a cliff that overlooked Pakpa’kli River. It was definitely peaceful. The guest obviously had good taste.
I pulled next to her rented Subaru and chuckled to myself. Subarus were the official vehicle of the Pacific Northwest. There were more Subarus per capita in the states of Oregon and Washington than there probably were anywhere else.
I wasn’t there long before the door to the cottage opened and out walked a beautiful little, fucking teapot—she was fine, short, and stacked.
I couldn’t remember if that was how the nursery rhyme described the teapot, but that was definitely how I described her.
She was so pretty that I actually got out of the car like I was the chauffeur instead of the owner’s son who was doing her a solid.
“Damn,” I muttered but maybe not softly enough because her eyes flew to my face.
I couldn’t help it. The cargo capri pants she had on were somehow baggy yet fitted at the thighs and ass.
Her bright pink toes were on display in a pair of sandals that wrapped her ankles and up to her lower shins.
On the top, she wore a cropped sweater. The sweater was covered by a leather bomber jacket that hung loosely off of her shoulders.
And her hair was green, a striking emerald green. She looked like fashion and a snack.
“Hi.”
She was shy. The way she said that one word told me everything that I needed to know.
I could be pushy. If I didn’t reel myself in, I was liable to scare a woman like her, and I couldn’t chance possibly scaring her off before I got to know her.
While I didn’t make a habit of fucking the resort’s guests, I wasn’t opposed. So, I was about to be on this woman.
“What’s good? I’m your driver for tonight. My name is Beckham, but the beautiful ladies get to call me Beck. And according to your reservation, your name is Collins.”
She blushed. She was beautiful when she blushed. The tawny skin of her cheeks glowed pink, making the scattered smattering of freckles on her face even more pronounced.
“What’s up, Beck?” Her fingers pushed a few errant strands of her hair behind her ear as she glanced down at the ground.
Well, that was endearing. As I stared at her, the only thought running through my mind was… soft .
Soft .
Soft .
“Get in the car, beautiful. It’s chilly out here. Let me get you to the lodge.”
“Thank you.”
I held the handle of the door while she slid in.
As I closed the door behind her, I couldn’t help shaking my head at myself.
I couldn’t remember the last time I held the car door for a woman.
I was a fan of women and held them in high regard, but I also had rude boy tendencies.
Holding car doors open wasn’t something I was into.
“So, are you the same Beckham who gives the guided tours?”
“One in the same,” I admitted before it dawned on me. “You’re Collins Kingsley, the client I’m taking hiking tomorrow, huh?”
“One in the same.”
She repeated my words back to me, causing me to chuckle lightly.
“For some reason, I thought you were a dude. Not gonna lie; I’m not disappointed… at all.”
I watched through the rearview mirror as she fought to keep those same strands of hair behind her ear. Her almond-shaped eyes were down on the floor of the car. I didn’t get how a woman could be so physically intimidating yet simultaneously so unsure of herself.
I left her to her thoughts for the ten-minute ride, turning around to speak only after we’d arrived at the door of Good Ashes .
“Enjoy your meal, Collins Kingsley. I won’t be the one who drives you back, but I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
“I heard that you like to start early and that you’re prompt. I’ll be ready.”
She was out of the car and in the restaurant before I could ask her who she’d heard that from, but I already knew. She heard it from the same person who insisted that I drive a particular guest to Good Ashes … my mother.
As promised, the day started early. I had Collins meet me at the Guided Adventure Tour Office at 7:00 AM sharp.
She showed up promptly and dressed properly.
I took in her apparel trying hard not to focus on how the clothing rode her curves.
The fact that her ensemble was actually practical impressed me.
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Somebody took her time to do research.”
Collins blushed slightly.
“Are you gonna do that every time I talk to you?”
“What?”
And there went those fingers pushing that hair behind that ear.
“Blush. I mean, I’m not saying I have a problem with it. I?—”
“No.” She cut me off, her voice strong. “I tend to blush when I’m nervous, so…” She let her thoughts trail off.
“Do I make you nervous?”
She raised one eyebrow independently of the other. “Don’t be so presumptuous, Beckham. The thought of this hike is making me nervous.”
“There wasn’t no hike last night,” I reminded her.
“Last night, I was nervous about sitting in the restaurant and eating… alone.”
“So, none of these blushes have been about me making you nervous?”
She didn’t respond immediately.
“That’s exactly what I thought,” I taunted.
She remained quiet.
Her silence made me feel duly chastised because she was a client. I didn’t have any right to push her the way I was pushing her.
I cleared my throat. “Your research paid off.” I brought the conversation back around to a more professional plane. “It looks like you made some good selections. I see that you layered up. Do you have a good jacket in your backpack?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I went ahead and spent money on the good stuff. I want to get into hiking and do it more frequently. I don’t want to have to keep buying the same gear over and over because I’m being cheap.”
“Yo, if you plan on making hiking and getting outdoors in general a part of your lifestyle, you did the right thing by investing in quality.”
“Thank you.”
“You ready?”
She nodded.
“Let’s head over to the trailhead. We have a long day in front of us since you chose an eight-mile hike right out the gate.” I smirked at her. “That’s a big undertaking for a newbie. Hope I don’t have to carry you down off this mountain, girl.”
She grinned. “I’ve been doing my practice walks for about three months now. I think it should be okay.”
I didn’t respond, but on the inside, I was shaking my head. Clients could be so cute the way they thought hiking was comparable to walking.
“It rained earlier this morning, so the ground may still be wet, and there might be wet leaves on the ground. They can be slippery, so watch your footing.”
“Okay,” she agreed easily as we headed out of the back entrance of my office and toward the mountain range. “The rain is supposed to pick back up later today, right?”
“Yeah. So, let’s get going. The first half of the hike is all uphill.”
The walk from my office was about a mile and a half from the base of the Paradise Mountain Range.