Page 48 of Heartless (Scathing Hearts #1)

Sienna

Slumped in the passenger seat, I clicked my seatbelt in. “Even the sun wants to stay in bed.”

The rumble of Jake’s chuckle sounded its usual sexy and warm, but even that didn’t lift my mood.

With one hand on the wheel, he said, “Did you write last night?”

“Yes,” I groused.

“Baby, if you want to go back to sleep, I’ll tell Erica. It’s your weekend, and you make it what you want.”

As I turned my gaze to his barely suppressed smile, I could feel myself pouting, but I was too tired to care. “But I want to do the hike with other artists and see the beautiful views. And it’s Erica’s first project, and I want to support her awesome idea.”

He turned on the engine. “Are you sure? Last chance before I tuck you back in bed.”

The vision of him and me near a bed jolted me awake, shooting off the sluggishness that had laden my body to replace it with a wave of heated awareness.

I sat up. “I’m sure.”

Jake must have somehow seen it or felt it because his gaze smoldered before he put the car in drive and gave me his profile.

In what felt like not long enough, we arrived in the parking lot of a chalet-type souvenir shop named ‘Edie’s’.

After I’d gotten out of his truck, Jake took my hand to lead me to the store.

The air was crisp, the light was blinding, and the azure of the sky was simply splendid.

So, I was glad for my leggings and the warm sweater I’d layered over my t-shirt.

The jingle of the door and wafts of cinnamon welcomed us into the store.

Oh yes. The store, a lot bigger than its exterior suggested, had coffee too.

As we approached the counter, a rotund man behind it grinned. “Hey, Jake. How goes it this morning?”

“Hey, Ron. Can we have two coffees?” His eyes slid to mine. “You want something to eat, baby? Half an apple isn’t going to sustain you.”

I wasn’t hungry. I was about to tell him when the man’s boisterous voice filled the wide space.

“Whoever you are, wonderful angel, welcome.”

I peeked over my shoulder, but only Jake and I were here, which made his statement all the weirder.

“Pardon me?”

When Jake muttered a ‘Christ’, the man’s smile widened. “You know how fast news travels in our village.”

Jake nodded with a side grin.

A petite woman with white curly hair, and wearing an apron over a long sweater, came out of what I assumed was the kitchen and sauntered toward the man. “There she is. She’s beautiful, Jake.”

Jake curled his arm around my shoulders. “Edie, Ron, this is Sienna. Baby, Edie, and Ron own the store and the diner at the back.”

The woman beamed. “And a beautiful name to boast.” Her fingers curled in a come-hither gesture. “Don’t be shy, doll. Let me have a closer look at the woman who got our Jake’s heart.”

The woman who what? I whipped my eyes up to Jake, but he just nudged me closer to the older woman’s smile.

She peered over me. “I see you’re dressed for a hike. Are you a nature lover too?”

My words bypassed my brain, and I blurted, “Not really. Not at all.”

When her mouth hung open, warmth crowded my face.

“What I mean is I love nature, but I like to admire it from behind a window.” For some deranged reason, I kept talking.

“I know I’m a city girl cliché, but I’m absolutely terrified of bears even though the likelihood of meeting one is very slim.

Jake took me to my first hike a few weeks ago.

It was like a mini-hike, but it was absolutely beautiful.

” More words kept spilling out of my sleep-deprived brain.

“I’ve been quite sheltered but since I’ve met Jake, my world is expanding in wonderful but also scary ways.

So, I’m looking forward to the hike with Erica and the others. I just don’t want to meet a bear.”

While a slow smile stretched across Edie’s face, laughter jetted from Ron’s chest. “I like her, Jake.”

“Thanks, Ron,” Jake replied with a closed-mouth smile.

Why wasn’t he telling them the truth? Edie touched my hand, cutting through my spiraling thoughts.

The corners of her eyes crinkled with goodness. “Then, you’re in good hands.” She reached underneath the counter and slid a napkin onto which laid a muffin toward me. “Have some sugar, Sienna, and I’ll see you after your hike.”

Suddenly hungry, I thanked her and took a bite into the wondrous confection. “Oh my God, this is heaven.”

“They’re Jake’s favorite too.” She winked at Jake. “The next batch will be ready in five minutes.”

Oh shoot. I lifted my half-eaten muffin to his smiling lips. “Have some of mine.”

I shouldn’t have done that because Jake’s eyes locked onto mine, and I was rendered almost breathless. His mouth opened around the morsel held between my thumb and index finger. When his tongue grazed my fingertips, I shivered while I watched his jaw move.

“Is it good?” I whispered.

The searing heat of his gaze and the gravel of his voice cloaked around me. “Gorgeous.”

My heart flipped, and I licked my dry lips. The door chime rattled, and I blinked out of my trance to see Erica and four women walk in. Then, a few minutes later, when I was properly caffeinated, I greeted the other hikers.

There was a Thelma and a Louise, who’d never met each other, but who, to no one’s surprise, immediately bonded over their eponyms. Thelma, a willowy blonde with an easy demeanor, was a comic-book artist, and Louise was a plump goddess with a pixie haircut who wrote children’s books.

Kelsey was roughly around my age and kept her fingers clamped around the straps of her bright orange backpack.

She was a painter. Cathy was the most outgoing, wearing blonde, blue, and green waist-length dreadlocks she was a sculptor, working with wood and clay.

Brigit, a photographer, and visual artist formed the end of our group.

As we were getting to know each other, Kelly walked in, dressed in all black and sporting a slick ponytail. While she introduced herself to the others, Jake drew me close, and we stepped a couple of feet away from the group.

His mouth slanted to my ear. “Stay close to Kel. I briefed Erica.”

I liked Kelly, so I couldn’t help the pinch of guilt in my chest at having dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night. When would this all end?

As if he’d read my mind, Jake touched my cheek. “It’ll be over soon, baby. I promise.”

“Okay.”

His lips twitched. “Ready for your big adventure?”

My cell was fully charged, and I’d packed my light waterproof jacket, toilet paper—I hoped I wouldn’t need—liters of water, cereal bars, sunscreen, and sunglasses.

This morning, Jake had surprised me with a mini first-aid kit, a waterproof backpack cover, and a pocket Swiss army knife. I was more than ready.

****

An hour later, flanked by Kelly and Erica, I was becoming a hiking convert.

Mother Nature didn’t disappoint. And the chaos of what my life had become had melted away.

The sun was shining, and the route Erica was leading us along felt mostly flat.

We’d stopped a couple of times to admire the views where Thelma, Cathy, Kelsey, and Brigit had pulled their sketchpads and camera out to immortalize the endless pulchritude of our surroundings.

I’d just taken it all in with all my senses.

“Erica, what’s the name of that big tree over there? The blue one,” Louise asked from behind us.

It was one of the hundreds of questions we’d asked since we’d started the hike. Some came from one of us, others stemmed from conversations. And not once had Erica lost patience when she had to repeat answers to the same question. She was fantastic.

The whole group stopped, and I turned to Kelly. “Are you okay?”

Leaning in, she lowered her voice. “As details go, this must be one of the nicest ones. By far.” Her tone sobered, and she planted her assessing gaze into mine. “How are you? Jake said that was your first hike.”

I pitched my voice low. “Don’t tell him, but I think I’ll do it again.”

She smiled. “My lips are sealed.”

More questions were asked, and while Erica talked about the foliage with her back to Kelly and me, I took my sunglasses out of the zipped pocket of my wind jacket. After pinching the corner of my t-shirt around the lens of my glasses, I turned my gaze to the trail ahead.

“Er-Erica?”

“Just a sec, Sienna.”

My sunglasses hit the ground. From the corner of my eye, I registered Kelly folding at the waist to pick them up.

The world went mute. A violent shudder zapped down my spine. My hand blindly flew to grip Kelly’s clothing, and I pointed at the shadow lumbering toward us.

“Bear!” someone screeched.

It took long seconds before I realized I’d been the one who’d screamed.

****

Jake

Zook grunted. “Not long now. How’s the bambina?”

“She’s good,” I said to my cell.

Half a wing of the hospital had been requisitioned for the old fucker. Morrison was finally dying. After disconnecting the call, I stepped to the window of our small office and slid my hands in my pockets. How was Sienna going to take it?

Commotion behind me drew my attention and I pivoted just in time to watch Garrett Sullivan enter the room.

“Erica’s group’s back at Edie’s.”

That was two hours too early. “What happened?”

“Bear encounter.”

Fuck. Sienna. We jogged out of the building while I dialed Sienna’s number. Voicemail.

I started my truck while Garrett yanked on his seatbelt.

Scrolling through his phone, he said, “No casualties, but the group is pretty shaken. They caught some rain as well.” He shook his head. “Fuck. Erica worked so hard on that hike.”

We made the ninety-minute-long trip in an hour. Three steps out of the truck, Edie’s door opened, and Erica hurried toward us.

“Jake, I’m so sorry. It was a bad idea—”

“Where’s Sienna?”

She pointed at the store. “Edie opened the diner early. They’re all in there. I’ve called the hotel but it’s the busy season and they can’t send the transport earlier than scheduled.”

Garrett kept his voice low. “What happened?”

“Sienna spotted an adult male black bear. When it saw us, we made ourselves big, it worked, but that was the end of the hike. Then the rain started, and they practically raced down back here. I’ve alerted the park rangers for the sighting, and I got the group some towels.

Edie and Ron brought them drinks and sandwiches. ”

Garrett touched her arm. “Have you debriefed with your group?”

Her voice dropped. “Garrett, you don’t get it.

Three of these women have a podcast and hundreds of thousands of followers.

As a group they can reach millions of people.

I heard someone mention emotional damage, and one of them called the newspapers.

It’s not good, and if they sue us, the publicity will—”

I needed to check on Sienna. “Erica, if there’s a financial fallout, I’ll deal with it. You had an idea, and you couldn’t plan the bear.”

Her face fell. She needed to get past this.

“You said your sister’s a writer. If she’d been there, how would she react?”

“She’d be freaked out, and she would go into her head to process it or write about it.” Her back straightened. Resolve sharpened her gaze. “That’s what they’re doing. They’re processing.”

For the first time since she’d started working for me, I pulled rank. “Now go debrief with your group.”

In the store, Ron, standing beside the cash register, jerked his chin up. “Quiet bunch.”

Past the door separating the store and the diner, I scanned the room. Kel was standing at the back of the room with her shoulder slanted against the wall behind a table. Sienna was seated, clutching a mug between her hands with her face turned toward the window.

The rest of the group had spread out, each of them seated by themselves. Some had notepads laid on their tables, others were on their laptops while one woman was checking the back of her camera.

When I arrived at her table, I made my voice gentle. “Baby.”

She jumped off her seat and into my arms. “Jake.”

Wrapping my hand around the back of her head, I held her tight. My kitten had been scared.

I cupped her pale face and tucked a damp curl behind her ear. “Are you okay?”

“I saw a bear,” she whispered.

There was so much happening in her eyes. I pulled her back to me.

Erica cleared her throat to demand the group’s attention, and no one reacted. I signaled Garrett who was standing behind her. He said something in her ear that made her shoulders hitch.

Putting some strength in her tone, she tried again. “Is everyone okay with drinks and towels?”

She received a few grunts in response. One of the women had walked up to the one leaning over the sketchpad. “Is that Sienna?”

At the mention of her name, Sienna’s head jerked up, and she stepped out of my arms to join them. The others followed suit.

Sienna sat beside the thin blonde. “Thelma, that’s really good.”

The blonde smiled before returning her attention to the page.

A young woman with blue and green hair giggled. “That’s me. I look good.”

Garrett glanced at me and mouthed. “What the fuck?” before we both approached the table.

While the women talked over the table, I watched my butterfly. She needed quiet.