Page 372 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

I stopped and he almost bumped into my back, having to set his hand on my shoulder. I spun around. “A relationship? No.”

What did I know about relationships? My parents had an open, loveless marriage.

Any mental health counselor would say I mistook attention and emotional manipulation as caring.

I didn’t need to pay anyone to tell me that.

I had a history of losers, of shit guys who seemed to know I was screwed up.

Or that I was drawn to assholes all on my own.

The fact that plenty of them, even recently, wanted access to my mom only made the whole dating thing worse.

I should’ve learned eons ago, but for some reason, it took Duncan for me to realize I was better off alone.

Yeah, Mallory and others fixed me up, but none went beyond the first date.

Jaded? Definitely. Besides, why did I need a man?

Fine, besides legit orgasms. I’d made my own little family.

I loved Sierra unconditionally and taught her that real love was that way. No strings attached.

“I want more, Aspen.”

My eyes widened. “What? Like boyfriend/girlfriend? Engagement? Marriage? You’re on vacation.”

“You can’t deny last night was amazing.”

I stayed quiet because he was right. Last night had been insane.

I’d never had sex like that before. Never been with a bossy guy who knew what he wanted.

A dirty talker. A talented dick wielder.

A guy who put me first. When I told him I’d never come from oral before, he’d made it his life goal to change that.

He hadn’t done anything else, not even taken off his pants, until he gave me that orgasm.

When it came to sex, Luke was the whole package.

“That list, tiger?” he asked. His gaze roved over my face. Eyes, lips. Eyes again. “I want to finish it with you. That’s why I tracked you down.”

“How did you find me?”

He shrugged. “Aspen the yoga instructor was all the clues I had. I did a search, found your yoga studio online. It’s the only one in Hunter Valley so it was pretty easy. I went there, but you were closed.”

“Then how did you–”

“Your studio web site lists your full name on the bio page. Your photo, too. I did another search. Your address is public.”

If he did enough searching, he’d find out I was Senator Bergstrom’s daughter, even though I’d legally changed my name. Based on the fact that he hadn’t commented on it–because everyone who made the connection did–he hadn’t dug that deep.

“You should be a detective.”

He grinned, pulled off his sunglasses and hung them from the collar of his t-shirt. “I’ll play an investigator in an upcoming movie, if I get the part.”

My lips twitched. “Funny.”

He stared at me.

“Wait. Really?” Him in a movie? I was really, really boring in comparison.

He nodded. “How about it, tiger? You want more with me?”

Did I? Uh, yeah. I nodded. I would be stupid to deny it, especially since I’d pretty much dripped on his fingers back at the house. “You said I was naughty, before. What happens if I’m good?”

I watched as he swallowed. Hard. His gaze narrowed and dropped to my lips.

“If you’re a good girl, then–”

The kids’ voices got louder and cut off anything he was going to say. They ran toward us, hopping over logs and rocks.

“Later,” Luke said, with a playful tug on the end of my braid.

“Later,” I agreed, when the kids came skidding to a stop in front of us. They were flushed and happy, like puppies gallivanting about. Johnny had a branch he must’ve found and was using it as a walking stick. They always had so much energy that hopefully this outing would burn some of it off.

“How big is this bulldog rock anyway?” Sierra asked, her little face all sweaty.

From the house, I’d driven the five of us to the trailhead.

It was weird to have Luke beside me, but I wasn’t given too much time to consider it because the kids grilled him from the back seat the whole way.

They asked questions about his work, all things I wanted to know, so I stayed quiet.

By the time we parked, they realized he actually knew nothing about medicine other than applying a Band-Aid, so they didn’t care that he was famous.

He was, per Jackson, just a guy with a job.

And a boring one because Jackson proclaimed being a snowplow driver was a much better profession.

“Maybe four or five feet across,” I replied, thinking back. I’d been squatting in the dirt and peeing and the rock had been, well, a boulder. “Pretty big. It’ll only look like a bulldog from one side, so you may have to circle around the possibilities as you go.”

“Are we in the right area?” Johnny asked, glancing around. He and his brother looked alike, blond versions of Opie from the Andy Griffith Show, right down to the cowlicks on the back of their short hair.

I shrugged. “I don’t remember exactly. I came up that trail and then turned this way.” I pointed as I spoke. “I didn’t go too far.”

“What if we don’t find it?” Jackson asked, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand.

Then I’d have to come back up and search until I did. Or I came up with fifty thousand dollars.

“Then we search for it another day,” I replied.

“We’re going to hockey camp tomorrow,” Johnny reminded.

Sierra and Jackson nodded in sync, their eyes lighting up like they were waiting for Santa.

Right. They were off for a week to a hockey camp in Missoula.

When I first heard about it in the winter, I didn’t think Sierra was old enough to be away that long.

But I was assured that since it was the Silvermines off-season, Dex James would be going.

Since he and Lindy had baby Justine in the spring, the trio was inseparable.

That meant Lindy would be going to the camp as well.

They knew Sierra and vowed to keep a close eye on her.

I hadn’t been able to say no after that, especially since Jackson and Johnny–along with the rest of Sierra’s team–were also going. Along with about ten parent chaperones and coaches.

“It’s not going anywhere,” I said. “If I find it while you’re gone, I’ll bring you up and show it to you.”

“But what about today?” Sierra asked, unscrewing the lid on her water bottle. “I mean, we’ll be sad if we don’t find it.”

“How about we get ice cream.” Luke offered. “That always makes me less sad. Especially Rocky Road.” He looked to me, probably a little late to see if that was okay.

Their whoops and hollers let him know they liked his Plan B, and they ran off again to continue the search.

Ice cream wasn’t my Plan B. I had none. I had to find that rock.