He smiles wide. “Good, ’cause I’ve got an awesome day planned for her.” He leans across and gives me another quick kiss, pulling back far too quickly, leaving me wanting more.

“You’re going to want to wash your hair again.” He twists a piece of my hair round his finger.

“What? Why?” I touch my hair where his hand is and feel the strands of crunch. Damn paint.

“Blue, and a bit of pink.” He leans over, examining. “It’s a good look on you.”

“I’ll stick with my natural color, thanks.”

Chuckling, he gets to his feet. I follow.

“Shower. Then get your cute ass dressed ASAP so we can head out. Need an early start for where we’re going.”

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“You’ll see when we get there. Come on, Dozer. Leave Mia to get ready. I’ve got some sausages with your name on.”

Dozer’s ears prick up at the mention of sausages. For a dog with a cast on his leg, he sure does move quickly.

“Tossed aside for sausages,” I croon. “And I thought we had something special, Dozer.”

“Just so you know…” Jordan leans his shoulder against the door frame. “I would never toss you aside for some sausage.” The glint in his eye is unmistakable.

I flush bright red all the way down to my toes.

Grinning, he turns and starts off walking down the hall. “Oh, and make sure to wear comfortable shoes. And bring something warm, just in case.” He calls to me.

“Will do.” I close the door behind me, catching hold of my happiness and hugging my arms tight around it.

One thing I’m starting to realize with Jordan is that moments of wonderful aren’t a rarity. It seems I might just have more than one great memory with him to keep, and I’m thinking my arms and heart are going to be full of them.

***

Dressed in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, and carrying a hooded sweatshirt with me just in case, I’m in Jordan’s car, heading to town with him. He still won’t tell me where we’re going, but I get a pretty good idea of what we’re going to be doing when he pulls up outside, White Rock Jeep Tours.

“You’re taking me out on a jeep tour?” I’ve never done anything like that before.

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

“More than okay.” I run my fingers into the back of his silky hair.

“I do tours for Wade, the owner, mainly in high season,” he tells me. “Though, not as much this summer with Dad being away. You’re safe with me. I’m an official tour guide.” He grins. “Thought I’d take you up to La Plata Canyon. It’s amazing there, and one of my favorite places to go. Aside from the canyon itself, there are some amazing lakes, rivers and waterfalls. Tons of wildlife … and I remember you saying how much you like animals.”

I used to think animals were much kinder than people. Until I met Jordan, that is.

“What kind of animals?” I get a frisson of excitement at the thought.

He takes hold of my hand, moving it from his hair, and kisses my knuckles. “Deer, elk, marmots, juncos. You can usually spot some hawks and eagles. And if we’re real lucky, we might even see a mountain lion or a bear.”

My eyes widen. “Lions and bears. Sounds cool.” I tug on my lower lip. “But if they come too close, we’ll drive away as quickly as possible from them, right?”

He laughs, and places his hand on my thigh, squeezing gently. “Right.”

He doesn’t seem to notice how my whole body freezes, which is a good thing. The freeze is a mixture of surprise, fear, but mostly want. I want Jordan’s hands on me.

“Come on, let’s get moving.”

I get out of the car and follow him over to the shop, tying my sweatshirt around my waist as I walk.

Jordan pushes the door open, and a bell announces our arrival. He lets me through first. A big man with grey hair, is behind the counter, reading a newspaper.

He looks up. “Jordan my boy, how you doing?”

“Good,” Jordan says, walking over to him.

They do that manly handshake thing that men do.

“Wade, this is my friend Mia.” He introduces me.

Wade’s smiling eyes move to me. I know he spots the remnant of my black eye and cut brow.

“Hey Mia, nice to meet you. You been in a fight there, little lady?” He hints at my face.

I instantly freeze, then relax into shutdown, face impassive, the lie flowing easily from my lips. “I had an interesting conversation with a flight of stairs after too many beers.”

Wade chuckles. “Yeah, had a few of those myself. Let me just get the keys for your jeep.” He pats Jordan’s arm and disappears into the back.

I can feel Jordan’s eyes on me. I know what he’s thinking. He’s wondering how I can lie so effectively, so easily, without a second thought.

It comes from years of practice.

Finally, I risk a glance at him. The look he’s wearing is more confusion, showing in his puckered brow, and sadness in his eyes.

“Sorry about Wade asking … you know,” he says quietly. “He doesn’t mean any harm. He’s just a straight forward kind of guy.”

“It’s fine.” I smile, shrugging it off. It’s easy to do because the shutdown on my emotions is still in place.

Leaning down close, Jordan brings his face to mine. “Pretend to the rest of the world, Mia. I understand your need to do that.” Lifting his hand, he runs his thumb over my lips. “But don’t pretend with me.”

I’m shocked to the core by him. All I can do is nod.

He cups my cheek and presses his lips to my forehead, pulling me close to his chest, saying the rest without words.

Every part of me is attuned to him in this moment.

I hear Wade clear his throat. Jordan and I part quickly.

Wade chuckles. “Here you go.” He hands Jordan the keys. “I’m lending you mine, didn’t think you’d want one of the eight seaters with just the two of you.”

“You’re sure?” Jordan checks.

Wade nods. “Take her, have fun. She’s parked up back. When you’re done, just put her back there. If I’m not here, put the keys through the mailbox.”

“Will do. And thanks again for this, Wade, I really appreciate it.” Jordan reaches over and shakes his hand.

“Anytime, son. Have a good time. Say hi to your dad for me. How is he? Haven’t seen him around lately.”

“He’s good, away at the moment. My grandpa had an operation, so he’s there taking care of him for few weeks.”

“Let him know I was asking about him,” Wade says.

“Will do, thanks.”

“Bye,” I say, following Jordan to the door. “It was nice to meet you, Wade.”

“You too, little lady.”

The instant we’re out of the shop, I ask Jordan, “How’s your grandpa doing?”

Jordan looks at me with warmth in his eyes. “He’s getting back to his old self. I called Dad yesterday and spoke to Grandpa on the phone. He was giving me grief, winding me up, so I know he’s getting better.” He smiles fondly.

“I’m sorry I haven’t asked before now. My head just gets a little filled up at times.”

“I get it.” He touches my shoulder. “Now wait here, I just need to grab something from the car.”

I watch him jog over to his car, then pop the trunk and pull out a cooler bag.

“Food for later,” he clarifies when he reaches me.

“Did you make a picnic, Jordan Matthews?”

For the first time ever, I see a blush in his cheeks. “I might have,” he mumbles and sets off walking.

Smiling, and feeling a little … glowy, I fall into step beside him and thread my arm through his. “Thank you. I’ve never had a picnic before.”

His look is one of surprise. “Never as in – never?”

“Never.” I affirm.

He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Well, I’m really glad I’m taking your picnic virginity because I make a fuckin’ excellent picnic.”

I laugh, glad he can’t see my face right now as it’s gone somewhere close to resembling sunburnt red.

“That so?” I try to sound casual, but it doesn’t work. “Well, I have nothing to compare it against, so I’ll have to take your word.”

“Oh, take my word. I am the best.”

Jordan really is gifted with the art of flirting. His innuendos have me blushing like a teenager, and my body firing up like a porn star.

We walk around the back of the shop where I see a big red jeep waiting for us. It’s covered in dirt but looks totally cool. My excitement ramps up a couple of thousand notches.

Jordan opens my door, then helps me in as it’s so high off the ground and I’m seriously vertically challenged.

My waist and hips are still burning from the feel of his hands as he climbs in the driver’s seat. He puts the cooler on the backseat.

“Buckle up, babe. I’m about to take you on the ride of your life.” Grinning, he starts the engine, revving it loudly.

Babe.

He called me babe.

I know it’s totally stupid, but I can’t keep the smile from my face at his term of endearment.

Recovering before he notices that I’m acting like a complete girl, I laugh. “You’re a total nerd, you know that?”

He looks mock-offended. “Hey! I’m cool, and you know it.”

I roll my eyes, shaking my head.

“Come on, say it … you know you want to. Just let the words out … ‘Oh, Jordan. You’re so cool and so awesome.’ There’s no need to be embarrassed to speak the truth, babe.” He gives a cocky grin.

I let out a laugh. “I like how you’re adding to it. I’ll give you that you play cool and drive an awesome car, but underneath it all is a nerd trying to bust out.”

Throwing his head back, he laughs loud. It’s deep and manly. And wonderful.

“Wounded here.” He dramatically presses his hand to his heart. “Here I was thinking I had you learned to my awesome ways. Guess I’m just going to have to wow you with my amazing tour guide abilities.”

“Said like a true nerd.” I grin.

***

We chat with ease while Jordan drives us out to La Plata Canyon.

When we reach the canyon, I’m blown away. I’ve never seen anything like it before. We don’t have these kind of places in Boston, and it warms my heart to Colorado. I can see why my mother returned here to live.

My mother.

I haven’t thought about her in days. Not because I’d forgotten, but because Jordan has become the focus of my thoughts. When I think of my mother, and how she abandoned me, it makes things hurt. I don’t want to hurt. I just want to feel all the wonderful things that I feel when I’m with him.

I know I can’t avoid it forever. Finding my mother is what brought me here. But for today, I choose not to think about it.

“This is Lake Creek we’re crossing over,” Jordan says as he drives us over a wooden bridge. I peer out my window to look below at the water. Pretty.