“Eh.” I shrug and drag my eyes up to his face. “All the same old excuses I’m sure you’ve heard a million times. Money. Commitments. Procrastination.”
Dominic shakes his head. “Those things are all very real reasons and they’re also very much excuses. If you want to see the world, I say see it. Don’t wait. Life is for living, not for planning.” He ducks his head into his camera strap and hooks the water bottle to his backpack with a carabiner.
“So. Uh. You’re very prepared,” I say, unable to hold in my curiosity any longer.
“You only need to spend one night lost in the woods to never want to do that again.”
“Lost in the woods?” I widen my eyes. “Did you have to spend the night?”
“I had to spend a couple nights. And it rained. I was cold. Hungry. So tired. Got some great pictures.” Dominic shrugs as if to blow off the immensity of the experience. “It was one of my first trips into the Rocky Mountains. I was young and what I lacked in experience, I made up for in bravado. I made every mistake in the book.” He readjusted the heavy pack. “But, I also learned that I have what it takes to survive a bonus week in the woods without any supplies.”
“How very burly of you.”
“Oh yes. I’m very rugged.”
I can’t help but take a look at him, his hands clasped on the straps of his pack, his jaw set, his eyes glinting, that carefully cultivated five o’clock shadow outlining his strong jaw. “I’m not sure rugged is the word I’d use,” I say before I have a chance to think through what I’m going to follow up with. Because the words I have in my head aren’t exactly first date kind of material.
His jaw drops. “I have slept under the stars in a Namibian desert. I have climbed Mount Khuiten in Mongolia. I’ve endured the bitter cold of the Antarctic. You’re saying I’m not rugged?”
Hot damn this guy is so cool and I am so out of my league. “Maybe you need a hat.”
“A hat?”
“Yeah. Like Indiana Jones. Now that guy’s rugged.”
Dominic looks at me, this crazy, kind of incredulous look on his face. “You’re a little weird, you know that?”
I shrug. “Hey, I’m not the one making a woman wear sensible shoes on a first date and then showing up with a huge ass mountain man backpack strapped to my back.”
Dominic throws his head back and laughs, stopping in his tracks and closing his eyes. “See,” he finally says when he catches his breath. “You do think I’m rugged. There’s no way you can be a mountain man and not be rugged.” He puts a hand to my back and guides us onto one of the many available trails. “And, for the record, I didn’t show up with the backpack strapped to my back. I put it on later.” There’s humor in his voice. A tiny laugh joining his words.
“As if that makes all the difference,” I say, every nerve in my body singing about the tiny points of contact that are his fingertips. His palm.
We wander in silence for a few steps, our feet falling lightly on the dirt path. Wind rustling in the trees. Sunlight filtering down, casting lace shadows at our feet. All around us is green. Luscious and rich.
“First date, huh?” Dominic doesn’t look at me, but the corners of his mouth are twitching up into another one of those smiles I love so much. “You planning on having more than one?”
“Wow. You’re not?”
“Well, let’s see.” Dominic stops and studies me from head to toe and then back again. He makes a little swirling motion with his finger. “Turn.”
My jaw drops, but I’m smiling. I pivot slowly, keeping my eyes on him and ducking my chin towards my shoulder, all flirty eyelashes and shy eye contact. When I finish one revolution, I bite my bottom lip and wait for his response.
“I mean,” he says, and I can tell by the way his eyes are lighting up that I’m not going to like what he has to say. “I might have considered it, but those shoes are just way too sensible. What kind of woman
Dominic shakes his head. “Those things are all very real reasons and they’re also very much excuses. If you want to see the world, I say see it. Don’t wait. Life is for living, not for planning.” He ducks his head into his camera strap and hooks the water bottle to his backpack with a carabiner.
“So. Uh. You’re very prepared,” I say, unable to hold in my curiosity any longer.
“You only need to spend one night lost in the woods to never want to do that again.”
“Lost in the woods?” I widen my eyes. “Did you have to spend the night?”
“I had to spend a couple nights. And it rained. I was cold. Hungry. So tired. Got some great pictures.” Dominic shrugs as if to blow off the immensity of the experience. “It was one of my first trips into the Rocky Mountains. I was young and what I lacked in experience, I made up for in bravado. I made every mistake in the book.” He readjusted the heavy pack. “But, I also learned that I have what it takes to survive a bonus week in the woods without any supplies.”
“How very burly of you.”
“Oh yes. I’m very rugged.”
I can’t help but take a look at him, his hands clasped on the straps of his pack, his jaw set, his eyes glinting, that carefully cultivated five o’clock shadow outlining his strong jaw. “I’m not sure rugged is the word I’d use,” I say before I have a chance to think through what I’m going to follow up with. Because the words I have in my head aren’t exactly first date kind of material.
His jaw drops. “I have slept under the stars in a Namibian desert. I have climbed Mount Khuiten in Mongolia. I’ve endured the bitter cold of the Antarctic. You’re saying I’m not rugged?”
Hot damn this guy is so cool and I am so out of my league. “Maybe you need a hat.”
“A hat?”
“Yeah. Like Indiana Jones. Now that guy’s rugged.”
Dominic looks at me, this crazy, kind of incredulous look on his face. “You’re a little weird, you know that?”
I shrug. “Hey, I’m not the one making a woman wear sensible shoes on a first date and then showing up with a huge ass mountain man backpack strapped to my back.”
Dominic throws his head back and laughs, stopping in his tracks and closing his eyes. “See,” he finally says when he catches his breath. “You do think I’m rugged. There’s no way you can be a mountain man and not be rugged.” He puts a hand to my back and guides us onto one of the many available trails. “And, for the record, I didn’t show up with the backpack strapped to my back. I put it on later.” There’s humor in his voice. A tiny laugh joining his words.
“As if that makes all the difference,” I say, every nerve in my body singing about the tiny points of contact that are his fingertips. His palm.
We wander in silence for a few steps, our feet falling lightly on the dirt path. Wind rustling in the trees. Sunlight filtering down, casting lace shadows at our feet. All around us is green. Luscious and rich.
“First date, huh?” Dominic doesn’t look at me, but the corners of his mouth are twitching up into another one of those smiles I love so much. “You planning on having more than one?”
“Wow. You’re not?”
“Well, let’s see.” Dominic stops and studies me from head to toe and then back again. He makes a little swirling motion with his finger. “Turn.”
My jaw drops, but I’m smiling. I pivot slowly, keeping my eyes on him and ducking my chin towards my shoulder, all flirty eyelashes and shy eye contact. When I finish one revolution, I bite my bottom lip and wait for his response.
“I mean,” he says, and I can tell by the way his eyes are lighting up that I’m not going to like what he has to say. “I might have considered it, but those shoes are just way too sensible. What kind of woman
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