Wild Thing by Robin Kaye

he’d led her up the rocky path until she looked to her left and saw the sheer drop to the river. “That’s so not fair.”
    His superior smile told her he knew exactly what she was talking about. “Whatever works, right?”
    “Wrong.”
    Hunter stopped and turned around. He was on the uphill slope, so she had to crank her neck to see his face.
    “Are you going to make me carry you again? Because I can. It’s not a problem.”
    “It would be for me. I’m fine walking on my own. I just don’t want to be here. I would have been happy staying by the rafts.”
    “Yeah, but then I’d have had to stay too. Them’s the rules. Since the food is up there…” He pointed over his left shoulder. “That’s where I want to be.”
    She’d skipped breakfast, so yeah, by lunchtime she would be kind of hungry, unless he devised some other trip to scare the daylights out of her.
    “What’s it gonna be? Are you walking? Or do you want a piggyback ride?”
    “Funny. Are you going to stand there all day, or are you gonna lead the way?”
    He took her hand in his and pulled her around him. “After you. Go straight up the path.”
    From the cliff top, Toni gazed down at the river and had the urge to step back. She saw the rafts tied on the beach. Beside her, a meadow teeming with wildflowers bordered dense forest.
    Hunter watched her every move. It was uncomfortable feeling like the subject of a science experiment.
    “Isn’t it beautiful up here?”
    She looked around again and nodded. The mountains in the background were some of the biggest she’d ever seen, dark gray peaks with a spattering of snow cut across the bright blue sky.
    Pointing up the path, Hunter made his way into the meadow. “The cabin is right over there.”
    Toni followed. “You live here?” His cabin was a log home that looked like it belonged on the cover of Country Living . It seemed to fit with the strange landscape in a way an apartment building or a brick row home never would. More’s the pity.
    “This is my base of operations in the summer. In the winter, I have a place right outside of Boise on Castle Rock.”
    “Castle Rock?” Toni picked a wildflower. She would have liked to know what kind it was, but didn’t ask.
    “A ski resort. I run the ski school, restaurant, and the ski shop on the mountain.”
    She stopped and held the flower behind her back. “Do you ever see civilization?”
    Hunter looked at her as if she were nuts. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to see that in his estimation, she wasn’t the picture of mental health. “Every day. The Rock is a half hour drive from Boise. There’s a gorgeous view of the Boise Valley.”
    “Yeah, but you live on the mountain.”
    “Uh huh. I have a car.”
    “You drive in all that snow?”
    “They keep Castle Rock Road clear so people can come up to ski.”
    Of course they did. “You really are a regular mountain man, aren’t you? Have you ever lived anywhere but on a mountain?”
    “I grew up in Boise. I went to the College of Idaho in Caldwell. That’s not technically the mountains, but I’ve always been able to see them from wherever I’ve lived. I spent some time in New York last year. It was fun, but I can’t imagine living so close to eight million other people. I need my space.”
    “I can’t imagine living up here all alone. Just me and my TV.”
    Hunter pulled a blade of tall grass and stuck it between his lips. “I don’t have a TV—not here at least.”
    Toni stopped and stared. He had to be pulling her leg. Who didn’t have a TV? “You’re kidding, right?”
    “I guess I could get a dish or something, but why bother?” He looked out over the mountains as if he’d never seen them before. “I’m only inside to sleep, and half the time I’m on a guide trip living in a tent.” He studied her again. “You don’t look like you watch a lot of TV either.”
    How did he know that? The guy seemed to see so much more than she ever thought she let on. Toni