Dani choked down a breakfast of trail mix, half a power bar and stale water, with an ibuprofen chaser, pretending to listen to Spook as he gave her some hiking tips.
“We have to take it slow, you don’t rush a fourteener—“
“Fourteener?” The question was just an excuse to quit eating for a minute. Even to her it was obvious what the fourteener was.
“Our fourteen thousand foot mountain,” he said impatiently. “Air’ll get thinner the higher we climb. Makes your heart work harder. The trick is to do what they call the step-pause. Take a step, pause, then take another step.”
“Can’t I just do the pause part?”
He ignored her. “If you try to push the pace, you’ll get sick.”
“I’m already sick.”
“It’s worth it, Willow.”
“Sure.” And some day the literary world will take romance writing seriousl
