Taming Hollywood's Baddest Boy - Max Monroe Page 0,39

to God, he smiles, but he’s so damn quick to turn back around and start hiking again that it’s hard to be certain.

Wilderness-loving bastard.

Don’t get me wrong—I was raised in the hollows of West Virginia, in a small town stuck between mountains, and everyone I knew loved those same hobbies. But Lord knows they still enjoyed civilization every once in a while.

Walmart. Shopping malls. Grabbing some Twizzlers from the Stop N’Go.

Living in a house that could be reached without a damn boat.

They weren’t crazy people.

But Luca is anything but normal.

And unfortunately for me and my job, he’s still just as mysterious as he was the day I paddled myself to his cabin on the cliff.

Bailey stops to lift his leg on a tree, and I decide that I’ll wait for him.

You know, just in case he gets lost. Obviously, this has nothing to do with the fact that my thighs are burning like Jane Fonda herself forced me to do seventy-two hours of workout videos.

I pull a bottle of water out of my pack and take a long swig, and once Bailey has marked his territory on enough trees to be satisfied, I follow his lead up the hill that might as well be Everest.

All is going surprisingly well. I’m getting up the hill. Hell, I even grab my phone from the pocket of my jeans to snap a picture to commemorate the moment. For one, it’ll distract me from the constant burning in my thighs, and two…well, the view is truly breathtaking.

As much as I complain, I can’t deny that Alaska’s got something going for her. Her lush nature and gorgeous mountain views would make anyone feel wonder and awe.

But with my phone in my hand and my boots still moving up the incline, something snags my progress. Quicker than I even know it happened, the toe of my boot gets stuck between two rocks, and my body decides it’s perfectly fine if I leave that leg behind.

Catapulting forward, I’m all limbs and legs and giant hiking backpack and cell phone flying through the air and landing on a rock in the hard dirt with an awful thud and shatter.

“Ah hell!” I shout when my stupid boot finally releases from between the rocks and my ankle twists and pops in response.

This is exactly why I should never be out in the wilderness.

I am not made for this!

Shocked silent, I look around at the aftermath. Cell phone crushed to smithereens—Dammit, I knew I should have gotten one of those Otterbox cases everyone talks about!—and my body and backpack on the ground in a sad display of defeat.

I curse you, hill! I curse you to hell!

“Shit!” I hear from somewhere ahead, the hard patter of footsteps moving toward me in quick succession. “Are you okay?”

Bailey licks at my face like his tongue is some kind of healing salve, and I groan as I adjust my body to a sitting position.

“Billie?” Luca questions and puts a gentle hand against my cheek. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t know.” Embarrassment, warranted or not, runs through my face like a hot river. Most of the time, I’m trying to be a pain in the ass, but this was not on purpose. If I’m really injured, I can’t imagine it’s going to be extremely convenient for any of us. “Maybe just help me up?” I ask. He nods, but when I put my hands into his and try to brace myself on my feet, pain shoots into my ankle. “Ah hell, maybe I’m not okay,” I squeal, gritting my teeth against the streaking bolts of agony. Instinct makes me lift all my weight off the offending area and do my best to hobble on one leg.

Luca puts his arm around my waist, and those big blue eyes of his look into mine.

“What’s hurt, princess?” he asks with surprising tenderness. For once, the nickname he’s given me doesn’t sound mocking at all. “Is it your leg?”

I shake my head. “My ankle.”

“Sit down here,” he says and guides me toward a log, using his strength to ease me down. “Let me take a look.”

With gentle fingers, he lifts up the leg of my jeans, removes my furry boot, and examines my right ankle.

And I just kind of sit there…stunned.

But it’s not from the pain. It’s from something else altogether.

Am I hallucinating, or is Luca Weaver actually being nice to me right now?

Luca

Sticks and stones may break Billie’s bones, but her obstinacy will never falter. I