go over to the other table and hang with them—having enjoyable conversation for a change—until it’s time for us to set out. I’m surprised that even though Ivy and Brad keep giving each other We hooked up looks over the table, they both seem to be getting along better with their respective jilted spouses than I’m getting along with Penny. Charity’s talking to Tony like she didn’t just make a pass at me. We’re the most fucked-up group of married people ever.
No. What’s most fucked up is that I feel the need to be faithful to a woman who clearly hates my guts.
We meet Will Wang at our scheduled time, and before he gives us our envelope, he has to taunt us with memories of the shit we went through yesterday. “So, Luke, you were getting frustrated last night, huh?”
“Yeah.” Give me the damn envelope, asshole.
“And, Nell, did you worry your husband had blown a gasket?”
She huffs. “I don’t worry about anything where he is concerned. He is not my problem. The only thing I’m focused on is winning.”
Will grins. “You didn’t seem to do very well on the first Marriage Test. And I noticed you spent last night separated. Trouble in paradise?”
“No,” I say flatly.
He gets the message and hands us our envelope. “All right, guys, good luck. You are on your way!”
Penny tears open the envelope and reads it out loud. “Proceed northward on Ravine Trail to the stables to be matched with your horses. Oh.”
“Horseback riding?” I say. “Kick ass.”
“You ever been?” she asks as we take off, finding the trailhead.
“I’m a southern boy. May have grown up on the outskirts of a big city, but I lived on my parents’ farm before they kicked me off it.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Why did they do that?”
“You don’t want to know. They teach you how to ride horses in Paris?”
She shakes her head. “Back home.”
“Let me guess. Your daddy gave you a pony for your tenth birthday.”
She frowns. “Eleventh, actually. Brownie. Haven’t ridden him in ten years, though.”
“Yeah. I haven’t ridden in a long time either. Bet it’s like riding a bike. We might be able to make up some time on the others if they don’t know riding.”
“Hope so. But if so . . . oh my gosh. I think this may be a physical challenge I can actually do. Who’d have thought?”
I give her a sidelong glance. “Don’t get cocky.”
The path is steep, but we make it to the stables while the sun is in the sky. We’re given our two horses—I get a big black one called Maximus, and she gets a girl named Sweet Pea—and a map, and told that we need to get to the top of Frank’s Summit.
She reads the map. “There’s a roundabout route that looks less steep, but the direct route would probably save us time.”
I look down the trails. One definitely looks rough. Knowing Ace, that’s the one he took. Ace doesn’t look like the type to know shit about horses, though. “What do you think?”
She looks surprised. “You’re actually asking me? Wow. I didn’t know you were capable of that.”
Maximus whinnies and tosses his head as if to tell us to cut it out. “Well, that route looks steep. I don’t want you getting halfway up and chickening out.”
She snorts. “I won’t.”
She snaps the reins and flies ahead of me, fearless, up the steep trail.
That answers that question.
I catch up to her, and she doesn’t waste time. She leads her horse easily up the rocky path, fearless. She doesn’t turn around or hesitate. I get to spend the next hour looking at her perfect ass in those jeans.
When we get to the top of the hill and dismount, we’re met by a couple of park rangers, who point our way through trees. I can tell she’s feeling good about herself by the rare smile she’s sporting—she doesn’t smile nearly as much as she should, but when she does, it lights up her whole face.
This confident Penny is sexy as hell.
She walks ahead of me toward a clearing, then stops dead in her tracks.
We’re at the edge of a steep drop, and there, ahead of us, is a long wire, stretching down as far as the eye can see. It’s a zip line.
I pump my fist. “Fuck yeah. I’ve always wanted to try this.”
“Welcome to the Heart Attack, one of the longest, steepest, and scariest zip lines in the world!” the guide says.
This is right up my alley. I