“Isn’t anyone going to tell Hook Man?” Alice asked, referring to the classic scary campfire story. Something about Crystal’s tone of voice had warned her it was definitely time to change the subject.
SHE left the Red Team cabin at around five after nine, stepping into a warm night. The wind off the lake gently rustled in the surrounding trees, making a sighing sound. Otherwise, everything was hushed. Kuvi’s and her cabin was only fifty feet or so down the path. She could see the light on inside through the screen door. Kuvi was back already. In the distance, she noticed Dave Epstein walking out of the Gold Team cabin. He started in the direction of his cabin, glanced around, saw Alice, and waved. He paused, like he was considering coming in her direction. Before he could, Alice waved back and immediately headed in the opposite direction from him, toward her cabin. Her heart started to race in her chest.
You’re going to meet Dylan, aren’t you? You’re going to meet him at nine thirty. That’s why you didn’t want to delay by talking to Dave.
What do you actually hope to gain by fooling around with the CEO of Durand? You’re going to end up disgraced and booted from the management recruitment process, all for a few good fucks?
A few incredible fucks, another voice in her head argued.
But it wasn’t just that. It wasn’t because Dylan had had her shaking with pleasure in a way she’d never experienced with another guy. It was him.
She craved to be with him up there in that lonely castle. She wasn’t sure what being with him again would be like, exactly, but she was so curious … so hungry to find out.
“You’re obsessed,” she muttered under her breath scathingly as she quickly mounted the steps to her and Kuvi’s cabin. Before she opened the screen door, she glanced back into the dark woods where the path lights couldn’t penetrate.
Was he back there already? Watching? Waiting? For the second time that night, her arms roughened with goose bumps. She’d never admit it to her kids, but these woods were eerie.
At night, the Durand estate seemed to transform into a different place.
Kuvi was half reclining on the couch in their seating area, drinking a Diet Coke and watching television. They chatted about the ups and downs of their first day with the kids for a few minutes before Alice went to her dresser and pulled out some fresh shorts and a top.
“I’m going to take a quick shower and go out for a bit,” she said, averting her eyes from Kuvi.
“Out? Where?” Kuvi asked, sitting up and looking interested.
“Just to …” Alice shrugged uncomfortably. “Meet someone.”
“Oh, I get it,” Kuvi said, grinning knowingly. “You’re meeting up with Thad.”
“No—”
“It’s okay,” Kuvi insisted, giving her a conspiratorial glance. “I see the way he looks at you. Your secret is safe. Not that you need to keep it a secret, of course. They’ve made it clear our time is our own after nine p.m.” She collapsed back on the sofa. “And God knows we deserve every minute of it, as hard as they work us.”
Alice opened her mouth to correct her roommate—she didn’t like telling Kuvi a lie, even if she hadn’t actually said anything. Kuvi had just assumed. In the end, she left Kuvi to watch Law & Order and hurried into the bathroom.
How could she be honest with Kuvi about something she wasn’t even fully admitting to herself? Besides, Kuvi would probably try to convince her that fooling around with Dylan Fall was extremely unwise. Alice didn’t need to hear that from an outside source. She already knew she was being impulsive and stupid. What’s worse, she was acting out of character.
All that knowledge didn’t stop her from walking out the cabin door at nine thirty sharp, her breath choppy from mounting excitement.
SEVEN
She immediately left behind the network of paths leading to the staff and team cabins and took the more remote trail to the stables. There were lampposts for the first hundred feet or so, but then they ran out. Alice realized nervously that no one would ride in the pitch darkness, so there wasn’t as great a need to light up this path.
She left the last lamppost behind and entered the shadows. A gust of wind off the lake made the tree branches creak as they swayed. She peered into the woods to the right of her. Had she just heard the crunch of footsteps on the earthen floor?
“Alice, it’s Dylan.”
He said it very quietly before he touched her back. She jumped, despite the fact that he’d warned her. He’d approached her silently from the left of the path, when she’d been straining to see his shadow to the right.
“Sorry,” Dylan said quietly, no doubt feeling her jump with his hand on her back. She looked up, squinting. She could barely make out his tall opaque shadow against the murky, sinuous, moving backdrop of the swaying tree branches. His hand moved across her back and transferred to her arm. His fingertips slid down the sensitive skin of her inner elbow. She shivered in anxiety, but a heavy, pleasurable feeling throbbed in her sex.
The forbidden tryst excited her. He did.
“Okay?” he asked, his hand enfolding hers.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
“Just follow me, then. There’s a trail that leads up to the house from one of the horse paths. I take it all the time to ride Kar Kalim, but you have to know it’s there to find it. It’s hidden. I’ll turn on a flashlight when we get on the trail. The foliage is thick there. No one will see us or the light.”